Beyond Striking

Striking is a great way to put moral pressure on leaders in your community.

If you’d like to go beyond striking, you can use your power to start demanding specific changes in your community. Community engagement is a means for converting our striking energy into actual emissions reductions, which is what the physical Earth system cares about.

Suggestions:

1. Coalition building. Build relationships with other local climate-focused groups. Remember: you can be part of many groups. You don’t need to “pledge allegiance” to just one!
   
2. Promise for Future. Ask community leaders to sign the pledge.
   
3. Give climate talks. Organize presentations / conversations within the community (libraries, churches, etc.). You will find that there’s a HUGE demand for such talks, especially from youth. Within your group, you might find people who like giving talks, and people who prefer organizing them. It’s a lot of work for one person to do both – and it’s more fun as a pair. You can switch roles at the next talk if you like. Talking about the climate and getting people to talk about it is a really powerful way to boost awareness and change. On-line can work really well.
   
4. Speak at city council meetings. You can do this any time, but especially when the agenda includes votes about things that affect your community’s emissions, like public transit, bike paths, climate plans, etc. Mobilize as many activists as possible to go to these meetings. If the council is dominated by those who would do nothing to address climate change, consider protesting at the meeting.
   
5. Climate forums for candidates. When there are local elections, organize climate forums or debates for the candidates.
   
6. Celebrity strike. Get celebs to “strike” and share images through social media with homemade F F F signs. 
   
7. Write letters-to-the-editor. This usually works best if you read an article and have a powerful emotional reaction to it. Be authentically you, and let your emotion shine through. If you’re a student terrified for your future or filled with excitement about how great a green future could be, say so! 
   
8. Do it all in public. All community-level tactics can be supercharged by reaching out to media. Reporters will be interested in youth strikers and their schools activating their communities.