Organizing Cools the Planet: Tools and Reflections to Navigate the Climate Crisis

Organizing Cools The Planet weaves together stories, analysis, organizing tools, and provocative questions, to offer a snapshot of U.S. climate activism and provide pathways for readers to participate in it. Authors share hard lessons learned, reflect on strategy, and grapple with the challenges of their roles as organizers who do not come from “frontline” communities, but work to amplify and build a climate justice movement led by low-income people, communities of color, Indigenous, youth and other constituencies most directly impacted by the crisis. Rooted in the authors’ experiences organizing in local, national, and international arenas, this pamphlet grapples with the challenges and overwhelming odds young activists face today. Organizing Cools the Planet challenges readers to look at the scale of ecological collapse with open eyes, without falling prey to disempowering doomsday narratives. It asks key pressing questions for those who wish to take our generational challenge seriously. This pamphlet is for anyone who wants to build a movement with the resiliency to navigate one of the most rapid transitions in human history.

Joshua Kahn Russell is a strategy and non-violent direct action trainer with the Ruckus Society, and serves communities impacted by fossil fuel extraction. He works internationally with the Climate Justice Now! network to bring justice to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and has been a leading voice in the International Youth Climate Movement. Joshua spent four years as Rainforest Action Network’s Grassroots Actions Manager, campaigning to end our addiction to coal and oil. His articles have appeared in Yes! Magazine, Left Turn Magazine, Peacework Magazine, Upping the Anti, and Z Magazine. 

Hilary Moore is a core organizer with Rising Tide Bay Area, a grassroots all-volunteer organization focused on direct action and education to confront the root causes of climate change. She is a founding organizer of the Mobilization for Climate Justice-West, a grassroots coalition of advocacy, community-based, and direct action organizations in the Bay Area dedicated to keeping frontline communities at the forefront of the struggle. She is finishing a graduate degree with the Institute for Social Ecology, focusing on building collective practices of care within communities engaged in resistance and struggle.