The making of Climate Changemakers
Climate Changemakers started coming together in early 2020. I had joined Jason Jacobs' My Climate Journey Slack community, and was inspired to watch some really organic and ambitious organizing efforts around climate action. People were looking for big levers, but there was relatively little talk of political action (even with a huge election looming). With Jason's green light, I organized a series of events to connect the dots between political action and climate progress.
What emerged was pretty magical. ✨I met a handful of ambitious new climate-concerned friends scattered across the US. Stu, Parker, Cody, and Kristen were eager to pour time and effort into electing a pro-climate action Senate. Together, we created Climate Changemakers to scale the effort. We met every day on Zoom and worked until late. Kristen developed relatable branding and a website that made the whole thing come to life. Matt doodled a logo. We mapped out north stars, a strategic plan, and started a Slack.
In July, an undergrad named Madeline reached out through the Williams College alumni network; she wanted to talk through job opportunities in climate politics. Thirty minutes into the call, I suggested she could skip campaign internships and help us build Climate Changemakers. Madeline rounded out our co-founding crew.
One month later, we hosted our first Hour of Action. Then, things got rolling! With more changemakers streaming into our Slack, we formed eight teams around different climate candidates for Senate. An incredible collection of Team Leads (some experienced organizers, others completely new to political action!) hosted weekly Hours of Action for their candidate. Hari invited his friends from high school; Nilesh invited his entire wedding party. Dedicated changemakers across the country showed up, made calls, wrote letters, sent texts, and raised money, and our numbers kept growing. By January 2021, our pilot community of climate changemakers had helped elect a pro-climate action Senate majority.
Our Hours of Action are made possible by "squads"— volunteers working behind the scenes and lending their expertise to "build the rocket ship as we fly." Michael, Nicole, Tim, Rahul, Kristen, Elizabeth, Jenny, Gabrielle, and Madeline all stepped into roles as Squad Leads to keep project work humming. A long list of talented engineers and data scientists stood up a tech stack, impact tracking, and a dashboard. Kristen pulled in Merrill, and as the newly-formed Regenerates, they lifted off our communications.
In February, we pivoted to advocacy, and Gabrielle sprung into action. She led a squad crafting a monthly arc of innovative advocacy actions, building action playbooks, and writing issue briefings. Schuyler built a policymaker outreach tool from scratch, and passed the baton to Kevin, who sprinted. Changemakers stepped into the role of Action Lead, facilitating actions in breakout rooms on Hours of Action. The wins started piling up: published op-eds, big corporate commitments, new co-sponsors on bills.
An international presence grew in our Slack along with an appetite for more Hours of Action. And then Henry from London raised his hand to lead. One determined leader can kick a big operation into gear. Henry had halved his carbon footprint in a year and had never taken political action on climate, but he was ready. He pulled together Nick, Alina, and a growing steering committee, and together they launched a Climate Changemakers Europe chapter with their own Hours of Action.
Our momentum has been steadily building, in large part because of the many changemakers who stepped up as Ambassadors to get the word out. Kevin posted on Reddit. Lots of folks have Tweeted on the heels of a rewarding Hour of Action. Twila gave us a shoutout in Emily Atkin's Heated newsletter. Chris and Jennifer invited the entire HODG (Hang Out Do Good) community. It's been incredible. With no marketing budget, our growth to-date has been completely organic.
And changemakers have stepped in as funders and fundraisers to help sustain and scale our efforts! From the start, we've been committed to never charging changemakers for volunteer work; climate action shouldn't be transactional. In June 2021, we had raised enough funding to officially incorporate as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit and bring on Madeline and Gabrielle as our first two paid employees. In August, Chris, Jennifer, and HODG spearheaded and hosted a backyard fundraiser for Climate Changemakers with a singer-songwriter. And in October, Michael and Hannah awarded Climate Changemakers a generous grant from an inspiring corporate pledge.
It's been wild, but we're really just getting started at Climate Changemakers, and it's a collective effort to its core. Of course, we're a node in a much bigger web of a much broader climate movement that's gaining a ton of steam and pushing progress in real time. The determination, the outrage towards injustice, the orientation towards action, and the support in this community holds so much power and promise—the secret sauce is each of us leaning into our identities as changemakers. ✨
© 2021 Climate Changemakers
