Event: Fossil Free Fast

Last week, a collection of climate resistance organizations launched their Fossil Free Campaign. Led by 350.org, the event’s date was strategically set to follow Trump’s State of the Union Address in a public rebuke of the administration’s policies that are harmful to the environment. 

The Fossil Free Fast Event brought together environmentalist leaders from across the country and abroad who outlined the Fossil Free Campaign’s three-pronged plan for 2018. 

First, a fast and just transition to 100% renewable energy. This calls on local organizers to use Fossil Free’s strategies of promoting local bans and community resolutions to influence policymakers. The Sierra Club’s Jameka Hodnett introduced an inspiring list of current local projects that are successfully carrying out this mission. Senator Bernie Sanders was there to urge people to get involved at local levels and, that night, he re-signed a commitment to no longer accept lobbying money from oil and gas companies. 

Second, an end to new fossil fuel projects. From landmark protests against opening new coal ports to local anti-fracking petitions, resistance efforts have made significant steps in driving oil and gas businesses out of our communities and, in some cases, enacted model legislation which other efforts can build off of.

Finally, not one penny more on dirty energy projects. By partnering with the leaders of the divestment movement, Fossil Free plans to cut off financial and social capital to fossil fuel companies. Through public pressure, city councils and banks, like the World Bank, are agreeing to defund oil, coal and gas projects. Mayor of NYC, Bill de Blasio joined the event via skype to explain how New York City plans to divest $5 billion from fossil fuels as well as sue some of the most powerful oil and gas companies for their contributions to global warming. 

Fossil Free is a campaign that unites and empowers local organizations fighting for environmental justice. Leaders from groups like Sunrise Movement, Indigenous Environmental Network, L’eau Est La Vie Camp and the Environmental and Climate Justice Program at NAACP took to the event’s stage in order to motivate the further mobilization of supporters. With so many organizations holding similar views, at times it was difficult to see where one organization ended and the next began, but Fossil Free believes one of their biggest strengths will be their vast numbers of supporters. Fossil Free is also open-source allowing local chapters and individuals to mold the movement’s identity and recourses to fit their needs.

Find out more about the campaign:  Fossil Free Campaign

With an impressive collection of impassioned citizens, star power and political wins, I believe Fossil Free will be able to make a difference toward a better environment. Borrowing from the idea of ‘necessary ingredients’ for a successful movement (Woliver, p.5 ), the sense of collective oppression that Fossil Free is focused on is fighting back against the powerful oil and gas companies who are actively hurting our environment. Their existent organizational base is clear and has a lengthy list of accomplishments that they wish to grow. Their communicating network is vast and includes both traditional networking tactics like canvasing for petition signatures and collecting emails for newsletters as well as more technology driven efforts like organizing events through geo-tagging and live-streaming these events over their social media platforms. And lastly, their critical mobilizing event is not only the constant assault on the environment by big businesses, but the very recent actions of the Trump administration like pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement and their role in the Keystone Pipeline oil spill.

While the missions of many different movements have been to gain legislative victories for their cause, Fossil Free has hundreds of legislative fights in their future at the local, state and federal levels. The biggest threat to Fossil Free is going to be how daunting the task at hand is. Still, the advocates at last week’s event are certainly not in the business of giving up. Cherri Foytlin from L’eau Est La Vie Camp gave these words of encouragement, “We must rise like the waters. We must melt together, like the cypress trees, to weather the storm we are in now. We must be fierce and unafraid. But mainly, we must believe. Because believing is the only way change and justice have ever been created.”

Get involved:  Go Fossil Free