Workshop on Organizing, Climate Justice, and Democracy

Hosted by the Sierra Club –

Facilitated by community organizers Dave Cortez and Shane Johnson, this afternoon workshop is the first in an ongoing series of workshops designed to support a growing network of activists who want to network, learn how to be better organizers, and build collective power so we can win on a variety of issues.

We will focus on two subject issues of fighting Big Oil & Gas and the Permian Highway Pipeline, and moving Austin towards 100% clean energy as examples of active and current campaigns. Together we will explore how to:

1. Become better organizers,

2. Root our work in clear vision, values and guiding principles,

3. Develop a shared understanding of what is power, how power works, who has power over us, who we cede our power to, and how we can collectively seize & build power,

4. Share some practiced methods for building successful campaigns and sustainable organizing structures,

5. Connect with a community of other activists who are learning and working to fight for justice in the Austin / Central Texas area.

All over Texas we’re seeing the impacts of climate change. Simultaneously we’re witnessing the impacts of poverty, racism, patriarchy, and a system of governance that is designed to benefit those with the most money, those with the most political influence, and those who most actively flex their power.

In the Hill Country, billionaires and oil executives can reroute pipelines away from the Edwards Aquifer, but thousands of people like us, our neighbors, and elected officials can’t.

In Austin, the Real Estate Council of Austin, major corporations and local chambers of commerce can make Austin Energy move faster or slower towards 100% clean energy, but it takes thousands of us to protest, rally, testify and hope that our elected officials will do the right thing.

Across Texas, while communities of color are disproportionately suffering the impacts of climate change and fossil fuel pollution, Big Oil and Gas are actively stalling any meaningful action on climate and instead plan to build fossil fuel infrastructure that will operate for decades. Big Oil and Gas has used their deep pockets to control lawmakers, kill protections for sacred sites and fragile ecosystems from destructive pipelines, and turn beaches near South Padre into a hub for fracked gas exports.

Power doesn’t have to work this way. Organized money CAN be defeated by organized people. Come join this workshop and get plugged in so we can do it!