350.org is building a movement to solve the climate crisis. From Barbados to London to Nigeria to your home in the Pacific, teams of organisers are joining together to push for and win the global, regional and local change needed to get the world on-track to 350ppm.

Individuals can achieve a lot in their community, but the scale of change we require needs teams of organisers working together toward shared local and global goals. If you aren’t already part of a team, you can contact the 350.org Pacific Field Coordinator, Ewan Cameron on ewan@350.org to be put in touch with a team near you (and if there isn’t one, then perhaps you’d like to start one up?).

For those teams ready to get organising with 350.org, check out the ways that you can join and lead the movement (note that we will be releasing the 350 Pacific Projects Manual in the coming months to supplement these guidelines):

+Local campaigns 

 >>Grow the movement in your local area

As a movement our power lies in having a strong network of supporters, teams and organisers. Therefore, it’s important that as a team you put effort into growing the 350 movement in your local area. Check out these ideas for things you can do to go from a small number of supporters to hundreds.

• Collect sign-ups so we can stay in contact with new supporters (download the sign-up sheet here), once you’ve got them, put them into an excel spreadsheet and email them to aaron@350.org
• Art projects: 350 banner competitions at schools, street art, dance competitions…
• Fundraise: Run a food stall, or fundraising concert. Use the funds raised to help you keep organising eg – buy trees to plant, or get some t-shirts printed.
• Organise a big bike race or rally, get people moving, showing your support to politicians to take action on climate change.

>>Educate yourselves and your peers

Our local communities need to be educated about climate change, how it will affect them, and how they can join a global movement to help solve the climate crisis. 350 Pacific will be supporting a programme of workshops this coming year, and we’d love to have your team involved (this will also involve some useful resources). But in the meantime, it’s time to get started with educating your communities.

•  Plan a workshop, film screening (Carving the future, Inconvenient Truth, Earth, There once was an island, Carbon Nation etc) or talk in your local village or school

>>Prepare your villages, towns & cities for climate change

Villages, towns and cities around the Pacific are threatened by climate change – from 1-2 metres of sea-level rise by 2100, worse droughts, to increasingly violent storms. There’s a lot of work we have to do to prepare our communities so that we are ready to confront the new wave of climate challenges. As local organisers, you are the best placed to work out what the needs are in your local community, but here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Tree and mangrove planting – to stop erosion on the shoreline, to act as windbreaks, and to help soak up CO2.
• Water. Make sure your village has an adequate supply and back-up supply of water. Do people have rainwater tanks filled from their roof? Are the tank and gutter clean and working? If not, you could arrange a work-party to go around the village/town and fix/clean them up.
• Is your government/council taking sea-level rise seriously? Are they making sure that new infrastructure is built in places that won’t be vulnerable to sea-level rise, and that itcan withstand more intense storms?

>>Get your villages, towns & cities converted to 100% Renewable energy

Oil, diesel, petrol and coal make life easy for us, but they both cause climate change, and are becoming increasingly scarce, which means they will become more and more expensive. Luckily, there are lots of great alternatives – from biofuel made from coconuts, homemade solar hotwater heating, solar panels for electricity, to getting people out of cars and onto bikes.

• Start learning about what renewable energy solutions you could implement to get your village/town/city off fossil fuels. (Be sure to check with your government/council to see if they are planning anything already).
• Run bike rallies and safety workshops to encourage people to start using bikes instead of a car.

+Global campaigns 

Around the world 350.org is challenging and taking on the big polluters and corporations who are causing climate change. From the United States, to India, over the coming years, the movement will need your continued support to make these wins. So where 350.org has been based on annual days of action in the past, get ready for more opportunities to be involved in global solidarity campaigns.

• We’ll keep you updated through your country coordinator (don’t know who that is? Find out by emailing ewan@350.org).

+Stay connected

• Let your local media know what you are up to – if you haven’t already, start building a relationship with your local newspaper, radio and television reporters. And if you have an event going on, be sure to invite them.
• Share your story with the rest of the world. The 350 pacific team is here to help you get the story of the challenges you are facing from climate change, and the positive actions you are doing out to the rest of the world. Write up stories of the actions you have done and the challenges you are facing. Post 2 minute videos featuring your inspiring local organisers leading action on youtube. Post photos on the 350 Pacific Facebook group. And please do share the stories with aaron@350.org – we can help you write/edit them and find blogs to put them on.
• Register your group/team on the new 350 Local web platform (to be launched early December 2011)

+Develop your team, recruit for your team

• Share the 350.org manifesto with your team – http://wiki.350.org/Manifesto
• Identify team roles, spend sometime getting to know each other, and having fun together
• Develop your support base – don’t get too focused on just your team – always think about how you can build your base of supporters and keep them updated about your activities and events. You also want to provide opportunities for those supporters to get involved with your coordinating team.