There are two big climate marches this weekend. Reading their respective press releases, it struck me that there’s an interesting contrast between them that’s worth reflecting on. Since neither of them are particularly active in the UK, we can observe them from a distance and see what we can learn from them. Here they are:
First, Draw the Line. This is a global protest with events taking place all weekend. The map shows large clusters of events in Germany, the US, West Africa and Indonesia.
There will be a combination of marches, strikes, walkouts and art interventions, all aiming to “draw the line against injustice, pollution, and violence – and for a future built on peace, clean energy, and fairness.” The idea is to do this now, ahead of COP30, as a way of insisting that these climate talks be the turning point.
There’s a big coalition behind all this, including climate justice organisations, indigenous people movements, new economics campaigns and human rights groups. Perhaps as a result of this broad coalition, the list of demands sprawls a bit. There are six main headline demands covering climate justice themes, with lots of sub-clauses to keep everyone around the table. Point number two, for example, starts with “phase out fossil fuels,” and then goes on to say “build renewables, shift to sustainable food – fast, fair, feminist, and forever.”
By the end of the list, we’ve drawn lines relating to changing ‘the system’, stopping fossil fuels, cancelling debt, divestment, taxing billionaires, fair trade, land rights and the Gaza genocide. “Redistribute wealth and power,” demands point six in closing. “End colonialism, patriarchy, and racism.”
It’s hard to argue with any of these, but it’s a lot to be getting on with. If you saw the march go by in the street, would you know what they were calling for? If a politician were to ask a junior aide what the crowd outside were demanding, the answer is so “all of the above” that there’s very little they could offer in response.
Even the marchers themselves might not know exactly what the demands are. Take that “fast, fair, feminist, and forever” line in the demand to end fossil fuels. There is a feminist approach to ending fossil fuels (if you stop and think about who does what work in a coal mining town, you might spot a complication for just transition initiatives). Would most marchers be able to articulate it or explain why the word appears there in the demands?
Draw the Line looks like a great opportunity to build solidarity across movements. That’s the big strength here, with people taking to the streets alongside others whose cause is adjacent but complementary. There’s power in that. But will it change anything or bring in a crowd beyond the usual suspects? Less certain, and outcomes are going to be different in each country taking part.
Onto the second big campaign of the weekend then: Sun Day. With its cheeky riff on Earth Day, Sun Day invites people to “rise up for a sun-powered planet” with a day celebrating the power of clean energy. There will be e-bike parades, solar installations and the official opening of new solar parks, and tours of heat pumps and other clean tech in local neighbourhoods. It’s a pretty free and easy brief, with film screenings and open homes, and walking tours of solar installations. A town in Ohio is hosting Porchfest, where solar-powered music performances will be held on people’s front porches.
Most of the events are in America, with a shout-out to the solitary UK event taking place at Colin’s house. You know, Colin. Colin Brooks? Of Mold in Flintshire? We’re all invited to have a look at his solar and battery system, and I hope the entire climate movement pops round to Colin’s to take him up on the offer.
There’s a coalition behind Sun Day too, though it seems to be mainly driven by Third Act, the climate action network for the over-60s that Bill McKibben launched a couple of years ago. All the events are local, rather than aiming for mass gatherings.
Sun Day is a celebration of progress and a call for more clean energy. There’s an acknowledgement that “some politicians and industries are trying to hold it back”, but the day of action isn’t aimed at them. This isn’t a campaign that is making demands of those in authority. It presents what’s already been done, in the hope that it might inspire more of the same. It’s an opportunity for neighbours and local communities to share what they’ve learned and encourage more people to install solar.
These are two very different approaches:
- Draw the Line, despite outlining what they’re marching for, is predominantly negative in its framing. SunDay is overwhelmingly positive.
- The first presents a wish-list to the powerful and hopes that they will act. The second celebrates climate actions that people are doing for themselves.
- Justice issues are inextricably linked, and so Draw the Line has thrown its net wide and included every cause going. SunDay has one clear message and captures it in the name.
- Draw the Line is fundamentally about scarcity: there isn’t enough to go around and some people have been left out. SunDay is about abundance: nobody owns the sun.
- Draw the Line confronts power. SunDay gentles undermines it.
In comparing the two, I’m not trying to establish which one is best. The more interesting question is which one is the most timely. Which one captures the mood and speaks most effectively to this particular moment? To use an unusual term that I’ve explained in previous posts, which one best demonstrates prophetic imagination?
Right now, it seems to me that the most urgent challenge is to present good news stories. The things we’re doing for climate change are working and they’re making life better for people. In the US, the government is ideologically opposed and won’t change its mind, so a set of demands is wasted on them. All climate action in the US will be local in the short term, and celebrating the solutions locally can help to de-politicise them.
In the UK, the risk is more from opposition, and a government wavering on its best intentions. A steady tide of lies and worry is drowning out the reality that climate policies are working and benefit all of us. If the lies prevail, then the next UK government will overturn the net zero target and those benefits will be snatched away. How do we demonstrate the value of climate solutions to voters? How do we bring people into the story of the clean energy transition, street by street and school by school? We need campaigns that are positive, empowering and crystal clear in what the stand for. If both this weekend’s big climate events were happening in my neighbourhood, I know which one I’d be taking part in.
The Earthbound Report 