Don't Change Your Light Bulbs in the Dark

“We’ve got to change laws, not just light bulbs.”

Climate change organizers have used some variation of this argument for years. Its rationale is pretty simple: stabilizing the climate requires sweeping policy changes, so the time and energy we’d all spend greening our own lives would be much better spent getting politically active. It says activism is a zero-sum game.

But while the recent death of the U.S. Senate's climate bill highlighted a need for more grassroots political action, it has also exposed a need for the climate movement to undertake a more wholesale strategic shift. The traditional tactics of rallying, petitioning and so on took us pretty far but not far enough: The movement has plateaued and so have its political possibilities. To take it to the next level, climate organizers need to get creative with new tactics to inspire an even bigger activist surge.

Getting creative doesn’t necessarily mean inventing totally new approaches to activism; it's also about looking at old approaches in a new light. Case in point is this old light bulb conflict. Why couldn’t every green action we take – whether switching a light bulb, weatherizing a home, or installing a solar panel – also double as a political statement?

That seems to be the rationale behind what's shaping up to be a major day of climate action this October 10th (10/10/10). "Global Work Party" organizers, led by grassroots group 350.org, aim to do something even more amazing than last year's day of 5,200 demonstrations. This year, political action on climate change will be tied directly to people's efforts to get to work doing projects in their own communities. The message to global policy makers will be clear and compelling: “If we can get to work, so can you.”

In other words, the Global Work Party will be the coming-out party for what may be a new kind of lobbying petition: an action petition. It’s a general rule of thumb in activism that the more time consuming the tactic, the bigger its impact on a legislator. Handwritten letters thus trump petition signatures, and lobby meetings trump phone calls. By this same rationale, how much more compelling would an email to support energy efficiency legislation be if accompanied by pictures of the author caulking windows? The action petition takes things up a notch.

But that’s not all the action petition has going for it. For one, it can help people and communities feel more personally invested in climate activism. While the effects of lobbying can sometimes be hard to see, going green almost always produces a positive, visible and tangible change. So even if a particular bill fails, with an action petition, activists will still have a positive change to show for their effort. Plus, a person who has actually installed a solar panel sees climate action in a less abstract light and may be more compelled to fight for broader policies.

The action petition can also help broaden a movement's umbrella. For example, our coalition for the 10/10/10 actions in Washington, DC includes many groups that might otherwise have little occasion to directly engage in climate activism were it not for this new opportunity to highlight their work in bicycle advocacy or community gardening, for example. Thanks to the 10/10/10 action petition approach, these groups are now really excited about climate activism. Indeed, I’ve rarely seen an action generate such a sense of investment and enthusiasm from such a wide array of groups.

Given all the benefits of the action petition, maybe it's time to swap out the old “laws-over-light bulbs” argument for “change your light bulbs, but don’t do it in the dark."

We should make sure that every personal action on climate change doubles as a demand for political leadership. That’s the Global Work Party spirit, and we should all catch it by helping to make October 10^th the biggest day of climate action ever. You can sign a pledge to take part here, view a map of events being held on 10/10/10 around the world, or learn how to organize your own event.

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