We’ve just finished 4 days of 350 Climate Leadership Workshop, here in Bogor, Indonesia, with 20 truly remarkable leaders from around the East Asia region. The workshop brought both new people in to the movement, as well as the leaders of 350 groups in places like Vietnam, Philippines, Burma, China, and of course Indonesia. It was incredibly inspiring to hear first-hand the impressive scale of the 350 movements in Vietnam and the Philippines – where up until now, we only had an inkling of what our organizers had achieved in these places. The team from Vietnam walked us through a slideshow of event-after-event, involving hundreds of thousands of locals and celebrities. While the team from the Philippines took us through the carefully planned organising structure they are unrolling to support dozens of local groups around the country.
It was with this depth of experience and expertise that the relatively small group of 20 people made plans to scale up the 350 movement in a region that includes 1/3 of the world’s population. While often faced with difficult political contexts, plans were made to take on fossil fuel subsidies, coal expansion, and push a strong drive for renewable energy deployment, and people-powered solutions.
From here on in, expect to hear more amazing stories as the East Asia 350.org movement pushes forward with greater regional unity and resolve. Zeph from the Philippines summed it up well:
“I felt that I am connected to a bigger and stronger network of young leaders that had committed themselves to solve the climate crisis in whatever way possible. It is inspiring and moving to share the spirit of solidarity among countries. We are not perfect, but we choose to be here to be better leaders.”
It’s with that commitment, that workshop participants are now on their way home, and already planning to run their own local workshops, build-up local groups and take the 350 movement to scale. Onwards we move!