The 350 movement has an astounding number of incredibly powerful stories in its brief history since 2008. Among those are the stories of the more than 25 climate leadership workshops that have taken place all around the world and all the inspiring stories of those involved. So far, since 2009 over 1,000 leaders from more than 80 countries have participated in these workshops. Many of those folks have gone on to pioneer the 350 campaign and lead the climate movement in their countries or cities.
It was two young Ethiopian women who attended the first ever 350.org climate leadership workshop in South Africa who managed to organize that largest 350 demonstration to date — 15,000 people in Addis Ababa for the 24th October, 2009 International Day of Climate Action. Two youth climate leaders from Nepal who joined for another workshop in 2009 have since organized dozens of their own workshops in all regions of their mountainous country. And more recently, our friends in Ukraine who joined a workshop alongside rising leaders from across the Russian speaking world last year are now charging ahead with 350 Ukraine as an ongoing campaign and leading up the organizing for a national workshop in tandem with Moving Planet this coming September.
I could go on with examples, but suffice it to say that these workshops have proven immensely powerful for all involved, and for the movement as a whole. Speaking personaly for a moment, I can share that the workshops I have been lucky enough to join have been some of the most energizing and uplifting of my experiences in this growing climate movement. People often ask about how hard it must be to work on such a daunting and challenging issue as climate change. No doubt, working on a crisis so large can be just that — very daunting. Yet, each and every workshop I attend gives me more than enough hope that we absolutely can create the change that science and justice demand. We have that power, and these workshops are helping come closer and closer to realizing that power together.
And for that reason, we are immensely excited to announce the release of a new website:
https://workshops.350.org
This site, for the first time, opens the information and materials that go into running climate leadership workshops to any and all who are interested in organizing one. We most often organize these workshops as multi-day events — so this is no small task — but we highly, highly encourage all who are interested in building a strong and skilled climate movement team where they are to dive into these materials and consider organizing a workshop (or a workshop series, if doing it all in one go isn't feasible for you) where you are.
For starters, take look at what's there — the general workshop guide, session by session, and the tips for how to go about organizing an actual workshop event. We will be happy to try and support anyone who is interested in taking on workshops with guidance from our team of experienced facilitators.
We hope you will find this resource as powerful as we have, and we look forward to hearing the stories of more workshops that you lead. And we'll be sure to continue telling the stories of workshops as we organize them as well. In fact, here's the just released video from the workshop that just took place in Lagos, Nigeria: