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Dear Friends,
We're writing because so many of you have risen to the call and shared ideas for the 350 movement in the past few weeks. Our team is deeply grateful for all your thoughts, and wanted to share an update on our trajectory and future plans.
After getting some rest and renewing our spirits with family and friends over the holidays, the core 350.org team is getting ready to have extensive discussions in Vermont, USA early next month. We really want to take some time and reflect on the lessons learned from the last two years of international campaigning, the great victories as well as setbacks we've faced, and sort out what's next.
This is where you come in. While discussing with each other, we'll also be poring over each of your ideas with author and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben in order to figure out how our small team can best support the global movement moving forward. The call for ideas is still open, so do send them along to ideas@350.org.
We've already been diving into many of your letters for inspiration, direction, and initial strategy conversation-starters. We received hundreds upon hundreds of fantastic ideas, and we wanted to share four snippets below that seem to capture a few of the themes we're seeing so far:
- Start a Climate "Meetup": "I think going forward it would be an intelligent move to convene '350 community meetings' once a month to keep people together and keep the energy, effort and movement growing." - Sean & Julie, San Francisco, US
- Organize for Local Action: "What is needed now is action at ground level to get individuals, streets, schools, councils, etc to get moving to achieve carbon reductions that will make a difference." - Francesca, UK
- Educate Your Community: "What needs to be done is a massive educational movement, which will increase awareness, increase membership to 350.org and get political attention." - Eric
- Take Aim at Coal: "The campaign should involve nonviolent resistance to coal mining and new power plants. It should involve hyper-awareness campaigns by and for citizens about existing coal power plants, who receives the energy, and what alternatives exist. Build pressure campaigns on local, state, national and global leadership, and create timelines to shut coal plants down." - Christine
We were also re-energized by a strong sense of perseverance that formed the basis for many (if not all) of your notes. Here's an excerpt that stood out by Diego of Madrid, Spain:
- Keep Pushing: "I really think that Copenhagen is just the beginning, that this was just the first round and there is a lot to do in the future. Watching hundreds of organizations and NGO´s working together, involving thousands of people from all over the world has been something very powerful. I think that continuing this work together, and making it bigger and more powerful is the key to having a chance for the future...
- Stand in Solidarity, Stand For Survival: "There will be a lot of disappointments in the future, but we have to remember that giving up is not an option. The people in Africa cannot give up. The people in Tuvalu and the Maldives cannot give up. The people in Bangladesh and Vietnam cannot give up. Because giving up means a certain and miserable death for them. So the only option is to keep working, for the benefit of all living beings in this planet."
Again, thanks for taking the time to formulate and share your thoughts with us -- and many more for showing a relentless desire to take the movement forward into a fresh new year. There will be no shortage of challenges in 2010, but as we ponder the failures of Copenhagen, the challenges we face in each of our home countries, the well-funded opposition that continues to spread misinformation and lies, let's not forget that sometimes ambition makes things easier, sometimes it's ok to dream. As Jamie wrote in a recent blog post, 2010 is the year that we must all "go big." (www.350.org/go-big)
Remember, our small team doesn't have all the answers -- it is up to all of us, as movement-builders, to take the lead in our own communities.
We're looking forward to reflecting on everything you've shared. We'll be in touch from the forests of Vermont.
Onwards,
May, Jamie, Phil, Kelly, Will, Jeremy, Jon & Bill
PS: Among the hundreds of great ideas we've received so far, by far the most inspiring have been those you've said you're already bringing to life in your communities. 350.org is a unique campaign in that it's "open-source" and we definitely encourage you to take the next step to make your idea a reality. We'd also love to learn more about your efforts and support you as best we can--keep sending your ideas and projects to ideas@350.org
P.P.S. The reports coming out of Haiti are increasingly grim--please do take a moment to read our post about the earthquake, and please do share what you can with one of the many worthy relief efforts on the ground: www.350.org/haiti
Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity. Learn more about 350 – what it means, where it came from, and how to get there. Read More » 
