The Climate Movement’s Purpose, Goals, & Strategic Significance
Olympian Fields of Action Series: Post #20
I thought it might be helpful to summarize how I see what we are trying to do through the Climate Movement by utilizing an approach that some of us are familiar with — the categories and forms of strategic planning.
Articulating vision, purpose, goals, and objectives has been a mainstay of strategic planning that some of us have gone through. You may love it; you may hate it. You may think it’s a big waste of time because the plan is never implemented, or changes so much that you wonder why we bothered.
Many negative feelings about strategic planning have to do with a failure of leadership to implement what everyone worked hard to agree to. Fair enough.
Another turn-off: some folks can become strategic planning fundamentalists, especially about the ideational categories. “Oh, that’s not a goal because …”
Oy vey.
Finally, if implementation of a strategic plan is so rigid and joyless that you end up hating it, well, something has gone terribly wrong.
For us, the thinking of strategic planning and the concepts it utilizes should serve the Climate Movement, not the other way round.
So why am I bothering with this?
For three reasons.
First, as I’ve said, its forms and style are familiar to some of us. Such familiarity can aid in communication leading to understanding, and hopefully to common ground and acceptance.
Second, at a meta level, movements and strategic planning share a need to articulate what our efforts are trying to do. But whereas with a strategic plan the group can affirm it, not so with an entire movement. No one is in charge of a movement, including ours. No governing body, no single leader, is in a position to approve a strategic plan. Nor can everyone in a movement, including our Movement, participate in the creation of a strategic plan.
But the more people in a movement who can agree on the vision, purpose, and major goals of that movement the better. As I have written in the Together Enough Subseries of posts, movements include collective entities or social forms like organizations and campaigns that can affirm vision, purpose, and goals. Just like with individuals, the more social forms that affirm the same or similar vision, purpose, and goals the better.
Throughout this Climate Hope Together Substack, I have articulated what I consider to be our vision, purpose, and Major Goal, and I have done so all wrapped up in a single 18-word package:
to overcome climate change by creating a just and prosperous sustainability that enhances wellbeing for everyone and everything.
In much of my writing I simply call this text our vision, purpose, and Major Goal, as if it was universally recognized to be so. I do this for convenience and shorthand, but also in the hope that many of you will accept them!
The third reason I am employing strategic planning concepts here is the emphasis on articulating measurability and timeframes. Measurability shouldn’t become a dictator, trying to run everything, trying to fit everything we do into some measurable form. But it has important benefits, especially in helping to clarify what we are trying to do within a certain timeframe. As you will see, I have tried to put forth ambitious but achievable goals to help us imagine both the challenge and the opportunity the Climate Movement presents.
Of course, there’s a huge difference between what I will put forth here and an actual strategic plan. My presentations using the style and forms of strategic planning are another way to communicate and sum up what we are trying to do and achieve as the Climate Movement.
But an actual strategic plan is the result of a process by a group of people who, at the end, affirm the plan. It is both process and product — and the process, resulting in buy-in, is just as important as the product. Obviously, the process hasn’t happened here.
So while the content I will present in this post is in the form of a strategic plan, it isn’t a real strategic plan because a group hasn’t worked on it together and approved the final product.
Besides articulating what I think we should be trying to accomplish, this is also a bit of a thought experiment. If the Climate Movement were able to create a strategic plan, what would it look like?
Of course, any of you could take what I have written as a starting point, either for yourself, or for any of the social forms you may belong to. I certainly hope you will!
However we end up doing it, it will be good for as many of us as possible to affirm a basic agreement on what we are all trying to achieve.
Before we launch in, a note on a term I’m using: Climate Movement Artist-Athletes. This is not a special role. It refers to every member of the Climate Movement. We’re all special! We all bring our gifts and creativity to our participation. Your creativity might be in how to facilitate a meeting that makes everyone feel welcome and their contribution worthwhile. Or it might be how to plan an event, or lead singing, etc. We all can be creative in our own way. That’s why all of us are Climate Movement Artists.
We also are all Climate Movement Athletes. I use the Olympic Games as our main metaphor for understanding who we are. We are striving for victory on all of our Olympian Fields of Action.
So we are both Artists and Athletes. We are Climate Movement Artist-Athletes.
Without further ado, here we go.
Vision, Purpose, and Major Goal of the Climate Movement
To become the greatest and most long-lasting social change movement in history that leads the world to overcome climate change by creating a just and prosperous sustainability that enhances wellbeing for everyone and everything.
Movement-Building Goals
To achieve the vision, purpose, and Major Goal of our Climate Movement, we must become these seven characteristics/imperatives/goals.
1) Big and Broad and Active Enough
a) The Climate Movement will be 5% of the total human population or 400 million by 2030.
b) We will be 10% by 2040.
c) By 2030 we will have enough Climate Action Artist-Athletes to achieve victory on every Olympian Field of Action needed, including but not limited to:
constituents at every political level around the world;
students;
retirees;
scientists and engineers of all kinds;
farmers and foresters;
those connected to every business that can help or impede our vision, purpose, and Major Goal — consumers, owners, employers, employees, consultants;
Climate Solutions Workers — those connected to creating, improving, and implementing clean energy, natural climate solutions, and other solutions-related fields;
every profession and trade — e.g., nurses, plumbers, law enforcement officers, electricians, fire fighters, welders, doctors, carpenters, teachers, auto manufacturing workers, computer programmers;
finance and banking sector professionals;
every faith tradition;
every civil society group;
those who create art — musicians, songwriters, composers, YouTube and TikTok videomakers, photographers, actors, all those involved in filmmaking, writers of all kinds, painters, sculptors, jewelry makers, quilt makers;
all the needed groups I haven’t thought of.
d) We will have the strength in numbers and the diversity of all of the types of social forms necessary to achieve our vision, purpose, and Major Goal.
e) We will be active enough by having public events:
at least weekly in large countries like the US with population sizes in the hundreds of millions or more, as well as medium-size countries with over 200 million;
at least bi-weekly in medium-size countries with less than 200 million;
at least monthly in small countries under a million.
a) 75% of Climate Movement Artist-Athletes will rank climate change as their top concern starting in 2027, increasing to 85% by 2030.
b) 100% of Climate Movement Artist-Athletes by 2027 will take actions at least monthly to help achieve our Major Goal; such actions will be both personal and strategic, and in addition to policy advocacy.
c) From day one all Climate Movement Artists-Athletes are willing to make sacrifices to advance our cause.
d) 20% of Climate Artist-Athletes will be willing to engage in strategic civil disobedience by 2030, and we will maintain this level as long as necessary.
e) 100% of Climate Movement Artist-Athletes will make a lifelong commitment when they join to make our future come faster, thereby ensuring that we overcome climate change at the speed and scale necessary.
3) Deep Enough
a) By 2027, at least 70% of Climate Action Artist-Athletes, and 80% by 2030, will have asked these or similar questions:
What do I think makes life meaningful?
What do I think life is all about?
What are my strongly held values?
Why do I think climate action is the right thing to do?
How does remaining faithful to climate action help me to live out my values, to have a life of integrity and worth, to make a difference?
Climate Action Teams or CATS will help achieve these goals by asking these or similar questions of all CAT members.
b) By 2027 all Climate Movement Artist-Athletes recognize and name people we care about who we are fighting for.
c) By 2027 at least 80% of Climate Movement Artist-Athletes will be able to clearly articulate why climate action fulfills their most cherished values and protects who and what they love.
d) By 2027, 70% or more of Climate Movement Artist-Athletes will have affirmed: (1) our Ten Movement Values, including that we are fighting for justice — to stop bad stuff, set wrong right, and make things better, and; (2) the Better Future Covenant, to create a better future for children and subsequent generations, which is their due.
e) 80% will be in meaningful weekly communication with other Climate Movement Artist-Athletes by 2027.
f) Whenever we come together, at meetings, marches, etc., we will sing movement songs (e.g. Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready; Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come), or popular songs adapted for our Movement (e.g., Seal’s Crazy; REM’s Stand; Taylor Swift’s Only The Young; Tab Benoit’s Night Train; Little River Band’s Cool Change).
a) Have regular discussions about balancing: 1) the tried-and-true, 2) discipline, 3) freedom, and 4) creativity.
b) Implement tactics and strategies from the past that best fit current circumstances.
c) Maintain discipline by remaining true to our Movement Values and all of our goals and objectives.
d) Regularly encourage one another to have the discipline to stay the course and achieve our seven Movement-building goals and our vision, purpose, and Major Goal as we make hope happen, our world more just, and our future come faster.
e) Regularly remind everyone that freedom — i.e., choices that create a better world, the fullness of freedom — is at the heart of our Movement.
f) At every meeting have as an agenda item to ask whether there are any new ideas to discuss, including tweaks to current approaches.
g) Regularly encourage a variety of: 1) tactics, such as marches, boycotts, etc., and 2) targets, such as fossil bank credit card holders.
h) Recognizing the need for speed and scale, combine passion with the tried-and- true, discipline, and creativity to produce continuous actions within each country so that there are one or more organized actions happening at least weekly. Once they have occurred, post these organized actions on a map all Climate Action Artist-Athletes can see.
i) Establish prizes/medals for the most creative ideas in a variety of categories, e.g. targeting, tactics, communications.
j) Educate Artist-Athletes about the creative process and ways we all can enhance ours.
5) Organic and Strategic Enough
a) Achieve our goals on all of the Fields of Action we create, which are designed to help us attain our vision, purpose & Major Goal.
b) At every meeting encourage Climate Action Artist-Athletes to bring forward new ideas and for others to add to these ideas ones that make them even better. Be open to the spontaneous when it arises from the interactions between group Artist-Athletes, utilizing wisdom to discern the value of implementation.
c) Regularly raise the issue of balancing organic change with the need for efficiency, effectiveness, targets, timelines, and the strategic employment of resources at key moments and places to achieve our goals so that the organic and the strategic make each other better.
a) By 2028, 70% of Climate Movement Artist-Athletes will be a participant in one or more social forms.
b) By 2030 this will increase to 80% and will be maintained or increased thereafter.
c) From their beginnings, all of our social forms will fulfill the three aspects of being together enough: shared goals; action events; meeting together regularly.
d) By 2028 half of all businesses will earn climate-friendly profits and actively encourage employees to work together to come up with better processes and products.
e) By 2035 such businesses will increase to 70% and continue to grow thereafter.
f) By 2027, 30% of Climate Movement Artist-Athletes will be part of a Climate Action Team or CAT.
g) By 2030 this will increase to 50%, which will be maintained or increased thereafter.
h) All Climate Action Teams or CATS will meet in synchronous or real time at least once a month — but ideally once a week — to support one another and plan actions together, including at least one joint major action each month.
i) CATS will help individual members discover and/or affirm their gifts and abilities and how they can be utilized in the roles they play on the CAT and in the Climate Movement.
j) All CATS and other social forms will meaningfully incorporate the Arts into meeting together, and also find ways to have fun and enjoy one another.
7) Long Enough
a) 70% of individual Climate Action Artist-Athletes maintain their commitment to the Climate Movement throughout their lives.
b) 50% of climate organizations will still be active in 2050.
c) 50% of environmental organizations currently engaged will still be working on climate change in 2050.
d) Climate organizations and environmental organizations and other organizations with a focus on climate action will make employee retention and job satisfaction a top priority.
e) Coalitions/alliances/networks/associations, faith community efforts, campaigns, and initiatives will create supportive conditions for all participants so that the goals and related timelines are achieved, and, if possible, lay a foundation for new goals/timelines to be adopted.
f) Members of Climate Action Teams or CATS will make up a third of the Climate Movement starting in 2030 and grow to half by 2040.
g) CATS will help all of their Climate Action Artist-Athletes to recognize and claim their roles and support them in fulfilling their roles.
h) CATS will appoint “keepers” for each of the values affirmed by the CAT. Each one will report regularly their observations and suggestions. The CAT will also designate a “joy-spotter,” who highlights joys within the team and throughout the Climate Movement.
i) All Climate Action Artist-Athletes will experience the hope and the joy that come from joining together to be a part of bringing forth a better world by overcoming climate change while creating a just and prosperous sustainability that enhances wellbeing for everyone and everything.
Strategic Significance of the Climate Movement
Continually pushes the other three of The Catalytic-4 and society at large to achieve our vision, purpose, and Major Goal.
Victory Is Up To Us
Friends, we are the hope we’ve been waiting for! But we are not the only source of hope. The other three Catalytic Sources of Transformation — Climate Action Supporters, ARTC or the accelerating rate of tech change, Governments-&-Markets —also give us hope. And yet without us they will not achieve their full hope-potential. That’s why we are indispensable. We must continually drive everything forward to victory. Victory is up to us, but we have help.
And because victory is up to us, we won’t be complete without you. We need your help. We need you for victory. Join us!
If you are new here, check out our Intro Series, as well as other posts in our Olympian Fields of Action Series. If you like this post, please “like,” comment, and share. And thanks for all you’re doing.