Coalition of the Willing: film-making, collaboration, activism
This is a brilliant initiative: a growing online activist movie created by an army of collaborators, who are animating a script by philosopher/activist Tim Rayner:
Still from Coalition of the Willing: Back to the 60s by World Leaders
The film is appearing online at coalitionofthewilling.org.uk. Rayner’s collaborator is the film maker Simon Robson aka Knife Party, who has pulled in a glorious range of film makers and animators to bring Rayner’s script – on how activists can come together to combat climate change.
The first clips went up at the start of this week. More will be appearing in waves in the coming weeks.
it’s a really exciting way of bringing creative people together on a project like this. The medium is wonderful. I’m not entirely sure I’m convinced of the message – though I would like to be. The Coalition of the Willing‘s theme is that that the net allows “swarm politics” to flourish, giving activists a unique chance to mobilise against global warming.
While the net does have that effect, there are two other effects which seem to be just as strong:
1) It gives exactly the same power to those who think the very opposite of what you do – witness the swarm of warming scepticism online.
2) Though it creates lots of networks there is no real incentive for those networks to link up. They are often reproducing exactly the same message, deploying the same tactics, in isolation from each other. At the same time as it pulls people together it also keeps them in separate silos.
FILMMAKERS: Adam Gault & Stefanie Augustine, Bran Dougherty-Johnson, Cassiano Prado, Mario Sader & Ralph Pinel, Clapham Road Studios, Dave Baum, Decoy, Dom Del Torto, Dylan White & Andy Hague, Echolab, Foreign Office, Andreas Gebhardt, James Wignall,BBWD (Loyalkaspar), Sehsucht – Directed by Mate Steinforth, Mighty Nice, Parasol Island, Thiago Maia, World Leaders, Yum Yum London
Charles Clover: "environmentalists are very boring"
How 2009 became the year of the campaign movie from RSA Arts & Ecology on Vimeo.
Charles Clover energised the campaign to alert the world to approaching fish stock collapse earlier this year with the film The End of the Line. It was a great example of how a single coordinated attack using the right media can produce a quantum leap in awareness. I spoke to him and the Guardian’s Environment Editor John Vidal about how an imaginative, passionate and above all clever approach can galvanise action and force suppliers and politicians to rethink their strategy.
But he’s scathing about how the broader environment movement has failed to grip the public imagination. Responding to a recent IPPR survey that said the public were “bored” with climate change:
It’s because environmentalists are very boring, he says. They used not to have jobs when I got into this business. They had something very burning and interesting to say which quite a lot of people wanted them not to say, and people tried to shut them up. They were very exciting people to know, and they didn’t have a pension fund. Now they have pension funds and sit around in offices and try and think of something interesting to say, and not a lot of them achieve it.
Has the professionalisation of the climate movement creating a beast that feeds itself? Is that part of the reason the public finds climate activists, in the words of the report “smug”?
Charles Clover and John Vidal were in the house to discuss The End of the Line at a screening organised by RSA Events who run the best public lectures series you’ll find in London – and you don’t have to work here to think that. Follow them on http://twitter.com/RSAEvents
Did #pm2un Tweet make Gordon to go to Copenhagen?
I was blogging last week in response to green.tv’s suggestion that there were too many climate campaigns. My view was that it wasn’t that there were too many, but that maybe they weren’t reaching the right people.
Last week the website BeThatChange.com were pushing hard on a campaign on Twitter, #pm2un, trying to persuade Gordon Brown to commit to go to the COP15 Climate Conference in Copenhagen. At the time this seemed like a great example of a well-targeted campaign.
Though it’s not that unusual for leaders not to commit to attending this sort of conference until the last moment, BeThatChange had cleverly spotted an opportunity there. It looks rubbish for Brown to be claiming to be leading the agenda at Copenhagen when he’s not even committed to going himself. A couple of days after BeThatChange cranked up the heat with their #pm2un campaign, @EdMilibandMP tweeted a survey on his Ed’s Pledge site, asking visitors what their priorities for Copenhagen were. Miliband offered the following options to chose from:
1) the Prime Minister attending Copenhagen to help deliver a deal
2) doing more to provide home insulation in the UK
3) more government support to create green jobs
Whatever you think about the yeas and nays of deliberative democracy, when I looked on Friday, “the Prime Minster attending Copenhagen to help deliver a deal” had received 93% of the vote. How much of that was due to the BeThatChange.com campaign is hard to calculate, but I suspect that the question was even on Miliband’s poll suggests that the original #pm2un campaign was bang on.
If anything, I suppose it’s possible the Labour Party saw how potentially embarrassing such a campaign could be if it gained much more momentum, and instead turned it to their advantage. Either way the news came through late last night, less than 48 hours before BeThatChange’s next #pm2un twitterstorm:
Gordon Brown urges world leaders to attend climate change talk
Whatever did happen behind closed doors, it was nice work all round, really.
Avaaaz/tcktcktck Global Wake Up Call today
Are there too many climate campaigns?
Just as we’ve been publishing our ever expanding lists of campaigns in the run up to COP15, and as we’re on the verge of launching our own one, Arts for COP15, Green.tv asks the question “Are there too many climate campaigns?” [Their blog is currently down today... so you'll have to take my word for it]. Have we become “bored” with the issue of climate change because of campaign overload?
For climate campaigners the real frustration is the slowness of change. The public still seem reluctant to clamour at politicians in the way we’d like them to. Could this be because they are just getting too many messages? That list of sixteen actions for COP15 is by no means exhaustive. Is this a case of too much information?
I don’t think so. Three reasons:
1) For a start, the nature of social media means that this fragmentation is going to happen, whether we like it or not. For better or worse, there will no longer be a single source of authority on any political discussion like this. On the plus side, climate campaigners like Franny Armstrong have shown how incredibly effective social media are for spreading a message.
2) Secondly, though the campaigns are diverse, climate NGOs are showing a great deal of resourcefulness. Most of the campaigns listed below are actually partnerships between several campaigns – Greenpeace, WWF, Oxfam, Age of Stupid et al. Charities usually have a parochial tendency to defend their own turf with one eye on their own future fundraising – but in this case there is a lot of sharing going on.
3) So what’s the problem? With all this heat being created why aren’t more poeple taking action? Perhaps in this case we’re blaming the medium, not the message. Most campaigns on energy and climate do not interest the mass of the people worldwide. The avaaz.org map of actions for Monday 21 September is worth looking at. Why is there a huge disparity between the numbers of actions being taken in different countries? We have to think hard about what messages appeal to the mass of people who are more aspirational than ourselves. (That’s not to say they need to be directly aspirational messages; the most effective political campaigns in recent times have usually been based on fear.)
We are in a research period, still looking for the right message. We have not found it yet. Now is not the time to start cutting down on the multiplicity of voices. Eventually one of us is going to get the right campaign, the killer one, the one that convinces more than just our friends.
Monday: Global climate wake up call
The Avaaz.org/tcktcktck flash mob campaign mentioned below takes place on Monday between 12:15PM – 12:30PM. It’s not too late to add your own events to the list. Within two weeks since the idea first surfaced, there are now over 350 events taking place in 52 countries – though taking a look at the ones in London, some groups seem to have interpreted the brief pretty loosely. It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out. Can social media demonstrate their effectiveness with this issue? I’m going to try and make it along to the one at Westminster if I can escape the desk…
Take a look at the site and find an action near you.
Meanwhile, we’ve created a site called Arts for COP15 which will be going live in the next few days. This site is still being worked on, and please note, the url you’re redirected to isn’t the one the site will have when it officially goes live, but you can still join the site, log in and upload information about any COP15 arts related events.
16 ways to make your voice heard at COP15
In advance of COP15, there is a growing mass of intiatives binding us together to scare the negotiators into action.
They are in no particular order. Look down the list and find the ones that suit your own approach the best. Take part in as many as you have time for. Share them around.
Which ones have I left out? Drop me a line.
TckTckTck The Global Citizens for Climate Action Campaign launched in August, partnered with Greenpeace, Christian Aid and Oxfam, counting us down from 100 days to COP15.
10:10 The 10:10 campaign launched off the back of Franny Armstrong’s Age of Stupid, focussing minds on cutting our emissions by 10% next year, but big on pressurising Ed Miliband to bring the goods from Copenhagen.
350.org Bill McKibben’s campaign to get world leaders to agree to a workable target of 350ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere plans for an international day of action on Oct 24.
Vote Earth Off the back of the WWF’s Earth Hour campaign run back in March, the climate change charity have issued this global petition to world leaders.the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Sandbag “Real action on climate change” exploit the arcanities of Europe’s carbon trading schemes by “retiring” surplus credits. They also have a COP15 “One giant leap” petition they want you to sign.
Seal the deal 2009 The UN’s European Climate Campaign, aims to create a “mosaic” of faces and voices with an online petition calling for change at Copenhagen. This is sTTThehe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.fox. ome more invisible writing this is some invisible writing.
Mobilization for Climate Justice North American coalition of activists pressing for a deal are planning major actions throughout the US on November 30. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Never trust a COP … and for those who don’t have faith that the more conventional appeals above are going to work, here’s the radical leftists’ direct action network on COP15.
Hopenhagen. A snappy web-based initiative that gives people the chance to come together over the question “What gives you hope?” Catch-all question that’s the start of a rolling social media campaign.
Avaaz.org Global Wake-Up Call Following a global poll, Avaaz.org now plan a day of flash mob action in towns and cities everywhere on Sept 21. Other campaigns to follow.
Be that change | Get the PM to the UN. Excellently targetted campaign to ensure that UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be at COP15. He currently has no plans to attend.
Stop Climate Chaos | The Wave Huge London demo scheduled for December 5 2009 to coincide with the start of COP15. Let’s not forget the old fashioned technique of actually coming together and marching.
New Earth Deal Campaign organised by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe to create support for COP15. In an era in which politicians lack the will to lead, they now set up their own petitions. Such as…
Act on Copenhagen | Back the bid The UK government’s campaign to corral support for action at COP15. A government attempt to demonstrate that it has support for radical action at COP15 – should it chose to pursue it.
Friends of the Earth | Demand Climate Change Friends of the Earth’s e-petition campaign to ensure that governments sign up to a 40% cut in emissions by 2020. “We will not accept anything less.”
Operation Noah | Ark petition Faith based campaign with an original scheme. Build an origami ark and send it to Downing Street to make your voice heard.
Thanks to Susan Poupard and others for filling the gaps.
Eight Ten ways to make your voice heard at COP15
In advance of COP15, there is a growing mass of intiatives binding us together to scare the negotiators into action. Here are a some that are appearing loudly and clearly on the radar. Which ones have I left out? Drop me a line.
TckTckTck The Global Citizens for Climate Action Campaign launched in August, partnered with Greenpeace, Christian Aid and Oxfam, counting us down from 100 days to COP15.
10:10 The 10:10 campaign launched off the back of Franny Armstrong’s Age of Stupid, focussing minds on cutting our emissions by 10% next year, but big on pressurising Ed Miliband to bring the goods from Copenhagen.
350.org Bill McKibben’s campaign to get world leaders to agree to a workable target of 350ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere plans for an international day of action on Oct 24.
Vote Earth Off the back of the WWF’s Earth Hour campaign run back in March, the climate change charity have issued this global petition to world leaders.the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Sandbag “Real action on climate change” exploit the arcanities of Europe’s carbon trading schemes by “retiring” surplus credits. They also have a COP15 “One giant leap” petition they want you to sign.
Seal the deal 2009 The UN’s European Climate Campaign, aims to create a “mosaic” of faces and voices with an online petition calling for change at Copenhagen. This is sTTThehe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.fox. ome more invisible writing this is some invisible writing.
Mobilization for Climate Justice North American coalition of activists pressing for a deal are planning major actions throughout the US on November 30. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Never trust a COP … and for those who don’t have faith that the more conventional appeals above are going to work, here’s the radical leftists’ direct action network on COP15.
Pretty much something for everybody there… Let us know which campaigns you think are working best.
Edit: More…
Hopenhagen. A snappy web-based initiative that gives people the chance to come together over the question “What gives you hope?” Catch-all question that’s the start of a rolling social media campaign.
And, this just in:
Avaaz.org Global Wake-Up Call Following a global poll, Avaaz.org now plan a day of flash mob action in towns and cities everywhere on Sept 21.
Bill McKibben on the "torrent of art" about climate change
Bill McKibben wrote recently on Grist.org about how, over the last few years, art has been shouting increasingly stridently about climate:
That torrent of art has been, often, deeply disturbing—it should be deeply disturbing, given what we’re doing to the earth. (And none of it has quite matched the performance work that nature itself is providing. Check out, for instance, James Balog’s time-lapse photography of glaciers crashing into the sea—if we could somehow crowd that thrashing sheet of ice into the Guggenheim for a week, people would truly get it.) But for me, it’s been more comforting than disturbing, because it means that the immune system of the planet is finally kicking in.
Artists, in a sense, are the antibodies of the cultural bloodstream. They sense trouble early, and rally to isolate and expose and defeat it, to bring to bear the human power for love and beauty and meaning against the worst results of carelessness and greed and stupidity. So when art both of great worth, and in great quantities, begins to cluster around an issue, it means that civilization has identified it finally as a threat. Artists and scientists perform this function most reliably; politicians are a lagging indicator.
I wonder, how true is this? Is identifying artists as the “antibodies of the cultural bloodstream” a hopelessly romantic idea, part of McKibben’s relentless optimism, an optimism that has sustained him for twenty years and more as a campaigner? Or will the next few years prove him right in his faith that, not only are artists making work of “great worth, and in great quantities” about the issue , but that art still has a privileged role in how society concieves of itself.
It’s certainly a role that many established artists would feel extremely uncomfortable with; but maybe this isn’t the time for such niceities.
Read Bill McKibben’s article in Grist.org
Bill McKibben’s 350.org campaign
Bill McKibben talks to RSA Arts & Ecology about his call for artists to lead on 350.org
"Civil resistance", science and ethics
We are in for a season of civil disobedience. The Save Vestas campaign has gone national. Kingsnorth rumbles on, as does the Heathrow protest – which is likely to be the focus of the next Climate Camp at the end of August. Next month also sees Wales‘ and Scotland‘s first Climate Camps. As COP15 focusses minds, there are even plans to disrupt the Copenhagen meeting.
A generation of jobless students will now swell numbers. But should those less used to participating in civil action also be getting stuck in?
In a recent newsletter [PDF 147KB], climate scientist/activist James Hansen concludes with a short section titled “Civil Resistance: Is the Sundance Kid a Criminal?”, suggesting the urgent need for what Gandhi called “civil resistance” rather than “civil disobedience”, especially directed towards companies who are guilty of passing the bill for carbon clean up to future generations. Even though his choice of gun-slinging Western hero rather shows which era he’s coming from, I guess he’s qualified to talk, because James Hansen himself was arrested alongside Daryl Hannah last month for his part in the West Virginia coal mining protests.
The excellent climate science blogger Jo Abbess has just raised his arrest in a post which argues that such action by scientists is vital because, as George Marshall of the New Scientist has been saying, the public as a whole are not changing their behaviour in the way that those scientists know they should be .
This argument implies that scientists, as the people who really understand the bottom line, are now ethically bound to start to do more than produce data. They must join with scientists like Hansen. But if scientists remain hesitant to get start linking arms and chaining themselves to fences, Hansen’s own reputation as a leading climate scientist is an example of why. The man warned Congress back in 1988 about the perils of global warming has been under assault ever since he turned activist. Despite his role as a leading scientist and head of the NASA Gordon Institute for Space Studies, his name has been dragged through the mud by global warming sceptics. His arrest last month prompted the New York Times headline “Does NASA’s James Hansen Still Matter?”
What are the responsibilities of those who know to act? And what are the consequences if they do?
“Well done ThWART” photo by darrangange
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Future RSA Events- RSA at the Birmingham Book Festival - State of Emergency October 20, 2010
- RSA at the Birmingham Book Festival - Reporting Live From The End of the World October 15, 2010
- The Flaw October 11, 2010
- RSA at the Birmingham Book Festival - Dispatches from the Dark Side -The Death Of Justice October 8, 2010
- RSA at the Birmingham Book Festival - Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No-One Can Pay October 7, 2010