Bill McKibben: Building Social Movements and Organising for Change

What makes for successful social organising?

 In the last few years, author Bill McKibben has devoted his time to the founding and development of 350.org, an impressive international campaign that’s building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis. During this course, Bill will step back from his activist life to reflect on what makes for successful social organising.

In 2007, 350.org ran a campaign called Step It Up that organized over 2,000 rallies at iconic places in all 50 of the United States. These creative actions – from skiers descending a melting glacier to divers hosting an underwater action – helped convince many political leaders, including then Senator Barack Obama, to adopt the organisation’s common call to action: cutting carbon 80% by 2050. Since then, 350.org has managed to start building a grassroots global movement about climate change. CNN described their last big event, with 7400 rallies in 188 countries, as ‘the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history.’

 “…What economists have failed to realize from the beginning, the economy is a subset of something else, and that something else is the natural world. There comes a point in which infinite growth no longer works. This is the moment finally when those limits are at hand…. It’s true that we’ve taken the sweet earth on which we were born and degraded it in pretty powerful ways. There’s already damage. There will be more. So we better figure out how to live on the planet we have left…”

Participants will explore the history of social movements, including the civil rights movement in the U.S. They will then talk about how to organise in the present age. With participants, Bill will look at what has and hasn’t worked in recent environmental efforts, and focus especially on the use of the internet to rally support. What are the particular challenges of working effectively at the local level in an era when technology has transformed how we relate to those closest to us as well as those on the other side of the world?

The course is intended for: people who are passionate and committed to doing the work of local and national organising and who want to get their hands dirty in their own communities and countries.

Teacher

Bill McKibben is a well known environmental author and activist, and the founder of 350.org. When he’s not busy organizing, Bill is an active writer on the climate crisis and other environmental issues. His 1989 book The End of Nature was the first book to warn the general public about the threat of global warming.

Bill is a frequent contributor to various magazines including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, and Outside. He is also a board member and contributor to Grist Magazine. He has been awarded Guggenheim and Lyndhurst Fellowships, and won the Lannan Prize for nonfiction writing in 2000. He is currently a Scholar in Residence at Middlebury College and lives in Ripton, Vermont with his wife, author Sue Halpern, and daughter Sophie. www.billmckibben.com

As part of Schumacher College's commitment to the Transition movement this course is offered to all Transition Network/Transition Town members with a 35% reduction in course fees. Please quote ref: Trans10/11 when booking.

A limited number of bursaries are also available for this course. We are particularly seeking applications from the following groups of people:

• Individuals involved in sustainability and/or education projects in the global South..
• Passionate individuals working with ground breaking initiatives and alternative lifestyles.
• Those in any sector considering a career change or facing redundancy and who are keen to move into the area of sustainability, ecology, environmental responsibility or education.

Click here for more information on how to apply for a bursary.

To find out more about this course:
Email: admin@schumachercollege.org.uk
Visit http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/courses/building-social-movements-and-organising-for-change
Tel:(+44)1803865934