350 New Orleans

Background

350 New Orleans is a climate activist group made up of volunteers. It is a local group connected to 350.org, a large international climate-activist movement focused on opposing fuel-energy projects and advocating weather-dependent alternatives. ^{1 3}

350 New Orleans began as 350 NOLA in 2013 with a kickoff meeting at a local café. It organized events against the Keystone XL pipeline, then expanded to advocate for “climate-friendly policies” and to collaborate with other like-minded advocacy groups. ⁴

Work Areas

350 New Orleans organizes public protests and online campaigns to oppose coal, oil, and gas projects and to advocate for “climate-friendly” policies. ¹ It provides volunteer support to activist groups in New Orleans to “raise consciousness and promote sound policy around the climate crisis.” ⁵

Stop Formosa is a campaign to stop Formosa Plastics from building a factory complex in St. James, Louisiana. Shut Down Denka is a campaign to shut down a petrochemical plant run by Denka/Dumont that produces neoprene. ⁶

The Just Transition program is focused on transitioning from fossil fuels to “other economic sectors that offer a sustainable economy… and climate for Louisiana.” It is advocating for a Renewable Portfolio Standard to require utilities to use more weather-dependent energy sources. It is opposing a new gas peaker plant, claiming it represents “environmental racism.” It is acting as an intervener in several regulatory processes to support increased solar production. ⁷

Funding and Partners

350 New Orleans received a final determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in February 2018 approving its tax-exempt status. For each year since through 2024, it has filed a 990-N e-Postcard with the IRS declaring gross receipts of less than $50,000. ⁸ It is supported by local churches of the United Universalists. ¹

350 New Orleans is a member of the Louisiana Against False Solutions (LAFS) coalition, which consists of over 20 activist organizations focused on left-of-center issues associated with the environment, racial activism, and left-wing social advocacy. LAFS advocates for “rapid fossil fuel phase-out.” According to a report published by the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, LAFS is primarily funded by organizations outside of Louisiana, with the largest contributors being from California, D.C., and New York City, which are interested in disrupting the “development of oil, natural gas, and related energy infrastructure projects for the express purpose of phasing out the production and use of fossil fuels worldwide” and shutting down Louisiana’s existing energy industry. These top donors include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bezos Earth Fund, the Windward Fund (associated with the former Arabella Network), and the Tides Foundation. Other coalition members include Earthworks, the Center for Progressive Reform, the Center for International Environmental Law, and the Climate Reality Project. ^{9 10 2}

350 New Orleans is a member of Energy Future New Orleans, the Coalition Against Death Alley, and the Stop Formosa Coalition. ¹¹

Other organizations 350 New Orleans partners with include the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, the Sierra Club, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, the Alliance for Affordable Energy, the Center for Constitutional Rights, The Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy, Earthworks, Earthjustice, the NAACP of Baton Rouge, Extinction Rebellion NOLA, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Center for International Environmental Law. ¹¹

Leadership

Alicia Cooke is the co-founder and board president of 350 New Orleans and a high-school social studies teacher. ¹² She earned a bachelor’s degree in the history of science and ethics from New York University and a master’s in public health from Tulane University. She worked for the U.S. Peace Corps, had several short employments with small nonprofit organizations, and then worked for the Louisiana Office of Public Health STD/HIV Program for over seven years. In 2013, she founded 350 New Orleans, and in 2020, she became a world geography high school teacher. Cooke has argued that “Climate change is real, access to universal affordable healthcare is a human right, environmental justice is racial justice, building local power and community is the key to sustainable change.” ¹³

Antoine Brantley is board treasurer of 350 New Orleans and an epidemiologist for the City of St. Louis. He earned a master’s degree in public health and epidemiology in 2013 from Tulane University. He had several roles with the Louisiana Department of Health and with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services before his current role with the City of St. Louis, starting in March 2024. ¹⁴

Pam Spees is a board member of 350 New Orleans and a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Her legal work focuses on gender-based violence, persecution on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and support for environmental justice movements and the right to protest. ¹⁵