The Peoples Climate Movement is a coalition of environmental and labor organizations in the United States that has organized a series of marches and protests since 2014. A project of GreenFaith, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Peoples Climate Movement is a vocal supporter of the Green New Deal.
History
The People’s Climate Movement is a coalition of environmental activist groups created after the People’s Climate March, a large-scale, worldwide set of demonstrations on September 21, 2014. [1] That first march was organized by 350.org and Avaaz, endorsed by at least 1,400 organizations, and attended by an estimated 300,000 in the United States. At the time it was considered the largest climate change march in history, with thousands of participants in other countries around the world. [2] The march was timed to coincide with the U.N. Climate Summit held two days later. [3]
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, first announced the march in an article for Rolling Stone entitled “A Call to Arms,” criticizing President Barack Obama and other world leaders for not doing enough to reverse climate change, and inviting readers to march with him in protest. [4] New York’s left-wing Mayor Bill de Blasio was in attendance and publicly announced a plan to retrofit public buildings to modern environmental standards. [5]
The Flood Wall Street Protest took place the day after the march and involved several thousand activists blocking traffic in New York’s financial district for an entire day. Police arrested approximately 100 protesters. [6]
Today, many of the organizations that participated in the 2014 demonstrations have representatives who sit on the People’s Climate Movement coalition’s decision-making body, the Mobilization Support Team. PCM describes its strategy as having to components, mass mobilization and movement alignment. The second half of their strategy, “movement alignment,” explains why the leadership and organizations allied through PCM are uniformly left-of-center. [7]
Political Activity
State Program
The People’s Climate Movement is known for organizing large-scale protest events, but is looking to expand its work at the state level. PCM has formed coalitions in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota. [8] Within each state, chapters are led by a shorter list of political partners. The Colorado People’s Alliance, for example, is led by representatives from eight organizations: Colorado AFL-CIO, SEIU Local 105, Denver Area Labor Federation, Conservation Colorado, 350 Colorado, the Natural Resources Defense Center (NRDC), Sierra Club, Earth Guardians, and GreenFaith. It’s worth noting that nearly half of these groups are labor unions, and many of them are local chapters of national organizations. [9] In each case, PCM demands a response to climate change, in addition to its local partner’s priorities. In Minnesota, for example, PCM ‘targeted’ Governor Dayton and demanded “a firm limit on greenhouse gas emissions,” as well as “expanded worker training” (a union priority), and respect for the sovereignty of tribal nations (a Native American activist priority). [10]
PCM uses its state coalitions to target specific candidates, policies, and companies. In Washington State, PCM organized voter support for Initiative 1631, which would have placed a tax on greenhouse gas emissions. [11] In Los Angeles, PCM helped in the shutdown of the AllenCo oil company, and called for a 2,500 foot health and safety buffer around oil well sites. [12]
The People’s March for Climate, Jobs, and Justice
On April 29, 2017, PCM organized The People’s March for Climate, Jobs, and Justice to coincide with President Trump’s 100th day in office. [13] According to PCM’s website, the plan was to “surround” the White House and “make a loud sound demanding climate justice and good jobs that will drown out all of the climate-denying nonsense that has been coming out of this Administration.” PCM estimated that 200,000 individuals attended the demonstration. [14]
Bill McKibben explained to the Washington Post how the 2017 march differed from its predecessor: “this time, the fossil fuel industry has fought back and put one of its own in the White House — a guy who even this week was figuring out how to open more national parks to oil drilling, a guy who buys the company line that global warming is a hoax. So now, the task is full-on resistance.” [15]
PCM also helped mobilize participants for a number of other events, including the Tax March, a demonstration on April 15, 2017, that demanded President Trump publicly release his tax returns. [16]
The Climate Reporter
In 2018, PCM started an online blog called the Climate Reporter in an attempt to organize climate change reporting into once central location. [17]
Key Coalition Members
Representatives from the following organizations sit on PCM’s decision-making body, the Mobilization Support Team, all of which are politically left-of-center.
- 350.org
- Alliance for Climate Education
- BlueGreen Alliance
- Community Change
- Center for Popular Democracy (CPD)
- Climate Justice Alliance
- Communications Workers of America (CWA)
- Indigenous Environmental Network
- GreenFaith
- League of Conservation of Voters
- People’s Action
- SEIU 32BJ
- Sierra Club
- Sunrise Movement
- U.S. Climate Action Network