350.org is an organization working towards global awareness of the world climate problems by exercising social media’s many outlets on a local level. Founded by Bill McKibben, their goal is to awaken those in doubt of the global warming crisis, especially those in major conglomerates or in world leadership positions. The website’s mission statement reads “Pulling together a global movement to hold world leaders accountable to citizens like you.” I found 350.org when I was researching social media trends.
350.org’s journey involves gathering as many participants around the globe on a specific day of the year to propose a “Global Work Day” in which people plant trees, install solar panels, conduct street clean-ups, and all sorts of environmental projects. For example, in Aukland, New Zealand they are having a giant bike fix-up day to get every bike in the city back on the road.
Unlike other organizations that base their movements on fundraising and donations, 350.org doesn’t ask for a penny of your money; although you are more than welcome to donate to the organization on the website. The movement is entirely focused on raising awareness and healing the planet. I picked up on this because it was different from almost every organization I had heard of. I wondered how it functioned and how they’d draw enough attention to make a difference.
Prior to the UN Climate Change conference last year, 350.org organized a global demonstration using Flickr. Wherever a Global Work Party was taking place, a picture would be taken with the literal number “350” and submitted to 350.org’s Flickr account. For example, activists around the shore of the Dead Sea collaborated to post a giant “3” in Israel, a “5” in Palestine, and a “0” in Jordan. Climbers took a sign with the number “350” with them as they climbed Everest.
That’s where the literal number “350” comes into play. 350 is the parts per million of CO2 that we, as the world, need to reach in order to save its future existence. At the moment we are a little over 390. After observing interviews where 350.org’s founder underwent scrutinizing questionnaires, my hope for climate change withered. I’m not suggesting that the global work parties were unsuccessful, but that the vibe I felt on 10/10/10 was more hopeful than literal. I was signed up to partake in a roof-painting project in Manhattan but I had to go to Washington DC last minute. I looked up events happening in the DC area and saw there was a rally on the National Mall. This 10/10/10 event was more educational than anything else. The 30+ organizations that happened that day united for a showcase of how the people of DC were getting to work. Dr. James Hansen was there, the climate scientist who brought about the number “350″. There were several other speakers I didn’t really know; I guess I’m not too informed on the global climate crisis and the main players at work. But it was moving to be there.
Anyways, it became apparent after looking through the 350.org website that they emphasize the “350” picture at the end of your global work party. This sent the message that it wasn’t so much about the individual work done on 10/10/10 but the message sent. Almost every click on the website had a side note commenting on the final picture so that the people working for 350.org could organize a portfolio to demonstrate how simple it is to connect people internationally, kind of like a wake-up call to bigger and more global corporations. If this online organization can bring together people of all classes, political parties, and even reach out to the most remote countries, all for a central goal, than hopefully our world leaders will ask themselves, “This is what the individuals are doing for the world, what about us?” My focus throughout the past weeks was to study the mission of this organization and how it became possible through such simple and free online advertising tactics.
Reaching 350.org’s mission goals would not be possible without the use of social media and new communication mediums. They posted a simple call to action on their website and spread the word through various social mediums. I joined their Facebook group, which is very similar to their Twitter in that it’s mostly used for updates on new countries that have joined the Global Work Party schedule or specific events happening in different countries. One post that was posted and commented on several times on both social networks was that the president of Maldives was going to install solar panels on his house. Soon enough though that news feed was surpassed when Obama declared that they would do the same to the White House.
The massive amounts of global information passed instantaneously by 350.org are made possible through the World Wide Web. Within minutes of confirmation, I received an email, a notification on Facebook, and checked Twitter to hear about the White House’s solar panels.
As Clay Shirky mentions in his book Here Comes Everybody, “One obvious lesson is that new technology enables new kinds of group-forming (page 17).” Imagine how group-forming will differ in the future! Everyone is a Media Outlet is the name of one of Shirky’s chapters, and it cannot be truer for organizations like 350.org. Shirky says, “The Web created a new ecosystem (page 60).”
When I searched the 350.org website for events, I was surprised to see that only 4 countries were missing participants this year. Once I signed up for an event I started receiving bundles of emails from people organizing events in New York and even emails from 350.org’s founder Bill McKibben. On Thursday I got a phone call from someone at 350.org making sure I had all the information I needed for 10/10/10. Their efficiency is incredible. Every few days an email would read “South Korea joins the Global Work Party!” or “New Zealand has organized 10 work parties!” It was exciting to follow the progress over just the past few weeks. I was also surprised to see how well they networked and how informed they kept their followers. Even though the organization involves people worldwide, McKibben and his team manage to familiarize everyone and show respect to everyone participating.
The most interesting event occurring in New York City is painting the rooftops white to save energy. NYU was holding a Global Work Party to paint one of their building rooftops white. Black rooftops can warm a roof over 85 degrees F and warm the units in the building up to 35 degrees F. Most of the Lower East Side roofs have been painted and this weekend New Yorkers were up on their roofs (or other people’s roofs) painting.
An article on Mashable.com about Social Media for Social Good reads, “[Social Media] alters the way people can approach the world’s challenges. This completely changes how people engage through elementary school bake sales, global earthquake relief efforts and everything in between.”
350.org is not so much about donations or consuming, like the (RED) foundation is, but about awareness. It is about the power of connectivity. This year 7,189 organized demonstrations occurred compared to the 5,626 from last year. If so many demonstrations by independent citizens can be arranged on the same day of the year, imagine the power we have to connect countries as a whole. I think that is the underlying message behind 350.org’s mission and McKibben’s
Romina, it is clear to me that you have done a lot of research and I am glad that this turned out to be both an educational and emotional experience for you. Attending the event in D.C. must have been great too, I wish you wrote a little more about the event and published a picture or two. As for 350′s organization through social media, it seems that they are a very horizontal structure. At the same time some organizers seems to be more “professionalized.” I wonder whether the organization is entirely run by volunteers or there are people who are getting paid, and if so, how are they paid–i.e. what is their fund raising model. Perhaps you could have tried to interview the guy who called you to gather this first-hand information?
I didn’t include information on the 350 team because I didn’t think it was relevant but in case you still wanted to know; it’s run by Bill McKibben and 28 others, some work directly for the organization but most are coordinators for different countries. There’s some for Mexico, one for Brazil, one for Spain, and several over the US. I’m not sure how they are compensated, I wish I would’ve spoken more with the woman who called me but I was caught very offguard when I received the call. I was really impressed with how they reach out to their members/followers/etc. And I took some photos of the new bike rentals they’ve installed all over DC on my phone but I didn’t know how to get them from my phone to the blog, I realize now I could’ve sent them to my email and gone from there. Here’s a link with photos from the Lafayette Park rally:
http://www.examiner.com/photojournalist-in-washington-dc/global-work-party-rally