Contact possibilities

• Earthday
  • Areas of work
  • Earth Day 2022
• Transition Network
  • Local groups
  • Trainers
  • Transition Together
• Possible
• Leonardo DiCaprio
  • Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation
  • Earth Alliance
  • re:wild
• Count Us In
  • Do Nation
  • Accenture
  • Countdown
  • UN ActNow
  • AWorld
  • Breaking Boundaries
  • Don't Look Up

COP26 Coalition

@COP26_Coalition on Twitter with 17K followers.

Their website doesn't appear to have been updated since December last year. They have pages reflecting on COP26 and about what they achieved, but I can't find anything there about what they are now doing.

Their demands are:

• No More Cooking The Books: No To Fossil Fuels, Net-zero And False Solutions
  "Global temperature rise must be limited to 1.5°C"
  "action to achieve Real Zero"
  "no new fossil fuel investments and infrastructure"
  "no to Carbon Markets, and banking on risky unproven technologies"
• Rewire The System: Start The Justice Transition Now
  "We need a Worker-led Justice Transition"
  "Local and global justice must be at the heart of this transition, through people-owned decentralised energy systems, expansion of care services, locally-sourced food, and green and affordable housing and public transport."
• Global Climate Justice: Reparations And Redistribution To Indigenous Communities and The Global South
  "Each country’s carbon emission reduction must be proportional to their fair share"
  "cancel debts of Global South by all creditors"
  " provide adequate grant-based climate finance for those on the frontline of the climate crisis to survive"
  "reparations for the loss and damage in the Global South"

Their tactics for COP26 were global protests, assemblies at COP26 to discuss issues, media coverage, and support for people from the Global South to visit COP26.

They have an email newsletter ("for the latest climate justice news and ways to get involved"), which I've signed up to, but yet to receive anything. They wanted to know my county "so we can put you in touch with a local hub".

Discovered from Twitter that they had a 2 hour zoom meeting on 25 Jan about "What's next? How do we build on what we've achieved? Get involved in the plotting and planning for how we organise on a local, regional, national and global scale in the coming years - from local hubs, trade union caucus, international networks and a national climate justice coalition of organisations." Apparently over 400 people attended, but I can't find anything about their discussions.

Next up was a one day meeting in Birmingham on Feb 19, in person with some parts online. Sounds similar to the January meeting, but in greater depth:

"As we enter the new year, we’ve started plotting and planning for how we organise on a local, regional, national and global scale in the coming years - from strengthening our local hubs network, expanding the trade union caucus, connecting with international networks and launching a national climate justice coalition of organisations.

Join us for our first gathering to start envisioning and transforming the local hubs network that we have built in the lead up to COP26. The gathering will take place online. We’ll be reflecting on what we managed to achieve in 2021 as well as the challenges and opportunities we have ahead of us. We’ll be discussing tactics, local targets and national mobilisations for climate justice.

We need all hands on deck: in workplaces, communities, schools, hospitals and across national borders. Whether you’ve been involved in the climate justice movement before or not, join us to get organised for system change."

Earthday

@EarthDay on Twitter with 159K followers.

Can sign up for email updates - I have done and am waiting to see what I get. Oddly, the sign-up requires a 'Zip code' in addition to the email address, even though they are clearly intended to be a global organization.

Contact: info@earthday.org - this is for 'General Inquiries'; they have other email addresses for 'Media Inquiries', 'Donations' and 'Education').

Mission: "EARTHDAY.ORG’s mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day in 1970, EARTHDAY.ORG is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 150,000 partners in over 192 countries to drive positive action for our planet."

They have pledges, but mainly for plastics and waste - none for climate lifestyle changes.

Areas of work

The work they do is in 5 main areas, 2 of which are directly climate related:

• Climate & Environmental Literacy
  "This formal campaign, launched Summer 2020, is combining grassroots support and on the ground efforts by students, educators, and nonprofits with national level commitments from Ministries of Education and Environment. Through our Climate and Environmental Literacy Campaign, we will ensure that students across the world benefit from high-quality education to develop into informed and engaged environmental stewards."
• End Plastic Pollution
  
• "Increasing awareness is the first step toward making more informed decisions in our lives. Through toolkits, calculators and other resources, EARTHDAY.ORG provides instruction on how to cut plastic use and create a healthier world."
• They have practical tips to reduce plastic use, with 6 R's instead of 3, adding Remove, Refuse and Rally.
• "End Plastic Pollution informs policymakers and contributes to the international discussion on plastic pollution and its causes, including pushing for national legislation and corporate commitments. EARTHDAY.ORG also engages with and informs a global network of NGOs, grassroots organizations, campus youth, mayors and other local elected leaders, faith leaders, artists and athletes, and students and teachers."
• Conservation and Restoration
  
  • The Canopy Project "The Canopy Project improves our shared environment by planting trees across the globe." "EARTHDAY.ORG works with global partners to reforest areas in dire need of rehabilitation".
  • Conservation and Biodiversity "The Conservation and Biodiversity program amplifies and accelerates transformative societal change to restore and protect biodiversity
• Food and Environment
  
  • Foodprints for the Future "A foodprint measures the environmental impacts associated with the growing, producing, transporting, and storing of our food". "While we should all be working to reduce our foodprints, there are many factors ... that help shape our decisions about what we eat." "we want to highlight the different ways individuals and institutions can make an impact on their foodprints."
    "SHRINK YOUR FOODPRINT":
    
    • Discover your impact using one the foodprint calculators they link to.
    • Learn about the system: a page about animal agriculture and food waste.
    • Try new recipes: 18 plant-based recipes.
    • Change your group's menu: "Encourage your school or organization to serve more plant-based meal options and to educate students and employees about the impacts of animal agriculture"
    • Curious about going plant-based? link to a 22-page PDF from EcoFood Guide, which is provided by a well-fed world. Good presentation of reasons to choose a plant-based diet.
• Act on Climate Change
  

  This is the most relevant area.

  "Everyone has the ability to do something to address our climate challenge, but we can all still do more. What will you do?"

  There is a paragraph or two on each of the following:

  • Get informed: "learn more about the science behind our climate challenge"
  • Hold yourself accountable: "calculate your carbon footprint". "Consider offsetting carbon emissions".
  • Unplug: "Unplug items when they aren’t in use, buy goods with high energy-efficient standards, and consider making the switch to renewable energy."
  • Travel smarter: "Take public transit, biking, or walking when possible"
  • Climate action, one bite at a time: "Enjoy more plant-based meals, reduce your food waste altogether, and compost your food scraps."
  • Shop smarter: "Support companies driven by sustainability and committed to transparency throughout the supply chain.""Shop smarter with thoughtful purchasing to minimize waste, and consider reused and pre-loved items"
  • Vote Earth: "Consider climate issues on local, national and global levels" "vote ... for the candidates with clear, ambitious, and convincing plans to protect our planet."
  • Organize: "One person can make a difference, but together, we can make a movement. Consider the communities that you are a part of" "Collective action can have a major impact – and major influence – for change. Consider how you can gather support by mobilizing a larger group for action!"
  • Invest and divest: If you "have investments or a pension, pledge to separate them from exposure to fossil fuel assets and increase your stake in clean energy companies." "ask your university, your company, and your organization how they invest their money."
  • Show your support: "Show your support for programs and organizations including community and citywide actions that are fighting climate change, and organizations working on the ground to make a difference." Support "The Canopy Project, which works to plant millions of trees"

  There is also a Take Action page, which lists more actions (not specifically to do with climate):
  

• Create your own act of green - a form for telling Earthday about something you have done.
• Volunteer with Earthday.org - "Sign up for the latest resources, activities you can do at home or online, and ways to spread the word to your friends."
• The 6 R's of Plastic Pollution
• Make an Earthday window sign
• Become a Citizen Scientist - download a mobile app to report on air quality and pollution locally.
• Plant a Forest with The Canopy Project - donate to help their project.
• Make your next meal plant-based
• Try a Simple Act of Green - "Add reusable eating utensils to your everyday carry", "Always carry a reusable bag", "Make your next meal plant-based", "Speak up for the Earth"

Earth Day 2022

The actual Earth Day this year is on April 22. "The Earth Day 2022 Theme is Invest In Our Planet."

"Tell business leaders to get on board with a sustainable future or get out of the way. "

"Tell your government leaders to launch the sustainability revolution TODAY."

"As individuals, we have the simple yet effective power to make our voices heard through our choices, our civic actions, and our personal interactions. ... At a rally, a cleanup, with your vote, or your wallet, be heard however you are able. For all of us – today and for our future – let’s INVEST IN OUR PLANET!"

There are events worldwide, of different types:

• General Earth Day Event
• Activist
• Artists for the Earth Event
• Citizen Science
• Conservation
• Faith
• Planning Committee
• Presentation or Film Screening
• Teach-In
• Other Digital Event

I've had a look at some of the UK events near here. Most are private (i.e. within a company or school) and fairly minor, e.g. clapping for Planet Earth, a 5 minute film on a website, going vegan for a day, free kayaking session, ... None of the ones I looked at seemed related to the Invest In Our Planet theme.

Transition Network

@transitiontowns on Twitter with 29K followers

Contact via form on website.

Transition Network is an international grassroots movement (48 countries and 23 "hubs"), with local groups engaged in community projects. The movement itself is focussed on groups doing local projects, but it's possible that the individuals in those groups might be interested in individual actions.

They have a newsletter that you can subscribe to ( by clicking on the hamburger menu and selecting 'GET OUR NEWSLETTER'). The subscription form says "for news and updates"; when you submit the form the MailChimp site (which handles the newsletter) says "for workshop attendees and interested people". I've only just subscribed (24 Feb) so I don't yet know what's in the newsletter or how frequent it is.

Local groups

Totnes

Stroud

Stroud Imagines

Farnham

Guildford

Haslemere

Repair cafe, orchard planting, discussing active transport, stall at farmers' market.

Fleet

Seems to be defunct - no activity on its website since 2015.

Trainers

There are only 6 trainers in the UK, and none local. There are 3 in Totnes, 1 in Exeter, 1 in Glastonbury, and 1 in Oxford.

There's just one in mainland Europe: in Essen, Germany.

Transition Together

Transition Together is a UK project launched in Nov 2021 by the Transition Network with £6 million National Lottery funding over the next 10 years. It supports local projects, workshops and events.

"Transition Together supports the Transition movement across Britain to develop and grow".

"Coming together is how we can have the greatest impact. Trying to act alone,
the challenges we face can feel overwhelming, but when we come together we
start to realise our power and potential."

Like Transition Network, they have a newsletter that you can subscribe to ( by clicking on the hamburger menu and selecting 'GET OUR NEWSLETTER'). The subscription form says "for news and updates". I've only just subscribed (24 Feb) so I don't yet know what's in the newsletter or how frequent it is.

Possible

@_wearepossible on Twitter, with 29K followers.

Email: hello@wearepossible.org

UK group mainly getting people involved in doing small local projects (e.g. solar panels, bike riding), but website has some suggested individual actions for energy, food, etc. Not all the actions are that good (e.g. changing light bulbs), but at least they are promoting grass-roots non-protest action.

To join, have to provide:

• Email address
• First name
• Last name
• Post code
• Whether to be part of campaign (presumably if you say No nothing will happen as a result of submitting the form)

The only immediate consequence of joining is: "We'll send you practical carbon cutting tips and inspiration, as well as updates on what Possible are up to and how you can get involved."

I received a welcome email the following day (18 Feb 2022) from Hannah Bland (Supporter engagement).

After another 2 days (20 Feb 2022) I received a getting started email from Max Wakefield ("one of the campaigners at Possible"). Ten ideas for getting started (most of which we've already done), and:

"My co-worker Hannah will email you in a few days to ask you about you. She’ll want to know what you’re into, how you’d like to get involved, and what you’d like to see from us. She’ll also ask if you’ve got any campaign suggestions, so have a think, I’d love to hear your ideas." [bold was in original]

After a further 3 days (23 Feb 2022) I received another email from Hannah, with a link to an anonymous questionnaire about my climate interests and how I might want to participate in Possible. You can look look at all pages of the questionnaire by clicking OK without making any selections.

Next day (24 Feb 2022) I received an email from Alice Bell (Co-director), mainly about donating to Possible.

The 'from' email address for all these emails was hello@wearepossible.org, so they aren't providing personal email addresses.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Home page of his personal website has a link to "Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation" (http://leonardodicaprio.org/), which redirects to re:wild (see below).

The home page also a paragraph about the foundation:

"The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation is dedicated to the long-term health and wellbeing of all Earth’s inhabitants. Through collaborative partnerships, we support innovative projects that protect vulnerable wildlife from extinction, while restoring balance to threatened ecosystems and communities. LDF works in 4 key areas: Species, Oceans, Wildlands, Climate"

There's also a form "Join Us - What issue do you care about the most?", which I have "subscribed" to. Might provide more info on whether the foundation is still active and doing anything other than 're:wild'.

On his biography page there's another form "Join Us - Sign up for email updates and help us protect the planet." - clicking on the 'Register' button for this gets a 404 response.

I haven't found an email address for Leo, only a postal address: Leonardo Dicaprio, Appian Way Productions, 9255 Sunset Blvd., Suite 615, West Hollywood, CA 90069 USA. "Appian Way Productions" is his own production company.

Another possibility is to try going via re:wild - see below.

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

"We support projects around the world that build climate resiliency, protect vulnerable wildlife, and restore balance to threatened ecosystems and communities."

"The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation is now part of Earth Alliance
A new philanthropic partnership dedicated to urgently addressing climate change and environmental threats to life on Earth."

Founded in 1998.

There is a contact form, but "This form has been deactivated and is closed to any further submissions."

There is also a contact button, which is a mailto link to Earth Alliance.

I think this website (https://stage.leonardodicaprio.org/) is probably no longer in use.

Leo's personal website has a link to "Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation" (http://leonardodicaprio.org/), which redirects to re:wild (see below). This suggests that re:wild has replaced the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

Earth Alliance

"Earth Alliance, a new organization to help address the urgent threats to our planet’s life support systems – born out of the shared passion of its founding co-chairs: environmental activist and Academy Award®-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio, businesswoman and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, and investor and philanthropist Brian Sheth."

Formed in July 2019.

Earth Alliance no longer seems to be active. The website has only a single page (half of which I've quoted above), with a link to a YouTube video and a mailto link, but no other links. There have been no posts on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram since May/June 2021.

re:wild

"Re:wild's mission is to protect and restore the wild to build a thriving Earth where all life flourishes."

"Re:wild launched in 2021 combining more than three decades of conservation impact by Leonardo DiCaprio and Global Wildlife Conservation, leveraging expertise, partnerships and platforms to bring new attention, energy and voices together"

There's a contact page with a contact form and email address: hello@rewild.org.

Count Us In

Launched Oct 2020.

Some details from a Count Us In slideshow:

Slide 6: "Count Us In focuses on a “non-activist” middle that is deeply influential but largely unreached by existing climate campaigns.

Our audience is somewhat worried about climate, but:
– it’s not their first priority
– they are put off by activism and environmentalism
– they often don’t know what to do
– they feel their actions won’t make a difference"

Slide 8: "Working with experts from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and others, we have developed a list of 16 steps that we believe are the most meaningful actions people can take on climate change, based on 3 criteria.

#1: IMPACT
Can it drive a major reduction
in carbon pollution?
#2: INFLUENCE
Will it make politicians and
business pay attention?
#3: INVOLVE
Is there something for everyone in our audience?"

Slide 12: "The Count Us In aggregator adds up the steps taken on our platform and on our partner climate action platforms, combining and synthesizing data to show the collective impact of citizen action."

Slide 14: "We have more than 100 amazing partners from sport, culture, business, civil society, faith and cities - across geographies - reaching millions of people."

"Convened by Countdown, Count Us In has been developed with partners, including:

• accenture
• Brunswick
• UN Climate Change Conference 2021
• Countdown
• Do Nation
• Global Optimism
• Leaders Quest
• Something More Near
• TED
• Museum for the United Nations
• THE DO
  

To create an account you have to provide:

• Email address
• First name
• Last name
• Password
• Say if want to be added to mailing list

It seems that whenever you "take a step" you are committing to trying it and coming back after 2 months to report on how it went. The step doesn't seem to be counted until you have confirmed it (and there is no way of confirming it before the 2 months - e.g. because you have bought a car).

Count Us In have "Partner Platforms Sharing their data". I assume that this means that counts from these platforms are "aggregated" into the Count Us In counts. The Partner Platforms are:

• Do Nation
• UN ActNow
• Giki Zero
• Joro
• BrightAction
• Planet Super League
• klima
• Pawprint
• IKEA Better Living
• eevie

The Count Us In aggregator page shows the counts:

• 272,177 People
• 10,646,579 Steps taken
• 151,254,416 kgCO2e Carbon Saved

There's an image suggesting that it might be possible to break down the counts by partner platform, location, category (Food, Home, Travel, Lifestyle), but it isn't actually possible.

Do Nation

"Count Us In's steps platform is powered by Do Nation's technology."

Do Nation have their own set of 50 pledges ranging from more significant ones like "switch to a green energy supplier" and "meetings without the travel", to more minor ones like "use a saucepan lid" and "print double sided".

The pledges have OK descriptions of why and how, but they are not prioritized.

The pledges aren't all to do with climate - there also ones to with sustainability and health.

It seems to be possible for individuals or organizations to create their own "campaigns" to "raise pledges" - haven't spent enough time to understand what this means or how it works.

Do Nation have 47,396 users and 141,786 pledges. Given how minor most of the pledges are, the users aren't doing much.

Accenture

"The Count Us In aggregator has been built by Accenture."

Countdown

"Countdown (powered by TED and Future Stewards) helped incubate and initiate Count Us In, with other founding organizations."

Countdown "are bringing together scientists, activists, entrepreneurs, urban planners, farmers, CEOs, investors, artists, government officials, and others to find the most effective, evidence-based ideas out there. Our goal is to identify the bold solutions that can be activated when people break out of their silos and rise to the challenge."

UN ActNow

"ActNow is the United Nations campaign for individual action on climate change and sustainability"

"The ActNow campaign was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 24) in December 2018, with a call from Sir David Attenborough in conjunction with the award-winning “People’s Seat” initiative."

They have a mobile app, provided by AWorld, which provides a "fun and gamified experience" to "learn about sustainabilty". It provides:

• Journeys: Educational & inspiring content sorted in episodes ...
• Habits: Fun and sustainable actions you can take everyday ... For each action taken, the impact tracker will measure if it is water, CO2, energy or waste you are saving.
• Challenges: Groups of people that take matters into their own hands, and act for the planet. You can contribute to a challenge by taking and logging your actions.
• Tips: Easy daily minute reads to help live a sustainable lifestyle.They come in a form of Weekly Trending topics ...
• Impact Tracker: This keeps track of your actions and shows you exactly how much your new lifestyle is saving

The data collected by the app is presumably shared with Count Us In, although it doesn't seem to directly correspond to Count Us In pledges.

AWorld

"AWorld was selected as the official platform to support ACTNOW United Nations campaign for individual action on climate change and sustainability."

Hard to understand flashy website, but they seem mainly to provide sustainability "solutions" for companies and schools by getting their employees (and customers?) and students to learn by taking challenges, taking quizzes, playing games, ...

Breaking Boundaries

Website using David Attenborough's 'Breaking Boundaries' 2021 film to attract people to make what are essentially Count Us In pledges. Site is a sub-domain of count-us-in, but has separate accounts (I can't login using my CountUsIn email and password), the trial period is 1 month instead of 2.

I assume the pledge counts are "aggregated", even though Breaking Boundaries isn't listed as a data-sharing partner.

Don't Look Up

Very similar to the Breaking Boundaries site, but using the 'Don't Look Up' 2021 film.