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Building a Team
We cannot over emphasize the importance of building a team and seeking powerful allies. You are up against a company that has virtually unlimited resources. Most of the time your group will be doing something for the first time – lobbying, writing a press release, holding a demonstration. Professionals who do that job every day will be doing these things for the opposition. You will need all the help you can get.
- A detailed look at some aspects of building a group in a rural community here.
Resources
- Local, state and national environmental groups can help. They will have staff who are familiar with all of the info you need, they can network you with useful resources.
- Veterans of earlier fights: Win, lose or draw, anyone who has been through a fight in your state or area will have learned all kinds of things that will be useful to you. Always be searching for these folks.
- Web Sites – In addition to this site you can find almost anything you need on the web. The intent of this Coal Impact Guide is to compile information that others spent hours surfing to find.
- List serves – there are often regional list serves dealing with global warming, general environmental issues, and in some cases, fighting coal. Seek them out. They are an easy way to keep informed about what is happening and help each other out. There is an impressive national listserve sponsored by Energy Justice called NoNewCoal. If you are committed to fighting coal this list will be worth joining.
- Here is a brief guide to fighting coal plants. Also check out Coal Moratorium Now.
- An excellent detailed explanation of “how to put on an event”, tailored to earth day events, but applicable to local events to educate your neighbors, protests, etc. Includes sections on soliciting and managing volunteers, media relations, and fund raising.
Finding Allies
- Downwind cities who are at or near non-attainment status (heavy air pollution) are natural allies. They are often already putting resources into reducing pollution; the prospect of a coal plant up wind undoing all their hard work can motivate them. Bigger cities will have an area wide council that is responsible for creating that areas section of a State Implementation Plan (SIP). Find them, they will know exactly how close that city is to being out of attainment. Ask which politicians you should approach to solicit help fighting the plant.
- For mining issues, the local and regional groups ARE your allies, and they will help put you in touch with others, or help you build a base of new allies in your area.
- The creation care movement in the religious community is snowballing. Talk with local religious leaders about their opinion on the issue and the official position of their denomination/conference/etc. on global warming.
Strategy: Have a plan.
- When people from bigger cities don’t understand small town culture, we tell them it is kind of like spending the rest of your life in High School. You know, at least casually, almost everyone you interact with day to day. You have known many of them all your life. There are long standing pecking orders. And certain factions dominate different areas of life. To be effective your group must win over leaders and factions. It can be a very subtle dance to influence opinion in a small community.
- Nothing trumps face to face contact. When approaching someone to support your cause, if you bring someone they trust and respect with you, you’ll stand a much better chance.
- As a group of little dogs fighting a big dog, you want to attack from as many angles as possible. Plants are less often stopped by one dramatic victory than by the death of a thousand cuts. Here is a chart showing some of the places that can be attacked.
Formal Group Process: You will want to form a group and register with the secretary of State or whichever state agency does this in your state. Be sure you do all of the procedural pieces properly and on time. Address the following:
- Bylaws
- Incorporating
- Officers
Fundraising: Your group will need to sustain itself. Many country folks have experience with putting on events to support a worthy cause. Here is a guide for fundraising.
Fact sheets: We will supply some of these. But, fact sheets have a short shelf life, the situation always changes. So, as you are educating yourself make a system that lets you save important information that would work well in a fact sheet. Because documents will be revised over time, often by multiple people, get in the habit of labeling documents with the date they were revised – you will thank yourself later.
Movies: One way to grow your team is to show movies. You can host a home movie festival or invite the community to a larger screening at a public hall. We, of course, think Burning the Future: Coal in America would make an excellent choice. If you want to do a monthly movie night, a good way to keep people engaged, consider Kilowatt Ours, Fighting Goliath, or The 11th Hour.