That’s in large part thanks to you, Morgan. Thanks again for getting this series going. And Jess, glad the post is a bit of inspiration. There are so many parts to the story that are left out, one of the biggest is the tales of all the local organizers who have built this movement from the ground up. Step It Up, 350.org, Power Shift, none of those would be possible without local activism.

Louisa, you’re right, this was a youth, youth, youth post, then again, IGHIH is “dispatches from the youth climate movement,” so no big surprise there. But the beauty of the campaigns I was talking about was that they reached people of all ages. During Step It Up, many of our best organizers were soccer-mom’s, book clubs, and church groups. As RFK put it, we’re looking for the “qualities of youth” not any specific age range. And during 350.org, one of my favorite actions was at a geriatric home in California where residents held signs with the ppm level of C02 at the year of their birth. Personally, I think we need activism from people of all ages — bring it on AARP! — but youth have always played a critical role in social movements and there’s good reason to focus our efforts on firing them up to go even bigger.

Casper, you rock. For those of you who don’t know him, Casper is one of the driving forces behind the UK Youth Climate Movement, building up a a force to be reckoned with across the ocean from us. They put on a great Power Shift conference last year, organized fantastic 350 events, and brought one of the most policy rocking, politically sophisticated, hottest delegations to the Copenhagen climate talks this December.

And Jon, can’t be said enough that this stuff all got going with you. We took it up with a fervor, but I can confidently say that I wouldn’t be doing this work today if it wasn’t for that first class. Thanks for lighting a spark and your continued leadership. And to Tracy, we did write that one book … you can get a used copy for $3.51 (ironic) on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Fight-Global-Warming-Now-Community/dp/0805087044

But you’re right, we should be documenting these stories, most importantly the story of the work happening on the ground all over the world. Like the story of the two sisters in Ethiopia who organized a 15,000 person march. Or the story of one of our African media coordinators, Landry Ninteretse, who taught himself French, German, and English and a year after studying climate science for the first time is now one of the strongest African voices for climate justice. Or the team in India or the founders of the China Youth Climate Movement … there some good ones out there. In the meantime, more blogging!

Thanks again, y’all.

You are right, we need to be hugely ambitious this year: 10x – http://www.grist.org/article/from-cop15-to-10x I will be in DC next week, hoping to put heads together with as many folks as possible, re: building new strategies and tactics. Hope to see many down there – Busboys and Poets on Friday night?! JI