Field Report: Climate Action in the Real World
Over the last month some of you may have noticed I was quieter here than usual. There was a reason. About a month ago I was asked to become ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ป๐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐, with just a few weeks to help run a Town Council by-election. Last night the result came in. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ป. For the first time a Green councillor has been elected to that council. This was absolutely a ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐, and two members of this Has2BGreen community โ our ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ โ played important roles in making the campaign succeed. ๐ช๐ต๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Has2BGreen exists for several reasons. Yes, we study the ๐ฐ๐น๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐. Yes, we try to understand the ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ-๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ๐. But the deeper purpose is something else: โข rebuilding communities. โข Locally and internationally. โข Because the truth is simple: ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ต๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐น๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ. Understanding the big global problems matters. But meaningful change only happens when that understanding is ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป. Working with real people.Solving real problems.Building real systems. This campaign became a small example of that process. ๐ช๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐ช๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ My role focused mainly on systems and coordination. Using my database background, I built a campaign system that combined several data sources: โข the electoral register โข absent voters lists โข the marked register (who had voted) โข Green Party membership records โข canvassing data from volunteers On election day we added a sixth stream โ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐. This allowed us to see, almost in real time: โข who had voted โข who had pledged support โข who still needed a reminder Because of that system we were able to run a ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ข๐๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป on the final evening. Instead of volunteers wandering large areas knocking randomly, they received ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐, focusing only on supporters who had not yet voted.