Mar 14 โข ๐ Action & Wins
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.
That mattered, because it was a ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ป๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐.
Volunteers could focus their energy where it mattered most.
๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
This election involved about ๐ญ,๐ด๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐.
The next election, in ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ๐, will involve around ๐ณ๐ด,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐.
So alongside the by-election work Iโve already been preparing:
โข division budgets
โข voter analysis
โข printing cost estimates
โข leaflet templates
โข candidate photography
โข messaging alignment
In other words โ building the systems needed to scale.
๐๐จ๐ง ๐ง๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ก ๐ง๐ข๐ข
Something our councillor wrote afterwards captured it better than I could.
โThere was something else present that evening โ love.
The team gathered at the Alton House Hotel went out into the dark, wind and rain reminding people to vote.
One volunteer came back completely drenched โ but he was smiling.
The smile of togetherness and shared purpose.
When we arrived at the count we were bouncing in full of energy, laughter and friendship.
The contrast with the other campaigns was striking.
This was people power.
Powered by love.โ
That may sound soft.
But it is actually ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด.
Because the reality is that volunteers today are often carrying a heavy emotional burden.
They are worried about the future.
They are seeing the rise of ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ, ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ-๐ณ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐.
Yet in this campaign we saw something else.
๐๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ.
๐ง๐ผ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐.
๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ.
And that won.
๐ช๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐๐๐ฆ ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ
Climate action is not only about science.
It is also about ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ.
It is about:
โข building trust
โข organising volunteers
โข creating systems
โข supporting each other emotionally
โข and finding ways to act constructively even when the future feels uncertain
That is what we try to teach here.
And occasionally, the real world provides a chance to practice it.
This campaign was one of those moments.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The next election is ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐.
So now the focus is:
โข analysing what worked
โข improving the systems
โข expanding the volunteer team
โข scaling from 1,800 voters to 78,000
Real world climate leadership.
If people are interested, Iโm happy to share more about the campaign systems and frameworks we built, because many of them translate directly into community organising and climate leadership.
4
10 comments
Field Report: Climate Action in the Real World
powered by
skool.com/has2bgreen-3767
Learn, act, and lead on climate change: from basics to advocacy to real-world action. A global hub for solutions, stories, and change-makers.
Suggested communities
Powered by