US (STOP THE MONEY PIPELINE) : This EARTH DAY, support the next generation of climate leaders!

 

If we’re going to defeat authoritarianism and end fossil fuels, we need to build real power. Right now, it can feel like we don’t have enough capacity to respond to the barrage of attacks on our democracy and our planet, let alone organize proactively to build the movement we need to win.

That’s why we launched the Local Leads, Global Impacts leadership development program. The goal of Local Leads is to provide resources, training, and deep mentorship to a cohort of campaigners across the country, as they put those skills into practice in real time by leading campaigns in their communities.

Local Leads is all about building movement power over the long term. This Earth Day, can you make a donation to Stop the Money Pipeline to keep this kind of movement building going?

Since we launched Local Leads in February, I’ve met weekly with a talented and driven cohort of thirteen organizers from across the country. And it’s been so inspiring to see how they’re not just organizing in response to the chaos, they’re organizing to win for the long haul.

Local Leads participants are leading campaigns to prevent fossil fuel expansion in frontline communities, pass make polluters pay bills at the state level, win energy affordability, build out anti-ICE and community defense networks, cut polluting banks off from doing business with cities, and pass legislation that would divest public money from Musk.

If we can win these campaigns, it would represent a real change in the larger fabric of our movement. But winning takes more than ambition. It takes resources to develop strategy, provide mentorship, and foster leadership that grows beyond a single campaign.

This Earth Day, make a donation to help build the leadership the climate movement needs to win over the long haul. Only by building a movement of hundreds of leaders, all across the country, can we defeat authoritarianism and end the era of fossil fuels.

Now more than ever, it’s easy to trend towards isolation and cynicism. When every headline is a cause worth our attention, we can’t help but wonder how we can take back power and keep up the struggle.

In my organizing, the moments where I’ve felt the most powerless are also the ones I’ve felt most alone. But when I meet with the thirteen organizers in the Local Leads program every week, and hear about their progress, and when I talk with our trainers from other movement spaces like our allies at CWA, AFT and LittleSis, I am hopeful.

These leaders are already beginning to make tangible change. One has successfully delayed a policy that would raise energy costs for Nevadans. Another has secured a sponsor for their city resolution to divest public money from Elon Musk’s companies. Actions are being organized between Earth Day and May Day for Make Polluters Pay bills. New campaigns and strategies are being seeded to get our city dollars out of polluting banks.

This is how we build the power it takes to win: by building a broad, distributed network of movement leaders and providing them with the support and resources they need to win.

But we can’t do it without you.

Donate today to support movement leaders across the country and help build a movement powerful enough to win.

We may not know the exact strategy or tactic that will push us over the edge and win the world we’re fighting for. But we do know it will take many strategies, many campaigns, and most of all it will take many leaders at the helm to push us all forward.

At Stop the Money Pipeline, we’re in it for the long haul. Our strength has always been in building with partners and other strategic campaigners to fight for material wins over corporate greed and extractive capitalism. The Local Leads program is an extension of that same philosophy.

It’s no longer enough to think about who we can get to the next action. Our opponents are entrenching themselves for the long term. We need to do the same. We need to expand our bench and become a leaderful movement. Local Leads can be a critical piece of that puzzle.

We’re building something meant to last. This Earth Day, help us keep it growing. Make a donation to support the Local Leads, Global Impacts program, and support the development of movement leaders across the country.

In Solidarity,

- Jenny, Stop the Money Pipeline organizing manager.