Collective climate action - it's loud and unstoppable!

Activating people through music, getting off autopilot, and connecting for change with guest editor Adam Met

We have such a fun guest editor this week: Adam Met, Renaissance man. Why do I call him that? Well first, he has a PhD in Human Rights and Sustainable Development and is an adjunct professor at Columbia University–no surprise there, since I often ask people studying interesting things to share what they know in this newsletter. But there’s more.

Adam is the founder and executive director of Planet Reimagined, where he is building an Action Research Center. It’s exactly what it sounds like: studying and implementing ways to engage people in real change. So practical! He is also the author of the best-selling book Amplify: How to Use The Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World. Very exciting; but there’s still more.

Adam is a musician; and not just any musician but the “A” in AJR, my niece Clara’s favourite band (and many millions of other people’s favourite as well, since they are already multi-platinum). This means that in between all his research, teaching, advocacy and writing, he also performs worldwide for millions of fans. And last but by no means least, Adam is using his amazing reach as a “living lab” to activate people for climate action in some very cool ways which you are about to learn about.

Take it away, Adam!

Far too many people think climate change is caused by (or at least can be seriously addressed through) personal actions like recycling, eating less meat, shopping at thrift stores, turning off the lights when you leave a room, taking fewer airplane trips, and hundreds of other consumer and personal behaviors. Industry has masterfully marketed the “carbon footprint” to put the responsibility of climate action on us as individuals.

And yet the true problem is structural, not individual. As people concerned about climate change, we need to shift from asking people to make individual changes. Instead, we need to focus on the power of collective civic action to change policy. Collective action works.

For example, sports games, religious contexts, and any number of other places where people show up in large numbers should thoughtfully incorporate – not just offer – opportunities for civic and political action. The repeated, in-person nature of locally driven action has been proven (yes, proven) to turn the apathetic into the engaged.

One great opportunity for this? Live concerts and shows! That’s why Planet Reimagined’s Amplify project focuses on how artists, like myself, can be effective messengers for climate action.

We started by partnering with Ticketmaster, Live Nation, iHeartRadio, REVERB, and Climate Outreach to study what our fans think about climate change. It turns out, nearly 75% of them already care about it and are ready to act when asked by their favorite artists.

My band, AJR, put the research into action, testing a fan-engagement initiative during our 2024 summer tour across 21 major US cities. The result? More than 35,000 fan actions from signing petitions and calling elected officials to joining local advocacy groups. Now we’re expanding this initiative to other artists, including Billie Eilish and the country singer Tyler Childers, to mobilize fans for collective action.

By connecting through music, we’re activating those who care about climate change, but aren’t doing anything about it – that’s the biggest group of people in the U.S. and many other countries!

We need to be honest about the current state of the climate movement. We are failing on many fronts.

Sure, there have been some wins; but year after year, the temperature keeps rising. Many elected U.S. officials are doubling down on denial and knocking back our progress. And there’s a growing global movement to oppose climate policies and spread disinformation.

The response has been leaderless and rudderless. We are fragmented by politics, money, identities, and ideologies. But these challenges are not exactly new. In the U.S., the climate movement achieved a huge policy win with the Inflation Reduction Act more than three years ago, yet most Americans don’t even know it. And now we’re losing ground as that win gets rolled back. Why aren’t we changing tack?

The climate movement is operating on autopilot. We still don’t have enough people with us, and too many of the people we have are still doing the same things because they’ve always done them that way.

Now is the time for a new wave of the movement, and we need to start by changing how we talk about the challenge and the solutions. That’s what the next section is about!

At Planet Reimagined, we’ve drafted a blueprint for this new philosophy. It’s called The Neo-Industrial Revolution: A Declaration for a New American Climate and, in it, we propose a new way of embedding collective actions into daily life.

If you are reading this, you are already part of a broad-based, interconnected movement for a more prosperous and fair world. As members of this movement, we urge you to read this call to action. No matter your sector, we need to shift from asking for individual consumer changes to demanding collective civic action to change policy.

In particular, we call for using tested language and framing that is proven to appeal to broad public opinion, behavior, and, by extension, policy-making. For example, research shows it’s more effective to talk about “pollution” than “emissions.” In the U.S., replace “renewables” with “American-made clean power.”

The declaration also outlines dozens of tactics and strategies for different actors in the climate movement to catalyze collective action. For example,

• If you’re in academia, advocate for action research and “impact professorships” that value real-world implementation.

• If you’re an artist or entertainer, use live events to embed opportunities for civic and political action.

• If you’re in local politics, use methods to apply successful local policies to other political and regulatory contexts.

• If you’re in philanthropy, invest your dollars in solutions that come out of nonprofit research, with returns for all parties.

Whoever you are, there’s something you can do: and it starts with recognizing our power as a collective.

👋 Katharine here! Thank you, Adam, for this inspiring call to action!

As I often say, we can’t tackle climate change alone: but I know we can do it together. Adam’s work shows how powerful collective action can be and helps us see how each of us has a role to play in helping to create that better future for us all.

To learn more about Adam’s work with Planet Reimagined visit planetreimagined.com or follow him on Instagram and subscribe to his Substack.