Action research is essentially a series of cycles of reflection, planning and action.
Twenty years of accumulated campaign experience represents an incredible resource to learn from. What has worked? What hasn’t? What’s changing? What opportunities are emerging? This campaign is attracting groups and individuals who are passionate about addressing climate change but have minimal experience or awareness of climate campaigning to date – current campaign strategies and assumptions, who’s who in the movement and where best to direct their energies. A starting point for the project was to reflect on our own experience and discussions with climate campaigners we know in Australia. Our January 2007 e-news included a piece on this project which initiated some interesting discussions.
Written documentation provides another useful prompt for reflection. There is a small but important body of written material that documents and analyses some key and diverse approaches to climate change campaigning. For instance, Cassie Star, Nina Lansbury-Hall and Ros Taplin have written case studies based on interviews of climate campaigning in Australia and the UK. The Death of Environmentalism and Chris Rose’s regular Campaign Strategy ebulletins explore some tendencies in international climate campaigning. Tapping into this material and the unwritten insights and experiences of seasoned climate campaigners can potentially turbo-charge this emerging sub-movement. By learning from what has happened in Australia and other countries, and what is currently occurring, climate campaigners can accelerate their learning and their political impact.
‘How to’ guides for campaigners, organisers and activist educators.
