You know those moments of inspiration and solidarity that can sometimes change the world? We want the Global Just Recovery Gathering, a free 3-day online event for the global climate movement to reconnect and mobilize, to be one of those. But in order for a gathering to have that kind of impact, it can’t be open to only one type of person. 

We’ve shared in our past few blogs, just how we’re making this virtual gathering as diverse, accessible and multilingual as possible. But how do you host a global gathering online and ensure that areas that don’t have the best online access (often some of the people hardest hit by the climate crisis) are an integral part of the discussion?

“Unfortunately, the technology of online conference systems reflects the ableist culture we swim in. The online engineers assumed people could see. The salespeople assumed everyone could understand English. The platforms assumed your internet was strong.”

Daniel Hunter, Global Just Recovery Gathering organiser 

Enter the Global Just Recovery Gathering Watch Parties.

In regions like Africa and the Pacific, 350 staff and volunteers are organising and hosting “watch parties”, venues that will be screening the Just Recovery Gathering sessions live, where people who can’t access the GJRG on the internet on their own can visit to enjoy and engage in the experience. 

We’re excited to see our teams around the Pacific bringing their communities together to be part of the Global #JustRecovery Gathering this weekend. If you’re in Fiji, you can check @350Fiji FB and IG for more details.

Join us: https://t.co/ULvgxTEjdb pic.twitter.com/ZgSERv0ILq

— 350 Pacific (@350Pacific) April 7, 2021

This is a beautiful example of community solutions to systemic inequality, and a display of the care that has gone into ensuring that everyone has a seat at the virtual table this weekend. From Fiji to Samoa to South Africa to Ghana, hosts have offered up physical spaces so that attendees in their area can join our online one.

The Global #JustRecovery Gathering watch party hosted by the Rise up Movement has kicked off in KAMPALA, Uganda!

A Just recovery is possible! pic.twitter.com/pgTdQFfKpB

— Rise up Movement (@Riseupmovt) April 9, 2021

It’s a #JustRecovery night-in for most of us in the Pacific. Joining in the #StopAdani workshop happening now! https://t.co/frOszKMTQJ pic.twitter.com/pwUSdhp6HI

— 350 Pacific (@350Pacific) April 9, 2021

Follow @350Pacific and @350Africa to see more coverage of these beautiful watch parties, or share photos/videos of your own with the #JustRecovery hashtag on Twitter or Instagram.

Friday 9 April

It’s finally here! The Global Just Recovery Gathering kicks off today and we’re excited to have folks joining us from every corner of the globe, in a moment of reflection, re-imagining and hope. Here’s what to look forward to in the first day of the Gathering:

• A powerful Pacific Island traditional welcoming ceremony
• 3 exciting keynote panels
• 6 beautiful cultural sessions
• 47 fun and effective workshops
• 39 movement stories

Alongside all of this, will be the opportunity to engage with people all over the world that are hungry for change and inspired by the stories we share between us. There is nothing we can’t achieve if we pool our collective people power together, and create the forces of change necessary for a just recovery for all.

You can still join us – Register now to join today, 

Here are some of the key not panels you can join at the start of each time zone cycle:

Panel: Just Recovery for All

“The pandemic has exposed the deep inequities of our existing economic system and opened a pathway to leave these injustices behind. We need to come together and push for a world that puts people before profit. Now it’s the time to turn the corner away from harmful practices that destroy our climate and the living world around us.”

With Hakima Abbas, Naomi Klein, Amitav Ghosh, Dominique Palmer

Panel: How to Postpone the End of the World?

“We are going through a major crisis and its deepest roots are related to our continuous war against nature. This disconnection with nature has caused damage to the planet and ourselves. We need radical changes in our way of being in the world.”

With Vandana Shiva, Ailton Krenak, Tasneem Essop & Adriana Calderón

Panel: Grounding Ourselves: Science Updates & Our Mental Health

“How do we cope with the most up-to-date data from climate scientists without getting trapped by anxiety-related responses and mental health disorders? Sharing ways to process this information and remain steady to keep on fighting.”

With Luisa Neubauer, Ko Barrett, Renee Lertzman, George Marshall

All our panels for the Global Just Recovery Gathering offer interpretation in Bahasa Indonesia, Deutsch, English, Español, Français, Português, Türkçe, 日本語, and closed captioning in English.

https://twitter.com/350/status/1374352976589037571

That’s not all

There are many other interactive workshops and powerful movement sessions on the first day of the Gathering, where you get the chance to share skills and hone your knowledge of where we need to direct our people power. From building a better future in Lating America, to a Just Recovery in Japan. From weaving stories of hope in Fiji to case studies of grassroots organising in Gambia. The future we deserve is going to take everyone, and we want you to be a part of it.

Your story

Want to connect outside the Gathering? Let us and your fellow attendees know what you think of the sessions by using the #JustRecovery hashtag on any of your social media accounts. What sessions are you enjoying, who have you connected with, what has been your highlight? This is your story as much as ours.

You’ll also be able to chat with other participants on Pheedloop, our event platform. There will be chat rooms for each session you join, as well as regional ones for people near you, or just the chance to connect one-on-one with other activists.

Browse the rest of the Gathering programme here.

It is no secret that Japanese banks are the top lenders for the global coal industry, funding the acceleration of the climate crisis worldwide. 2021 marks a critical year for Japan as the government looks to revise its energy policy (it does so every three years), just a year after Japan pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050. This policy will determine how much fossil fuels and renewables are invested in, as well as how much the country updates their targeted Nationally Determined Contributions for the Paris Agreement.

In short: A strong, clear energy policy will save the lives of millions and deliver a glimpse of climate justice to frontline communities. A weak policy that pays lip service will continue not. 

To push the Japan government to divest from dirty energy, 350.org Japan has led the “Four Critical Years: Act Now! Protect Our Environment and Future” (or Ato4Nen) campaign, urging the country to introduce more ambitious energy policies. Already, more than 142,000 signatures have been collected, and 183 non-profit organizations, activist groups, no nuclear organizations, renewable energy companies, workers corps and even corporations have joined the campaign, demonstrating a groundswell of support toward a just recovery.

In the dual crises of COVID-19 and the climate emergency, a strong mandate for the government will encourage financial institutions such as Japan’s three megabanks who top the list of global coal lenders to introduce aggressive coal divestment policies.

We urge all of you to join us as the tides turn and our voices rise higher than the sea levels. Sign the petition and call on Japan’s government to divest fossil fuels for a just recovery. The petition will close on April 20. 

350.org Japan will send the petition and messages from the 142,000 climate activists to Prime Minister Suga, and the Ministers for Economy, Trade and Industry; Environment; and Administrative Reform on April 22, as Japan joins US President Joe Biden’s Climate Summit. 

On 22 April, our wave of activism will appear in the form of youth activists from Fridays for Future. Together we will take to the streets to march for the climate, calling on a Just Recovery for all. 

Whether you are in Japan, or joining us in spirit, don’t forget to sign the Ato4Nen petition.

And if you are keen to know more about our Japan campaigning work where it concerns the largest lenders of coal, join us at the Global Just Recovery Gathering. 

“When it comes to putting pressure on the government to do the right thing, we think it is important to involve as many people as possible. We invited intersectional groups instead of just environmental groups as we are all in this together,” said Takayoshi Yokoyama, 350.org Japan team lead. “We also invited activists to join us from the beginning of the campaign, so that everyone is strongly engaged and in it for the long haul.”

The stories we carry define who we are. Our ancestral history and our lived experiences. They bring to life an untamed nature that’s raw but grounded in so much truth. They relate to others but are uniquely ours. They capture so much more beyond the world we know, they bring people together and ignite a flame that makes us work past the challenges we face, as a people, as a nation, as a Pacific. 

For 350 Pacific, global moments of unity like the Global Just Recovery Gathering play a key part in our history and our story. It was at one of these, the Global Powershift in 2013, that a group of young activists from across our vast ocean region had the opportunity to meet. There they listened, learned, and envisioned. They dreamt of a network grounded in our stories, our culture, and our lived experiences. At the Global Powershift in 2013, the Pacific Climate Warriors were born.

Continuing that tradition of gatherings but reimagining it for this time of pandemic, we have the Global Just Recovery Gathering.

The Global Just Recovery Gathering is crucial in this time because we’ve all been through so much over the last year – the escalating climate crisis, the covid-19 pandemic, and the economic crisis. It’s time we all reconnect and set ourselves on a new path towards a better world. 

What the past year has taught us is that the systems in place are not sustainable for our people and our planet. We need our global leaders to look past quick and easy fixes and start investing in a just future for all. That’s why now more than ever, we need a just recovery. 

From April 9-11, people from around the world will come together virtually for the Global Just Recovery Gathering. The Gathering will feature interactive workshops, cultural sessions, and hands-on training. This will be a moment to build our skills, strengthen relationships, and hear from a powerful line-up of climate leaders, artists, and musicians in every corner of the world.  

The 3-day event will run in 6-hour cycles to cater to different time zones and allow people joining around the world to have a full experience. In the Pacific, we have lined up some powerful and informative sessions. Our sessions have been designed to highlight the work happening in our region to defund the fossil fuel industry. We know that by calling on financial institutions worldwide to rule out dirty energy infrastructure, we are continuing the fight to keep global heating below the 1.5 degrees our islands need to thrive.  

Through these sessions, you will find out how you can be involved and take action with us.

JOIN US FOR ISLAND TIME!

Register Now 

Traditional Welcome Ceremony –  April 9, 7:00 pm GMT+12

At 7:00 pm GMT +12 (Fiji Time) the official opening of the Global Just Recovery Gathering will be covered by the Pacific with a traditional ceremony followed by a musical performance. Our culture and traditions make up who we are. At their roots, they make us resilient, courageous, respectful, kind and most of all are where we draw our strength to protect our identity and our island homes

Stop Adani – From Extraction to Impact – The people power movement bringing down a giant – April 9, 8:15 pm GMT+12

Stopping Adani has become one of the most iconic fights of our time. Banks, contractors, Insurers all continue to fall down to the pressure of a monumental movement led by First Nations people fighting to protect their land and country. 

From extraction to impact, in this session, we will follow the movement of people on the frontlines of this fight. We will talk through the stories that have shaped the movement and the fight that is still ahead of us.

Climate Finance Training for Pacific Journalists – 12:15 pm GMT+12 

Why on Earth are climate activists calling out banks and insurers? What do insurers have to do with climate change? In collaboration with Market forces, this journalist training will trace the rising of carbon emissions back to fossil fuel companies, the institutions that have enabled these companies to fuel the climate crisis, and why fossil finance is not just bad for the environment, it’s bad for business. As the world prepares for a just recovery, we highlight the polluters who continue “business as usual” with the people’s money, while jeopardizing the health of people and planet. This is a closed group session with Pacific journalists. If you wish to join, you can email 350 Asia/Pacific Communications Manager, Nicole Han at [email protected]

Kato Ni Mana – Weaving our stories into baskets of hope – 02.15 pm GMT+12

Fijian legend tells of the Kato Ni Mana – the box of blessings that forms part of Fiji’s origin story.

 As we look towards COP26 this year as the Pacific Climate Warriors, we are thinking about the different stories we want to tell ourselves and the world. How do we center our truths and our stories in global negotiations like the UNFCCC Climate Conference?

Join us as we explore some of the key moments that have shaped our COP journey as the Pacific and find out how you can weave your stories into the baskets, the Kato Ni Mana, we plan to take there with us.

Cut The Money – Cutting the flow of money to Australia’s Gas Expansion in the Northern Territory – 03:15 pm GMT+12

As frontline communities continue to grapple with the effects of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the escalating climate crisis, governments like Australia have decided that recovery from these crises begins with the destruction of Indigenous land through fracking.  

Currently, 85% of Australia’s Northern Territory is covered in oil and gas exploration licenses, and with the federal government dedicating the greater part of its recovery budget to the expansion of the gas industry, it’s time we stood up together to hit the industry where it hurts most – its flow of money.

From extraction to impact, this session will follow the effects fracking has on indigenous land and community, as well as the effect it has on the escalating climate crisis that is threatening the Pacific. We will follow the flow of money going into these projects, the flow of money from the Australian government and public finance, and most importantly, what we can do together to #CutTheMoney.

Panel: Hearing the Guardians of the Earth – April 10, 07:00 pm GMT+12

Nature is sacred and so we treat it. We need to learn from the ancestral wisdom of those who stay attached to the multiple forms of life and existence on Earth. Featured on this amazing panel of speakers is DIVA for equalities, Noelene Nabulivou, a feminist grassroots organizer and educator, researcher, policy analyst, activist, advocate, and movement-builder in Fiji. Noelene has been a global Adviser to many feminist organizing groups and networks, and at the local level prioritizing knowledge-sharing and accompaniment of many marginalized Pacific young people, young women, sex workers, and LGBTQI activists, and holds several official and informal movement roles.

Panel: Building Power Through Youth Organising – April 12, 03:00 am GMT+12

“They ask us to have hope, in a clear attempt to imprison us, but the world is on fire and this requires immediate action. We won’t stop.” The youth represent a big part of the world we leave in and they play a crucial role in making intentional and visionary decisions that would impact their future. Join this amazing panel on Sunday, April 11, and hear from an amazing and diverse panel of youth activists from around the world. 

This panel will include our amazing youth representative for the Pacific Climate Warriors, Brianna Fruean, a Samoan climate activist who has been leading grassroots climate justice movements for most of her life and is currently studying Politics and International Relations in Auckland, New Zealand. At 11, she became a founding member of 350 Samoa, becoming the youngest 350.org country coordinator, and now serves as the youth representative on the Pacific Climate Warriors Council of Elders. 

There are also many more amazing and interactive sessions offered during the 3-day event. Check out our programme for more details.

Programme

When we launched the Gathering for a Just Recovery, we vowed to make it more accessible than anything we’ve ever done before. Before we had 10,000 pre-registrants and before we had over 100 partners and before we had organized over 200 workshop sessions, we needed to start with the basics. We vowed to educate ourselves so we could learn quickly on what an online conference could do, at scale, with the tools that exist now.

Unfortunately, the technology of online conference systems reflects the ableist culture we swim in. The online engineers assumed people could see. The salespeople assumed everyone could understand English. The platforms assumed your internet was strong.

When we make a system that excludes people’s experiences, it’s reflected in every aspect. The technology reflected that.

We went through a series of disappointments: we fell in love with (many) interactive features or systems that were great — but exclusive. We let that journey of disappointment grow our empathy — and it left us with a problem to solve. How do you make imperfect things as accessible as possible?

Here’s what we did and what we ended up with.

Ask what the needs are.

To our knowledge, 350 has never asked its people what their accessibility needs are. This creates a self-perpetuating problem: if you never ask, you never find out. Our colleagues with disabilities kept saying, “If nobody tells us it’s accessible for us, we assume it’s not.” Experience tells us that’s typically true.

So we asked a series of questions about people’s language needs, visual needs, auditory needs, and other impairments that might affect the gathering.

A few insights, to give a sense:

• Our highest language requests were for English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Turkish — these largely reflect 350’s organizing footprint;
• Closed captioning was a higher demand than we expected — almost 2,000 people. Some people were hearing impaired, most said it helps them understand the English better (an example of how supporting one margin can support others);
• Despite the option, sign language wasn’t requested. Given what we learned about International Sign Language not being an international solution for meetings, this relieved some pressure as we were researching support for multiple sign language variants;
• Support for screen readers and for folks with visual disability was very low (just a handful). We hazard a guess this may be because 350 hasn’t been great at this in the past — so we decided to go ahead and prioritize our support for this as best we can.

Find a system that meets most of the needs.

We tested 30+ different conference systems. It took us a while but we found an online conference platform that was inside our budget range and takes disability access seriously: PheedLoop. (And multilingual… and …)

They’re consistent with WCAG, AODA, and ADA — but that’s a minimum bar.

Caption: Image of PheedLoop interface: Title “Accessibility Adjustments” at top with three buttons: “Reset Settings, Statement, and Hide Interface.” Text area for “Search the online dictionary” with a series of on/off buttons offering to “Choose the right accessibility profile for you”. The buttons include: Seizure Safe Profile (eliminates flashes and reduces color), Vision Impaired Profile (enhances the website’s visuals), Cognitive Disability Profile (assists with reading and focusing), ADHD Friendly Profile (more focus and fewer distractions), Blind Users (screen-reader) (use the website with your screen-reader), Keyboard Navigation (motor) (use the website the keyboard).

Above you can find some of the options that PheedLoop supports. They have other options that make it easy to do color shifts, make the font size bigger, and other accessibility options often neglected.

In pre-testing their system was adequate. And that made it far superior to almost everything else we tested.

But that is only the beginning of the challenge. Since we’re hosting over 200 workshops and plenary sessions in a mix of almost a dozen languages, we’ve got to think about how to support captioning and interpretation.

Here is where it began to get really tricky.

Find more systems that expand its capabilities

An additional reason we picked PheedLoop was because they were responsive. We insisted on being multilingual and they responded by adding 12 languages to their services. We offered our translation services and so they added Turkish and Indonesian for us, too.

But PheedLoop alone couldn’t provide everything.

So we added to the mix. Allow us to just get a little nerdy on the details of what we used.

We relied on Zoom for our workshop sessions. This wasn’t an easy choice — but Zoom is known, and folks in the disability community have grown used to what it can and cannot do. And it’s better than many. Zoom also saved our speakers from learning a new system.

We added captions via SyncWords. We loved how SyncWords works smoothly for our plenary sessions. A human hears the language and transcribes the content. Our testing showed this worked smoothly.

Alas, this doesn’t work well with Zoom. Zoom doesn’t (yet) allow you to set up captions ahead of time on a workshop. And with 200 workshops — sometimes 40 simultaneously — we didn’t have the capacity to support the tech required.

For those workshop sessions we set-up Zoom’s auto-captioning feature, where Zoom automatically takes the spoken words in English and puts them into text (unfortunately there is no translation). The automatic function is better than nothing but admittedly imperfect.

Finally, interpretation proved to be quite difficult. We played with several options that didn’t provide what we needed or cost vastly more than we could afford. But we landed on Clevercast, which takes any RTMP (or HLS) feed and sets up rooms that allow multiple interpretation rooms. This worked smoothly with our system, which happens to be live streaming from StreamYard.

All of this we’ve tested multiple times with a range of colleagues to help give feedback on how it all works. We’re pretty pleased with the end result.

The final result: What we can offer

For all the plenary sessions (panels and cultural sessions) we offer:

• Interpretation into the seven most requested languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Indonesian, Japanese – plus German, Chinese and Bengali for some of these sessions)
• Live streams and recorded sessions for later (better for those with low internet connections)
• Live captioning in English by a human translator and those being auto-translated into the languages we had significant requests for captions (Spanish and French). We have also added Korean to some sessions, as this was one language we were not supporting and that we got a fair amount of requests for.

All of the Movement Stories and Workshops, they will be hosted on Zoom. We’ll offer:

• Interpretation as noted under each session description*
• Live captioning via Zoom’s auto-captioning service*
• Prepping our 250+ session leaders to prepare accessible sessions with tips, such as reading slides aloud and adding captions
• For people with visual disabilities, we encourage downloading “Be My Eyes.”

* These options don’t work in break-out rooms.

Because of no demand, we are not offering sign language interpreters. We are unable to support interpretation or captions in languages with less than a dozen people.

A final note

Because these sessions are online, we’ve had to find technology that supports wider accessibility. But technology will never be any equalizer if we never learn to be in each other’s shoes.

Real relationships, real testing, and really thinking it through from many angles — that’s hard work that will not go away as long as we have a system that divides us up.

We’re reporting back what we’re doing here not for kudos, but so people can see us struggling to get better. Those with the enthusiasm to help please keep advising and helping us — and those with frustration, keep prodding us with sticks to get better. A Just Recovery requires all of us.

The Global Just Recovery Gathering is just around the corner. Almost 10,000 people across the globe have pre-registered for the 3-day online gathering that will bring people together to build the future we want. This week, we opened registration for everyone, and are inviting you to register so we can save you a spot.

Registration is now open for the Global #JustRecovery Gathering.

Save your spot for this incredible moment where climate activists all over the world will come together to learn, share, and chart a path ahead. pic.twitter.com/guePVUOqCK

— 350 dot org (@350) March 17, 2021

The Global Just Recovery Gathering is an incredible moment when climate activists all over the world will come together to learn, share, and chart a path ahead. It is an amazing opportunity to build a Just Recovery from the pandemic that tackles the climate crisis directly. And you can be part of it.

Here’s 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Chibeze Ezekiel from Ghana, one of the Gathering speakers, explaining a bit about his work with the youth towards a Just Recovery:

How can young people chart a path to not just endure the climate crisis, but to actually build a just and prosperous future? @Chibeze1 and other youth activists around the world will be speaking at the Global #JustRecovery Gathering.
Save your spot today: https://t.co/biRYhOTHhy pic.twitter.com/mT8jWVmJWK

— 350 dot org (@350) March 17, 2021

The line-up of speakers includes inspiring people like Chibeze and many other powerful voices: Vandana Shiva, Naomi Klein, Greta Thunberg, Amitav Ghosh and many more will all be bringing powerful discussions and sharing justice-centered stories.

And if you are wondering how we are going to cover timezones with participants coming from all corners of the globe, here’s how: we’ve designed the programme in a way that anyone can attend any sessions they choose. You can join a 6-hour ‘cycle’ for each of the three days to match your timezone and be totally immersed. Or you can participate in individual workshops — it’s up to you! (Make sure you check the full schedule here).

Moments when thousands of people from all over the planet get together to shape our future are rare, and the Global Just Recovery Gathering is going to be one of them. Join us today.

Register today

The Gathering is picking up pace with speakers, confirmed panels, and an agenda that makes me think about staying up all night to watch it all (but I won’t for my well-being!). We wanted to pause our work just long enough to say out loud a few of the ways we’re trying to center justice into the Gathering — hoping that may elicit some excitement and also identify additional things we need to be doing.

This isn’t a statement of us getting this right — it’s a statement of intent and how we’re trying to live up to that intent.

1. Intersectional work and frontline communities up front

Rather than a list of big green speakers, our list of plenary speakers leads with communities hardest hit by the climate crisis: indigenous, women, Black, Global South, and other frontline communities. We’ve worked hard to craft a list of speakers from an array of perspectives who live and breathe an intersectional approach to climate justice — not as an effort, but as who they are. We knew this would take time, which is why we started building panels since last September.

2. Partnering in growth areas

When 350 makes a list of “partners” we have our go-to partners. But good organizers know that whoever is in your circle isn’t enough. Our first partner to sign-on was Seed Mob, Australia’s first Indigenous youth climate network — with a reason. We’re aiming to use the Gathering to build relationships with groups outside our normal circles. This is both a global and regional effort of our team. We see this as a chance to make first-connection or strengthen connections with partners — which also helps us create a more diverse set of workshops and events.

3. Accessible platforms: language + physical accessibility

Turns out, the technology sucks for conference platforms. Our Technology Working Group struggled mightily through dozens of platforms to find a platform that both supported multilingual and was widely accessible for people with a range of disabilities (and didn’t quote us, seriously, $250,000USD for its services). The system we picked PheedLoop isn’t perfect, but it’s way better than other options. We’ve crafted this Guide for Accessibility for the Gathering to communicate upfront what people can expect. We’ve found technologies, like “Be my Eyes,” to give additional support outside of what the platform can offer. All of this we’re trying to transparently communicate on our website at the point of registration so people can know what to expect. I can’t promise it won’t be bumpy (actually, I’m pretty certain it will be bumpy) but we’re trying to expand who can attend and who we can support.

4. Then test with folks with disability. Then test again.

We’ve already asked some close colleagues to test our chosen system, such as folks with low internet access or folks who are blind and use a screen reader. They gave us some feedback which helped us pick the platform. And shortly we’ll do another, bigger test-run with even more folks to see what breaks, largely focused on accessibility.

5. Honouring cultural work in the conference

From the beginning, we planned cultural sessions in the design. We weave music, poetry, and art into the flow. Some have explicit times; others will emerge organically. And it turns out this has required us to really stretch. While our list of confirmed speakers grew quickly since November, our list of confirmed artists remained short. This required bringing extra capacity and effort — but it’s worth it. This opens doors for us in relationship-building in the future, and it grows how we move around our work. Our movement shouldn’t just talk about climate change, we should sing and dance it too.

6. Translate translate translate.

350 is routinely good at this because we have a devoted Translations team (many international organizations don’t have this!). But this is worth mentioning: we’re translating and providing interpretation as much as our budget allows. All of our plenary sessions will be translated into several languages and many of our workshops, too. That takes a lot of time and resource — but we know it’s worth it!

7. Support for internet access

We cannot solve the problems of internet disparity. But we’re trying to reduce the disparity — one way we’re doing this: We’ve allocated $5,000 per region to oversee an Equity Participation fund. Regions decide based on their needs how to support access: buying internet credits, supporting meals, or travel to the city where internet access can be gained. Wherever money is involved it gets messy — but organizing is about going where the need is and we’re trying to do that.

8. Pacing — yes, there are breaks

The traditional conference design is packed. And, yes, we’ll have some time that’s packed. But we’ll also encourage 2-hour breaks between our major cycles (not including 30-minute breaks within each cycle). That wasn’t for practical purposes — it’s a value to not over-stuff and signal to people we want them not to over-stuff, too. Breaks matter.

9. Intersectional everything

Our workshop topics and panels are not just a list of traditional environmental sector concerns. It includes issues of authoritarianism, Blackness, gender, intergenerational, mental health & and security. We’d love to keep growing in this direction — please let us know if you have an offering!

10. Telling you what we’re up to — and then listening to what we’re missing

We’re keeping our ears open! We’re going to miss a lot as a core group and are trying our best to keep up with the day-to-day. But issues of justice often don’t flow in the day-to-day of google docs, so if there are other things to discuss or feedback to give us — please let us know. 

Thanks,

By Daniel Hunter 

On behalf of

Marcel Taminato

Thelma Young Lutunatabua

Bridget Burrows

Nicolas Haeringer

Cansin Leylim

Sign up today

In just a month from today, people from all corners of the world will be coming together online to chart paths for a better future for all. 

The Global Just Recovery Gathering is a 3-day online event for our movement to reconnect, recharge and rebuild. It will be a space for us to dream together, to share our hopes and stories, and to prepare to take action. This will not be another video call — this is our chance to bring our hearts and minds together into shaping the world we want to live in. And we are inviting you to join us on April 9.

Pre-register now so we can save a spot for you.

Here are 4 key things you need to know about the gathering:

So far, over five thousand people have pre-registered — most of them from places like Brazil, Turkey, the United States, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Philippines. And with speakers like Vandana Shiva, Naomi Klein, Chibeze Ezekiel and Lidy Nacpil, just imagine the wide range of diverse experiences you’ll be hearing about — and sharing your own.

THREAD
4 Things you need to know about the Just Recovery Gathering! pic.twitter.com/HRGveNH0ud

— 350 dot org (@350) March 10, 2021

These are tough times when distance is preventing us from connecting on the streets and communities. But this Gathering is a chance to bring us all together, no matter where we are.

Pre-register today

We’re all moving into our second year of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. As we reflect on the tough times that have passed, and look to build a better future for all, now is the time for the climate movement to reconnect.

This April, we are hosting the Global Just Recovery Gathering, a 3-day online event, full of fun and effective training sessions, graced with amazing activists, leaders, and artists to energise us. It will be a space to design new pathways for a better future for all.

It’s been tough times, but if there’s one thing these times have shown us is that when we stand together, we are powerful. It’s time to gather that power. It is time to recharge, rebuild and reconnect!

Build your skills, strengthen relationships, and hear from a powerful line-up of climate leaders, artists, and musicians in every corner of the world. Vandana Shiva, Naomi Klein, Hakima Abbas, Ailton Krenak, Nnimmo Bassey and Eriel Deranger have all confirmed participation, and more will be announced soon!

We are excited to invite you to the Global Just Recovery Gathering this April. We've all been through a lot and it's time to regroup, re-inspire, and get to work shaping the future we deserve. Are you ready for a #JustRecovery?https://t.co/0KUuyO6lsR pic.twitter.com/K0jHF5jPMO

— 350 dot org (@350) March 3, 2021

People around the world are coming together to collectively reimagine our future. We can create the future we deserve.  Join us and pre-register today