Join a Climate Group

“The most important thing an individual can do is be less of an individual and join together with others in movements.”

- Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org

While not everyone needs to become a climate activist, we need more people committed to taking action. Our usual forms of activism: petitions, lobbying, and trying to get bills passed, are important but they aren’t working quickly enough. The Earth is rapidly heating and a cascade of tipping points will soon be triggered, at which point humans will lose the ability to stop runaway global heating.

We need to globally mobilize and get people into the streets doing nonviolent direct action (NVDA). According to past nonviolent direct action movements, at least 3.5% of the population, especially in G20 countries, will need to mobilize in order to effectively manifest cultural and systemic change.

Given the gravity and urgency of the threat humanity is facing, joining a group that utilizes nonviolent disruptive action as part of their larger strategy is important

The Earth Hero App and Website has a growing list of climate groups from around the globe.

Join a Group

Joining a group or starting your own group is the most effective way to use your time and energy towards stopping the climate and ecological crises. If you don’t have time to join a group, consider donating to groups that resonate with you the most, especially front-line groups led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. You can also start a climate group or take action from home.

Groups based on Political Action

• Join a group like 350.org, Sierra Club, Citizen’s Climate Lobby, Greenpeace that campaign to elect politicians committed to taking action on climate and helps craft policy that protects Earth.

• Conservatives on Climate Change - Many American conservatives care deeply about the environment and climate change. Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a nonpartisan grassroots organization that welcomes Republicans and those who identify as right of center. Together, we work towards climate change solutions with their members of Congress.

• Indivisible - Indivisible Project (501c4) drives coordinated campaigns, powering the grassroots Indivisible movement to defeat the rightwing takeover of American government and win an inclusive democracy and bold progressive policies. They have a coordinated focus on facing the climate crisis and limiting warming to 1.5 Celsius. 

• If the federal government does not act, we can take power back locally. Start or join a local group that creates policies to rapidly transition your town to renewable energy. This type of group would communicate with your municipal light plant, local residents, and town officials. Climate Mobilization can help you organize on the local level. 

• People vs. Fossil Fuels are working to stop new fossil fuel projects and phase out existing fossil fuel infrastructure. They’re also mobilizing to demand President Biden to delcare a climate emergency.

Groups based on Age

• Sunrise and Fridays For Future are great groups for youth. Some chapters of Extinction Rebellion also have youth affinity groups.

• The Third Act and Elders Climate Action are targeted towards older individuals. 

Groups focused on Climate Justice

• The Black Hive is at the heart of the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) climate and environmental justice efforts. We are a cohort of Black climate and environmental justice experts who use our collective experience and knowledge to assess how climate change and ecological destruction impact Black communities in the U.S. and across the Global Black Diaspora. Together, we organize for cleaner, better, and safer futures for Black lives.

• The formation of CJA’s Black Caucus arose out of a need to authentically engage frontline Black communities and hold spaces for and center Black leadership within the climate justice movement.

• Lakota Law is dedicated to reversing the slow genocide of the Lakota People and destruction of their culture, the Lakota People’s Law Project partners with Native communities to protect sacred lands, safeguard human rights, promote sustainability, reunite indigenous families, and much more.

• Indigenous Climate Action (ICA) is an Indigenous-led organization guided by a diverse group of Indigenous knowledge keepers, water protectors and land defenders from communities and regions across the country. We believe that Indigenous Peoples’ rights and knowledge systems are critical to developing solutions to the climate crisis and achieving climate justice.

• Amazon Watch works to protect the rainforest and our climate in solidarity with Indigenous peoples.

• Intersectional Environmentalist is a climate justice collective radically imagining a more equitable + diverse future of environmentalism.

Groups based on Gender and Sexual Identity

• WECAN, Women4Climate, Womens Earth Alliance, and Wedo are groups led by women.  

• OUT for Sustainability - OUT for Sustainability provides a platform for co-creating climate resilience and environmental justice by and for LGBTQIA+  communities. We do this through advocacy, training, fundraising, and relationship-building.

Groups based on Profession 

• Climate Scientists: Extinction Rebellion Climate Scientists, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Science Moms.

• Doctors: The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and Physicians for Social Responsibility. 

• Teachers and educators: Climate Generation, resoures from NASA, and NOAA.

Groups for Parents

• Mothers out Front - Mothers Out Front is founded on the conviction that there is no more powerful force for change than women mobilizing to protect their children. We know that when we come together for climate, racial, and social justice to tell our stories and share our dreams for our children, we cannot fail. 

• Our Kids Climate - Our Kids' Climate's mission is to unite parents for climate action.

• Parents For Future Global - Parents For Future is part of the For Future movement that focuses on making the climate strike movement intergenerational.

Groups based on Focus

• To target Wall Street and financial institutions, join Stop the Money Pipeline. 

• To protect animals and wildlife join groups like The Nature Conservancy, Animal Rebellion (a branch of Extinction Rebellion), and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). 

• To protect and rewild natural spaces check out Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy.

• Groups focused on indigenous rights and the Land Back movement like Lakota Law, Indigenous Rising, and Land Back. 

• If you want to be more rebellious and are willing to join a group that breaks the law to raise awareness and put pressure on the political system, join the international grassroots movement Extinction Rebellion. This group is open to everyone, whether you want to risk arrest or take on a more low-key role like writing, speaking, or creating art. 

Groups based on Religion & Spirituality

• PAEAN: People's Alliance For Earth Action Now - This is a Dharma informed initiative aimed at building a resilient, collaborative, engaged community of small local groups interfacing together within a global network.

• One Earth Sangha - The mission of One Earth Sangha is to support humanity in a transformative response to ecological crises based on the insights and practices of the Buddhist tradition. Through our Virtual EcoDharma Center, we are here to inspire, inform, and guide our members in actions that will end ecological violence. This is our contribution to Wise Action.

• Awakening For Earth - Awakening For Earth is dedicated to facing the climate crisis and the suffering that has ensued with compassion and determination to engage in nonviolent direct action. We see climate justice within the framework of social justice and commit to advocating for policies that empower communities most impacted by climate change. They hold silent ‘Sitting For Survival’ meditations in public places to raise awareness about the climate and ecological emergency.

• Christian Climate Action - We are a community of Christians supporting each other to take meaningful action in the face of imminent and catastrophic anthropogenic climate breakdown. We are inspired by Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit. Following the example of social justice movements of the past, we carry out acts of public witness, nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience to urge those in power to make the changes needed. Since November 2018 we have worked closely with Extinction Rebellion and have become known as the Christians in XR.

• Jewish Climate Action Network - The Jewish Climate Action Network works with Jewish synagogues and other institutions to support them in becoming sustainable through energy conservation and switching to renewables. We encourage and provide educational resources related to divestment and advocacy issues around clean energy and climate change, as well as Jewish resources related to these issues. We partner with other organizations to promote footprint reduction through changes in food choices and adding biodiversity to grounds.

• Green Muslims - Green Muslims is a volunteer-driven 501(c)3 headquartered in the Metro Washington, DC, area working to connect Muslims everywhere to nature and environmental activism. We host educational, service, and outdoor recreational events and strive to serve as a bridge connecting the Muslim community with local climate action organizations. 

• Earth Quaker Action Team - Earth Quaker Action Team, EQAT (pronounced "equate"), is a grassroots, nonviolent action group including Quakers and people of diverse beliefs, who join with millions of people around the world fighting for a just and sustainable economy.