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Sometimes social movements can spread like wildfire. From the sit-ins of the Civil Rights movement to the sea change in support for marriage equality, from the divestment campaign to end apartheid in South Africa to the climate justice movement winning the largest climate bill in history (2022's Inflation Reduction Act) — the strategy model known as Momentum has proven powerful time and time again. Although Momentum has helped movements succeed for centuries, the framework has gained increased attention in recent years as the internet has made it possible to organize action at a larger and larger scale. In 2014, a new institute called Momentum began training movement leaders in this strategy. And in 2016, Mark and Paul Engler formalized the momentum approach in their valuable book This Is An Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt is Shaping the 21st Century. In this episode, Deepak interviews May Boeve, Executive Director of the climate justice group 350.org. Founded in 2008, by Bill McKibben and a small group of college students, including May, 350.org is now active in 26 countries and works with a volunteer network of 500 organizations. May and organizers at 350.org used the model before the framework had been written down. They believe that the breakthrough social transformation promised by Momentum makes it an essential strategy to confront the existential threat posed by global warming. May describes how 350.org's momentum-driven campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline in 2011 provided a crucial morale boost after the stinging legislative defeat of climate legislation in the Obama years — and marked, in the words of one observer, “the first time the environmental and climate movement [got] serious about power.” 350.org's subsequent divestment campaign against fossil fuels illustrated the power of “distributed action” and putting pressure on key institutions like foundations, banks, and local governments. It also provided an onramp for ordinary people to get involved and become leaders. Early in her organizing career, May had been a proponent of “horizontalism,” the philosophy that movements should be leaderless, but she now rejects that notion and explains how momentum-driven movements can combine mass engagement with effective leadership. May and Deepak conclude by considering the promise and peril of online organizing, how to deal with pathologies in movement culture, and 350.org's shift from simply “saying no” to fossil fuels to also “saying yes” to climate change solutions. Links:May mentions Maurice Mitchell's highly influential 2022 essay “Building Resilient Organizations,” a must-read for everyone in progressive politics. And now, there's a workbook, too.
(This episode originally aired July 2019). Today, you'll hear from May Boeve who narrated the previous episode about Katia Krafft. If you haven't listened to last week's episode, now is a good time to go back and check it out! Boeve reveals how she first cultivated an interest in climate change, the incredible humans who are working to create positive change, and the risk involved with her daily responsibilities!
(This episode originally aired July 2019) Once upon a time, a girl dreamed of sailing down a river of lava. Her name was Katia. Katia became fascinated with volcanoes when she first saw them on-screen at a small French movie theater as a teenager. So, she set out to study them, capturing their magnificent beauty and power through the lens of her camera. With her daredevil husband Maurice by her side, Katia visited over half of the world's active volcanoes, sailed a boat into a lake of acid, and even escaped out a second-story window into a pile of volcanic ash. About the Narrator: Self-proclaimed activist May Boeve is the Executive Director of 350.org, an international climate change campaign. Founded in 2008, 350.org strives to generate the sense of urgency required to tackle the climate crisis through creative communications, organizing, and mass mobilizations. Boeve has been active in the climate movement since her days at Middlebury College. In 2006, she co-founded and led the Step It Up 2007 campaign, which brought together communities from 1,400 places for a National Day of Climate Action. Four years later, Boeve was handcuffed and arrested in front of the White House while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Through it all she has maintained her commitment to fighting for what's right, and in 2015 Time Magazine recognized her as a “Next Generation Leader.” Boeve is a tireless advocate for the environment and is the co-author of the book Fight Global Warming Now. Credits: This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes and Meg Murnane, with writing by Grace Boyle and narration by May Boeve. Jestine Ware edited all scripts and Janice Weaver fact-checked all scripts. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure who coordinated all credit recordings and narrator donations.
350.org co-founder and Executive Director May Boeve describes the joy and challenge of connecting climate activists across the globe, scaling up climate solutions, and drawing on faith to drive courage and prophetic speech. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refugia/message
The COP26 UN Conference on Climate Change in Glasgow, Scotland, ended 10 days ago, with deep divisions between some of the world's largest contributors to global warming still intact. President Joe Biden tried to re-assert American leadership on climate, and following his return from Scotland, the House passed his bipartisan infrastructure bill, which contains $47 billion in environmental funding, including money to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay and to deal with the effects of climate change. That alone is the largest spending package on environmental provisions in American history, and days later, the House sent the much larger Build Back Better Act to the Senate which, at the moment, contains more than $550 billion dollars in climate provisions. Joining Tom to discuss the COP 26 Conference and the way forward in confronting climate change is May Boeve(pron. BOO-vee), the co-founder and executive director of the environmental advocacy group, 350.org. May Boeve joins us on Zoom from Oakland, California. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What do activists do when you have a U.S. president that actually takes climate change seriously? May Boeve, co-founder and Executive Director of 350.org and 350 Action, has a plan and she's ready to accelerate action by continuing to push for just, equitable transition to a sustainable future. She joins the show this week to discuss the beginning of the Biden Era and the end of the Trump presidency, and how she finds inspiration to keep fighting for climate. Co-hosts Ty Benefiel and Brock Benefiel also discuss Climate Day, executive orders, and state rollbacks on protecting wetlands and clean energy standards. Subscribe to our new Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly": https://theclimateweekly.substack.com/ As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group. Check out our updated website! Further Reading/Listening: Biden is blitzing by David Roberts New bill would strip protections for many of Indiana's wetlands by Sarah Bowman and London Gibson
In his first hours in office, President Biden signed executive orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis and rolling back Trump-era policies, some of which denied the science of human-caused climate change. NewsHour Weekend's Ivette Feliciano spoke with May Boeve, executive director of climate justice organization 350.org, about the potential impact of Biden's new climate commitments. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
In his first hours in office, President Biden signed executive orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis and rolling back Trump-era policies, some of which denied the science of human-caused climate change. NewsHour Weekend's Ivette Feliciano spoke with May Boeve, executive director of climate justice organization 350.org, about the potential impact of Biden's new climate commitments. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
In his first hours in office, President Biden signed executive orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis and rolling back Trump-era policies, some of which denied the science of human-caused climate change. NewsHour Weekend's Ivette Feliciano spoke with May Boeve, executive director of climate justice organization 350.org, about the potential impact of Biden's new climate commitments. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Ahead of the 2021 Climate Change Conference, big names in the world of finance are banding together to create ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With new improved carbon offset markets, monitoring and standardisation of emissions goals and an emphasis on channelling capital to projects based on renewable energy, evangelists of so-called 'Green Finance' believe capitalism can reinvent itself to the benefit of the planet. Rhian-Mari Thomas, chief executive of the Green Finance Institute and convenor of the just-finished Green Horizons Summit, outlines the vision. May Boeve of the environmental group 350.org says much of capital is still directed towards climate-damaging industries. And Bill Winters, chief executive of Standard Chartered, explains how an effective carbon offset market would work. Produced by Frey Lindsay. (Picture credit: Getty Images.)
May Boeve leads 350.org into the critical decade. In this episode of the Mother Earth Podcast, 350.org Executive Director May Boeve joins us for a conversation on the grassroots movement to stop the climate crisis. May shares with us her thoughts and ideas on climate divestment and other campaigns that she is helping to lead, 350's determination to win the moral battle in this "can't lose" decade on the climate crisis, the importance of unions and frontline communities in the climate movement, and, most importantly, how everyone can get involved and make a difference. May also looks back with us on her own journey over the past fifteen years from concerned college student to international climate leader, a story she recounts with a mixture of pride and a candid understanding of the role that white privilege played in her success. As college students in 2006, May and her classmates learned about the role of protest in social movements and put their lessons to use by organizing a thousand-person climate protest in Vermont. From this humble beginning comes the international climate action organization 350.org, which has staged thousands of climate rallies around the world. Its mobilizations have included the People's Climate March in 2014 that drew over 400,000 people to New York City and the 2019 Climate Strike in which some 7.5 million people protested at thousands of locations in 150 countries. 350.org has put the movement back into the environmental movement. Please join us around our virtual campfire as May brings us behind the organization, shares her thoughts on the power of civil disobedience, discusses the importance of collaboration in this extraordinary moment led by young people and new climate protest groups emerging everywhere, and recounts the origin story of 350.org. Visit the show notes pages of our website to learn more, to get involved and take action. And donate to 350.org here. It just might save the Earth. For People and Planet, thank you for listening.
In today’s episode, we cover:What is 350.org and its mission?May’s early experience in activism at Middlebury College.How the climate crisis and the movement to address has changed over the past decade.The intersectionality of climate change with other social ills.The silver-lining of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of global attention on a singular problem.How 350.org’s focus has centered on divestment from fossil fuel companies.The role of 350.org, its team and its volunteers play in its activism.Why the climate risk to financial markets represents an opportunity to advance the goals of a “just transition.”How clean energy can be a solution to “energy poverty.”Why the transition of the fossil fuel industry to clean energy is not enough to reverse the damage the industry inflicts on the world.Divestment in fossil fuel companies vs. engagement.Why the fossil fuel industry is a dishonest broker and unreliable partner in addressing climate change.Solutions that excite and give May hope.How the focus of 350 has been influenced by the recent tension and movement for racial justice.Links to topics discussed in this episode:350.org: https://350.org/“Just Transition”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Transition“Energy Poverty”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_povertyBelt and Road Initiative: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_InitiativeBill McKibben’s pieces in Rolling Stone Magazine: https://www.rollingstone.com/author/bill-mckibben/As You Sew: https://www.asyousow.org/“Two-Year Long Investigation: What Exxon Knew About Climate Change” (Columbia Journalism School): https://journalism.columbia.edu/two-year-long-investigation-what-exxon-knew-about-climate-changeThe Solutions Project: https://thesolutionsproject.org/Overton Window: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded, robbed Marinel Ubaldo of her childhood and took away her family's means to live. Marinel struggled to finish high school because her father, a fisherman, could no longer provide for his family. Marinel's vulnerability, however, became her greatest strength. She found her voice in global climate activism. Now in her 20s, Marinel shares her story of resilience and even got involved in the world's first human rights investigation into corporate responsibility for climate change. In this episode, we talk about key concepts and the impact of climate change on natural disasters, the responsibility of fossil fuel companies and what each of us can do to save our planet. Learn from expert voices: Shyla Raghav, Vice President of Climate Change and Global Strategy at Conservation International and May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org. -- Finding Humanity is a production of Humanity Lab Foundation and Hueman Group Media. Our inaugural season is made possible in part by our collaborating partner, The Elders. Subscribe, rate and leave us a review. For more information, visit findinghumanitypodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter @find_humanity and Facebook.
The Mother Earth Podcast brings you conversations with extraordinary people who inform, inspire and empower us on the fundamental issue of our time: our relationship with the natural world. Join us around our virtual campfire for information, inspiration and empowerment. Catch these snippets of our first run of guests including May Boeve, Saul Griffith, Jamie Margolin, Phil Shabecoff, Robert Bullard and Zygmunt Plater. Episode One launches May 11th - subscribe wherever you listen. Learn more at https://www.motherearthpod.com
This season, we invited our credit readers to interview our storytellers. Today, you'll hear from May Boeve who narrated the previous episode about Katia Krafft. If you haven't listened to last week's episode, now is a good time to go back and check it out!Boeve reveals how she first cultivated an interest in climate change, the incredible humans who are working to create positive change, and the risk involved with her daily responsibilities!Sponsored by:www.rebelgirls.co Use promocode REBELPODCAST to get 15% off your first purchase!About Boeve:Self-proclaimed activist May Boeve is the Executive Director of 350.org, an international climate change campaign. Founded in 2008, 350.org strives to generate the sense of urgency required to tackle the climate crisis through creative communications, organizing, and mass mobilizations. Boeve has been active in the climate movement since her days at Middlebury College. In 2006, she co-founded and led the Step It Up 2007 campaign, which brought together communities from 1,400 places for a National Day of Climate Action. Four years later, Boeve was handcuffed and arrested in front of the White House while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Through it all she has maintained her commitment to fighting for what’s right, and in 2015 Time Magazine recognized her as a “Next Generation Leader.” Boeve is a tireless advocate for the environment and is the co-author of the book Fight Global Warming Now.Credits:This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes, and Meg Murnane. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure for coordinating our credit readers and interviewers.hon0HzuunN0VSrcL35Dx
This season, we invited our credit readers to interview our storytellers. Today, you'll hear from May Boeve who narrated the previous episode about Katia Krafft. If you haven't listened to last week's episode, now is a good time to go back and check it out!Boeve reveals how she first cultivated an interest in climate change, the incredible humans who are working to create positive change, and the risk involved with her daily responsibilities!Sponsored by:www.rebelgirls.co Use promocode REBELPODCAST to get 15% off your first purchase!About Boeve:Self-proclaimed activist May Boeve is the Executive Director of 350.org, an international climate change campaign. Founded in 2008, 350.org strives to generate the sense of urgency required to tackle the climate crisis through creative communications, organizing, and mass mobilizations. Boeve has been active in the climate movement since her days at Middlebury College. In 2006, she co-founded and led the Step It Up 2007 campaign, which brought together communities from 1,400 places for a National Day of Climate Action. Four years later, Boeve was handcuffed and arrested in front of the White House while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Through it all she has maintained her commitment to fighting for what’s right, and in 2015 Time Magazine recognized her as a “Next Generation Leader.” Boeve is a tireless advocate for the environment and is the co-author of the book Fight Global Warming Now.Credits:This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes, and Meg Murnane. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure for coordinating our credit readers and interviewers.hon0HzuunN0VSrcL35Dx
Once upon a time, a girl dreamed of sailing down a river of lava. Her name was Katia. Katia became fascinated with volcanoes when she first saw them on-screen at a small French movie theater as a teenager. So, she set out to study them, capturing their magnificent beauty and power through the lens of her camera. With her daredevil husband Maurice by her side, Katia visited over half of the world’s active volcanoes, sailed a boat into a lake of acid, and even escaped out a second-story window into a pile of volcanic ash.About the Narrator:Self-proclaimed activist May Boeve is the Executive Director of 350.org, an international climate change campaign. Founded in 2008, 350.org strives to generate the sense of urgency required to tackle the climate crisis through creative communications, organizing, and mass mobilizations. Boeve has been active in the climate movement since her days at Middlebury College. In 2006, she co-founded and led the Step It Up 2007 campaign, which brought together communities from 1,400 places for a National Day of Climate Action. Four years later, Boeve was handcuffed and arrested in front of the White House while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Through it all she has maintained her commitment to fighting for what’s right, and in 2015 Time Magazine recognized her as a “Next Generation Leader.” Boeve is a tireless advocate for the environment and is the co-author of the book Fight Global Warming Now.Credits:This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes and Meg Murnane, with writing by Grace Boyle and narration by May Boeve. Jestine Ware edited all scripts and Janice Weaver fact-checked all scripts. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure who coordinated all credit recordings and narrator donations.Sponsored by: www.rebelgirls.coUse promocode REBELPODCAST to get 15% off your first purchase!Resources:Volcano! Nature’s Inferno (film by National Geographic)The Volcano Watchers (1987 film, PBS)101 Awesome Women Who Changed Our World by Julia AdamsStories of a Passion: Katia and Maurice Krafft by Madeleine ConradBrazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu and Montana KaneKatia & Maurice Krafft by Alexandre Schohn (blog post)Kraft or Alsatian Spouses and Volcanoes by Frédéric Urban (blog post)
Once upon a time, a girl dreamed of sailing down a river of lava. Her name was Katia. Katia became fascinated with volcanoes when she first saw them on-screen at a small French movie theater as a teenager. So, she set out to study them, capturing their magnificent beauty and power through the lens of her camera. With her daredevil husband Maurice by her side, Katia visited over half of the world’s active volcanoes, sailed a boat into a lake of acid, and even escaped out a second-story window into a pile of volcanic ash.About the Narrator:Self-proclaimed activist May Boeve is the Executive Director of 350.org, an international climate change campaign. Founded in 2008, 350.org strives to generate the sense of urgency required to tackle the climate crisis through creative communications, organizing, and mass mobilizations. Boeve has been active in the climate movement since her days at Middlebury College. In 2006, she co-founded and led the Step It Up 2007 campaign, which brought together communities from 1,400 places for a National Day of Climate Action. Four years later, Boeve was handcuffed and arrested in front of the White House while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Through it all she has maintained her commitment to fighting for what’s right, and in 2015 Time Magazine recognized her as a “Next Generation Leader.” Boeve is a tireless advocate for the environment and is the co-author of the book Fight Global Warming Now.Credits:This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes and Meg Murnane, with writing by Grace Boyle and narration by May Boeve. Jestine Ware edited all scripts and Janice Weaver fact-checked all scripts. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure who coordinated all credit recordings and narrator donations.Sponsored by: www.rebelgirls.coUse promocode REBELPODCAST to get 15% off your first purchase!Resources:Volcano! Nature’s Inferno (film by National Geographic)The Volcano Watchers (1987 film, PBS)101 Awesome Women Who Changed Our World by Julia AdamsStories of a Passion: Katia and Maurice Krafft by Madeleine ConradBrazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu and Montana KaneKatia & Maurice Krafft by Alexandre Schohn (blog post)Kraft or Alsatian Spouses and Volcanoes by Frédéric Urban (blog post)
In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report that served as a stark wake up call for many in the movement to combat climate change. Its key takeaway -- we only have about 12 years for aggressive action to keep global warming below one and a half degrees Celsius. Since then, the climate movement has experienced a surge of action, from school strikes in cities across the world, to the Sunrise Movement with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez leading the charge for a Green New Deal. On April 30, 2019, Bill McKibben and Mustafa Santiago Ali came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco, to talk to May Boeve of 350.org about the future of the climate change movement.
Mary and Maeve are talking about money, money. Fighting climate change might be a moral necessity but women are learning to hit vested interests where it hurts the most, in the pocket. They hear from South Africa where the anti-apartheid movement demonstrated the power of the boycott in the 80s before flipping the same tactics to the climate fight. In the US, a wave of organised student campaigning on campuses is helping popularise the divestment movement but it was Standing Rock when indigenous women’s leadership took divestment into the big time, with billions of dollars now moving out of fossil fuels. This week’s Mothers of Invention are: Yvette Abrahams (South Africa) Yvette Abrahams has worked across climate justice, gender rights, food security, economics, indigenous plant research. Her activism began in the anti-apartheid struggle in her native South Africa. May Boeve (US) May Boeve is the Executive Director of 350.org, an international movement using online campaigns, grassroots organising and mass public actions to oppose fossil fuel projects, and build 100% clean energy solutions that work for all. Tara Houska (First Nation, US) Tara Houska, Ojibwe from Couchiching First Nation, is an attorney and National Campaigns Director of Honor the Earth More at mothersofinvention.online Follow the series on all social media using @mothersinvent to find out more, support the women in the series and get your hands on bonus material throughout the season.
On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Max Blumenthal, senior editor of Alternet’s Grayzone Project, and Jim Kavanagh, editor of ThePolemicist.net.The Department of Justice sent a letter today to Sputnik News demanding that we register with them as “foreign agents.” We’ll spend the first hour discussing this attack on freedom of the press and freedom of speech.A US District Court judge in San Francisco has blocked President Trump’s plan to phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, because of the President’s tweet supporting the program. It’s Trump versus Trump on DACA. Angie Kim, an immigrant rights advocate and community organizer with the MinKwon Center for Community Action, joins the show.Former presidential advisor Steve Bannon has stepped down--or has been forced out--as the executive chairman of Breitbart News, as the fallout continues from his sharp attacks on President Trump and his family in a recent book. Brian and John speak with Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter, a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to several other news outlets.At least 15 people have been killed in the exclusive southern California enclave of Montecito after mudslides, triggered by heavy rains following the worst forest fires in the state’s history, which destroyed houses and roads. Yet many Republicans still deny the effects of climate change. May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, and Tomás Rebecchi, the Senior Central Coast Organizer for Food & Water Watch, join the show.President Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the news organization Buzzfeed and Fusion GPS over the allegations contained in the Steele dossier. Kevin Zeese, the co-coordinator of Popular Resistance, joins Brian and John.Bruce Gagnon and 11 other protesters were arrested a year ago for blocking the main street leading to the Bath Iron Works shipyard to protest the christening of a US Navy Destroyer. Their trial starts soon. Bruce Gagnon, the coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus, joins the show.
The last big procedural hurdle to the completion of Keystone XL pipeline was cleared on Monday - when five members of the Nebraska Public Service Commission voted 3 to 2 to approve an amended route through the state. May Boeve, executive director at the group 350.org in California tells us what options environmentalists have now. Also in the programme: what next for Europe's biggest economy? German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she'd rather have new elections than lead a minority government. Stefan Kornelius, author of two biographies and a senior editor at the Suddeutsche Zeitung in Munich says don't bet on her being ousted. The Saudi Economy Minister Muhammad al-Tuwajiri discusses the crackdown on royal corruption - and its economic impact. And finally, we hear one company's vision of fuelling London's buses with coffee. (A TransCanada Keystone Pipeline pump station operates outside Steele City, Nebraska. Credit: REUTERS)
We talk with May Boeve, climate power lady and executive director of 350.org, about reaching across divisions and winning climate fights against all odds, how to sustain ourselves and fellow activists for the long haul, and what it's like to be in a Vogue photo shoot. We also catch up about Anna Jane's journey with her dad, a prominent pastor and climate skeptic, since the filming of Years of Living Dangerously season one. **One editorial note: There's a mistake in our Dinner Party Climate Fact, which states that wind and solar were the number one source of energy last year in the US and worldwide. That is incorrect - it should have state that wind and solar were the number one NEW source of energy. Sorry about that, listeners! - No Place Like Home is hosted by Mary Anne Hitt and Anna Jane Joyner, and produced, edited and mixed by Zach Mack - Special thanks to our guest May Boeve of 350.org - Our theme music is by River Whyless - Additional mixing by Daniel Tureck
Unlike any other global climate or environment conference I've covered over the years, civil society and the activist community this time around is genuinely enthused about the Paris Climate Talks. Cautious optimism, or at the very least, not gloom and doom, seems to be prevailing mood. I asked the leader of one of the most important and largest global climate activist organizations, May Boeve of 350.org, why that is. And her reply is interesting and telling. May says that we are in the midst of a political tipping point in the international debate about climate change and Paris is one manifestation of this historic moment. I caught up with May while she was in Paris during the first week of the talks, and we discusses some of the issues she was following closely as the talks enter a more technical phase. But we have a longer conversation about the role of activism in bringing delegates to this point and what the activist community has planned for after paris. For those of you interested in the particulars on the Paris talks, you will be sure to get a lot out of this conversation. But even if you are less interested in the minutia of climate politics, this episode offers a fascinating insight into the role of civil society and activisms in shaping the outcome of a major international negotiation. The role of civil society in the Paris climate talks is sure to be the subject of PhD thesis for decades to come. This conversation shows you why.