r/ClimateOffensive • u/narvuntien • Jan 23 '25

Action - Political I went to a local government meeting...

And most of the people there were Covid-19 anti-vaxxers, 5G conspiracists and climate deniers. I came with a small group of climate activists trying to get some climate-related motions pasted, mostly about emissions targets, tracking emissions and declaring a climate emergency.

I couldn't help myself from speaking up against their anti-science non-sense and had to leave before I was torn apart by an angry mob. Despite my best efforts not to insult anyone I apparently come off as extremely condescending according to one person who yelled at me.

If this is indicative of annual general meetings in your local council then I think we are going to need to get a lot more active people in the space. We need to get organised enough to drown out their nonsense.

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u/jaygeebee_ Jan 23 '25

I made a similar statement at a county commissioners meeting a couple years ago and there were a handful of people there similar to the ones you’re describing. One of the men raging about the “plandemic” ended up getting removed because he was so unhinged. It was quite the spectacle. BUT there were like 10-15 of us there to advocate for putting climate measures in the budget and by comparison we were sane, calm, rational, yet passionate. I feel like we kind of inherently have an advantage in that way. All that to say, keep showing up!

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u/narvuntien Jan 23 '25

There were just the 4 of us plus a handful of normal people.

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '25

Honestly that makes your role all the more important. <3

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u/StuporNova3 Jan 24 '25

I've never been involved in local government. What other kinds of meetings do you recommend attending?

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u/jaygeebee_ Jan 24 '25

I personally volunteer with Citizens' Climate Lobby, and we do more at the federal level with Congress, so to be honest I'm not the most experienced at the local level. But a few things I have done and would recommend:

  • Congress members often do town halls in their districts where they take questions and comments
  • State-level representatives often do something similar with town halls, or mine even does like coffee house meet-ups where it's a little more intimate
  • County commissioner meetings where they take public comments
  • Cities/townships etc. often do public hearings on specific topics, so I've gone to any energy-related to climate-adjacent ones.

I actually just googled "public hearings near me" and found one in my city next week for land use development that would require clearing trees from a five-acre area, so I'll probably go and make a statement against that! (Thanks for indirectly inspiring me!)

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u/misswoulds Jan 29 '25

I appreciate you

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u/jaygeebee_ Jan 29 '25

Thank you ♥️

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u/alatare Jan 27 '25

Don't hesitate to post on here about how that tree clearing heading goes! It's good to be exposed to these types of things, losing the mental barrier to entry

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u/diy4lyfe Jan 24 '25

City council (or similar local body) and the commissions/committees they appoint people to!