350 Seattle has nine staff collective members, a thirty-person + Leadership Committee, ten teams, numerous active campaigns and thousands of active supporters – but what unites all of us?
350 Seattle formed in 2013 out of an urgency to make deep system change: resisting fossil fuels; building momentum for healthy alternatives; and fostering resilient, just, and welcoming communities.
Fulfilling the deeper intention of our Mission of working toward climate justice, we are making the deep systemic change ourselves and doubling down on our commitment to be an anti-racist organization.
For our big campaigns, we’ll focus on Green New Deal efforts that can build the level of cross-movement power needed for transformative systems change.
Wisely using our resources and empowering staff to lead our collective work into long term sustainability and organizational stability.
Climate change is an urgent threat to all life on the planet, and is already wreaking havoc in the Global South and in vulnerable communities everywhere: low-income, indigenous, and/or communities of color. We will take guidance from those on the frontlines of extreme weather and sea-level rise, as well as those on the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction, and support their fight for immediate and aggressive action on climate.
Capitalism and its dependence on cheap fossil fuels have caused the devastation of communities and ecosystems; we have a responsibility to act. Privilege allows many (but not all) of us to take legal and political risks that would be life-threatening in many countries. We feel morally compelled to do all we can–including utilizing peaceful civil disobedience when necessary. We believe that building a people’s movement is the most powerful way to catalyze ambitious and just climate policies.
Fossil fuel industry workers have labored in dangerous and unhealthful conditions for decades. We support their demands for accessible family-wage jobs in the transition to clean renewables, and we will collaborate with them whenever possible, except where this collaboration would be in direct conflict with the first of our Values stated above. We recognize the long history of environmental injustices perpetrated on communities of color and low-income communities, and will accept no “solutions” that fail to protect these communities.
Climate change is not a problem of human nature; it’s a problem of very specific systems that we can choose to change, and a problem created by the companies that lied to us for decades about the risks. The Pacific Northwest has been extraordinarily powerful in defeating proposed fossil fuel projects; it has taken all of us, working at every level. Some people find it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of fossil fuel dependence, but with your help, we can change that, remind people of their power, and help show the world what the fight for climate justice looks like. We need you.
We’ve been busy since our founding in 2013
Click on any of the staff collective member profiles below to learn more.
How can we advocate for change without replicating the mistakes of the past?
Read about past campaigns in our Annual Reports or access our 990 tax forms (if that’s your thing).
