Over the last few months, I’ve been collaborating with a group of people working in business and sustainability organizations. We’ve met and spoken regularly about keeping business moving on the clean economy and climate in the face of headwinds from the Trump administration.
One idea we’ve had is to help make the upcoming people’s climate march in DC bigger. We want companies to support the event and show our elected leaders that business wants climate action and policy.
I posted a longer piece on Medium that includes a list of ways companies can get engaged for the April 29th event, and some key stats on why tackling climate change is good for business, the economy, national security, and the world.
I’ll just list here the actions we suggest, in short form, but please check out the full article and spread the word.
A MENU OF OPTIONS FOR BUSINESSES AND CEOs
– Show your company’s support on social media
– Sign onto public statements of support such as www.lowcarbonusa.org
– Encourage employees to post to social media too
– Create an online or actual petition of employees in support of climate action and send to the President and your Members of Congress in districts with your offices and facilities.
– Change the corporate website for a day (possibly to a color like green or orange) or post a “badge” to show solidarity for smart climate action.
– Add mentions of the march to all corporate Earth Day events and communications.
– Connect with other companies in your area to coordinate activity, particularly clean economy companies (e.g., do you have a solar provider?).
– Organize employee trips to the march (or sister marches around the country)
– Make a bold new commitment or goal around carbon emissions
– Ask your government relations/affairs to take part in a business lobbying day after the march (May 1 & 2)
Actions for the CEO and C-suite specifically
– Send email to all employees to encourage support for/attendance at marches.
– Write an internal blog (a la GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt)
– Co-author a statement with a mayor or governor in a region with major business operations
– Phone a friend (peer CEO) to encourage involvement.
– Speak at and take part in events around the march.
– Go to the march and bring your family.
Please spread the word.
(Photo by Monica Lovdahl / 350.org)
(This full version of this post appeared on Medium)
If you enjoyed this article, please sign up for Andrew Winston’s RSS feed, or by email. Follow Andrew on Twitter @AndrewWinston)
Andrew’s book, The Big Pivot, was named a Best Business Book of the Year by Strategy+Business Magazine! Get your copy here. See also Andrew’s TED talk on The Big Pivot.
