Hey everyone!

Our first Earth Strike kickoff protests were fantastic! We drew hundreds and even made an international news site! But let's keep that momentum going, I've noticed some of you don't have ES chapters local to your area, so here are some tips to setting up your own, and how to get started:

SETTING UP A CHAPTER:

Maybe you have some friends that would be willing to help you with this, or maybe not. Either way, this can only take around 20 minutes at most.

First and foremost - you need a way to communicate with people who are potentially interested. This is your central hub. You can do this by setting up an email (some just use gmail, others opt for something more encrypted) which is most recommended, mostly because EVERYONE has an email. OR, by setting up a facebook page or group.

Once your email or group is set up, congrats! You just started your local chapter!

I JUST STARTED A LOCAL CHAPTER, WHAT NOW?

Now you need to get people interested! Start contacting environmental, activist, and potentially sympathetic political groups in your area! This can be done by email (if they have one) or through some other means.

Something that works really well is just searching facebook for '[CITY] environment' '[CITY] activism' '[CITY] climate' or something along those lines.

I usually have a stock message that I like to just copy and paste for this purpose, but now you're going to want to post that in the group (if it's a group) or message the page (if it's a page) with that information. I'll post my own stock paragraph in the comments below.

So, great! After a couple of days you'll probably have gotten at least some interest, and by extension, new members!

Once you've really grown- it's time to start contacting unions. Typically I suggest inviting local unions to a public meeting where your members can give them a short presentation on why climate change is a problem, and why striking is our best chance to save ourselves!

Make sure to send out emails updating members and affiliated organizations on what's in the works, information's no fun if you keep it to yourself.

Happy organizing!