September 16 (long Signal)
THE MARCH TO END FOSSIL FUELS IS TOMORROW!
I am really looking forward to marching with all of you. 70 people have told us they are marching with us, and we expect more to show up and bring friends and family. We will have a strong contingent.
I hope many of you can join us at 9 am tomorrow at 12 East 41st Street to set up our rooms for the week before the march. We can't get into the building before 9 am, so we'll need a lot of people to help us put our many posters up on the wall, organize our handouts and pamphlets, arrange the chairs as we want them for Monday morning, and so on.
Also, each delegate marching will assemble a packet of materials to distribute to interested people we meet in the march and at Bryant Park. The packet will include
5 copies each of:
* Tools for Climate Organizing
* Sustaining All Life pamphlet
* All event flyer (B & W)
A few Contact cards
A few mini flyers for events you plan to ask people to attend
A pen (bring your own if you remember!)
Bring a SAL bag if you have one, if not we'll have one for you.
Make sure your phone is fully charged and bring a battery if you have one. Wear a SAL or UER t-shirt if you have one. Bring a lunch, or plan to pick something up on the way to the march.
Please bring a backpack if you can, as those of us starting at 12 East 41st St. will want to carry the SAL bags and materials to those delegates we are meeting at noon at the start of the march. We will also need some of you to carry bags of hands and others signs we plan to march with (we will distribute them at noon to the SAL/UER folks we are meeting there).
We will all meet up at noon at Urban Plaza at World Wide Plaza (50th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues), where we will line up with the Global South Diaspora and Allies Contingent before we join the bigger march.
It looks like the weather will be perfect for us, but you might want to wear a hat and sunscreen. Bring a water bottle! Test for COVID before you come.
Get a good night’s sleep and see you tomorrow.
With love,
Diane
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September 15 update
A few more important announcements, and a new revised all event calendar (also posted on the NYC delegation page.
A major change is that listening projects will now be from 9 - 11:30 and 12: 30 - 3 pm, so there is more time for transportation and set-up (and the LPs can be a full two hours). We hope that works for those of you involved with our listening projects. Your listening project leader will be in touch with you soon if they have not already been in touch.
Our closing on Saturday, at around 5 pm, will be at Central Park, Mineral Springs, where Making a Climate for Families happened.
I'm also sending the PDF of the contacts for RC/SAL around the world. If you meet people, and they want to know if there is SAL near them, look for an RC teacher or Reference Person nearby and give them that information. And then, note that on your contact card so that we inform the RCer about them.
I moved the PDF to Ibooks and it's very convenient to pull up there, and easily expands to be readable. I don't know what to advise on other phones, can someone else help.
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September 10
Dear Delegation,
Some updates for you.
SUGGESTIONS RE: PACKING FOR NYC
Water bottle to refill
SAL/UER t-shirts, tote bags, pins
Credit or debit cards (to use on subway and elsewhere) identification, insurance papers, travel itineraries
Cellphone and computer (if you think you’ll need one), and chargers, backup battery if you have one, headphones
Sun hat and sunscreen for the march
Clothing for hot weather (though the rooms are air conditioned)
Comfortable walking shoes
Rain jacket, windbreaker or umbrella (check weather forecast)
Toiletries including any prescription medications
Electric converters, adapters for those coming from outside the US
Backpack
Emergency contacts
IF YOU ARE MARCHING SUNDAY, SEPT 17
We will have a packet of flyers and other information for you at 12 East 41st Street that you can pick up between 9 and 10:30 am.
Please eat lunch before the march, or carry a lunch to eat while marching. Bring your water bottle and snacks as well.
Please fill out the form here if you haven’t. And please keep welcoming people to march with us. If they would be willing to carry a hand or sign or join the drumming, please have them fill out the form here:
https://www.rc.org/workshop/salnycmarch2023. Everyone registered will get an update soon and again on Saturday the 16th.
THE SPACE AT 12 EAST 41ST STREET
We can only get into the building between 9 am and 5 pm. We will set up our rooms for the week beginning at 9 am Sunday the 17th, before we head out for the march.
We do not have room there for your personal items, so please do not plan to leave them in our rooms. You will have to carry your personal items around with you. We will be able to store materials securely there overnight (our literature, cameras, and so on).
COVID
Since we have access to free tests and will have so much public exposure, we will probably have everyone coming to 12 East 41st Street test everyday. That way, if anyone comes down with COVID, we can quickly prevent the spread of infection.
NYers, the public libraries and other locations are still distributing free tests, please pick some up as often as possible to supplement our supply.
PER DIEM
Anyone requesting a per diem can pick it up from Anik at 12 East 41st Street at 9 am on Sunday the 17th.
With love,
Your organizers
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9/8/23. COVID
Introduction:
COVID cases are rising globally and there is a new variant circulating that seems to be more contagious, so we are revising our SAL COVID protocol for NYC Climate Week. Because conditions are changing rapidly, this protocol will only apply to NYC Climate Week. We will revise the COP28 protocol in October, after the new booster is out (at least in the Global North) and we have more experience with the new COVID variant.
While the number of cases are increasing, they are not at the levels they were at during the pandemic and people who get sick are not getting as sick (and deaths are greatly reduced). This is not the situation SAL was faced with in 2021 when we had to decide whether or not to attend COP26 in Glasgow. (The risk of getting COVID and getting seriously ill was much higher at that time.) However, it is relevant to me now (as it was then) that we are in a climate emergency with huge stakes for humanity. I think it makes sense for some or many of us to take an increased risk to attend NYC Climate Week (increased over what we expected in May when we first made our plans). We have to take seriously the valuable contribution we make to the movement to end the climate emergency. But we also want each person planning to attend to discharge and reconsider their decision, given the spikes in COVID cases and their own health vulnerabilities and resources.
Diane
With this in mind, we have revised the NYC CW SAL COVID protocol as follows:
Proposed SAL COVID Protocol for NYC Climate Week
Everyone please begin masking (using N95, KN95, or KF94 masks) when in groups and washing hands more frequently now and especially the week before we come together.
To attend NYC Climate Week in person, you will need to agree to the following.
Before travelling and before coming to 12 East 41st Street
- Take a COVID test immediately before leaving home to travel to New York or to come to 12 East 41st Street for the first time. A self-test is fine. If your result is positive, please do not come. Please fill out the form here when you get your test result. Do not come until you have tested. https://www.rc.org/workshop/covidtestbeforecoming
- You must have received at least one vaccination against COVID. We encourage you to update your vaccination (to the extent possible in your country) but will not require this (since it is not universally available). We also advise a flu and RSV (60+) vaccination for those who can get them.
- Send us any medical information that could indicate you are at increased risk from COVID—so we can think about you and the whole group.
- Inform us about your vaccination status. We will share that information with the delegation so we all have the information about one another’s vaccination status.
- If you have any of these symptoms, stay home: any upper respiratory symptoms, fever, extreme sudden fatigue. Even if you test negative, you may be getting a false negative result, so we ask you to take precautions as if you have COVID.
In New York City
Testing: Those of us traveling to NYC on public transportation will test daily for the first three days after arrival. Others will test if experiencing any of these symptoms: upper respiratory symptoms, fever, extreme sudden fatigue.
Masking: Everyone will mask using N95, KN95, or KF94 masks on public transportation, in the common areas of the B & Bs, at 12 East 41st Street, at the New School, and in other crowded settings or indoor rooms.
We will wear masks in our indoor events, though the speakers may choose to take them off while speaking.
Distancing: We will make space as possible between the chairs in the meeting rooms, and observe social distancing in groups, in queues, and so on.
Ventilation: The rooms have air purifiers in each room, which we will have on all the time.
Symptoms: You should stay home if you are having any of these symptoms: upper respiratory symptoms, fever, extreme sudden fatigue.
Contact your event leader, Diane, Randy, Annie, or MaryRuth in this case.
Supplies: We will have a supply of tests (let us know if you can bring some), N-95 face masks (bring your own if you have them), and hand sanitizer in our rooms in New York.
Guests: We will ask everyone attending our events to mask, but not require it. We will post a sign and have a supply of masks and hand sanitizer at the entrance.
Outdoors: We will leave it to individuals in the delegation to decide whether they mask at the outdoor listening projects, during the march, or other times outdoors.
At your accommodations
Please mask in common areas so we can limit exposure somewhat.
****************************************************************
9/8/23. LISTENING PROJECTS
9/3/23
Dear NYC CW delegation,
We will be marching 2 weeks from today. It will be good to be together in NYC!
ALL DELEGATION MEETING ON WEDNESDAY EVENING (AND THE FOLLOWING WEEK)
Our next all delegation meeting is this Wednesday, September 6, from 8pm to 9:30pm eastern USA time. Please join this meeting to think and discharge about the situation with the global rise in COVID cases and what that means for us, hear an update on the Climate Justice activities during Climate week and our interface with them, have some Q & A time, and work on racism and genocide
The link is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/2918667997?pwd=azE0ZlR3TXpRZVY1aDlUZlpvWG9sUT09
And would you please mark the following Wednesday (the 13th), at the same time, for a final meeting before our arrival in NYC. We will probably need it.
NEW COVID PROTOCOL
We have been watching the COVID news in the US and there is a disturbing recent trend globally with a new variant. We consulted with Tim about it and the implications for NYC CW. They think the new variant is very contagious, but don't yet know how sick it makes people. They suspect our vaccinations will be less useful because of the many mutations. We will know more every day, as it is being closely studied.
However, it is concerning enough that we have decided that if the trend continues in the direction it is now heading, we will institute a new COVID protocol. I've pasted it in below and posted it on the NYC CW delegation page <www.rc.org/nycdelegation>
We have consulted with a few doctors and an epidemiologist about this protocol and they think it's a good idea. Please discharge about this. We will talk about it at our meeting on Wednesday. We will go forward with our SAL/UER events as planned, but with a lot more caution. We will stay in close contact with you about this.
Love,
Diane, Randy, Annie, MaryRuth
Introduction:
COVID cases are rising globally and there is a new variant circulating that seems to be more contagious, so we are revising our SAL COVID protocol for NYC Climate Week. Because conditions are changing rapidly, this protocol will only apply to NYC Climate Week. We will revise the COP28 protocol in October, after the new booster is out (at least in the Global North) and we have more experience with the new COVID variant.
While the number of cases are increasing, they are not at the levels they were at during the pandemic and people who get sick are not getting as sick (and deaths are greatly reduced). This is not the situation SAL was faced with in 2021 when we had to decide whether or not to attend COP26 in Glasgow. (The risk of getting COVID and getting seriously ill was much higher at that time.) However, it is relevant to me now (as it was then) that we are in a climate emergency with huge stakes for humanity. I think it makes sense for some or many of us to take an increased risk to attend NYC Climate Week (increased over what we expected in May when we first made our plans). We have to take seriously the valuable contribution we make to the movement to end the climate emergency. But we also want each person planning to attend to discharge and reconsider their decision, given the spikes in COVID cases and their own health vulnerabilities and resources.
Diane
With this in mind, we plan to revise the SAL protocol as follows:
Proposed SAL COVID Protocol for NYC Climate Week
To attend NYC Climate Week in person, you will need to agree to the following.
Before travelling
- Take a COVID test immediately before leaving home to travel to New York. A self-test is fine. If your result is positive, please do not come. Please send notice that you have taken the test and received a negative result to Randy Karr for New York.
- You must have received at least one vaccination against COVID. We encourage you to update your vaccination (to the extent possible in your country) but will not require this (since it is not universally available). We also advise a flu and RSV (60+) vaccination for those who can get them.
- Send us any medical information that could indicate you are at increased risk from COVID—so we can think about you and the whole group.
- Inform us about your vaccination status. We will share that information with the delegation so we all have the information about one another’s vaccination status.
In New York City
Testing: Those of us traveling to NYC on public transportation will test daily for the first three days after arrival. Others will test if experiencing any symptoms.
Masking: Everyone will mask on public transportation, in the B & Bs, at 12 East 41st Street, and in other crowded settings or indoor rooms. We will wear masks in our indoor events, though the speakers may choose to take them off while speaking.
Distancing: We will make space between the chairs in the meeting rooms, and observe social distancing in groups, in queues, and so on.
Ventilation: The rooms have air purifiers in each room, which we will have on all the time.
Symptoms: You should not attend any of the meetings if you are having any symptoms that might be signs of an infection. Contact Diane, Randy, Annie, or MaryRuth in this case.
Supplies: We will have a supply of tests (let us know if you can bring some), N-95 face masks (bring your own if you have them), and hand sanitizer in our rooms in New York.
Guests: We will ask everyone attending our events to mask up and we will have a supply of masks and hand sanitizer at the entrance.
Outdoors: We will leave it to individuals in the delegation to decide whether they mask at the outdoor listening projects, during the march, or other times outdoors.
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8/30/23
Hello delegates,
We’ve developed an outreach plan for the RC lists.
Diane has done and will do a couple more broadcast emails to all lists about all events, and mentioning the hybrid events as well (for public invitation).
I would like for individual events to post to specific individual lists as well, with a longer briefing about your event. Stan did a nice posting yesterday to the Jewish list where he copied the content of the mini-flyer and gave them the link to register as RCers to receive the Zoom link for the event:
“I want to let everyone know about a very interesting workshop that Billy Yalowitz and other artists will be leading at NYCW. RCers can join with us on Zoom. Here is a description of the workshop:
Jews, Land and Climate Café – An Art Sharing and Workshop for Jews, Our Friends and Allies
Jews, like all peoples, are deeply connected to the earth, to all life forms, and to the places where we live. Antisemitism, however, has historically led to Jews losing our multi-generational connections to the many lands in which we have existed. We warmly invite Jews, and our friends and allies, to join us in this workshop where we will be sharing artworks – poetry, songs, visuals – in celebration of
Jewish connection with the living environment, both past and present. Together we will look at ways that Jewish engagement with climate action can be a key part of healing from antisemitism.
Friday, September 22, 10:30 am -12:00 pm EDT
To register to attend this workshop (or any other workshops that week) via zoom, please use this link."
I don’t want to swamp the lists with our announcements, so I listed the specific lists I suggest each event be posted to. If you want to send to any other lists, please don’t post to more than 2 lists total except if posting the racism events to the race-based lists.
Love,
Diane, Annie, Randy, MaryRuth
New Yorkers: Environment, TOS
Colonization in Africa: Black, White allies, UER
Latin America: Latinas/os
Global North: USers, owning class
Indigenous: Native
Young people: Young people, young adults
Southern: White allies, UER
Disability: Health and disability
Artists: Artists
Jews: Jews (done)
Voices: Black, Latino/a, Asian, White allies, UER
Racism: White allies, UER
Mental Health: MHL
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8/24/23
Dear Delegates,
Some updates and requests for this week.
THE MARCH
The route for the march has changed, it will now start on the west side of Central Park instead of the east. Stay tuned for updates.
If you haven’t filled out this little survey about the march on the 17th, please do so now. https://www.rc.org/workshop/salnycmarch2023
TRAVEL PLANS
Everyone should have your travel plans made by now. If you don’t, please take care of that right away.
PER DIEM
If you will need a per diem ($50 a day) while you are in NYC, for meals and incidental expenses, please let Anik know.
ALL EVENT FLYER
We still hope to have a flyer that lists all our events, but it will be fairly last minute. In the meantime, the all event poster is a stand-in. You should have all seen it posted on the Signal thread. “SAL Poster NYC Climate Week NYC.pdf” Please circulate this widely, along with the mini-flyers of your event. Or send people to www.sustainingalllife.org/events for information about our events.
LITERATURE FOR EVENTS
MaryRuth has prepared a list of all the literature that you have asked for (or that we think you should have asked for) for your event. Here is the link to it: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Nzt__UF9-jcRs76Fc4BhmAg7-GRu8lR-oTb0JYYHazk/edit?usp=sharing
Can you look at it quickly and get your feedback to her? We need it by Wednesday, August 30th in order to make sure we get it there on time.
Each event can have 30 copies of up to 3 handouts to put on chairs, plus 30 copies of Tools for Climate Organizers and the SAL pamphlet, plus 30 copies of any RC pamphlet you request.
We will also have a poster on the wall with QR codes to all the SAL handouts, which you will want to refer people to.
STREAMING OUR EVENTS
Our events (except for Friday’s Forum: Voices from the Frontlines and Saturday’s event on racism) will only be shown on Zoom to the RC Community, or to people they invite and stick with for the event. Our decision early on was that we would stream the workshops to the RC Community, but not more broadly. Our experience is that to make an RC workshop go well online for people who are new to RC, the focus needs to be on the online audience in a way that we are not planning for at our events in NYC. We changed our mind recently about this for two events in response to our learning that there would be climate justice events happening early in the week, and that our Climate Justice Team would be attending. We wanted to offer the people we met there (and at the march) something they could attend online during Climate Week (otherwise they will forget about us) that would communicate well about who we are.
So we have asked the leaders of the Forum and the racism event to let us stream their events broadly, knowing that they have an online audience that will include people who do not know RC. We’re working on a flyer for that now. Please do widespread outreach for those two events (your climate groups, friends, and so on).
DRESS REHEARSALS
Please schedule your dress rehearsal. If you need a Zoom link for your dress rehearsal or to Zoom stream your event to the RC Community during your event in Climate Week, please contact MaryRuth.
Please have the dress rehearsal be as close to how you plan to present during Climate Week as possible. If possible, have your Zoom host for your event also be your Zoom host during the dress rehearsal.
FOLLOWUP AFTER THE EVENT
We would like to have a list of listening circles (support groups) that people we meet can join after NYC CW, starting in October. We’d like some of you to lead those listening circles. Would you please consider that and let MaryRuth know. You can either propose a date and time, or wait until you get together a group and decide with the group. Please plan to meet monthly for 3 months, then reevaluate after that.
On November 19, Janet Kabue will be leading a one day introduction to RC for people who we met through SAL that are interested. (We will have flyers for that workshop in NYC.) You can recommend people in your listening circles to the workshop, and afterwards think with them about their next steps in RC. They could connect with their local Community or join a Zoom intro class, or they may want to continue with you. Of course, you decide whether you continue.
Love,
Your organizers
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August 12, 2023
Dear NYC CW delegates,
Thanks for all the work you are doing to prepare. It's getting clearer and clearer we will be in the right place at the right time to have a big impact. We hope you are well connected to your teams. Some more updates for you. Contact your buddy to read the email together to the end and take the actions requested!
NYC CW DELEGATION WEBPAGE
There are many updates on the NYC CW webpage. Please take a few minutes to look at it. We've started noting the dates we update a document.
We have mini-flyers up for many of your workshops, but not all. Please use these in your outreach efforts. We hope to have a flyer with all events listed soon, but until that is ready, you can send people here for a full listing. If your team has not finished the media form, please prioritize doing that.
You will want to download the PDF of RC Contacts from around the world, so that as you meet people who want a local contact, you will have it on your phone.
CLIMATE JUSTICE TEAM
We have a team of people we have asked to play another role during NYC CW—as a member of the SAL/UER Climate Justice Team at NYC CW. Their primary role as a member of this team would be to attend some climate justice events in the late afternoon and evening on some of the days of NYC CW (probably Monday and Tuesday). More details of what the CJ groups are planning are coming to us daily, and of course the plans are changing (as ours are!).
AL Caballes is leading our Climate Justice (CJ) team. AL works for DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) and through that work is connected to the NYC CJ community. DRUM is a multigenerational, membership led organization of low-wage South Asian and Indo-Caribbean immigrants, workers and youth in New York City.
AL will be at the CJ events, not at 12 East 41st Street, on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday and Tuesday, those people on the CJ team will walk or take a bus (about 20 minutes) to the location of the CJ events and meet up with AL. They will leave at 2:30 pm or when they finish with their SAL/UER events; the CJ events will end around 9 pm. (We do not think we will need to change our schedule.) They will attend as SAL/UER members and be supportive of the work the CJ groups are doing. AL will inform our CJ team at that time whether they will lead listening circles or think-and-listens or any other structured activity. If not, they will get to know people, help where they can, and generally demonstrate our commitment to support the work of the CJ groups.
NEW EVENT–FORUM: VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINES OF THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY
We have added this forum on Friday the 22nd from 1:30 - 3:30 pm. It will be led by Wanjiku, Bafana, and Iliria. Here is the description:
This Forum welcomes climate change activists on the frontlines to talk about the impact of climate change in their countries and communities. It offers opportunities to share individual stories of activism that communicate determination, hope, and courage. It also offers a unique and personal opportunity to better understand the current threats of climate change in the Global South.
If you know people that would make sense to speak at the forum, please contact Anik, the lead organizer. Signal her or her email is: anikmariejacques@gmail.com. We will be meeting people throughout the week; please keep this forum in mind for recruitment of speakers.
MINI-PAMPHLET RE: LISTENING EXCHANGES
AL Caballes made a series great poster/mini pamphlet on how to do listening exchanges (in many languages). I’ll have posters of it on the wall in each room. (See it in English on the NYC delegation page.) There is also a foldable version that you can download from our webpage, if your team would like to make some for your event. (SAL will reimburse for the printing.)
STREAMING SOME EVENTS
As the Climate Justice presence in NYC during Climate Week seems to be growing, we decided to stream a few of our events. Many people will be interested, but not able to attend an event in person, either because they are leaving NYC after the march, or they are too busy. So, we will stream some of our events to the general public: the forum on Friday (Voices from the Frontlines of the Climate Emergency) and the racism workshop on Saturday (Eliminating the Effects of Racism on Our Work to Sustain All Life).
Just keeps getting better...
With love,
Diane, Randy, Annie, MaryRuth, AL
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August 2, 2023
Dear NYC CW Delegates,
Our plans for NYC Climate Week are coming along and we have lots of good news for you. This is a long letter, please read to the end. Here are the topics covered in this email:
- THE CLIMATE JUSTICE COMMUNITY IS COMING TO CLIMATE WEEK!
- UPDATE ON THE MARCH TO END FOSSIL FUELS
- MESSAGE FROM THE ART TEAM
- DETAILED PLAN FOR THE MARCH
- WAVE OF ACTIONS
- LINK TO FORM FOR SOME OF YOU TO FILL OUT
THE CLIMATE JUSTICE COMMUNITY IS COMING TO CLIMATE WEEK!
We have learned that other climate justice groups are also planning activities for Climate Week. SAL/UER will be building relationships with them and hopefully working cooperatively in some events and at the march. As a result, we are expanding our delegation to include two of our African RRPs (Wanjiku Kironyo [East Africa] and Bafana Matsebula [Eswatini] have been able to get visas), Iliria Unzueta (RRP of Mexico), and New York’s own AL Caballes. Please welcome them. We will organize climate justice teams to interface with the climate justice groups and participate in their events. We will update you as more information becomes available.
And we are so pleased to announce that AL Caballes has joined our organizing team, focusing on climate justice issues. Thank you AL!
UPDATE ON THE MARCH TO END FOSSIL FUELS
As you know, we will march as a SAL/UER delegation, carrying SAL and UER banners and posters with information about our work and our events. The march will start at the southeast corner of Central Park and march toward the United Nations. The route isn’t determined yet, but it seems it will end fairly close to our rooms on 41st Street. This is going to be a very big march.
If you are coming into NYC on Sunday, arrive early enough to leave your bags at our room on 41st Street and march with us. More details below.
The SAL/UER Art team is also developing an exciting multimedia art event for SAL/UER’s participation.
MESSAGE FROM THE ART TEAM
We have scheduled a series of art builds at the Extinction Rebellion NYC studio, and we are looking for co-counselors and their friends to join us in creating the artwork. These builds are SAL/UER events and will use RC practices without jargon. It is also important that our project reflect SAL’s priority of ending racism alongside our work to end the climate crisis.
To that end our plan is to make 30 three-foot-tall hands in all different skin colors that through body language "say" STOP or HELLO. The back of each hand will have a SAL logo with the words "Sustaining All Life." The top of the back will say "Stop Fossil Fuels." The backs will use bright colors.
During the march, we want to have a dramatic performing aspect to the hands, so we will have choreography and rehearsal. We are looking for drummers. The hands can drum with the beat, say STOP, wave HELLO, tremble and shake, whatever we need them to do, and they'll move in unison.
We hope to have a vibrant SAL contingent at the march that reflects the liberation work we have done as RCers. We hope that Global Majority RCers will take their visible, rightful place in ending racism, oppression, and the climate emergency. We hope GMs create and march with these hands and invite friends and loved ones.
We want to make visible our relationships across constituencies and march alongside each other. We hope white RCers who can attend the march will discharge and reach for your beloved Global Majority people in your life, offer this idea, and use the opportunity to back their leadership. We have also shared this idea with other groups, and at least one other organization will join with us in this multi-media/multi-racial art event. Hopefully we will fill the streets with 100s of hands marching together.
No RC or artmaking experience is necessary to join the art builds! To sign up for an art build, go to this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Bb0tU_3ZzoXSZr6zDY2-q0u4HKfiEKy8Hr4l8-ynA4/edit
SAL/UER DETAILED PLAN FOR THE MARCH
Our delegation will march as part of the March to End Fossil Fuels, from 1 – 4 pm, starting at 5th Avenue and East 60th Street (SE corner of Central Park). Ending point and route is not yet determined. Our plan for that day:
1. Meet at 12 East 41st St., room 701, at 9:00 am to do introductions, discharge, organize ourselves, and rehearse with the “hands;” or individuals can meet us at a yet to be determined location near the start of the march at 12 pm. Please wear a SAL or UER t-shirt (let Annie know if you need one) and carry a SAL bag (bring one if you have one, we will bring lots). Bring lunch, snacks, water, snacks with you or pick it up on the way but arrive at 9 am or by 12 pm.
2. At these meetings we will distribute SAL t-shirts, bags, and metro cards to people who need them; the hands, signs, and banners we will be displaying as we march; and a packet of SAL materials and flyers to give away (carry in SAL bag or your backpack).
3. If you are arriving on September 16, we assume you are marching—please tell us if that is not true.
4. We will march as a SAL/UER group. Those people carrying the hands will be identified in advance, and that will be their only march role. The rest of us will rotate carrying the banners and circulating in the crowd and talking to people. Some of us will carry large posters announcing our events, with QR codes for more information. Others will have lists of our handouts, with QR codes, in English and Spanish.
5. We may be asked to provide our own security/marshalls; if you are trained and willing to play that role for our group that please let us know.
6. The march and rally are huge outreach opportunities for us. We ask each SAL/UER workshop to have a team who is marching with a sign about your event and is prepared to do a listening project connected to your event at the rally. They need not be part of our delegation; if you can find others who will do this for your event under your leader’s/lead organizer’s coaching, that is fine.
7. At the rally after the march, we will have many listening projects focused on SAL event themes. We will also have “pop-up” workshops with listening circles on these topics: racism, climate anxiety, burnout. We would like pairs of people ready to lead these (preferably Global Majority paired with a white person). They will be short, we have outlines we can share with the leaders. Do you want to lead one?
8. We will end our day at the final rally near the UN (we assume) for most of us, but return to pick up things left at 12 East 41st as needed. We have to be out of that space by 5 pm.
9. Doesn’t this sound fun?
WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU NOW
We would love to have as many Global Majority delegates as possible carry a hand in the march (and some of our white delegates as well). If you or a friend (Global Majority?) want to carry a hand in the march, but can’t attend an art build, please fill out this form to tell us the name of the person carrying the sign, their email, the skin tone of the person carrying the hand (see the photo on the form, choices are 1 - 4). The person who will carry the sign must meet us at 9 am at 12 East 41st or at noon at a location to be disclosed in Central Park (near the start of the march). Please indicate where you will meet us. If you are interested in leading one of the pop-up mini-workshops at the rally after the march, let us know which one you want to lead, on the same form:
- Healing Climate Trauma (anxiety, grief, anger)
* Addressing racism in our work
* Staying hopeful and engaged and avoiding burnout
WAVE OF ACTIONS
There will also be many direct actions happening the week before and during Climate Week. We will have more information soon. What we know now is here.
Thanks and love,
The SAL/UER organizing team
Diane, Annie, Randy, MaryRuth, AL
********************************************
July 24, 2023
Dear SAL Delegation,
Some more details you need to know. Please read the email to the end, and if you missed any previous emails, you can find the previous ones here.
All Delegation Meetings
Next All Delegation meetings: Wednesdays July 26, 5-6.30pm PDT, August 23 5-6.30pm PDT, and Sept 6 5-6.30pm PDT.
The agenda for this Wednesday’s meeting will be: more issues re: presenting at NYC CW, answering questions, and some work on racism led by Eunice Torres and Russ Vernon-Jones. Please plan to come or watch the recording of the meeting.
Event teams
Almost everyone with the SAL delegation is connected to an event team (workshop or Tools of SAL intro class). We would like for this to be your primary “gang” at NYC CW. There are going to be a lot of us there, and we want everyone to have a home base. Please make this team your home base. (If you have another home base too, that is fine, but please connect well with your event team.)
Leaders, please be sure you pull together your whole event team a couple times before NYC CW.
Only Alan Epstein is not part of an event team. If you don't know your event team, contact Diane: dshisk@me.com.
We have found that 4 people is a good number for the organizing team for these events. Most of the work of this team, apart from outreach, happens the day of the event. However, it is important that the organizers understand the plan for the workshop, how the leaders will conduct the workshop, and are functioning as a team with the leaders of the workshop.
The leaders for the workshop will need to meet a few times without the organizers to hammer out content. But it will also be helpful to have organizers at some of the “content” meetings as they will offer other experiences and feedback that will be useful, and it will help them have a good sense of how the workshop is expected to go. Everyone should look at both of the following documents: How to Lead SAL Workshops and How to Organize SAL Workshops.
Tips for leading SAL events
Don’t take too long to get to the content of your event; that is what most people came for. Have a brief intro to SAL/UER and to our tools early on and then keep building on that throughout the talk.
Start using SAL terms now–listening exchange instead of mini-session; listening circle instead of support group; emotional release instead of discharge; and so on.
During the workshop, spread your team out to do listening exchanges with the people attending. If you are going to do a demo, have your team watch for people who would be good to use (and good to avoid).
People need to leave liking SAL/UER and wanting to use our tools in their organizations. Suggested they view some of the SAL resources (videos and handouts) found at https://sustainingalllife.org/resources/. It will help if you are familiar with them.
Per Diem
If you need a per diem (we are setting it at $50) for meals and expenses while with SAL/UER in New York City, please email or Signal Anik Jacques<anikmariejacques@gmail.com> and tell her how many days you will need the per diem for. We’ll have the funds in cash for you when you arrive. If you are staying in the Air B&B, we will have breakfast food for you there, so you will be able to have breakfast before you head to 12 East 41st Street.
Dress Rehearsals
The following dress rehearsals are scheduled. Please attend as many as make sense for you, both to support other members of our delegation and to learn from one another.
New Yorkers: August 27, 9:30 pm EDT, 6:30 pm PDT
Southern: Aug. 29, 7 pm EDT; 4 pm PDT
Social Media
Is anyone in this delegation good with social media, and could we assign that job to you (and remove you from other jobs as necessary)? Chijioke Agbaeze, in Nigeria, is our social media lead, and will need onsite assistants.
T-Shirts
We are not printing t-shirts for this event. If you have a SAL or UER shirt from a previous event, please bring it. We won’t all wear SAL/UER t-shirts every day, but we’d like to have some people wearing them all the time. If you don’t have a SAL t-shirt and would like one, please Signal Annie with your size by (date). Diane will bring you one from a past SAL event. (Black with the SAL design on the front, the map showing which countries will suffer the most from climate change.)
We will also bring SAL cotton tote bags for anyone who doesn’t have one. Please bring one if you have one.
With love,
Diane, Randy, Annie, MaryRuth
July 16
Dear NYC CW event leaders and lead organizers,
July 7
Dear NYC CW Delegation,
Hope you are all doing well! A couple things we need help with:
- Fun evenings–Would you consider organizing one of our evenings in New York City–find a good dinner place for us, and organize some fun adventure. These will be optional activities, people can join us for dinner only, or the adventure only, or both. We can travel together, and head back to our lodging in groups. We’d like to have fun evenings together organized for Sunday through Friday nights. Who says Co-Counselors can’t have fun!
- Art activities–We need more people who want to work with Daniel Schaffer to design and carry out poster-making before the event and the all day art event at 12 East 41st Street on Friday.
- March organizers–We need a couple of march organizers. Join Randy and Diane to help think about and organize what can be done before and after the march on Sunday: mini-workshops, caucuses, listening circles, listening projects, what else?
- Discharge time for event leaders–Event leaders are encouraged to organize a few times to discharge with a local support team (maybe including your leadership and organizing team), to support your preparation for the event. Time to think out loud about what you will say, practice what you will say, discharge anything in the way.
- Games–we’d like to have every team prepared to lead a very short game during one or more of the stretch breaks every 20 minutes in your event. We need some people on the games team in the jobs list. AL Caballes will lead an orientation to leading these games for interested people.
Email Annie if you are willing to take on any of these projects. anniepwrite@gmail.com
Love,
Diane, Randy, Annie, MaryRuth
*****************************
June 25
Subject: Preparation for All Delegation Meeting, Tuesday, June 27
Dear NYC CW delegation,
We are looking forward to seeing you Tuesday evening. Please read this entire email in preparation for the first All-Delegation meeting on Tuesday, June 27, from 6 - 7:30 PDT at this Zoom link:
Come with your questions!!!
Here’s a link to a page on the RC website where we have posted and will continue to post useful information for you and your team. Please look at it before the meeting. Eventually each of you will need to read all the resources that are posted there, and check back regularly for updates.
A few resources posted there that we want to draw special attention to today:
1. The sample SAL mini-flyer for our events. Please take a look, read the short content, imagine your event with a flyer like this. Please complete the social media form if you haven’t, so we can make your flyer.
2. The SAL Talking Points. Please read this over, and start thinking about how you will talk about SAL/UER and explain who we are and what we do. One thing that will be useful for everyone to prepare is a 1 - 3 minute talk about SAL/UER, who we are and what we do, why we are at NYC Climate Week, and the events we will hold there.
We’d like to set up a schedule of All Delegation meetings from now until Climate Week. Please check and see if these dates would work for you. We’ll poll the group tomorrow. Wednesday, July 26, August 23, and Sept 6, all from 5 - 6:30 PDT.
We would like to have constituency support groups meet before we arrive in New York. We’re hoping the following people agree to set up and lead such a call.
We will not be able to arrange accommodations for anyone registering with us after July 15. Event leaders, please make sure everyone with your event is registered. The list of people registered is at the bottom–please send this email to anyone who isn’t on that list but is coming.
Event leaders and lead organizers, please look over the checklist here. It’s essentially a timeline of when things should happen so that you are prepared when September 17 arrives. As you complete items, please check them off so the NYC CW organizing team knows you’re on schedule.
See you Tuesday!
Love,
Diane, Randy, Annie, MaryRuth
June 20, 2023
Hello NYC CW delegation,
Diane