Don't Host a Lame Rally: 5 Ways to Organize for a Meaningful International Day of Climate Action on October 24

October 24 is the International Day of Climate Action, and if you haven't heard about it (where have you been?), it's time to start getting involved.

The global talks taking place in December in Copenhagen represent an opportunity to save the planet from... ourselves. But it looks like participating governments are still a little hesitant to commit—which is where the people they represent (citizens like you and me) come in. From now until October 24, people should be organizing and spreading the word that if we don't do enough now to slow global warming, it's going to be too late.

The idea of the International Day of Climate Action is to put pressure on governments to push for what the Tck Tck Tck campaign calls an "ambitious, fair, and binding" climate deal in Copenhagen.

So start getting involved in your community today. After all, you have an invitation from Bill McKibben, Vandana Shiva, and other climate activists' to build a movement.

Five sample actions you can organize in your community for October 24:

1. Plan an awareness-raising, pollution-reducing event: get as many people as you can to go zero-waste for a day—or a week!—or try to live without any fossil fuels (a little harder), and then tell the campaign organizers about it. Help publicize how committed people are to fighting climate change.

2. Organize a teach-in. Might sound like a totally nerdy thing to do. But the more people understand the urgency of the problem, the more dedicated they become to solving it. So get, say, an energy expert to come to the town library—or a local bar—and educate the public about where your town's energy comes from, and how that plays into the global warming picture.

3. Reach out to kids. Collaborate with a teacher at your local school to plan an event teaching kids about climate change.

4. Encourage local food. By increasing sustainability in our food supply chain, we remove one contributing factor to global warming. Try organizing a salon to talk about global warming, and host with a meal made from locally grown food.

5. Build on the power of local. Get enough people together, and you can change the way companies do business. Organize to change your local deli's carbon footprint, for example, and the butterfly effect can spread—throughout the neighborhood, but also throughout the world. (Again, notify the TCK campaign of your actions. Become inspiration for others!)

Don't forget:
Of course, make sure you also register your involvement: show you're ready for change, and tell your friends to join the campaign too—or even people who aren't your friends. Be sure to gather resources as well: you'll need them to educate the masses you're about to reach out to.

Of course, build as much buzz as you can around your own activities, and the importance of October 24. And stay on top of what's going on where the talks are happening: Adopt a Negotiator.

And then...
Learn more about the campaign and what's going on from Bangkok to Copenhagen: a Current TV interview with two leaders of the Adopt a Negotiator campaign can give you a little background.

And of course, when you're not busy organizing, start taking steps to reduce your own carbon footprint. One of the stumbling blocks to international climate talks has been that the U.S. and other industrialized countries are seen as hypocritical—having achieved economic development on the backs of heavily polluting industries, but now asking developing countries to curb their pollution just as they're starting to catch up.

International policy decisions are crucial, and are up to government officials to decide—but if the population of a country starts speaking with actions rather than words, they can be seen more as leaders in the fight against climate change. Meaning... it may not be legally required to use energy efficient appliances, but the more people that do, the less emissions we produce as a nation. Leading by example is always the best way to go.

Related Posts:
One Million People Pledge Support for Climate Action
Countdown to Copenhagen: The Events That Will Rock the World Before COP15 Does
How to Create Massive Change When It Comes to Climate Change