What will be the most enduring legacies from the inauguration of Barack Obama? There is no way it could be community action on climate change, is it?
For weeks now, the real Obama administration – his website – has been spruiking to millions of ‘Barackers’, asking them to commit a day of community service as part of the inauguration festival. The service is formally in honour of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which just so happens to be on January 19th, the day before the inauguration.
The Obama transition established USAService.org to help millions of people to turn out or organise their own community event.
USAService.org offers tools for those who want to organise things, playing the role of “Change Agent”, to use the terminology of social change guru Bill Moyer. (Moyer was a big fan of King and other American social change leaders and created a model to explain their success. See this simple diagram of the four Moyer roles.)
The USAService.org guide includes everything from goal-setting to how to market and manage a community service project on the day. It also caters to the “Citizen” who wants to simply locate the right event online and turn up on the day.
So, which is the first category of service listed on USAService.org? Environment.
It will be an interesting measure of the climate movement in the USA to see how many energy events are held. For example, AmeriCorps are hosting an Energy Efficiency Fair in State College, Pennsylvania, to give out energy efficient light bulbs and show people how to save on utility bills by, by cheaply weather-proofing their home.
But what about the “Rebels” who want to push the envelope? Rebels should attend and recruit likeminded people, in preparation for next coal festivus, which is Fossil Fools Day, 1 April 2009.
