On Friday, October 24, Sophie Robinson ’11 came to speak at Log Lunch about her work for the past few years with 350 Massachusetts. Robinson began with a Story of Self, a short biography that is a useful grassroots-organizing tactic that connects the audience not just to the subject matter but to the speaker herself. After growing up on an idyllic southern New Hampshire berry farm, Robinson entered the College having experienced successive family hardships. She became interested in climate change and felt a similar sense of question with grappling with the largeness of the environmental issue as with dealing with her personal difficulties. At Williams, she channeled her passion into action, leading campus initiatives including the introduction of the plastic, reusable clamshell containers still in use in Paresky today. Robinson has just completed a post as the interim coordinator of Better Future Project’s node of 350.org, 350 Massachusetts (350MA) and plans to embark next on a film project documenting personal stories of the effects of climate change.
With infectious enthusiasm, Robinson continued after her Story of Self to describe the stages of a social movement campaign, from initiation, through various successes, to the ultimate completion of a goal. She described that the work of a good organizer is complete when others who have been trained are leading the events, as witnessed is a photo of Robinson sitting the background of a meeting. 350MA is currently working on two main campaigns in the state: urging Governor Patrick to move to clean fuels and lobbying for divestment of the state’s pension funds from fossil fuels. The organization has tripled in the size of its membership in 2013 and plans to achieve the same growth in 2014. Robinson advocated the inclusion of minority and marginalized groups in to the environmental movement, through not only recruitment but also a reciprocal dedication to their causes and needs. Moving off of the momentum of her talk, Robinson then gathered a group of townspeople and students to discuss the potential creation of a Northern Berkshire node of 350MA.
By Sara Clark ‘15
