Following global protests, Fort Worth activists form group to fight climate change
After organizing global climate strike protests over the past year, Fort Worth activists were proud of their efforts to draw attention to climate issues in Tarrant County. But they didn’t want their advocacy to stop there.
That’s why the environmentalists behind Global Climate Strike Fort Worth recently established a Fort Worth chapter of 350.org, an international organization focused on ending the use of fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy sources. The group, founded in 2008, draws its name from climate scientists’ warning that 350 parts per million is the safe limit for the amount of carbon in the atmosphere if humans seek to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Among his many goals for the new chapter, 350.org Fort Worth president Chayton Creswell hopes that the group can center climate-change issues that are often secondary focuses of other local environmental organizations.
“There are a lot of environmental groups that focus on a lot of things, but it always seems that on the back burner is where you’ll get the gas and oil,” Creswell, who also serves as the sustainability chair for the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club, said. “350 puts their focus solely on justice and ensuring that we remove fossil fuels from our daily lives.”
Like Creswell, many members of the 350.org chapter are already involved with local environmental groups like the Sierra Club. John MacFarlane, who now doubles as the chairman of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club and the vice president of 350.org Fort Worth, noted that the demographics of Tarrant County environmental organizations tend to be residents above the age of 40 — a statistic he seeks to change with the new chapter.
“Young people from high school into their 20s and 30s might be more attracted to the 350 organization because it’s a relatively newer organization and strictly working on climate action,” MacFarlane said.
Creswell himself is one of the young activists that MacFarlane is eager to see join local organizing groups. After graduating from the University of Texas-Dallas in 2019 with a degree in biochemistry, Creswell moved back to Fort Worth and discovered a passion for environmental issues through positions in the Tarrant County Democratic Party, Sierra Club and now 350.org.
While young people have been at the forefront of climate action protests around the globe in the past few years, Creswell is concerned that members of his generation may want to check out of political activism when faced with the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing number of social justice issues.
“Now the younger generation has to deal with the pandemic while simultaneously dealing with systemic oppression and racism while also dealing with the climate crisis,” Creswell said. “I really fear that we’re going to be creating a generation of burnt-out individuals at this point, so figuring out how to get more people …. active is something that I’ve been considering for a while and I’m still kind of on the fence with how to do it.”
Part of the challenge is to make environmental justice a more tangible issue that will drive people to act in the same way thousands of demonstrators turned out for recent Black Lives Matter protests, Creswell said.
“The way our society is built and functions, it makes it very difficult to truly see the actual cause of the climate crisis or to see what you really need to be fighting against,” Creswell said. “Figuring out social media campaigning and figuring out how to connect with people in this currently distant time is the main issue at the moment.”
Local environmental groups are also often primarily white despite climate change having a disproportionate impact on communities of color through industrial pollution, flooding, food deserts and more, MacFarlane said.
“We want to change that,” MacFarlane said. “We want to bring in a diverse group of people that are directly impacted by climate change and all the issues surrounding that. We want to bring those people into the fold so they can make a difference as well.”
To accomplish this goal, Creswell and his fellow 350.org members are planning to form partnerships with other local activism organizations on issue areas like environmental racism.
Gena Byrd, the environmental climate justice program coordinator for the Fort Worth branch of the NAACP, is set to speak at the group’s next meeting on Aug. 11. Creswell, who led 350.org’s first meeting over Zoom on July 16, hopes to continue virtual meetings even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides due to the relative ease of bringing in speakers from around the country.
In the near future, the chapter will push city governments in Fort Worth and Arlington to adopt sustainability plans, endorse candidates who are strongest on climate action and help get out the vote in the November elections. Creswell said the Fort Worth chapter will eventually collaborate with 350.org members in Dallas, but his group first needs to figure out its own strategy for forging change in Fort Worth.
“A lot of what works in Dallas does not translate to Fort Worth at all,” Creswell said. “I’ve always felt like it’s a large city with a small town feel. It’s easy for enclaves to form, it’s easy for there to be this disconnect between everyone. I think there’s a lot more that goes into having to figure out what will effectively work.”
