Recently the Guardian announced they were starting a campaign aimed at generating action on issues contributing to global warming. This is an interesting case study for digital activism for several reasons, one being that it is rare that a news organization publicly announces that it will champion a particular cause. If part of the current crisis in journalism is public skepticism about news organizations that try to adopt a neutral voice and are therefore perceived as inauthentic, this is a strong move toward open acknowledgment of what some view as a political position, and a move away from the long-standing ideal of “objective” journalism.

But beyond the novelty of a leading news outlet openly declaring an activist  agenda, what kind of techniques are being employed by the Guardian for this campaign, and how do these techniques compare to traditional organizing? The Guardian’s strategy in part is to leverage it’s reach (an estimated 42 million unique monthly visitors) to declare that climate change is a hugely important story, but one that is very difficult for news outlets to cover.

Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief wrote “The problem with this story is… it’s so big, and it doesn’t change much from day to day. Journalism is brilliant at capturing momentum, or changes, or things that are unusual. If it’s basically the same every day, every week, every year, I think journalists lose heart.”

So this is in part an awareness raising campaign. While the Guardian doesn’t necessarily intend to convince disbelievers, it does seem to hope that increased high-profile coverage of the problem will cause more people to take actions that could lead to policy change. Their main call to action is to increase participation in divestment campaigns. But the Guardian isn’t starting a new online campaign platform from scratch. Their online platform encourages people to sign a petition asking for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust to divest from fossil fuel companies, but this petition is connected to 350.org’s ongoing efforts on this issue. Beyond petition signing, how do 350.org’s efforts compare to classic organizing techniques?

350.org’s technique is primarily to make it easier for individuals to engage in climate change activism by creating a variety of tools to assist the would-be organizer. They offer a suite of free resources, including templates for posters, sign up sheets, and talking points. They of course also push organizational updates through their email list. And they also offer guides to launching local chapters of 350.org. The website seems to suggest a three-tiered approach to accomplish this: meetups, workshops, and actions. Each of these activities is documented with suggestions and steps to be successful. As such, the broad 350.org strategy seems to be in line with traditional organizing principles: that activists need to make connections to people in their local area through regular meetings, and that systematic change can result from these activities. The online component is to offer free resources to help with offline activity, but the main goals are petition drives, group actions, and coordinated activity through local chapters. The Guardian and 350.org are therefore most fundamentally attempting to use their online reach to grow a network of people with the goal of increasing participation in these classic social movement techniques.