What Kind of Change-maker Are You?

All kinds of change makers and many skills are needed to help in the fight for climate justice. Sometimes you need to step outside your comfort zone but when you don’t, it’s easiest and most effective to follow your passions and utilise the skills you already have. The following is a short questionnaire to help you find where you might best put your energy  🙂

Print version available here: changemakers questionnaire

Question 1

You never leave your house without:

1. Flyers or postcards to publicise an upcoming rally
2. Updating your Facebook profile first
3. Water and yummy snacks
4. Interesting reading material
5. Pen and paper
6. Your trusty Swiss army knife

Question 2

There’s a gargantuan pothole in the road in front of your home. To address this issue you:

1. Coordinate a letter writing campaign among your neighbours
2. Call a few friends who know people on city council to see who your best “in” is to getting that fixed
3. Contact the appropriate town or city office to rectify the problem (and maybe sweeten the deal with some homemade cookies)
4. Look into the local government budget allocations for road work and safety
5. Make a street sign that warns people about it and maybe even paint the outside in a bright colour so its more noticeable
6. Fill it in yourself

Question 3

Which words or phrases do you most associate with “making change”?

1. Fight
2. Collaborate
3. Heal
4. Explore
5. Envision
6. Create

Question 4

You’re at a meeting for a small local project working to protest some budget cuts in your local school district. Someone says: “We need a few volunteers to help out with an upcoming meeting!” Before you raise your hand, your internal dialogue probably sounds something like:

1. “Woohoo, look at all these volunteers.” (You happen to be running the meeting).
2. “This is great! I’ll call Suzie and Toni and Mitchell as soon as I get home.”
3. “I could provide childcare for the meeting.”
4. “I can do some research into other communities who’ve done this well.”
5. “I could design some flyers and create a Facebook group to help get the word out.”
6. “Another meeting?! When are we gonna get started with some hands on projects?”

Question 5

You are making an important group decision. It might be about family finances, a key work project, campaign strategy, or another critical issue. You are most likely to feel frustrated with the process when:

1. There isn’t an equal playing field
2. The broader community isn’t consulted and choices are made in a vacuum
3. People don’t approach the situation carefully and thoughtfully
4. Decisions are made without all the needed information
5. You feel like people aren’t saying what they actually mean
6. People complain about something and don’t provide a path forward

Question 6

Which of the following phrases would your friends and family mostly likely use to describe you?

1. Guided by a strong moral compass
2. A true collaborator with a rich group of friends and colleagues
3. A real backbone of the family or community
4. Deeply inquisitive and in constant pursuit of new and better information
5. Always knows just what to say, or how to express themselves
6. A real problem-solver

Question 7

It’s Sunday afternoon. You are most likely:

1. Attending a local screening, lecture, community event
2. Throwing a big party with friends that you think ought to meet each other
3. Cooking a special dinner for your family and friends
4. Poring over the Sunday paper and doing some much anticipated reading
5. Spending a leisurely afternoon out at a museum or doing some writing
6. Tinkering around in your workshop or garden

The following is what type/s of activist you are for each question (in order 1-6 top to bottom, left to right) eg. if you picked lots of 2s as answers for the questions then you are best suited being a networker. It’s fine to have a mixture of answers. We need a variety of skills to make social change so we can’t all stand in the back and nurture, just as we can’t all go out on the barricades to protest. We need each other and sometimes we have to take up different roles depending on the situation. We hope this helps you feel needed and confident in the work you do to help create climate justice…