The Winning With webinar series is a monthly lunch-and-learn hosted by the Center for Organizing designed to connect frontline leaders and advocates with practical, replicable strategies that have been used to challenge fossil fuel expansion. The series fosters cross-regional learning by sharing creative strategies, tools, and lessons that organizers can adapt to campaigns in their own communities, from pipelines and LNG exports to petrochemical facilities, data centers, and beyond.

Our next webinar, Winning With: Building Alternatives, will explore what happens when communities go beyond fighting the projects they don't want and begin building the alternatives they do.

From constructing an “Earth Church” in the path of a proposed pipeline to growing industrial hemp as a renewable resource for alternatives to petroleum-based plastics and conventional building materials, communities are finding creative ways to put their visions for a different future into practice. Others are reclaiming control over land and development, creating permanently affordable, energy-efficient housing that prioritizes community needs over corporate profits.

This session will feature speakers from Earth Rise Collective/Habitat Recovery Project, Reimagine Beaver County, and South Baltimore Community Land Trust, who will share three distinct approaches to challenging extractive development and building community-driven alternatives:

• Building as resistance: How Earth Rise Collective and Habitat Recovery Project constructed an “Earth Church” in the path of a proposed pipeline in Louisiana, bringing together people from across the country to turn collective action and hands-on construction into a powerful form of resistance that helped push the pipeline's route out of the state.

• Building with alternatives: How Reimagine Beaver County is exploring industrial hemp and its potential applications in many diverse industries, demonstrating how Pennsylvania communities can create new economic opportunities and reduce dependence on the petrochemical industry rather than relying on facilities like the Shell Plastics Plant.

• Building community control: How South Baltimore Community Land Trust is reclaiming control over land and development through permanently affordable housing, community ownership, and energy-efficient Passive House design, demonstrating how communities can reduce energy demand, lessen reliance on fossil fuels, and create development models that serve residents rather than corporate interests.

Together, we'll explore how communities can move beyond resisting harmful development to actively building alternatives that reduce dependence on fossil fuels, strengthen local economies, and put decision-making power back in the hands of residents.

Speakers will share lessons from their work, challenges they've navigated, and strategies that organizers can adapt to their own communities. The session will conclude with a moderated discussion and live Q&A, giving participants an opportunity to connect these approaches to their own organizing efforts.

Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Time: 1-2 PM est
Location: Zoom

Register today to reserve your spot! If you can't attend live, we encourage you to register anyway. Everyone who registers will receive a recording after the webinar. Missed a previous session? Watch recordings from the Winning With webinar series on our YouTube channel.

The Center for Organizing builds power alongside frontline communities to access, influence, and hold accountable decision-makers shaping the broader oil and gas buildout. Stay connected by following us on Facebook, Instagram, X, Flickr, and LinkedIn, visiting our website, and signing up for our email list to receive updates on future webinars, campaigns, and opportunities to take action.

Earth Rise Collective is a women-led collective of creatives and craftspeople, transforming places of extraction into sites of collective power and care by facilitating gatherings around participatory construction with raw natural materials like clay, straw, sand, and water. Stay connected by following us on Instagram and LinkedIn, visiting our website and signing up for our email list to receive updates on future webinars, workshops, or to reach out and collaborate.

Habitat Recovery Project (HRP) is a community-centered conservation movement based in Louisiana. We protect land, air, and water by working directly with people living in polluted areas. Together, we respond to real-time needs in order to produce real-life outcomes. Stay connected by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and visiting our website to remain updated on our events, campaigns, and ways to get involved.

Reimagine Beaver County (RBC) is a grassroots initiative that began as a sustainable industry visioning project when the petrochemical industry was proposed for SWPA. RBC focuses on educating and advocating for local industry development that is safer and healthier for people and the environment.

The South Baltimore Community Land Trust is a community-led organization that builds permanently affordable housing, creates development without displacement, and works toward a just transition to zero waste in Baltimore. Learn more at sbclt.org or by following us on Instagram.