Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice Future
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Inclusive Decision Making
Fighting Climate Change through an Environmental Justice lens ensures that everyone is at the decision making table. The voices emphasized are not the loudest, but those who feel the effects of the crisis most directly. Those who are fighting to survive extreme heat, natural disasters and polluted air must be the primary decision makers. Those who have survived the worst of the crisis know the way out and must be listened to.
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Centralized Movement Strategy
Local organizations fighting the climate crisis must be in lockstep on their definitions of success. Organizers across the country use different strategies and that originality must be preserved while uniting the movement in a common vision. To that end, there must be a representative body that local organizations can look to for direction. We must be as organized as our opponents.
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Anti-Capitalism
Our democracy is corrupted by corporate dollars that mute the voice of the people, making a world where we have conquered the climate crisis difficult to imagine in a capitalist America. The status quo, and the crises that come with it, support Corporate America so their money will never be used for real change. Limiting the power of economic actors in politics ensures space in both sectors for radical, innovative ideas.
Political Influence Reform
There are many avenues toward limiting the power of corporations that make our voices louder. The Supreme Court must affirm the power of the people by overturning the Citizens United decision that allows corporate donations to political candidates. In the meantime, we have to introduce public money into the electoral system so that politicians don’t rely on Corporate America for funding. In doing so we can ensure that elected leaders will truly fight for us, not corporations.
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Climate Education
Climate change must be a focus of public school curriculums in every school district in the country. Current students will be facing this crisis for their entire lives and must be equipped for it at an early age. Currently, there is no guarantee that you will even hear the words ‘climate change’ in a single class. The federal government must produce federal education requirements that include fact-based learning on climate change.
Climate Failures
Corporate Influence
Climate change was first documented in 1977 by scientists at Exxon. They proceeded to cover up the problem, keeping it hidden for another 11 years. Although corporate pollution is well publicized today, they now engage in election funding and lobbying, buying influence and drowning out the people’s voice in order to hold back real change.
Weak Leadership
Our leaders are too scared of the monetary repercussions of fighting climate change. They fear that losing corporate dollars will leave them vulnerable come re-election. Relying on corporate actors for election funding compromises politicians' integrity, effectively turning them into political employees of Corporate America.
Decentralized Movement Strategy
The climate movement is one of the most influential movements of our lifetime. Its power has grown recently, due to an injection of youth activism. There have been legislative wins directly because of the movement, but these wins are modest. The climate movement has immense potential but is held back by its commitment to decentralization which has prevented activists from truly uniting. Activists across the country must share a common vision of change to be successful as a movement.
Capitalist Exploitation
As soon as the industrial revolution began, so did climate change. We would not be in such a crisis, if corporations hadn’t taken advantage of the Earth’s natural resources. Communities of color would not be the most impacted if capitalists hadn’t decided to focus their exploitation on them. We would not have to fight for our lives if our economic system did not perpetually incentivize profit over people.
Misinformation
The science and story of climate change is not taught in our schools. This makes climate change seem less important in comparison to other issues taught in school. In reality, students can only be prepared for their future upon graduation if they are properly educated on climate change. By leaving the climate crisis out of curriculum, we leave student’s vulnerable to fake news and unprepared to defend their future. Not providing students education about a crisis that heavily impacts them amounts to malpractice on the part of school administrators across the country.