Summer of Our Power — Toward a Just Transition for a Healthy, Equitable Planet
Grassroots International is a member of the Climate Justice Alliance, a collaborative of over 35 community-based and movement support organizations uniting frontline communities to forge a scalable, and socio-economically just transition away from unsustainable energy towards local living economies to address the root causes of climate change. CJA has been developing a unified campaign – the Our Power Campaign – which launched the “Summer of Our Power” this weekend. Below is information about that campaign.
Communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis are at the forefront of the struggle to create solutions that are healthy and equitable for both people and the planet—what we call a just transition. The Climate Justice Alliance’s Summer of Our Power launches June 21 on the Summer Solstice in recognition of our interrelated, interdependent, and complementary relationship with Mother Earth. We envision a world:
- In which everyone lives a good life by being in just and fair relationship with each other and within healthy, interdependent ecosystems.
- That is based on a culture of sharing rather than hording; localized democracies rather than globalized exploitation; the Web of Life rather than the Chain of the Market.
- That celebrates and honors the beauty and diversity of life and the rights of people to realize their full potential as creative beings.
Over the next two months, CJA’s Summer of Our Power will strengthen and build our movement for achieving this vision, with a focus on creating a just transition away from an economy based on extraction and exploitation. To kick off the summer, we’re launching our Just Transition Fellowship program this week in Jackson, Mississippi, and participating in the Southern People’s Movement Assembly, hosted by Cooperation Jackson.
The fellowship program is an important opportunity for our communities, our organizations and ourselves to build relationships with each other. Over the course of the fellowship, we’ll work together to amplify the voices of frontline communities uniting for a just transition.
We’re also launching a story-telling project that will uplift and make visible the important work being done in frontline communities across the U.S. There will be direct actions, community events, and workshops and political education regarding the Clean Power Plan, our energy democracy platform, and just transition principles and strategies. And we’re launching a special project to build the Our Power community–making a collective quilt that will come together through the month of August along three cross-country routes. Our “Quilt Relay” will conclude in the Gulf Coast region, where we will be in solidarity with frontline communities to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
It takes roots to weather the storm of the Climate Crisis. Through the summer of our power, we’ll be building momentum for the important work we have before us on the Road to Paris, where we’ll join our efforts with the international community to demand that public officials at the United Nations climate convening create a just transition.
Be sure to connect with us through social media:
Twitter: @CJAourpower?
Hashtag: #OurPowerSummer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OurPowerCampaign
We invite you to join your voices and actions with ours to create solutions that are good for people and the planet!