By Elan Shapiro:
Justice and sustainability are one? It so often seems that people with a global warming and sustainability agenda and those focused on social and economic justice are operating in very separate worlds. They are often amazed and aghast that those in the other world don’t “get” the immediacy of their cause. In spite of this all-too-familiar story, the good news is that more and more people – both in our region and nationally – are beginning to “connect the dots” and find more integrated solutions to the threats facing our communities and our ecosystems.
Just as industrial pollution’s disproportionate impact on disadvantaged communities sparked the environmental justice movement, the inequitable effects of global warming on less privileged populations – whether in New Orleans, Alaska, or sub-Saharan Africa – are helping fuel a broad-based coalition for a greener and fairer economy. Sustainability is being seen as a way of providing “justice” to future generations of humans and to other species, and increasingly, efforts to address the inequities in neglected urban neighborhoods and war-torn nations like Iraq are linked to the need to build more localized economies that are not fossil-fuel dependent.
Once we recognize that we all need and deserve healthy communities that serve everybody’s interests, for both the short and the long term, we see justice and sustainability as inseparable. As the Dalai Lama emphasized on his recent visit here, we are all brothers and sisters and we are all in this together.
What are some of the encouraging developments that we so rarely hear about through our usual news sources? Across the nation, there is a growing movement toward a “green collar economy” that can provide millions of jobs in the rapidly emerging green sector, from high-tech positions to entry level ones that can help low-income workers get a foothold and advance. This movement includes job training in areas such as home energy efficiency, renewable energy, green construction, re-use industries, urban agriculture, and habitat restoration. Paralleling this trend are numerous urban neighborhood groups that are creating bold initiatives to plan their own positive futures, and to put their plans into action. Grassroots groups uniting justice and sustainability through citizen empowerment include Reclaim the Future (www.ellabakercenter.org) and Green for All (www.greenforall.org) in Oakland; Sustainable South Bronx in New York City (www. ssbx.org); Bethel New Life (www.bethelnewlife.org) in Chicago; One Sky (www.1skycampaign.org); and Apollo Alliance (www.apolloalliance.org).
Signs of hope abound in our area, too. The Southern Tier Advocacy & Mitigation Project (STAMP) engages at-risk urban youth in creating video documentaries on the emerging green economy that also address the inequities these kids face every day. The Race Liberation Alliance (RLA), which creates conversations aimed at reversing racism in our community, has as one of its goals to become “a unified community who shares local resources that provide for everyone’s needs.” RLA also organized the well-attended Summertime Bloc Party last July. The TC Workers’ Center and the Alternative Federal Credit Union have established a strong link between fairness to low-income workers and building a strong and sustainable local economy, through their widely acclaimed living wage campaign.
As access to local and organic foods is coming to be perceived as everyone’s right, and not just a privilege, the demand for them is increasing, making them more affordable. These foods are also becoming more available to people with lower incomes through subsidized Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, and through innovative programs by Greenstar Natural Grocery and Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.
Sustainable Tompkins has begun convening a coalition of social justice and sustainability organizations to function in a more coordinated way together, under the banner of “creating a just and sustainable community.” It has also launched a Just Sustainability Initiative that includes a neighborhood education program, Energy Efficiency Community Outreach (EECO), whose “learning circles” provide hands-on demonstrations of do-it-yourself energy efficiency improvements in the homes and apartments of low-income residents. EECO will host another series in November (contact havana@sustainabletompkins.org for more information).
These are but a sampling of the connections that are bubbling up in our area. But realistically, they are still small steps, given the depth of personal and policy changes it will take to create a truly just and sustainable community. Hopefully, we can join together the amazing creativity and good will of our community at a deeper level to meet the daunting challenges of our times.
For more information, contact elansla@ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us
