C-Urge project is a doctoral network set up to research and better understand the complexity of climate and enviromental change, that is happening on global, as well as on a local scale.
Through various research approaches set in various countries, we aim to highlight the notion of urgency and need to enrich the debate around the topic of environemtal change, that is both fast, and subtle and poses a serious challenge for the future.
The Grassroots Global Justice Alliance is an international organization focusing on various kinds of injustices. They have launched various programs, including Global Wellbeing, Grassroots Feminism, Demilitarise and Movement Building, aiming at addressing various types of worldwide justice struggles.
The Grassroots Global Movement has gathered Climate Justice Alliance, It Takes Roots, People’s Action, and East Michigan Environmental Action Council to build political power for the frontlines communiteis for 2020 and beyond.
The Grassroots Global Alliance provides a strategy for just transition to a regenerative economy. For the policy makers, this organizations has come up with these questions as guidance:
1. Who tells the story?
2. Who makes the decision?
3. Who benefits and how?
4. What else will this impact?
5. How will this build or shift power?
Framework: Protect, Repair, Invest, Transform. Under each category, this organization presents their demands and solutions.
Five points of intervention: the Narratives, Base Building and Organizing, Policy Development, Electoralization and Implementation, Direct Action.
The Grassroots Global Justice Alliance is aiming at thriving the green new deal. The core of the work of just transiton from this organizations is the principles mentioned in the green new deal.
1) Industry Led Problem Solving. This element stresses the importance of rethinking industry analyses in order to create quality jobs. Thinking as industry as a whole enables just transition planners to set industry boundries and lift as much of the industry onto the high road as possible.
2) The Partnership Itself is a Priority. This category streeses the importance of leadership committment as well as problem-solving structure and culture building.
3) Incorporate Worker Wisdom throughout Partnership Efforts. This component stresses the importance of valuing the industry workers' opinions and evaluations, and including them into the training process and partnerships.
4) Industry-Driven Education and Training Solutions. This key element stresses the importance of coming up with appropriate an doable education methods.
The California Workforce Development Board is cooperating with 8 other organizations as partnerships to implement just transition.
The Shirley Ware Education Center (SWEC)
The West Oakland Job Resource Center (WOJRC)
Building Skills Partnership (BSP)
The Hospitality Training Academy (HTA)
Joint Workforce Investment (JWI)
The Port of Los Angeles (POLA)
Jewish Vocational Service (JVS)
Worker Education and Resource Center (WERC).
Each organization is partnering with other different cooperations, institutes to implement the plan of just transitions according to the ECJ approach.
Equity, climate and jobs are the cores of the high road training partnerships. Opportunity and mobility, a stronger economy for high road employers, a more sustainable and resilient environment and community are meant to be addressed with the approach of just transition.
The governor's office of planning and research has put forward the High Road Traning Partnership on June 2018. https://cwdb.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2019/09/High-Road-ECJ-B…;
Looking at a map of the New Orleans area I am struck by how many Wildlife Management Areas there are. I wonder if some of these areas are a result of dealing with spaces that cannot be readily developed due to their geo/eco features rather than explicit pushes for wildlife conservation/creation of green space. In some places it seems that green spaces can be created through spaces being unfit for building (e.g. in Orange County, CA).
Although I'm unable to dig into these spaces at this moment, many questions arise:
How accessible are these spaces to visitors? Are they designed for visitors/for environmental education or are they primarily spaces left alone for wildlife habitat? If they are visited, who uses them and how? (e.g. subsistence fishing and hunting? birding?) When were they officially created/designated? What differences in management exist between the national wildlife areas and state-managed areas? What perceptions exist among New Orleaneans about how these spaces are managed and about state vs. federal management? Has the management of federally-managed spaces changed since the beginning of the Trump administration/with the tumultuous activity within the Department of Interior? What challenges do these spaces face (e.g. ecosystem health/wildlife well-being, human use, land management) with changing eco/atmo conditions?