CJA and the Green New Deal

After the Green New Deal proposal was initially put forth by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Nov. 2018, on the heels of the midterm election where Democrats won the majority in the House, and building off of energy from the occupation of Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office by the youth of the Sunrise Movement, CJA released the statement A Green New Deal Must Be Rooted in a Just Transition for Workers and Communities Most Impacted by Climate Change.

In February 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey introduced the Green New Deal Resolution in together with 67 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, and with 11 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate.

CJA co-chair Elizabeth Yeampierre testified in Feb. 2019 in front of the House Committee on Natural Resources. The hearing was titled “Climate Change: The Impacts and the Need to Act.”

The People’s Solutions Lens
for a Green New Deal

We are at a moment where the hope and promise of achieving a bold, transformative agenda to protect the climate seems possible. But while transition is inevitable, justice is not. Led by frontline communities and workers with lived experience of struggle against extractive, polluting industries, the environmental justice movement has been demanding protection of our health, our communities, and our environment for decades. Here are five straight-forward questions that can help you determine whether a Green New Deal is rooted in justice for workers, frontline communities, and the environment:

1Who tells the story?  Frontline communities and workers are impacted first and worst by the interlinked crises of climate change and the extractive, exploitative economy. We speak for ourselves, and hold the wisdom, vision, and organizing power to lead climate and economic solutions. Yet, often times, others claim to speak for us without necessarily representing our interests. As we often say, nothing about us without us is for us.

2Who makes the decisions?  The environmental justice movement defines environment as “where we live, work, play, and pray”. Whether it’s the shop floor or the neighborhood, those closest to the problems will inevitably know the most about what the solutions need to look like. For a Green New Deal – or any other climate or economic policy – to truly work for Indigenous Peoples, Black communities, immigrants and refugees of color, and working class communities, it must embody the practice of community self-determination.

3Who benefits, and how?  The climate crisis is ecological, but it has its roots in systemic inequity that is racial, gendered, and economic. To address these root causes, authentic climate and economic policy solutions must flip the existing dynamics around racial injustice, wealth extraction, and labor exploitation.