During the newscast for a popular progressive news outlet this week, a journalist speaking about the wildfires spreading across North America declared that these wildfires are being caused by climate change. 

Something struck me about that, because from my understanding, while climate change is exacerbating the conditions that lead to wildfires: it was the last century of forest management ideology (fueled largely by the conservation movement) to put out forest fires any time they started, that has brought us to the point where these forests are tinder boxes just waiting for a match. 

It reminds me a lot of people pointing to emissions as the cause of climate change. Sure they're a part of the equation, but what's causing the emissions? It's our economy and political systems, reinforced by a cultural milieu that says this is ok. 

The team of powerful femmes that leads Fund to Build Grassroots Power (including CJA’s KD Chavez) recently published a thoughtful piece on the need to resource not just the work movements are doing, but the people doing it. As they put it, “It is a strategic choice — to fund programs over people, deliverables over continuity, the next campaign over the leader who will carry it. That choice is actively harming social justice movements. Transitions get treated as administrative line items, not as the transformative periods they actually are. That calls for an ecosystem and nimble response from funders.”

If you’ve been following the Temp Check for a while, then you know that “permitting reform” has been an ongoing battle for our communities for years. To make matters worse, with the impacts of climate change getting more and more intense, some Democrats and environmentalists are advocating for it as a way to streamline renewable energy projects. But no matter how you slice it, picking and choosing collateral damage to advance your agenda isn’t good. It’s even worse when it’s handing billionaires and fossil fuel companies exactly what they want. Tell your politician to protect the National Environmental Protection Act. Learn more by reading our recent fact sheet on the topic and share the IG post here.

Our friends over at Center for Story-Based Strategy just unveiled their new website that’s full of amazing tools, resources, and trainings. This is a really great resource for anyone trying to figure out how to communicate about the issues you're passionate about. 

This week I've been commuting a lot between where I live and Seattle for CJA’s Visionary Futures Summit where a handful of Environmental and Climate Justice leaders from our alliance and a few friends are coming together to strategize, plan, and envision a path forward that is grounded in the healthy and loving future we all deserve (more on that in the… future). Around Wednesday the wildfire smoke finally settled in, to the point where you can't see any mountains, including Tahoma (also known as Mt Rainier to some). At one point a family member who also grew up in the area asked if I can remember anything like this from the 90’s-00’s. I can't.

Thankfully we also had a really amazing crew of people coming together in Seattle to figure out how we continue this work moving forward. Because of them I can see a future where this doesn't continue to be our new normal.