Dear John,

We come to you with a message from the Black Caucus of Climate Justice Alliance calling to Abolish the Police, Dismantle White Supremacy, Not Another Black Life

"As the Black Caucus of Climate Justice Alliance we join calls with our families, friends, and comrades to demand the abolishment of all systems of harm including the police, and investment in self-determined communities. We cannot care for Mother Earth and not care for Black life. We believe that our communities deserve more than a system that was built to fail us. Our communities demand real safety from harm from state actors as well as environmental issues precipitated by state policies because we are resilient, we have kept our neighbors safe, taught our children how to navigate and survive an unjust system designed to maximize harm and limit our prosperity, and we are still fighting for justice! For decades we have moved to dismantle these burdens. We want and we deserve more!"

Click here to read the full statement.

CJA’s policy work is guided by our more than 70 climate justice, frontline and supporting organizations engaged in local, state and national work on a wide range of issues from Racial Justice, Energy Democracy, Food Sovereignty, Zero Waste, Just Recovery Work and more. Our 6 meta strategies guide our vision for a Just Transition to a Regenerative Economy.

This month, CJA stood together with legislators to support the reintroduction of the Green New Deal and bills that can influence a recovery package that will support the Just Transition we need. We also issued a statement as Biden’s Global Climate Summit kicked off and planning for the next international climate conference gets underway (COP26): CJA Calls on US/Biden to Adopt Real Solutions to the Climate Crisis, Pay their Fair Share through Safe Solutions & Comprehensive Investments. 

We are changing the way governance works by building power and pathways to solutions that work for frontline communities and workers, while pushing back against false solutions to climate change. 

Check out our new policy page and the current legislation and initiatives we are supporting, along with information, fact sheets and more!  And make sure to check out our members and their messages during the week on twitter!

In late March, Massachusetts signed a comprehensive climate bill with an emphasis on environmental justice. The new law, "An Act Creating a Next Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy," establishes a clear definition of what it means to be an environmental justice (EJ) community. The new definition is based on race, income, and non-English language speakers, which will mean communities long overburdened by pollution and hit first and worst by climate disasters will see direct resources and other action to combat climate change. 

The bill itself is the result of relentless organizing by frontline groups and advocates who have spent 20 years fighting to protect their communities from exclusionary climate policies. CJA members Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) and GreenRoots are two such organizations that were at the forefront of making this bill a reality. With the signing of this bill, our communities in Massachusetts can begin moving away from the inequities that have led to their neighborhoods being exposed to harmful pollution and toward a Just Transition.

We're excited to announce that CJA - Our Power Loan Fund, has become a full member of the Seed Commons; a cooperative network of non-extractive loan funds. Together with the Seed Commons the Our Power Loan Funds seeks to reinvest into our members Regenerative Economy projects to grow an alternative and challenge the extractive economy. Our collaboration with the Seed Commons is exciting because it gives us access to a shared pool of capital which we can use to finance projects with non-extractive loans. So far the first project that we funded in 2019, Earth-Bound Building, has been sharing all about their experience so others can learn and ultimately create loan-funds in their own communities. Learn more here.

Congratulations to CJA members who are holding it down at the federal level and sitting on the WHEJAC including: Maria Lopez-Nunez of Ironbound Community Corporation, Maria Belen-Power of GreenRoots, Miya Yoshitani of Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Juan Parras of t.e.j.a.s. among others!

• When Communities Try to Hold Police Accountable, Law Enforcement Fights Back with Southwest Organizing Project

• The Senate Appears Poised to Pass a Bipartisan Bill to Help Farmers Sell Carbon Credits. Not Everyone is Happy. with Black Dirt Farm Collective

• Civil Eats TV: Planting with Purpose at Urban Tilth with Urban Tilth
  

• Hunger Strikers Win Historic Relief Fund for Undocumented New York Workers 

• Could Price Parity, Supply Management Change the Game for BIPOC Farmers? with National Family Farm Coalition 

• Florida Agriculture Officials Ban Citrus Pesticide Approved Near End of Trump Administration with Farmworker Association of Florida 

• Earth Day 2021: Climate Justice Alliance Engages 74 Grassroots Organizations Working at the Forefront of the Climate Crisis

• 72-Year-Old Fisher Hunger Strikes to Press Biden to Revive Crude Oil Export Ban with Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services

• 10 Black Climate Leaders Fighting for Environmental and Racial Justice with NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program