Upcoming Event: Green New Deal Legislation Three Years On!

On Wednesday, June 29 at 12pm EST, join the Global Alliance for a Green New Deal and War on Want for a celebration to mark three years since the creation of Green New Deal legislation around the world, to reflect on the movement’s progress, and to discuss next steps. Register here to hear from influential activists and politicians around the world on a Global Green New Deal. 

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UrbanA’s Sustainable Just Cities‍

UrbanA, a network of organizations and individuals working towards transformative change in Europe, created a platform that supports the development of just and sustainable cities. The platform is a collection of news, resources and tools for decision-makers, activists, and others. Included in the platform are a list of keys and principles for sustainable just cities, as well as an abundance of resources. The broad scope of available resources covers topics such as how policymakers can support a just, sustainable transition and how to build capacity in local communities to enable them to create their own solutions.

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Green New Deals’ Impact on the Global South

In “The Impact of Green New Deals on Latin America,” co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies John Feffer argues that Green New Deal plans originating in the Global North largely ignore the impact these plans have on the Global South. Implementing these GND plans would require tremendous extraction from the Global South, directly and negatively impacting the communities in which extraction occurs. For example, Ecuador is the largest exporter of balsa wood, used for wind turbine blades. Extraction of balsa wood has led to deforestation and the creation of balsa plantations has led to the displacement of people. Another example comes from Argentina, a primary site for mining lithium, a metal used in electric car batteries. The practice of lithium mining is water-intensive, putting a strain on the water resources of the already dry area. Furthermore, lithium mining has come at the expense of Indigenous communities who reside there. These examples illustrate how the Global North has failed to consider the impact of the energy transition on the Global South. In the Global North, discussion needs to extend beyond decarbonization to challenge the growth imperative and instead encompass ideas around systemic societal transformation, considering the ecological debt owed to the Global South and the legacies of colonialism. One movement working to discuss these issues is the Ecosocial Pact of the South, which advocates for an “energy transition from below,” amplifying local solutions and ideas such as rights of nature, ecofeminism, and food sovereignty.

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Care Jobs are Green Jobs

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the failures of care infrastructure. Care workers are primarily women - particularly women of color - who often engage in underpaid or unpaid care work. Since racial, economic, and gender injustices are at the root of both the care and climate crises, it is critical to develop an intersectional approach to addressing these problems. To explore the efficacy of narratives that connect climate and care, the Feminist Green New Deal Coalition and Data for Progress released a report titled, “Building Narratives for a Caring Green Economy” that shares how people respond to certain narratives around care and climate. The report found that people agreed that jobs related to the well-being of the planet and people (such as care jobs) should be considered green jobs, and that “there is a strong shared belief that care should be central to climate, workforce, and infrastructure policies.” Determining which narratives around care and climate resonate with people is essential to advocating for intersectional policy change.