Issue: Environmental/Climate Justice

So much new social science research, polling, articles, field reports, and other great evidence gets added to the Lab’s Resource Library each week, that it can be hard to keep up (even for us on staff!). We’ve taken a beat to look back at forty of the most significant pieces we’ve uploaded so far this year and the key themes that emerge from what we’re learning.

Spurred by smoke-filled skies and fiery rivers, the first Earth Day mobilization in 1970 helped people understand the connection between environmental pollution and public health. As we commemorate 50+ years of Earth Day this week, a growing body of research documents how climate change harms our health – from heat stroke to wildfire smoke inhalation to insect-borne diseases. Indeed, last fall the World Health Organized released a new report calling climate change “the biggest health threat facing humanity,” and highlighting that, “While no one is safe from these risks, the people whose health is being harmed first and worst by the climate crisis are the people who contribute least to its causes, and who are least able to protect themselves and their families against it – people in low-income and disadvantaged countries and communities.”
When the Lab last explored climate and health in a newsletter* back in 2019, we shared that public awareness of health impacts from climate change was relatively low. Advocacy efforts at the climate/health intersection have gained a lot of traction in recent years, however, organizations (like our friends at the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health) have helped connect the dots for communities, policymakers, and the media.
 

As the seasons turn, new life and opportunities emerge. Join the Lab’s first Spring Community Call to re-ground in community, plant seeds of understanding on our movement’s key priorities and challenges, and nurture dialogue with other leaders about what it takes to build durable power and win equitable solutions.
Social science research affirms the need for “critical capacities” of effective social movements. The Lab believes these should include: strategic, organizing, narrative, disruptive, electoral/institutional. During our Spring Community Call, we will explore what these are and reflect on how these critical capacities are connected to building a power multiracial, cross-class climate movement.
In this community call, participants will leave with:

New and strengthened relationships with other leaders in the movement
A snapshot of the climate movement’s current opportunities and gaps
Concrete ways to apply the “5 critical capacities framework”

Together, we can create a space of learning across the Lab community and inspire one another with our collectively held and distinct experiences.