We commit to centering values of social equity and justice in our organizational decision-making – including in our hiring, our staff policies, our expenditures, our fundraising, our planning, and our programs.
We commit to uplifting the leadership of and solutions proposed by people and communities inequitably impacted by the climate crisis through our programmatic work, with resources and with attention – through our relationships, research, trainings, grantmaking, presentations, and the issues and campaigns where we seek to have impact.
We commit to fostering and strengthening a culture of inclusion that supports our diverse network and the communities they serve. We believe that true inclusion is the capacity to both navigate and celebrate differences in ways that are both healthy and creative, and we seek to make this kind of inclusiveness a hallmark of the Lab’s culture.
We commit to valuing different ways of knowing in our support for “evidence-based advocacy,” recognizing that there are many forms of wisdom and expertise. We believe in helping climate advocates work smarter, not harder, building off what has already been learned, including the experiences and insights of practitioners and those “on the ground” as well as of external researchers.
We commit to our own self-transformation, understanding that we cannot expect from outside of ourselves any change or transformation that we are unwilling to make within. We commit to uprooting and undoing misperceptions of separation or otherness – including from our environments or one another – that keep us from realizing the transformative change we and the world need right now.
We commit to learning and growing beyond what we know now in service of generating the new realities that the climate crisis demands of us. We acknowledge that what we are doing at this moment is not everything that must be done, and we remain curious and open to continued growth, recognizing that “failures” are very often the stepping stones to success. This includes revisiting the commitments outlined in this document regularly and continuing to revise and update them as we learn and grow.
Our team is energized about the commitments we are making in this arena because of the just and equitable outcomes that become possibilities when we set our attention and intentions on realizing them. Knowing we cannot achieve this work or realize our commitments alone, we’re grateful to all those organizations and individuals whose work we are building on, and we look to our peers and partners to support us and to challenge us in our commitments. We’re also on the lookout for opportunities to continue learning and developing in ways that serve our commitments and we welcome feedback, thought partnership, and collaboration from similarly minded practitioners. Likewise, we recognize that members of the Lab community and the climate movement have a diversity of opinions and perspectives on issues of social justice, equity, and inclusion; we invite conversation, offer deep listening, and look forward to engaging in principled disagreement in the spirit of genuine inclusion and learning from perspectives that differ from our own.
We hope to see you walking this path with us because we believe that “another world is not only possible, she is on her way” (Arundhati Roy).