http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/newswire\/2013\/06\/11-10<\/p>\n
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 11, 2013 5:37 PM
\nCONTACT: Our Power Campaign
\nMichelle Mascarenhas-Swan
\n(415) 359-7324
\nAngela Angel
\n(510) 759-3177<\/p>\n
media@ourpowercampaign.org<\/p>\n
Groundbreaking Our Power Campaign Will Create Healthy Future for Communities Impacted by Climate Change<\/p>\n
CENTRAL ARIZONA – June 11 – This week, Navajo community members of the Black Mesa Water Coalition will host a skills sharing and strategy camp for communities impacted by coal and other dirty energy. This camp marks the first of many convergences of indigenous peoples, communities of color, and working-class white communities building a powerful movement to take on climate change while fostering a new economy. The groups are uniting in a new national campaign launching this week called the Our Power Campaign: Communities United for a Just Transition.<\/p>\n
Through the Our Power Campaign, communities are organizing to transition off of dirty energy to foster clean community power, zero waste, food sovereignty, public transit, housing for all, and restoration of ecosystems and watersheds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can create quality jobs by retooling the infrastructure in our regions,\u201d said Bill Gallegos, Executive Director of Communities for a Better Environment and Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) Steering Committee member. \u201cWe need to divest from dirty energy and the \u2018greed economy\u2019 and invest in a transition to local living economies and community resilience. This camp is about learning the skills and forging the strategies we need to bring this transition home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can have power without pollution and energy without injustice,\u201d said Jihan Gearon, Executive Director of Black Mesa Water Coalition and CJA Steering Committee member. \u201cNavajo people and Navajo lands have been moving central Arizona\u2019s water and providing much of central Arizona and Southern California\u2019s energy for 50 years. Renewable energy provides a new way forward to bring economic and health benefits to the Navajo people while cutting greenhouse gas emissions at the source.\u201d<\/p>\n
The backdrop for the camp is one of the communities creating a \u2018just transition\u2019. Navajo Generating Station, which is run by the Salt River Project and Peabody Coal\u2019s Kayenta Mine, has depleted the Navajo Aquifer, severely impacted the land base, and adversely affected community health. Generating electricity from coal also pumps greenhouse gases into the atmosphere contributing to climate change which the Navajo Nation is already suffering the effects of.<\/p>\n
The Black Mesa Water Coalition is proposing Navajo-owned utility scale solar projects and fostering local, sustainable land-based economies. According to their studies, there is enough old mine lands and good sun on the Navajo Nation to generate over 6,000 megawatts of solar power in the years to come. That would be thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars into the regional economy each year, billions of dollars during construction.<\/p>\n
At the groundbreaking training camp, communities along coal\u2019s chain of destruction from the Southwest, Appalachia, the Midwest, and beyond will come together to learn from and exchange with the Black Mesa community. Activities include:<\/p>\n
June 14- sharing stories of struggles and victories in communities impacted by dirty energy
\n June 15- workshops on topics such as direct action and land-based resilience
\n June 16-17- sessions for communities to strategize together to win shifts away from dirty energy towards local living economies<\/p>\n
The Our Power Campaign is launching in three communities impacted by dirty energy– Black Mesa, Arizona; Richmond, California; and Detroit Michigan –and will expand to communities across the country over the coming years. With nearly 40 organizations, CJA\u2019s members are rooted in Indigenous, African American, Latino, Asian Pacific Islander, and working-class white communities throughout the United States. Together, they apply the power of deep grassroots organizing, direct action, coalition building, civic engagement, policy advocacy, and a variety of communications tools to win local, regional, statewide, and national shifts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a historic opportunity to unite working-class communities and communities of color across the nation who bear the brunt of the climate and economic crisis,\u201d said Ife Kilimanjaro, Co-Director of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council in Detroit and CJA Steering Committee member. \u201cTogether, we are building a movement that is demonstrating and winning a shift away from dirty energy through investment in the root cause solutions we all need.\u201d
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The Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) is a collaborative of over 35 community-based and movement support organizations uniting frontline communities to forge a scalable, and socio-economically just transition away from unsustainable energy towards local living economies to address the root causes of climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/newswire\/2013\/06\/11-10 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 11, 2013 5:37 PM CONTACT: Our Power Campaign Michelle Mascarenhas-Swan (415) 359-7324 Angela Angel (510) 759-3177 media@ourpowercampaign.org Groundbreaking Our Power Campaign Will Create Healthy Future for Communities Impacted by Climate Change CENTRAL ARIZONA – June 11 – This week, Navajo community members of the Black Mesa Water Coalition will host … Continue reading Our Power Campaign: Communities Unite Around A \u2018Just Transition\u2019 Away from Dirty Energy with Historic Training Camp<\/span>