Today we remember Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and consider what we can do to stop the climate catastrophe.
We recall not the sanitized civic saint, but the unabashed radical who agitated for a "beloved community." Not as an excuse for oppressive behavior but as an imperative for transforming unjust systems — "the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism" — so that our social structure would actually embody the principles of love and justice.
Never forget that when he was killed for attempting to achieve this revolution of social values and systems, Dr. King was fighting international imperialism and leading a multiracial Poor People’s Campaign. An effort which sought to guarantee full employment, universal income, and the construction of a half-million affordable homes, as well as community access to land, capital, and democratic self-determination.
And what would he say about the unfolding climate catastrophe?
We know he would give a damn. This is a crisis made by the industrialized world, led by corporate interests that have systemically deceived the public about the dangers of fossil fuels to our health and welfare in the name of profit. And it’s a crisis which takes its greatest toll globally on those who did the least to cause it and are the least able to afford it. In the US, it’s working class and communities of color that suffer the severest consequences — confined to environmentally perilous areas or gentrified from climate safe places as the more affluent search out locales further from flooding. It is no wonder that the new Poor People’s Campaign, guided by Rev. William Barber, has added "ecological devastation" as its fourth major concern.
This systemic bleakness is overwhelming; it’s enough to make one turn away in fatalism or sink into anxiety and depression. Yet we know those aren’t good options and we’re damn well committed to ensuring it doesn’t happen.
So our grassroots leaders at LA Forward Action, organized by the amazing Shula Green, have taken it upon themselves to create a guide to action which breaks down all the important things you can be doing into manageable pieces. There’s one systemic change you can help make possible for every month of 2020 — tied to an existing organization leading the way — as well as personal behavioral actions you can take to build momentum for systemic change. It ranges from striking for a Green New Deal to reducing household waste to stopping oil drilling in our communities and everything in between.
We’ll be releasing the guide at our first ever Climate Action Fair this Saturday, January 25, 10 AM - 1 PM. Please join us!
Go here — LAForward.org/climate — to RSVP or sign up to get the guide digitally.
There will be tables for all the organizations involved in the guide, plus speakers, food, prizes, live music, crafts, kids’ activities and more.