Climate Justice Alliance

The Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) is uniting frontline communities to forge a scalable, socially and economically Just Transition away from unsustainable energy and false solutions to climate change. Fostering healthy, resilient communities will help to address the root causes of the climate crisis while enabling us to adapt to the impacts already underway. CJA’s members are rooted in Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian Pacific Islander, and working-class white communities. We 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. Visit ClimateJusticeAlliance.org to see a full list of CJA member groups. The OUR POWER COMMUNITIES: CJA launched the Our Power Communities to win real solutions to the climate crisis – solutions that will foster quality jobs that meet people’s needs while caring for natural resources and ecosystems. We are flexing Our Power at the local, regional, and state levels and building to affect national policy to bring about a Just Transition. Building Local Living Economies. The “local living economies” model for our communities centers on:• Zero Waste• Public Transportation• Clean Community Energy • Regional Food & Water Systems • Efficient, Affordable, Durable Housing• Ecosystem Restoration & Stewardship We will reduce pollution and heavy reliance on extreme energy by transforming each of these economic sectors and, in collaboration with key research allies, will quantify the potential for jobs creation. Our goal is to create living examples of how such community pathways can put people to work transforming their communities, while reducing both cost and pollution burden for present and future generations. ⇒ Building Community Resilience. The creation of climate jobs and strengthening of community resilience will build more equitable, local economic infrastructure through: • Grassroots Economies – The best way to ensure that local economies are built in the best interests of local communities is to create economic structures that workers and local communities collectively control, and make democratic decisions on how to run them. Cooperatives provide an important model to meet community needs and strengthen worker/community governance. • Rights to Land, Water, and Food Sovereignty – With a deepening climate crisis, community rights to land, water and food sovereignty are increasingly necessary to both adapt to climate impacts and mitigate the causes of climate change. Resource rights are an effective solution for a just transition.⇒ Building Movement. From local to national to global, people recognize that real change comes when large numbers of people unite around common aims. Communities are building a vibrant movement to change the political landscape by opposing harmful practices and policies, while demonstrating that real solutions to climate change will improve the health and well-being of our communities.