Climate Justice

Climate justice is an ethical framework and movement that empowers frontline communities most affected by the climate crisis and demands accountability from people and institutions who are causing it. This curated list of climate justice resources will help you learn about climate justice and find groups working for climate justice.

What climate justice resources are you looking for today?

What is Climate Justice?

Climate justice is an ethical framework and movement that empowers frontline communities most affected by the climate crisis and demands accountability from the people and institutions who are causing it.

There are almost as many definitions of climate justice as there are people working for climate justice. Here are a few key points that illustrate why the climate crisis is a justice issue and how we can respond to it in an equitable and effective manner:

The climate crisis is a systemic problem. The climate is changing because greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming. This in turn causes various disruptions to the Earth’s many interwoven living and non-living systems. But this is more than just a physical sciences issue. To understand why those emissions are happening, and why they’ve reached the point of a global crisis, we must understand the economic and political systems that are creating and perpetuating those emissions. Unjust systems create unjust outcomes, including but not limited to the climate crisis.
Systemic problems require systemic solutions. The climate crisis is caused by unjust economic and political systems choosing to continue extracting and burning fossil fuels in spite of the tremendous harm caused by the resulting emissions. If everyone in the world somehow switched energy sources overnight, that would go a long way to reduce present and future harms. However, it would not account for past and present harms. It also wouldn’t prevent those unjust economic and political systems from continuing to harm and exploit frontline communities in other ways. The only way to solve systemic problems is with systemic solutions: in this case, climate reparations, a just transition, and other remedies organized and demanded by frontline communities.
Frontline communities are best situated to lead local, national, and international responses. Frontline communities are the communities most affected historically and currently by the climate crisis. Because they are the most affected, they can play a critical role in identifying the harms caused by the climate crisis and developing real climate solutions that are rooted in the principles of environmental and climate justice.

For more information on what climate justice is, please visit the websites of the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) and the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN).

Climate Justice Groups

The following is a list of climate justice groups. This is not a general list for all climate and environment groups. To be included in this list, groups must place a significant or exclusive emphasis on climate justice in their mission and activities.

If you know of any climate justice groups that aren’t on this list, please contact me. I’ll be happy to add them!

Climate Justice Alliance

Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) formed in 2013 to create a new center of gravity in the climate movement by uniting frontline communities and organizations into a formidable force. Their translocal organizing strategy and mobilizing capacity is building a Just Transition away from extractive systems of production, consumption and political oppression, and towards resilient, regenerative and equitable economies. They believe that the process of transition must place race, gender and class at the center of the solutions equation in order to make it a truly Just Transition.

Indigenous Environmental Network

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) is an alliance of Indigenous Peoples whose Shared Mission is to Protect the Sacredness of Earth Mother from contamination & exploitation by Respecting and Adhering to Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Law. Many of their activities and campaigns, including Just Transition, Keep it in the Ground, Indigenous Resistance Against Carbon, and Climate Justice Program Series, emphasize and promote climate justice.

The Chisholm Legacy Project

The mission of the Chisholm Legacy Project is rooted in a Just Transition Framework. The project serves as a vehicle to connect Black communities on the frontlines of climate justice with resources to traverse the path from vision to strategy to action plan to implementation to transformation. In support of frontline leadership, the project seeks to link movements and mainstream entities with the tools necessary to advance systems change centered in equity and justice. With Black women on the frontlines of advancing systems change, this project ensures that these leaders have the support they need as they transform society from extractivism to a living economy that cares for sacred relationships between people and with Mother Earth, through regenerative, cooperative, democratic systems.

Sunrise Movement

The Sunrise Movement is a youth movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. We’re building an army of young people to make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people.

Think 100%

Think 100% is the climate justice communications and activism platform of the Hip Hop Caucus. Their creative and communications projects include podcasts, films, music, activism, and beyond. Their climate justice podcast, The Coolest Show, brings listeners a weekly dose of conversations that reimagine how Black, Indigenous, and Brown people thrive in our environment. If you’re looking for ways to fight for Black liberation and fight for climate and environmental justice, this is the show for you.

350

350 is building a future that’s just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. They’re an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.