Will the City of Santa Fe Embrace Climate Justice? OPEN LETTER TO THE MAYOR OF SANTA FE Dear Mayor Javier Gonzales, On the eve of the The Peoples Climate March - Santa Fe and the historic Peoples Climate March in New York City, congratulations on the leadership that you have begun demonstrating to address the risks and challenges of living and prospering in our city in the face of the reality of climate change. The new Climate Action Task Force that you have launched, co-chaired by City Councilor Peter Ives and ex-Mayor David Coss, is an exciting step forward. The Climate Action Task Force is charged with identifying priorities and defining goals, in both the short and long term, toward creating a more resilient and adaptable community to protect the health of our local environment and advance Santa Fe’s green economy. The objectives of the Climate Action Task Force include recommending ways to increase the availability and use of renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency programs, developing strategies to enhance the water and food security of our community, identifying ways to stimulate environment and clean energy-related economic advancement and job creation, and preparing plans of action to move Santa Fe’s climate adaptation forward. This critical mission will be carried out by working groups in the areas of energy, transportation, recycling, water, food security, and more. About a dozen members of the Climate Action Task Force have been appointed by you, Mayor Gonzales, and they have started holding meetings on the first and third Thursday of every month. Meanwhile, the members of the working groups – anticipated to be community members who have the time, knowledge and passion to contribute as volunteers to this collaborative effort – have yet to be determined. As a concerned citizen and observer, I have attended the first two Task Force meetings. I can attest to the quality, rigor and creativity of the discussions taking place so far. The Task Force is off to a running start, and this is to be applauded. However, I’ve also observed a compositional weakness that threatens to significantly undercut its success and community engagement. The purpose of this letter is to point this weakness out and hopefully encourage you, Mayor Gonzales, and the Task Force to respond accordingly to alleviate it. The weakness I’m referring to is a lack of diversity among Task Force members, who are overwhelmingly white and middle-aged. Tragically, this means that the very people who we know are most likely be negatively impacted by climate change – young people and people of color – are at risk of being marginalized from the process of contributing to Santa Fe’s comprehensive climate action response. Climate justice is a vision to dissolve and alleviate, rather than perpetuate, the unequal burdens created by climate change. As a form of environmental justice, climate justice is the “fair treatment of all people and freedom from discrimination with the creation of policies and projects that address climate change and the systems that create climate change and perpetuate discrimination.” Across the country and the world, climate justice organizers are demanding that policy makers realize that truly solving the problems presented by the climate crisis requires meaningfully engaging with those communities who bear disproportionate burdens from climate change, and including them in decision-making processes. (Learn more at actforclimatejustice.org/) Climate change may well be humanity’s greatest challenge. It is a crisis that must be rapidly addressed if catastrophe is to be averted. Santa Fe has the opportunity to become a globally recognized leader in climate adaptation and preparedness, and you have taken a bold step by forming the Climate Action Task Force. But if we are to succeed, the Task Force and its working groups must be diversified to reach out to and integrate more voices from the communities and constituencies who have the most at stake and without whom widespread public buy-in and support will be difficult or impossible to achieve. Specifically, this might mean making intentional and active efforts to include Southside community and neighborhood leaders, community organizations like Chainbreakers Collective, traditional Hispanic land-based groups like the New Mexico Acequia Association, indigenous groups like Tewa Women United, and millennials under the age of 35 who have so much to contribute. Doing this would represent a groundbreaking leap toward climate justice. I want the Climate Action Task Force to succeed, and that is why I am raising this concern early on regarding the need for increased diversity in the ranks of its members and working groups. Thank you for listening. Sincerely, Jeff Ethan Au Green (Sept. 19, 2014)
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 17:13:56 +0000
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