Radical Reimaginations Recap
Imagine a world where climate justice is no longer a debated concept, but rather a lived, achieved reality for all. How did we get there?
That was the question the Tishman Environment and Design Center, in collaboration with the Social Movements + Innovation Lab, explored over the course of the five-part Radical Reimaginations for Climate Justice series. The series explored different aspects of how to advance a radical climate justice agenda. We discussed the potential of contentious tactics, just transitions, lessons from the Black Lives Matter movement, transnational scales of change, and how to build new resources to support risky, innovative strategies.
The discussions were designed to explore points of tension, uncertainty, and inspiration. We traded powerpoints and talking points for messiness, pauses, unanswered hypotheses, and even contention. Each session was organized around a set of curious questions and featured environmental justice activists, social movement scholars, and philanthropic leaders in loosely moderated conversation with breakouts for deeper dives.
The Radical Reimaginations series is part of the development of a new national two-year fellowship, supporting environmental justice leaders with time, space and resources to center and activate risky and radical strategies for climate justice. In addition to creating a space for organizers, thought leaders, and scholars to reflect and strategize with one another, we also aimed to learn more about the skills, competencies, and resources that the fellowship can focus on to make movement level impact.
The speakers and participants were generous with their insights and suggestions amidst multiple layers, perspectives, and angles to explore. Here are just a few takeaways:
If it’s not soulful, it’s not strategic - Several speakers spoke about the need to do people-centered work and to put forth strategies that focus on making people’s whole lives better. The EJ movement is by nature an intersectional, people-focused movement, and that must continue to be embedded in the frameworks and strategies used to push for climate justice.
Disruption with purpose - Disruptive strategies are just one strategy that social movements use to break from the status quo, but they aren’t the only tactic. The participants and speakers pushed us to think about broadband strategies and scales for change - dismantling systems though local referenda, international sharing of ideas, organizing philanthropy against industry, to name a few. We want to disrupt the system for long-term transformative change and that doesn’t only mean direct action.
Persistence, longevity, and risk taking - Movement building doesn’t happen overnight. Many participants shared the necessity of learning from and, even, embracing, failure. Risk taking will inherently lead to some, and most likely, A LOT of failure. And in fact, something that failed previously, may work at a different time due to new contexts and windows of opportunity. It’s important to play the long game when it comes to movement building and impact.
The need for resources - It is clear environmental and climate justice organizations remain extremely underfunded. If philanthropy is truly committed to making a difference, it’s time to move resources to EJ and BIPOC-led groups that are working on intersectional work around the environment, race, policing, housing, health, and more.
The EJ Movement Fellowship team is excited to continue unpacking the learnings from the series and prepare for the launch of the program early next year. For more information about the series, speakers, and to watch the event recordings click here.