Climate Justice Updates from Cochabamba to Detroit and Cancun

cross posted from Organizing Upgrade
June 1, 2010

Last month in Cochabamba, the Bolivian government and social movements convened the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC).  The conference was ground-breaking, bringing together governments, NGO’s, indigenous communities, and social movements.  The goal of the conference was to re-ground and cohere the global forces that are working for climate justice in order to impact global climate negotiations.
Whether we work on environmental, social, or economic issues, what happened in Cochabamba is relevant to our work as Left organizers in the United States.  To help make the conferences’ relevance for our work as clear as possible, I’m going to talk about Copenhagen and the back story to Cochabamba, lay out some of the developments at the CMPCC, and explore how it all relates to the next phase of building a powerful climate justice movement.

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By Jason Negrón-Gonzales

(photo by Marisa Franco, Right to the City Alliance)

Events in recent weeks in Arizona should be a cause for concern for all people who seek justice and progress in the US, and they have special significance for those of us who call the climate justice, environmental justice, and environmental movements our home.  These events call for a principled stand and action on our part, in defense of communities that have been displaced by economic and ecological crises, and against the racist and bigoted institutions that we also confront in the fight for a sustainable future.

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By Jason Negrón-Gonzales

I’m on the plane back to the US flying at 29,000 feet over the Amazon.  A green carpet of trees, only interrupted by winding veins of brown rivers, stretches to the horizon.  From time to time where a larger river appears, a small cluster of buildings sits like a speck on the side of the river.  Later, geometric patterns interrupt the expanse of the forest in areas where trees have been cut.  In their place are roads, but few buildings and no crops or livestock.  Suddenly, these clearings disappear and only forest and clouds are visible again.  The forest is immensely beautiful, and just seeing it there gives me hope – even knowing the challenges the forest and it’s people face, climate change being just one of them.  It’s hard to look at something so huge, a system that’s so complex and beyond human comprehension, and know that many think it won’t exist in 100 years.  The forest and its people may well become victims of the greed and myopia of those who run today’s world.

The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC) ended on Thursday in Cochabamba and every airport I’ve stopped in (more than a few now) has been filled with people heading home with new energy, new direction, and excitement to get back to work.  But before the movement moves on I want to share some last reflections that we’ll be taking forward. Read More »

Listen to the interview now

(photo by Diana Pei Wu)

Jason’s interview from Cochabamba on the People’s World Summit on Climate Change & the Rights of Mother Earth begins about 2/3 of the way through the show.

Jason puts forth a message of hope with hard analysis of the struggles of the moment.

“This is a transition that we want to make. Both for our children but even for our short to medium term issues of jobs, housing, … We want to move towards an economy that prioritizes people, not profit. That allows us to have jobs in the community that are local that prioritize health and people’s needs. Not the profit of a few…”

By Jason Negrón-Gonzales
Cochabamba, Bolivia

Here at the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, I Just took in a panel on the ABC’s of Climate Negotiations featuring the negotiators present in Copenhagen representing Cuba and Bolivia, and an activist and policy expert from the Third World Network. They managed to lay things out clearly on what happened in Copenhagen, the US-led Copenhagen Accord, and their position on the negotiations now.

Some core points: Read More »