The Fight For The Planet is the Fight For Justice
Hurricane Ida left a vast trail of destruction in its path. In the span of 72 hours, Ida wound its way from the Gulf of Mexico to New England. In Orleans Parish, the storm left a million people without power and running water, many of them for weeks afterward. The storm hit Philadelphia and New York City with torrential flooding and tornadoes. NYC’s transit system ground to a halt. People died in basement apartments and cars because of flash flooding. Here in Philadelphia, the storm turned I-676, into a massive, sewage-filled canal. Homes across the region were inundated by fast-moving downpours. A number of our city’s chronically underfunded and neglected public schools were deluged, further damaging already crumbling structures. The take away from Hurricane Ida for Philadelphians was unambiguous: Climate change has come to Philadelphia, and the City’s current political leadership is not going to save us.
After the storm receded we were left with a clear view of the connection between the fight for climate justice and all other struggles for justice. For too long, climate change has either been ignored or framed as a matter for technocratic and technological fixes. But that notion is starting to crumble. For many Philadelphians, it is becoming clear that climate change is inextricably connected to fights for social, racial, and economic justice. To ensure a livable future for our city, we must link these movements in our organizing. Here at Reclaim, our members have already begun this work. Climate justice is increasingly integrated into a wide range of organizing activities, from fighting to stop evictions to organizing against austerity for our public schools to demanding a reduction in the bloated police budget.
But we need to step up our efforts—and fast. Current national emissions reduction goals have us on track for catastrophic climate change. In the face of such a calamity, we need two adopt two strategies: “adaptation” and “mitigation.” To adapt to climate change, we need massive investments in infrastructure that allows all people to survive and thrive as much as possible. And to mitigate further devastation, we need to rapidly phase out fossil fuels.
Action now matters: every 1/10th of a degree of heating matters -- impacting tens of millions of people if not many more. Our vision cannot be limited in scope to just the needs of our city or our country. The faster we move to stop greenhouse gas emissions, the greater the chance that people here in Philly and around the world will have to survive.
To this end, Reclaim’s Climate Justice Caucus (RCJC) is working in coalition with other incredible groups in the city to radically reimagine how Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) operates. Over the next decade, PGW wants to continue business as usual: pulling fossil fuels from the ground, raising our rates, and shutting off service to those who can’t afford it. Philadelphia can’t afford another decade of business as usual. As co-owners of a publicly-owned utility company, we have the right to determine how PGW plans for our future. But we need a larger base. We need new members to help with small and large tasks alike, and to take on leadership roles. Join us to shape and grow our caucus.
Every issue is a climate issue. Every election is a climate election.
Join us at our next Climate Justice Caucus meeting
Thursday Sep. 30th 7:30 to 9pm.