End of Year Updates
As the holidays approach and the year draws to a close, there’s a tension between appreciating the many accomplishments achieved by our communities this year, while feeling a deep sense of fear and danger as a new Trump era is unleashed upon us. This is not a new tension – the light and beauty of our world has always been side by side with pain and cruelty – but the challenge is very pronounced due to the breadth and depth of the threats to ourselves, our vulnerable community members, our climate, and our democracy.
As we collectively find our way forward, our approach at the Climate Equity Policy Center is coming together:
We’re focusing on the things we can do, and fighting for wins where we can make a difference.
We are looking for ways to support other people’s efforts.
Even when we feel discouraged, we won’t be dismissive of the work people are doing or take away hope.
We are looking across issues to support allies, with an eye toward building a more interconnected multi-issue movement.
We’re going to keep on keeping on, one foot in front of another.
When we can race forward to accomplish our goals, great! But if all we can do is to slow down bad outcomes, that’s what we’re going to do.
We’re going to find ways to make the fight fun. We’ll be fighting in community and looking for chances to turn a protest into a dance party.
The Climate Equity Policy Center was founded during the first Trump administration. Our core motivation is a belief that we can work at the local and state level to achieve wins for just and healthy communities and climate. Today, we believe this work is more important than ever. As part of embracing and appreciating the good things out there, here are a few highlights from our work this year:
Legal & Policy Technical Assistance: We provided legal review and support for proposed bills, resolutions, and policies in order to explain legal issues and advance climate and racial justice goals.
Climate and Health: We partnered to revise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s climate and health framework and develop implementation resources to support health departments and their partners in working on climate, health, and equity.
Fighting Fossil Fuels: We worked with the Fossil Free for Health Coalition to support coalition development and develop a legal analysis of strategies to address fossil fuel advertising and deception.
Environmental Rights Amendments: We published a toolkit with resources and models for state environmental rights amendments, and co-sponsored a bill in the California legislature to adopt an environmental rights amendment to protect health and environmental justice in California.
Thank you for being part of our community. We appreciate your financial support, moral support, and partnership. More than ever, we are all in it together. We look forward to fighting together, building together, and appreciating each other as we step into the future.