Host Taylor interviews Ratha Lai—environmental justice organizer and consultant—about his experiences working with the Sierra Club, with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, and many coalitions working toward the end of fossil fuel exports and toward environmental justice using the Just Transition framework. Discussion includes best practices for building grassroots coalitions, thoughts on radical parenting in the age of climate crisis, and the excitement of a local election season which has seen many activists and organizers elected and retained.
In the second half, she interviews Ethan Buckner—climate justice organizer formerly with Forest Ethics in California, now with Earthworks as a campaigner throughout the Gulf states and beyond—about the wins around stopping proposed fossil fuel infrastructure throughout the state of California, the state of the movement to shut down fossil fuel expansion across the rest of the country, and about making the crucial connections between racial justice and environmental justice in this moment.
This show is part of a series running through the end of 2020, new episodes published weekly, in which I revisit interviews taken during a radio show road trip in the summer of 2015—checking back in with those activists, organizers and artists I met to see how their lives and work have adapted to changing times. You can find more information about that project at praxisradio.com/praxis.
Find a full transcript of this episode here.
For more information on the organizations both guests referenced, check out the links below, roughly in order of appearance:
*Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) website: http://apen4ej.org/
*Richmond Progressive Alliance website: https://www.richmondprogressivealliance.net/
*Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) research website: http://www.cbecal.org/resources/why-we-research/
*Movement Generation information on Just Transition framework: https://movementgeneration.org/justtransition/
*Our Power Richmond website: https://www.ourpowerrichmond.org/
*Critical Impact Consulting website: https://www.criticalimpactconsulting.com/about
*Stand.earth (fka Forest Ethics) website: https://www.stand.earth/
*Earthworks website: https://www.earthworks.org/
*Movement for Black Lives policy platform: https://m4bl.org/policy-platforms/
*Gulf South for a Green New Deal: https://www.gcclp.org/gulf-south-for-a-green-new-deal