The power of the new Congress, filled with energetic and idealistic lawmakers with fresh ideas, will be on full display this week as a proposal, known as the Green New Deal, gets a formal introduction today in the House and Senate along with two congressional hearings to put climate on center stage after a long lull in the congressional agenda.
The Green New Deal has the potential to set a vision for a large-scale, comprehensive economic stimulus that will not just fight climate change but also put the spotlight on providing jobs and economic mobility for those hurt by climate change already sweeping the planet.
Philanthropy can take the lessons learned from previous attempts to change national climate legislation by focusing on narrow changes, such as limits on carbon emissions, and invest in those front-line and youth activists who are leading the effort to make the Green New Deal a reality. Now grant makers can put their money and influence behind a package of bills that incorporate many issues such as economic development, social justice, and the environment.
Both the United Nation’s recent climate report and the U.S. government’s own analysis point to the fact that we have little time left to transform our economy. Let’s not repeat what hasn’t worked: half-measures and quick fixes that still contribute to climate change rather than cutting emissions at the source. Supporting solutions that are holistic and that help communities on the front lines of climate change is critical at this point in human history.
Build on Local Solutions
Across the country, many of those on the front lines — including the working class and people of color — have been forging creative local solutions that go beyond the transition to clean energy. The solutions also promote economic, gender, and racial justice through bold policies that create good jobs, spur economic development. and develop badly needed infrastructure.
While some of these efforts have gotten philanthropy’s attention, far more resources need to go to promote successful local efforts, like those in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, which has long been plagued by poverty and pollution. There, the local community group Uprose is working to bring renewable energy to low-income residents through a community-owned energy cooperative project. In partnership with a variety of nonprofits and the New York City economic development corporation, residents will now benefit from an 80,000-square-foot solar garden on top of now-defunct Army Terminal. The goal is to reduce energy costs for local residents while promoting a renewable energy source.
Another model is the bankrupt municipality of Highland Park in Michigan, where residents have suffered for years from blackouts, massive floods, high energy costs, and even being left in the dark when the local energy company repossessed 1,000 streetlights. The local energy democracy group, Soulardarity, has been restoring the streetlights, training residents in solar installation and weatherization, and creating jobs for local community residents through partnerships with local cooperative businesses, city governments, and regional coalitions and associations.
Four Next Steps
As foundations consider what steps to take next to promote many of the guiding principles laid out in the Green New Deal, four pathways are the most promising:
- Invest in the creation of local jobs. That’s where projects like Uprose and Soulardarity need more resources; their organizing isn’t enough to finance expansion of renewable energy and weatherization projects that put a high priority on job training, especially for people of color and women, and that insist on paying everyone a living wage.
- Offer loans or other mission-related investment to promote the growth of sustainable businesses in neighborhoods that lack access to banks and other traditional forms of capital. Focus on backing groups that have worked closely with people who most need jobs to devise solutions. Among the options that do this already are Just Transition Loan Fund and the Financial Cooperative.
- Advocate for legislation that helps people most likely to be harmed by climate change. Foundations can use their special role in society to promote solutions that don’t just avert climate change but also promote equity and social mobility.
- Think hard about who benefits from the climate-change work you support now. Who makes the decisions, and who is affected by those decisions? A useful tool for that kind of exploration comes from a tool kit created by the organization It Takes Roots, which worked with more than 150 organizations focused on community solutions as part of the People’s Orientation to the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit.
The Green New Deal and the work that has preceded this moment is a call for us all to act. The question is, Will foundations lend their support in meaningful ways to front-line communities when it matters most? If there ever was a time to act, it is now.
Angela Adrar is executive director of the Climate Justice Alliance. Tyler Nickerson is a regular contributor to the Chronicle of Philanthropy and first vice president at Amalgamated Bank. His views do not necessarily represent those of Amalgated Bank.
