PRACTICE—LESSONS LEARNED
Capacity-Building for Successful Climate
Justice Collaborations
Surbhi Sarang and Ranjani Prabhakar
Greens REALIGN
关键词: climate justice, environmental justice, community partnerships, diversity, equity,
包容性
开放访问
杂志
抽象的
The traditional environmental movement has historically excluded communities of color and
ignored environmental issues of concern to them. This has impeded partnerships with climate
justice communities and groups and perpetuated inequitable climate policies. For climate
justice to be achieved, the traditional environmental movement must repair relationships,
collaborate with climate justice communities on just and equitable terms, and incorporate
climate justice into its agenda. These efforts will succeed only if traditional environmental
organizations invest in building their capacity to engage in climate justice work, 包括
training staff in new skills such as cultural competency. This article examines the barriers
impeding climate justice partnerships and details the skills organizations must develop to
overcome these barriers. The article then explores systems of accountability to hold
organizations responsible for building their capability to engage in climate justice partnerships
and recommends criteria to assess their progress.
介绍
Solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change effects can transform lives. 然而, if they
are not equitably designed, they can fail to benefit communities most vulnerable to climate
影响. Low-income and disadvantaged communities and communities of color are often
historically burdened by disinvestment, cumulative environmental pollution, 和别的
hazards (we refer to these communities as “environmental justice” or “frontline” communities).
These communities routinely face a “triple injustice” from climate change. They are most
vulnerable to climate change impacts, contribute least to global emissions, and experience
the least benefit from climate investment and action, all of which deepens patterns of inequity
(Newell et al., 2021).
There is ample research that connects the “climate gap” (the acknowledgment that
low-income communities and communities of color will experience the hardest and most
dangerous consequences of climate change) and the racial wealth gap (the acknowledgment
that systemic racism activates financial barriers for people of color). A 2009 report from the
University of Southern California states consequences of climate change, including extreme
heat, flooding, and toxic air pollution, result in higher risks of death for African Americans
and low-income individuals compared to White and wealthier neighborhoods (Morello-Frosch
等人。, 2009). The report links this climate vulnerability to unequal geographies that people of
color experience, establishing that there is a “positive relationship between the proportion of
引文: Sarang, S。, & Prabhakar, 右.
(2023). Capacity-Building for
Successful Climate Justice
Collaborations. Journal of Climate
弹力 & 气候正义, 1, 93–106.
https://doi.org/10.1162/crcj_a_00008
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1162/crcj_a_00008
通讯作者:
Surbhi Sarang
surbhi.k.sarang@gmail.com
版权: © 2023
麻省理工学院.
在知识共享下发布
归因 4.0 国际的
(抄送 4.0) 执照.
麻省理工学院出版社
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Capacity-Building for Successful Climate Justice Collaborations
people of color and proportion of concrete, heat-trapping surfaces and a negative relationship
between the proportion of people of color and amount of tree cover” (p. 8). Though the racial
wealth gap is a significant marker of inequitable climate outcomes, a lack of recognition,
力量, and representation in political structures also prevents these communities from being
more climate resilient. The systematic failure to propose climate solutions that rectify inequity,
both existing and expected from climate impacts, is a form of denial that is ongoing.
For over four decades, the environmental justice movement, “a social movement to address
the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms associated with resource
extraction, hazardous waste, and other land uses,” has been working to make justice issues a
focus and not just an afterthought of environmental policy and programming (Schlosberg,
2007). Research from the early 1990s led by Dr. Robert Bullard (1993), a long-time academic
and advocate known as the “father of environmental justice,” found that the best predictor of
whether someone would live near a toxic waste site was race. That was true even after con-
trolling for geography and income.
The environmental justice movement has been at the forefront of the climate justice move-
ment and the fight to address the climate gap, keenly understanding that dangerous environ-
mental exposure is worst for communities that are poor and minority (Tokar, 2014). Unless the
climate movement undertakes widespread policy and cultural change to center vulnerable
人口, their issues, and their expertise, the climate gap will continue to widen.
This article explores the perspectives and skills that the traditional environmental move-
ment needs to achieve climate justice. We use the term “traditional environmental movement”
to mean the White-founded and historically White-led environmental groups that were created
to address conservation issues. 第一的, we discuss how the traditional environmental move-
ment’s racist legacy and failure to diversify prevents it from bridging the climate gap. 然后,
we examine the barriers to collaboration between the traditional environmental movement
and the environmental/climate justice movement. 下一个, we discuss how organizations and
their staff must develop new skills to make such partnerships successful. 最后, we discuss
the importance of using metrics to track organizations’ development of capacity to engage in
climate justice work and recommend criteria for such assessment.
THE TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT’S SEPARATION FROM JUSTICE
To understand how the traditional environmental movement can advance climate justice, 一
must first understand why the movement has failed to do so thus far. The Climate Justice
联盟, an alliance of more than 80 frontline communities and organizations working in
the climate justice movement, provides one vision of climate justice:
Frontline, community-based organizations have the solutions to the extractive industrial
systems that are eroding human’s primary means of existence on the planet. Nature and
humans are interdependent. Effective climate crisis solutions honor human rights and the
rights of nature. Localized democracies that champion community rights to energy, 土地,
水, and food sovereignty are the best answers to combating exploitation. Shared lead-
ership produces community well-being and the most innovative solutions to our climate
crisis. Workers should be at the forefront of shaping new economies rooted in fairness,
equity and ecological values. (Climate Justice Alliance, 2022乙)
This statement emphasizes that those most impacted by climate change should lead the
developments of its solutions. This value is central to environmental justice and is seen in
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foundational documents such as the 1991 Principles of Environmental Justice (First National
People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 1991) and the Jemez Principles for Dem-
ocratic Organizing (Working Group Meeting on Globalization and Trade, 1996). Traditional
environmental organizations who intend to meaningfully further climate justice can do so by
partnering with, and taking the lead from, frontline communities and organizations. 然而, 这
movement’s racist, exclusionary history and continued lack of diversity has alienated environ-
mental justice communities. The separation of the traditional environmental movement from
the communities closest to climate harms has led to the movement’s support for climate pol-
icies that do not adequately protect these communities.
The Movement’s Exclusionary Origins
People of color have long been excluded from environmental policy and conservation, 创造-
ing blind spots that perpetuate inequality (Bonta & 约旦, 2007). Today’s leading environmen-
tal organizations are grappling with their racist founding histories. The National Audubon
社会, 例如, was named after founder John James Audubon, a naturalist known for
his illustrations of birds. Less known is his reputation for buying and selling Black people as
奴隶, his contributions to White supremacist thought and policy, his opposition to abolition,
and his appropriation of Black and Indigenous observations of bird species (Fears, 2022). Envi-
ronmental organizations are only the latest in a global movement to confront foundational
histories of enslavement, 种族灭绝, apartheid, and colonialism (Irfan et al., 2021). 在里面
美国, the Black Lives Matter movement and the national protests and civil unrest in
response to the killing of George Floyd have helped make “environmental justice … a foremost
concern to climate activists” (Buckley, 2022). Many traditional environmental organizations
have recently announced their intention to build partnerships and alliances with environmen-
tal justice groups and communities who have historically been excluded from the movement.
This reckoning is not pathbreaking, it is overdue.
The White-led environmental movement’s origins in conservation led it to ignore the
impact of environmental harms on people, the central issue for environmental justice commu-
实体. These origins, rooted in the premise that humans are outside of nature rather than active
participants in it, has led the traditional environmental movement to engage in community
extraction and political influence to defend natural places at the expense of communities of
颜色 (吉布森等人。, 2015). It has been insensitive to the concerns of these communities that
live in the shadow of chemical and power plants, lack access to clean drinking water, 和
operate under scarcity due to the impacts and repercussions of industrialization. 在一个 1971
national membership survey, the Sierra Club asked: “Should the Club concern itself with
the conservation problems of such special groups as the urban poor and ethnic minorities?”
结果显示 58% of members either strongly or somewhat opposed the idea (Cole &
促进, 2001, p. 30).
Environmental organizations saw these plights as social justice issues, not environmental
那些, and operated under the myth that communities of color did not care about the environ-
蒙特. A survey conducted by WE ACT For Environmental Justice (2021) 节目, 然而, 那
environmental justice communities view social justice and environmental issues as linked. 这
survey polled 1,809 Black and Latino/a/x voters in Nevada, Arizona, 德克萨斯州, 乔治亚州, Florida,
and Pennsylvania and found that communities of color “understand the inherent link between
climate change solutions and economic benefits, 和 72% of respondents agreeing that a
clean energy transition can reduce bills and create jobs, 和 80% agreeing that the transition
will create millions of well-paying jobs in underserved communities.”
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The Movement’s Lack of Diversity
A major gap between the traditional environmental movement and the environmental justice
movement is the inclusion of impacted constituencies at every decision-making table. 这
environmental justice movement is made up of low-income communities and communities
of color who are the most impacted by environmental and climate hazards. These same con-
stituencies have been excluded from the traditional environmental movement, impeding its
ability to address environmental justice issues. A 2021 study by Green 2.0, 一个独立的
advocacy campaign that tracks racial and gender diversity within the environmental move-
蒙特, found that while organizations have started to diversify, “it has been at an incremental
pace that begs for ‘improvement at all levels’” (Ortiz, 2021). Most recently, 绿色的 2.0 (2023)
reported that 33% of the senior staff of organizations surveyed are people of color. 鉴于
美国. population is more than 40% people of color (Boschma et al., 2021), and that these
communities are at the frontlines of environmental degradation, it is clear the movement con-
tinues to lack adequate representation. Bridging the gap between traditional environmental
and environmental justice organizations must start with diversifying staff and recruiting for
environmental justice expertise.
The Traditional Environmental Movement’s Divergence From Climate Justice Strategies and Solutions
As discussed above, the traditional environmental movement’s conservationist origins and
lack of diversity have given it a narrower perspective and goals that often oppose those of
the environmental justice movement. The movements’ different constituencies also result in
different advocacy approaches and tactics. The traditional environmental movement is dom-
inated by professional staff and members who are predominately White, highly educated, 和
upper and middle class. In comparison, the environmental justice movement’s constituency is
low-income, people of color, and other groups with marginalized identities. Environmental
justice communities tend to “have a social justice orientation, seeing environmental degrada-
tion as just one of many ways their communities are under attack” (Cole & 促进, 2001, p. 33).
因此, “they seek remedies that are more fundamental than simply stopping a local polluter”
and “view the need for broader, structural reforms.” This can lead to conflicting views about
appropriate climate solutions or scope of climate reforms.
As Cole and Foster (2001) have explained, environmental justice organizations engage in
“transformational politics” through which activists “transform the possibilities for fundamen-
tal social and environmental change through redefinition, reinvention, and construction of
innovative political and cultural discourses” (p. 14). The focus is not just winning a singular
environmental goal, but to transform community members “from passive victims to signifi-
cant actors in the environmental decision-making process.” They explain that this approach
is born out of the recognition that environmental justice communities are overly burdened
because of social, 经济的, and political factors that exclude them from decision-making
processes that impact their lives (Cole & 促进, 2001, 小伙子. 5). The struggle for environ-
mental and climate justice is thus political and requires building the political power of those
targeted (Cole & 促进, 2001, PP. 44–47).
But the traditional environmental movement has largely relied on “an insider strategy
based on litigation, lobbying, and technical evaluation” (Cole & 促进, 2001, p. 29). 更多的-
超过, professionals within the traditional environmental movement are likely to have been
“socialized into a technocratic worldview characterized by formal rationality and confi-
dence in their ability to solve problems” (Bailey et al., 1995, p. 36). As Brian Tokar
(2014) writes,
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Capacity-Building for Successful Climate Justice Collaborations
there has been a serious divide between those who view environmental issues as fun-
damentally social and political, and those who focus entirely on the technical aspects of
individual problems and on narrow, status-quo solutions. [中号]ost traditional environmen-
tal groups view ecological problems as primarily technical in nature, typically ignoring
the larger picture. (p. 32)
Their tactics are more likely to exclude the voices of those most impacted and less likely to
transform social and political norms. Technical and technocratic perspectives also often con-
tain blind spots to distributive and other impacts of concern to environmental justice commu-
实体 (Bailey et al., 1995). Solutions formulated in this perspective often not only fail to benefit
but actively perpetuate harm against environmental justice communities. 因此, environmental
justice organizations continue to distrust traditional environmental organizations, as their
proclamations of support for environmental justice are inconsistent with their proposals of
“false solutions” that fall short of equitable outcomes.
These false solutions not only fail to deliver on their environmental justice claims, but often
worsen our ecological crises. The mainstream environmental movement has previously prom-
ised ambitious climate and environmental justice action only to see the continued funding of
fossil fuels to the tune of billions of dollars. Repeatedly, it has backed climate solutions that
never achieve the touted just outcomes.
Environmental justice communities have criticized mainstream support for problematic cli-
mate legislation that would exacerbate the climate gap instead of resolving climate injustices
(Tokar, 2014). 例如, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, also known
as the Waxman-Markey Bill, proposed greenhouse gas reduction goals but was rejected by
environmental justice organizations who feared it would not reduce emissions in their com-
社区 (Mock, 2022). The act relied almost completely on a cap-and-trade program that
would create a market for carbon emission allowances by setting a limit on the amount of
carbon dioxide that could be emitted each year and allowing businesses to purchase credits
to produce excess carbon. 具体来说, it allowed companies exceeding carbon limits to trade
for credits with those that had extra, thereby creating a market. It also allowed polluters to
purchase “offsets,” such as funding to protect forests, to permit carbon emissions that would
otherwise have to be reduced. The bill, though it did not become law, established mainstream
support for cap-and-trade programs as climate solutions.
The mainstream environmental movement has since pushed carbon cap-and-trade policies
and the related tool of carbon offset markets as a key mechanism to address the climate crisis.
These policies take advantage of the fact that greenhouse gas emissions reductions anywhere
have global climate benefits but ignore that such emissions are often accompanied by toxic air
pollutants that do have localized impacts. Environmental justice organizations have sharply
critiqued cap-and-trade policies for failing to benefit environmental justice communities
(The Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change, 日期不详。). Facilities located near
environmental justice communities are often the same facilities that benefit from purchasing
carbon credits and offsets. 因此, they continue to release greenhouse gas emissions and toxic
co-pollutants that have localized air quality impacts, creating pollution hot spots. 这些
communities thus do not benefit from air quality improvements accruing in other Whiter,
wealthier areas. One advocate explained that environmental justice organizations had been
warning lawmakers and leaders that cap-and-trade programs were inherently racist. 如何-
曾经, “[p]olicymakers at the time said climate change is too important for us to let the dis-
proportionate impacts that will occur in black and brown communities hold us back”
(棕色的, 2020).
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Capacity-Building for Successful Climate Justice Collaborations
A more recent example of propping false solutions despite environmental justice push-
back is the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Climate Justice Alliance, 2022A; Hersher, 2022).
Pundits readily refer to the bill as the largest climate investment in U.S. 历史 (Mock,
2022). 但, much like its predecessor climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act celebrates
funding advancements while continuing to harm fence-line communities. It promises bil-
lions of dollars to oil and gas industries and to the same carbon capture and sequestration
programs that climate justice advocates rejected in 2010. 理论上, 40% of benefits from all
clean-energy investments will go to communities that have been historically overburdened
with pollution, per President Joe Biden’s Justice40 Initiative (The White House, 日期不详。). 但
even the most charitable estimate of environmental justice funding—$60 billion—is far less than the total $370 billion of environmental funding pledged. Biden’s Justice40 Initiative
stems from a bold executive order from the president’s first week in office, addressing front-
line communities most burdened by climate change and fossil fuel production and how they
could directly benefit from funds that are meant to improve programs and policies in their
社区.
Justice40 is a historic commitment from the federal government, which follows President
Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—commonly called Oba-
ma’s “stimulus plan”—which invested a historic $90 billion toward clean energy investments
在国内 (The White House, 2016). Much like the stimulus plan, which drew scrutiny for
prioritizing funding to shovel-ready projects that only massive corporations and developers
could achieve, Justice40 draws questions about where and how money will be appropriated
to communities. The executive order does not call for spending 40% of the money in environ-
mental justice communities, instead calling for these communities to receive that share of
“overall benefits” from federal funding activities (Colman, 2021). The administration has not
determined how to measure those monetary benefits for communities to know what funding
they can access and, more importantly, how to access it.
Justice40 has learned a few lessons from its predecessor—mainly to build accountability
结构, to take a whole-of-government approach to environmental justice through separate
interagency groups, and to expand data and measurement tools. One major lesson still
unlearned is knowing where to make these investments to combat climate harm, 而不是
perpetuate false solutions. Organizations have urged the administration to properly define
“clean” energy, and not perpetuate legacy pollution from supposed “clean” energy such as
carbon capture utilization and storage, nuclear energy, bioenergy, hydrogen, mineral mining,
waste to energy, and geothermal energy (Environmental Justice Leadership Forum, 2022).
When these false solutions masquerade as effective actions, but harm communities and use
their futures as a bargaining chip, how can the climate movement begin to address gaps in
equitable outcomes?
Realigning Relations Between the Movements
In addition to the high-level conflicts over climate policy, the movements have also struggled
with localized attempts to collaborate and person-to-person relations. This section reviews
data about missteps in these localized interactions and proposes a skill-building and training
agenda to improve collaborations going forward.
Barriers to Partnerships
Environmental justice advocates often report negative experiences with partnering with tradi-
tional environmental organizations (Cable et al., 2005). The NAACP Environmental and
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Capacity-Building for Successful Climate Justice Collaborations
Climate Justice Program produced a report on the barriers to successful collaboration. 这
报告, for which we here provide a summary, identifies seven categories of challenges:
1.
“Reputation of Environmental Organizations”
Challenges emerge from environmental justice communities feeling that the traditional
environmental group is not truly invested in the environmental justice community or its goals
and simply engaging to further its own conservation/traditional environmental agenda. 这是
particularly so when the traditional environmental group controls all or most decision-making
and/or tokenizes a few members from the environmental justice community to bolster its
image as inclusive of frontline representation (NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice
程序, 日期不详。, PP. 3–4).
2.
“Differential Modus Operandi”
Challenges arise in jointly determining key strategic questions when each group brings a
radically different approach. Such questions include how the groups will undertake planning
and campaigning, 做出决定, and measure success. The last of these can be a key hurdle,
as the report explains:
例如, with coal plants, a community that is forced to consume pollution from a
neighboring coal plant may also be dependent on the jobs for the plant and might con-
sider installing pollution controls as a successful compromise, whereas the mainstream
environmental group with whom they are partnering may not consider this a success at
all because the plant continues to emit carbon dioxide which drives climate change.
相似地, for some achieving interim objectives such as educating community members
or training new leaders is cause for celebration while others might focus only on the
bottom line. (NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, 日期不详。, p. 4)
3.
“National/Local Dynamics”
Tensions can arise when national organizations inordinately take credit for joint work to seize
力量, influence, and funding, particularly when they do not share funding with the partner
社区. When resources and power are not shared, the environmental justice community
can feel tokenized and used. Other tensions can arise when predominately White and
White-led organizations lack the cultural competency to work with communities of color and
rural communities, leading communities to feel patronized, condescended to, taken advantage
的, and disrespected (NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, 日期不详。, PP. 4–5).
4.
“Connecting with the Issue/Conflict of Interest”
Challenges can arise due to differences in perspective. The traditional environmental orga-
nization is more likely to have a singular goal, such as shutting down an environmentally pol-
luting facility, and may not understand other community dynamics. Community residents may
have perspectives and experiences that hinder support for that singular goal. 例如, 他们
可能: lack awareness of how they are being impacted by the environmental target; feel they
have no power to affect change; have competing, more urgent social and economic priorities;
feel there are no viable alternatives to the status quo given the livelihoods, tax revenue, 和/或
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other resources the environmental target is providing; and not want to challenge a target that
has ties to the community and funded community resources (NAACP Environmental and Cli-
mate Justice Program, 日期不详。, PP. 5–6).
5.
“Cultural/Situational Differences”
The traditional environmental movement has primarily consisted of white professionals
while environmental justice communities are diverse across race, background, and socioeco-
nomic status. 因此, traditional environmental groups may not consider how immigration sta-
这, language fluency, cultural values and assets, and education/literacy level may impact
community members’ ability to participate in campaigns without accommodations (NAACP
Environmental and Climate Justice Program, 日期不详。, p. 6).
6.
“Logistical Challenges”
Communities without access to technology or who are not comfortable using technology
will be limited in participating in efforts that rely on technology. 相似地, communities lack-
ing access to transportation may be prevented from participating in efforts that require travel.
Staffing and financial constraints can limit a group’s ability to engage equally in the partner-
ship and high turnover rates among staff can also hamper relationship-building efforts (NAACP
Environmental and Climate Justice Program, 日期不详。, p. 6).
7.
“Lack of Trust/Relationship Building”
All of the above factors can contribute to a lack of trust between groups, particularly when
time and effort are not expended in intentionally building strong relationships (NAACP Envi-
ronmental and Climate Justice Program, 日期不详。, p. 7).
The Need for Cultural Competency
Building authentic, trusting relationships with environmental justice communities and organiza-
tions is essential to the success of collaborations. Repair is needed to overcome distrust after
decades of environmental justice communities being ignored, tokenized, 用过的, and harmed.
Many of the traditional environmental organizations have now promulgated statements of com-
mitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and announced their intentions to engage in authentic
environmental justice partnerships. 然而, such words are meaningless without action to
build the knowledge, 技能, and capacity to undertake this work in more just and equitable ways.
We argue that cultural competency at the movement, 组织, and staff level is essen-
tial for the traditional environmental movement to finally embrace climate justice. The move-
ment must understand and empathize with environmental justice communities, their goals,
perspectives, and priorities, and work in solidarity with them. The movement must also have
the cultural competency to communicate, solve problems, and collaborate effectively with
such communities on local and national campaigns.
While there are many definitions of cultural competency, here we offer two models well-
suited to our context. 第一的, Stanley Sue’s (1998) formulation (developed in the context of the
field of psychology) 提供: “Cultural competence (along with the broader concept of mul-
ticulturalism) is the belief that people should not only appreciate and recognize other cultural
groups but also be able to effectively work with them” (p. 440). Sue’s model encompasses the
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three components of awareness, 知识, and skills. Domenech Rodríguez et al. (2022)
describe these components as follows:
Awareness refers to the person’s recognition of belonging to a cultural group and allows
for self-examination of values, 信仰, and practices in a manner that enhances humility
and facilitates empathy. Awareness also includes understanding that there are others that
are culturally different than oneself. The knowledge dimension refers to acquiring and
retaining information specific to cultural groups. Knowledge could be language (例如,
字, 短语, proficiency), specific traditions (例如, practices around childbirth), 或者
rules for interpersonal exchanges (例如, whether or not to shake hands). 最后, 技能
refer to communicative or behavioral repertoires that result in successful exchanges
between culturally different people. (p. 2)
第二, we offer a definition developed by Wanda Thomas Bernard and Jemell Moriah (2007),
modified from Cross et al. (1989) (and developed in the context of the field of social work):
[C]ultural competence embraces the importance of culture, the assessment of cross-
cultural relations, vigilance towards the dynamics that result from cultural differences,
including issues of power, privilege and oppression, the expansion of cultural knowl-
边缘, and the enabling and empowering of clients to improve their lives and their
communities by building on the strengths of individuals and communities, and adapting
services to meet culturally unique needs. (p. 87)
为了我们的目的, cultural competency includes the ability to identify the ways in which a
community’s perspectives, 需要, 目标, preferred tactics, and capacity to participate in joint cam-
paigns may vary based on factors such as race, background, socioeconomic status, immigration
地位, language fluency, cultural values and assets, and education/literacy level. After identifica-
tion of such issues, one must also be able to adapt actions and plans to allow the community’s full
participation and benefit. Cultural competency encompasses skills necessary to communicate in
ways that are resonant and relevant to the community and to identify and learn contextual and
historical information relevant to the partnership’s goals (例如, how has the community engaged
with this issue in the past and how might that engagement inform future advocacy?). It includes
识别能力, 价值, and uplift the community’s particular knowledge, 技能, and exper-
tise. 最后, it includes awareness and analysis of systemic inequities, 力量, privilege, 和
impacts of oppression on all parties and the ability to act based on this information.
Collaborations will also require related and additional skills necessary for relationship-
building. One study of community-based research partnerships found transparent communica-
的, conflict resolution, and balanced power were key attributes in overcoming historical
mistrust between communities and outside researchers (Andrews et al., 2012). Those working
with communities must have skills with self-reflection, listening, and cultural humility. 文化
humility is defined as “the capacity to reflect on personal and institutional power and to redress
power imbalances to develop and maintain mutually respectful and dynamic partnerships with
communities” (p. 568). Communication and listening skills will allow staff to hold and navigate
transparent, respectful discussions to determine the partnership’s shared goals, tactics, 和
strategy to determine how the groups will make decisions. Conflict resolution skills will allow
staff to manage the relationship when inevitable disagreements arise. Cultural humility will
allow staff to reflect on power dynamics both to share power, including credit, 资金, 和
visibility, and to further community empowerment, autonomy, and capacity building.
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Capacity-Building for Successful Climate Justice Collaborations
Accountability Mechanisms to Track the Traditional Environmental Movement’s Progress on Building
Capacity for Environmental Justice Partnerships
Organizations and staff need to both prioritize climate justice and build their capacity to do
climate justice work. 在这个部分, we discuss systems of accountability to hold environmen-
tal organizations responsible for acting toward these goals.
One model to explore systems of accountability for environmental organizations engaging
in climate justice work comes from Tony Carrizales (2019). Carrizales draws on a framework
developed by Romzek and Dubnick (1987) to explore the cultural competency of public agen-
cies through four systems of accountability. The four systems vary in whether the “authoritative
source of control” is external or internal and in the “degree of scrutiny exercised by those
sources of control” (PP. 32–33). This presents a matrix with four quadrants, each representing
one system: bureaucratic (内部的, high level of control); 合法的 (external, high level of control);
专业的 (内部的, low level of control); 和政治 (external, low level of control).
Bureaucratic systems of control consist of internal procedures and rules whereby those
leading the organization set internal priorities for the remainder of the organization (Carrizales,
2019). Legal systems of control consist of external laws and rules by which the organization
must abide. Professional accountability systems derive from the expertise of employees within
the organization, which may be gained through education and professional institutions.
最后, political accountability systems comprise oversight from external members of the pub-
lic and impacted constituencies.
We focus on bureaucratic, 专业的, and political accountability as tools to hold
environmental organizations responsible for their environmental/climate justice
commitments—as the role of the legal system merits further exploration and is outside the
scope of this article. Some organizations have embraced bureaucratic accountability by incor-
porating environmental justice and the related issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion into
their mission statements, strategic plans, and other organizational documents. 例如,
Defenders of Wildlife’s 2019–2028 strategic plan sets a goal to “[米]obilize a broader con-
stituency for wildlife conservation,” under which the organization plans to “strengthen and
expand our current membership, networks and partnerships and engage new constituen-
化学系, particularly those historically left out of the conservation movement” (Defenders of
野生动物, 2019, 14). One of their strategies to achieve this goal is to recruit and retain more
diverse staff, and to “[C]ollaborate with underrepresented communities in our efforts to
achieve our conservation mission and equip our staff with the capacity and capabilities
to serve as genuine partners” (p. 15).
Carrizales (2019) explains that incorporating such goals into the organizational mission
“allows for subsequent policies and standards to be measured against and increased account-
能力,” while their exclusion “makes it harder to develop and support innovative ways to
infuse [these goals] within the organization” (p. 35). Carrizales (p. 35) cites to Siegel et al.
(2003) for additional opportunities to assess bureaucratic accountability with regard to cultural
competency including:
Cultural competence as part of the mission statement
The existence of a cultural competence plan
Cultural competence plan requirement for organizational components
1.
2.
3.
4. Named responsibility for cultural competence
5.
6. Governing board membership
A budget for cultural competence
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Capacity-Building for Successful Climate Justice Collaborations
Siegel et al. (2003) also suggest training and education and hiring and retention as addi-
tional assessment areas. Parallel assessments can be developed for the related but broader
goals of environmental/climate justice.
Professional accountability can be achieved through organizational staff who have exper-
tise in environmental and climate justice. This expertise can be gained in a number of ways,
including through knowledge and skills gained from educational and professional institutions
and from other external organizations specifically focused on providing resources and pro-
gramming to advance staff competency. In the context of environmental justice, this expertise
may also come from lived experience.
最后, political accountability arises from the general public’s observance of organization
activity and progress. One powerful mode of political accountability has come from watchdog
绿色的 2.0, who has published transparency report cards publicly revealing staff diversity numbers
across green organizations. Reporting in major publications on the shortcomings of environmental
organizations in the areas of environmental/climate justice have also provided public oversight.
Donors, organization members, and other constituent groups all have a role to play. 而且,
桌子 1.
Action Items to Assess Organizational Progress on Environmental Justice Capacity-Building
Organization Action Item
Has the organization included achieving environmental justice and building its organizational capacity to engage on environmental
justice issues (including building cultural competency) into its mission statement and/or strategic planning documents?
Does the organization have a plan for building cultural competency and other skills necessary to engage environmental justice issues?
Do organizational components have a plan for building cultural competency and other skills necessary to engage environmental
justice issues?
Is there named responsibility for building the organization’s cultural competency and other skills necessary to engage environmental
justice issues?
Is there a budget for building the organization’s cultural competency and other skills necessary to engage environmental justice issues?
Is that budget sufficient/proportional to the organization’s environmental justice goals?
Does the organization provide staff training on cultural competency and other skills necessary to engage environmental justice issues?
Does the organization disseminate training and education materials, both on the substance of environmental justice issues and on
developing cultural competency and other skills necessary to engage those environmental justice issues?
What resources are available to staff to increase their knowledge on environmental justice issues and to build cultural competency and
other skills necessary to engage environmental justice issues?
Do staff feel they have the resources, 灵活性, and authority necessary to engage in authentic environmental justice relationships to
achieve climate justice goals?
What processes and mechanisms are in place to recruit, hire, and retain staff who possess cultural competency and other skills
necessary to engage in environmental justice work?
Are questions about environmental justice knowledge, cultural competency, and competency with other skills necessary to engage in
environmental justice work incorporated into staff evaluations?
Is there diversity across all levels of organization staff and board?
Is there a task group or other mechanism to provide feedback on the organization’s environmental justice and cultural competency
training activities?
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organizations can proactively integrate the role of the public into their practices through “task
groups that are composed of community members, the staff at all levels, board members,
and those knowledgeable about cultural diversity issues” (Carrizales, 2019, p. 43).
Formal mechanisms of accountability, such as the ones discussed here, are needed to build
trust among constituencies that have historically been excluded from and harmed by the tra-
ditional environmental movement. Without such mechanisms, these constituencies will have
little reason to believe the traditional environmental movement is operating differently than
it has in the past. 而且, accountability mechanisms such as these can help steer orga-
nizations in more just directions. We finally draw on specific themes, ideas, and action
items explored by Carrizales to propose a checklist of actions (桌子 1) that can help orga-
尼化, internal staff, and the public assess organizational progress toward environmental/
climate justice.
结论
The traditional environmental movement has a long journey ahead of it to recompense for its
decades of exclusion of frontline communities and their priorities. The ever-pressing need to
address climate change impacts is an opportunity for the movement to prioritize the leadership
and voices of impacted communities and to support solutions that will achieve equitable out-
来了. 然而, false solutions continue to abound. While many of the traditional environmental
organizations have voiced a desire to partner with environmental justice communities, 迄今为止
there have been few accountability mechanisms to assess their progress on building capacity
to collaborate in just ways. Without such accountability mechanisms in place, 社区
have plentiful reasons to doubt that collaborations with mainstream organizations will be any
different than past failed efforts.
To achieve climate justice, mainstream environmental organizations must learn to work in
authentic and trusting relationships with frontline communities, and this requires developing
new skills such as cultural competency in organizations and staff. 这里, we have explored
how bureaucratic, 专业的, and political accountability systems can further an organiza-
tion’s adoption of the necessary skills. Building on these systems, we also provide objective
criteria by which to assess an organization’s progress in developing such capacity.
Seeing the need for greater systems of accountability, we developed Greens REALIGN
(2022) (www.greensrealign.org). Greens REALIGN is a member-based collective of current, 为了-
梅尔, and future staff of environmental organizations organizing for a more diverse, equitable,
包括的, and just environmental movement. It is doing this through two primary channels: (1)
building the skills of staff within traditional environmental organizations to do transformational
work within their respective organizational cultures (and thus building professional account-
能力) 和 (2) developing transparency and accountability mechanisms to promote diversity,
equity, 包容性, and justice work at these organizations (through political accountability).
Through creating Greens REALIGN, we have found that staff are seeking spaces and
resources to build their cultural competency and other skills to better undertake justice-
oriented work. Many staff within the traditional environmental movement feel they lack the
skills necessary to engage in environmental justice partnerships and that their organizations
are not providing sufficient guidance or resources to do this work. 最终, we need the
traditional environmental movement to allocate resources, both time and funding, to remedy
the skill gap of their employees and to change practices to recruit and retain diverse staff who
have cultural competencies. Only then will staff be empowered to collaborate with frontline
communities successfully to achieve climate justice solutions.
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Transparency is required so that frontline communities and the public can be assured that
organizations are not simply making easy, sweeping promises but are actually investing
resources and budgets to support these new directions. Without action toward the commit-
蒙特, this movement will not amount to substance, and environmental justice will not be pri-
oritized to achieve our collective climate justice goals.
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