A Radical Alliance of Black and Green Could Save the World

摘要

A beautiful thing is happening: Advocates for racial justice and for environmental protection -too often, movements quite distant from each other -are coming together in a new way. One can see it in the campaign of National People's Action and the Climate Justice Alliance to push for a just and locally empowering transition to clean energy; in the New Economy Coalition's inclusive membership and commitment to front-line communities; and in the projects of the Evergreen Cooperatives, in inner-city Cleveland. These new efforts (may they multiply!) are grounded on a strong foundation. When one explores the roots of both the environmental and civil-rights movements, one finds a strikingly similar radical critique. Both movements have called for a deep restructuring of society and the economy; in both cases, that call is based on an affirmation of life and the devoted care that life requires of us.