Green Labor Journal - Working for a Substainable Future

Copenhagen Journal

Why I do this work - Every day for the two weeks between December 7 and December 18, progress was made in combating the climate crisis...

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Every day for the two weeks between December 7 and December 18, progress was made in combating the climate crisis. On those days, hundreds of people across America went back to work making buildings more energy efficient, building systems for green power - doing the incremental work of creating a new economy that supports the planet, instead of undermining it.

For many of these workers - those starting their careers and those starting their careers over - what was happening in Copenhagen was incidental; literally and figuratively a world away. Workers who have overcome institutional unemployment and brick walls instead of doors to employment weren't focused on the politics of COP 15  (i.e., UN Climate Change Conference in Denmark, Dec. 7-18, 2009).

The lessons those workers had taught us, the stories I carried to Denmark to share with colleagues from around the world, made far more of an impact on delegates to the Convention than the Convention made on those doing the work. And as I crossed the Atlantic to join activists and leaders from nearly every nation on the planet, the stories of our success mixed with my awareness of how much work there remains to do.

Why I Do This Work
I do this work for reasons that are very personal. I do it so that sometime in the very near future, parents in my hometown won't have to choose between jobs at an oil refinery and the health of their families. I do it because I have seen fishermen in South Africa face obstacles including food shortages because of climate change. I do it because I want to see more people of color play a critical role in creating opportunity in green industry as business owners. While I understand the big picture impacts that climate change has on society, I'm driven by the personal stories of those whose lives the climate has already changed.

That internal struggle in many ways echoed the fundamental challenges of the conference. Developed and industrialized nations were concerned about the impact addressing carbon dioxide emissions would have on their economies; developing and underprivileged countries were often motivated by immediate issues of survival. As the leaders of nations met to figure out what timid steps they could take forward, angry protestors and the representatives of the underrepresented took to the streets - sometimes trying to gain entry to discussions, sometimes threatening withdrawal.

The tumult of the two weeks in Denmark underlined the emotion of participants, certainly, but it also demonstrated the urgency. It demonstrated that this was about more than the burning of fossil fuels and the acidity of oceans. It was about justice.

“The disaster is already in progress”
No moment captured this sentiment more succinctly than the speech of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a man who lived through and fought the most disgusting institutional prejudice of the latter half of the 20th Century - apartheid. In the words of Archbishop Tutu, this moment met the same standard. "The disaster is already in progress," he noted, "but we have it in our power to end this injustice." His words, as befits his calling, were words of hope and inspiration.

It was those same emotions that Americans took to the polling booth last year, voting into the White House a man committed to fighting injustice in all of its forms, including the imbalances inherent in combating the climate crisis. For many, that hope has faded, that inspiration has been worn down by cynicism. Copenhagen was a moment for the United States and its leadership to renew our belief in all that is best about our nation.

Leadership by President Obama and Secretary Clinton
And so it did. The day immediately following the Archbishop's speech, Secretary of State Clinton announced a pledge of $100 billion to developing countries to help offset the costs they would face in adjusting to green technologies. This was not an insignificant statement. It simultaneously demonstrated a major commitment by our nation to the issue of climate change and bridged one of the widest gaps Copenhagen delegates faced - between those countries most responsible for the state of the planet, and those most impacted.

That day, too, saw our President take unprecedented action to reach a concord (i.e., Copenhagen Accord). Not the best possible agreement, not even a binding agreement - but an agreement in the face of enormous inertia and recalcitrance. This was the story of the conference: some minor progress crafted from what appeared to be nothing more than vapor.

The commitments made by the President and the Secretary of State are not without flaws and areas for improvement. The primary accord is not as robust as it could be ─ or really must be. The financial commitment, like the current Federal legislation in the House of Representatives, lacks important protections and assurances for those doing the hard work of turning around centuries of environmental neglect. But that they exist at all, that developing nations have support in a fight we've all joined, is monumental.

“We will win”
During these two weeks at the tail end of the first decade of the 21st century, the world grappled with a global crisis. It made headway - not a lot, but some. After fifteen such gatherings of people from around the world, we haven't gotten as far as most of us would have hoped, but we progressed. As people left Copenhagen, there was bedrock to work from.

During those two weeks, though, the climate crisis was addressed here in concrete ways. Workers in Portland and Boston, the Deep South and the Midwest, were making small improvements to hundreds of buildings to reduce how much energy they used, to reduce carbon emissions. Workers in factories throughout the United States built wind turbines and solar panels.

Hard work was done in Denmark for twelve days, with an incremental result. For months, we've been working to build incremental improvements in lives, communities and the economy by addressing the same problems as the delegates to Copenhagen, fighting the injustice of the climate crisis.

We will win the fight against climate change by bridging the gap between the big picture and the impacted. COP 15 is building one end of the bridge. Those fighting for green jobs are building the other.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the Chief Executive Officer of Green For All, a national organization dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through a clean-energy economy. Green For All works in collaboration with the business, government, labor, and grassroots communities to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in green industry – all while holding the most vulnerable people at the center of its agenda.  (http://www.greenforall.org)