Here are some US and global issues that experienced newfound gains in 2012.

1.     While conservatives launched vicious attacks on women’s rights, it backfired—and fired up the pro-choice base! US voters elected the highest number of women to Congress ever, including the first openly lesbian senator (Tammy Baldwin), the first Asian-American senator (Mazie Hirono) and first senator to make the banks tremble, Elizabeth Warren! Voters also rejected 4 crazy candidates who called for limiting a woman’s right to choose—including the resounding defeat by Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill over Mr. Legitimate Rape Todd Akin. Don’t forget that when Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced it would no longer fund Planned Parenthood, it got so heartily trounced that it caved in than seventy-two hours later. And stay tuned for the 2013 global women rising – a billion of us demanding an end to violence against women on February 14!

2.     Immigrant rights groups, especially young Latinos, mobilized and took great risks to force a change in attitude—and a thaw in policy. They fasted and caravanned and marched and knocked on doors. They pushed the administration and in June, just before the election, President Obama announced a new immigration policy that allows some undocumented students to avoid deportation and receive work authorization when they apply for deferred action. While not nearly enough, especially in light of this administration’s record rate of deportations, a mobilized immigrant community with significant voting power stands poised to make more impactful changes in U.S. immigration policy next year.

3.     More money flooded the elections than ever before (some $5.8 billion!), but most of it went down a big, black hole—and unleashed a new movement for money out of politics. Billionaires wasted fortunes trying to sell lousy candidates and lousy ideas. Looking at the candidates supported by the biggest moneybags of all, Sheldon Adelson, NONE were elected to office. Right-wing “pundits” like Karl Rove proved themselves to be idiotic partisan hacks and the Tea Party has been tearing itself apart. But best of all, from Massachusetts to Oregon, Colorado to Illinois and Wisconsin, and Ohio to California, citizens throughout the country voted overwhelmingly for their legislators to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling and declare that only human beings – not corporations – are entitled to constitutional rights and that money is not speech and campaign spending can be regulated.

4.     The marijuana genie is now out of the bottle, with people across the country backing referendums seeking an end to the decades of destructive, counterproductive drug wars. Colorado and Washington voters legalized recreational pot, and medical marijuana will be legal in Massachusetts. Voters in California passed Prop 34, which restricts lifetime incarceration via the “three strikes” law to violent or serious third offenses, a change that will help limit the prison sentences of nonviolent drug offenders. Prominent leaders including Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy, former President Bill Clinton and President Obama have hinted that they will reconsider the harsh criminal drug policy that has cost so much money and so many lives while failing to curb drug abuse.

5.     This year marked momentous wins for gay rights. Massachusetts, Maine, and Washington legalized marriage equality, and Minnesota defeated a restrictive state constitutional amendment that would have upheld a ban. Now, one-tenth of states in the U.S. uphold marriage equality. Thanks to activist pressure, on May 9 President Obama became the first sitting president to endorse marriage equality for same-sex couples. Several prominent leaders in the Democratic Party followed his lead, and muted conservative responses only served to demonstrate how far public opinion has shifted on the issue.

6.     Climate activists have been kickin’ up a storm. Anti-coal activists have helped retire over 100 coal plants, victories that will save lives and clean our air and water, while wind energy hit a historic milestone of 50,000 megawatts. The global anti-fracking movement mounted effective campaigns that has led to local bans in the US and Canada, national moratoriums in France and Bulgaria, and tighter regulation in Australia and the UK. The grassroots campaign to stop the Keystone Pipeline has awakened a new generation of activists (don’t forget the upcoming February 17-18 President’s Day Climate Legacy/Keystone XL rally in Washington, D.C.). And on the national front, in August the Obama administration issued new miles-per-gallon rules on car manufacturers, mandating that Detroit nearly double fuel efficiency standards by 2025.

7.         Unions have been hard hit by the economic crisis and political attacks, but worker’s gains made in 2012 show potential muscle. The Chicago teachers’ strike in September, lasting for seven school days, led to an important victory for public education. Walmart workers staged the first-ever strikes against the biggest private sector employer in the United States and heralded a new model of organizing, with workers and community members coming together to support better conditions in the stores and warehouses even before the workers join a union. And in another example of worker/community organizing, student activism allied with union advocacy in San Jose, California led to a ballot initiative that will raise the minimum wage from $8 to $10 per hour for everyone working within the city limits.

8.     On the foreign policy front, opposition to drone warfare is on the rise. After years of silence about the use of lethal drones overseas, the public began to learn more and the level of anti-drone activism skyrocketed. Now there are protests all over the country, including army bases where drones are piloted and manufacturing plants, and US activists have hooked up with drone victims overseas. US attitudes, once overwhelmingly pro-drone, are beginning to change, becoming more aligned with the global opposition to drone warfare. And the increased global opposition is leading to a rethinking of US policies.

9.     The international movement for Palestinian human rights has gained unprecedented momentum. In November the United Nations endorsed an independent state of Palestine, showing sweeping international support of Palestinian demands for sovereignty over lands Israel has occupied since 1967. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions call by Palestinian civil society gained international traction as well, with economic, cultural and academic victories. Several different Christian denominations and college campuses voted to divest from Israeli occupation, the Technical University of Denmark dropped scientific collaboration projects with an Israeli settlement, the South African ANC endorsed the BDS call, Stevie Wonder cancelled a performance at a “Friends of the IDF” fundraiser, and much more. The grassroots call for Israel to adhere to international law has never been louder.

10.       After nearly 15 years of house arrest, Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to Parliament! Suu Kyi’s party, the NLD (National League for Democracy), swept the April by-elections, winning 43 of the 44 seats it contested. After decades of abuse, the military-dominated government released hundreds of political prisoners, enacted laws on forming trade unions and freedom of assembly, eased official media censorship, and allowed the opposition to register and contest elections. President Obama’s November visit, the first by a sitting US president, was an acknowledgement of the reforms. There’s still need for pressure, as hundreds of political prisoners remain, ethnic conflict continues, and Burmese military still holds too much power. But 2012 was a good year for the Burmese people.

There will be no time to rest in 2013, since the wealthy are already pushing to protect their profits to the detriment of the environment, workers’ rights and our democracy. But just as the massacre in Sandy Hook has led to a reinvigorated fight for gun control, so 2013 will surely mark a renewed effort to build stronger coalitions to spread the wealth, reverse global warming and disentangle ourselves from foreign wars. And with the presidential elections behind us, the time is ripe for building a progressive movement that is not tied to any political party but can put pressure on the entire system. Let the organizing begin!!!

A Bright Candle in the Darkness

In mid-August 2012 the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity – led by the mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers of Mexicans murdered and disappeared during the drug war – began its sojourn across the United States. Starting from the Pacific shoreline where the wall dividing the U.S. from Mexico meets the sea, the 120-person Caravan traversed 5,700 miles holding events in 26 cities and generating extensive coverage in most of the major U.S. media markets.

On the U.S. side hundreds of people affiliated with more than 220 Caravan partner organizations – many of whom had never before worked together – joined forces to organize, support, host, feed, house, transport and finance the Caravan. A broad array of religious, police, Latino, labor, African-American, human rights, survivor, parent, artistic, peace, university, and other organizations from the U.S., Canada and Mexico endorsed the message of the Caravan. They worked with NGOs who broke policy ‘silos’ to draw the connections between U.S. drug, immigration, gun, prison, public health, Latin America, criminal justice and the twisted priorities of the drug war that continue to frustrate reform efforts.

Peace Caravan participants sharing their stories

Mexico’s peace movement arose to address a national emergency of criminal violence, institutional corruption and a moribund judicial system all combined to create a maelstrom of death and impunity. The survivors of violence, at the heart of the Caravan, have all borne searing tragedy and personal desolation. Nevertheless they stand up, speak truth and courageously work toward a future of peace, with justice and dignity for their country. By giving names and faces to just a few of the more than 65,000 dead; they’ve broken paralyzing fear and silence – mobilizing a broad movement for peace by bringing hundreds of thousands of Mexicans into the streets while engaging the government at the highest levels.

Javier Sicilia

One of these courageous survivors is the Mexican poet, Javier Sicilia, who stepped forward to give voice to the movement. In March 2011, Sicilia’s son Juan Francisco and six companions – who had nothing to do with the drug trade – were asphyxiated by cartel thugs. In response, Sicilia announced he would give up writing poetry to voice his pain and to give space to the voices of tens of thousands of other victims of Mexico’s brutal war.

In the summer of 2011 the new Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD) organized two major Caravans from Mexico City, one to the north and another to the southern border of Mexico. They sought to connect with, console, assist and organize victims of the war.

Both Caravans were followed by televised dialogues between President Calderón and the survivors. But it quickly became clear that Calderón was impervious to advice and that that even if he were open to a new direction he would be unable to change course as long as the “Made in USA” drug war ideology held sway in Washington. That’s why Sicilia and his movement called for a third Caravan through the United States to focus on changing the errant U.S. policies on the drug war, arms trafficking, money laundering, military aid and immigration that feed Mexico’s nightmare.

All along the road the Caravan members spoke boldly and used creative non-violent actions to dramatize the issues while seeking common ground on which to build the difficult, bi-national road to peace. In San Diego, CA Mexican mothers who had lost sons or daughters embraced American mothers who had similarly lost children to violence, drugs, or prison. The mothers called out their common humanity in the first of many candle-lit vigils.

Caravan for Peace participants in front of Sheriff Arpaio’s war on drugs tank. Phoenix, AZ 2012

In Phoenix, AZ the Caravan picketed the local jail and later sat down with notorious Sherriff Joe Arpaio to question his humiliation of undocumented Mexicans. In El Paso, TX the mayor met with Caravan leaders and then successfully urged the city council to pass a resolution supporting the Caravan and its goals. This action is a clear sign that the city that shares the border with Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican city hardest hit by the drug war, understands military escalation is futile and leads to more deaths and insecurity.

Javier Sicilia holding a gun chopped in half

In Houston, TX a team from the Caravan filmed a purchase of a .357 Magnum pistol with cash and no ID at a gun show. At the same show, Caravan supporters purchased an AK- 47 that survivors later symbolically destroyed: cutting it into pieces which were encased in cement and later delivered as messages to officials in Washington.

Melchor with James Evans, Democractic Rep (MS), in front of Caravan for Peace bus parked by the State Capitol Building in Jackson, Mississippi.

In the south-east, where the Caravan was primarily hosted by African-American organizations, the drug war’s role in the mass incarceration and criminalization of whole communities came to the fore. It is not just that the U.S. has 5% of world’s population yet 25% of the world’s incarcerated or even that the number of drug offenders has increased twelvefold since 1980. It’s worse: African-Americans who comprised just 13.6% of the U.S. population in the 2010 census represented 39.4% of the U.S. prison population in 2009. Michelle Alexander, the brilliant author of The New Jim Crow, who has analyzed these issues at great depth, thanked the Caravan for prying open the debate and furthering her better understanding of the way Mexicans are suffering from the same forces that have damaged the life prospects of so many in African-American communities.

Along the Caravan’s entire path, the “caravaneros” – citizen ambassadors of Mexico’s peace movement – built new friendships and alliances, and left indelible marks in countless thousands of hearts. The collective moral force and creativity of the Caravan generated vast coverage in both Mexican and U.S. media; more than 750 unique electronic and print stories with a combined reader and viewership of more than 500 million.

Hence, even before we reached Washington D.C. and fanned out across the capitol for dozens of meetings with Congress, State Department officials, think tanks, university audiences, and in television studios, thinking about drug war strategy was inexorably pushing its way onto the U.S.- Mexico bilateral agenda at a critically important moment of political transition in both countries.

President Obama’s September 20 replies to Univision’s questions about changing drug war strategy reflect both progress and the distance the movement behind the Caravan still must travel. Obama conceded that U.S. demand for drugs drives violence and corruption in Mexico and the need for public health strategies to treat addiction and reduce demand. Unfortunately, the President went on to praise Calderón’s disastrous military campaign, calling it “courageous” and then making clear that he intends no immediate break with reigning prohibition and drug war orthodoxies.

Candlelight vigil at East Los Angeles Church for Caravan for Peace

But let’s keep in mind something else the President said earlier in the same interview. Change in Washington comes from the outside, not from inside. It is our job to keep the Caravan’s candles burning and organize that change.

TAKE ACTION!

Travel the Caravan in pictures: All along the Caravan route, photos were being snapped. You can check them all out on Flickr or on our Facebook page where we have some arranged by region; Southern CA, Southwest, Texas, and Southeast and Chicago. 

Global Exchange members & supporters, staff & interns, friends & family all mixed and mingled the night away. Below  are some highlights of the evening, plus a photo recap. The complete set of photos is now up on our Facebook page.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GX OPEN HOUSE:

Photo Booth Fun: We had a PAC (People Above Corporations) Super Pics Photo Booth, complete with props. The photos are on Facebook.

Prize Drawing winners announced: including our grand prize winner who received $1,000 towards a Reality Tour! Other prizes included a Wine Country package, Indoor Skydiving for 2 and a $200 gift basket from the Global Exchange Fair Trade store.

Thanks to all of the businesses that donated prizes for our drawing this year!

Beer and Wine: Thanks to Magnolia Pub & Brewery and Frey Organic Winery, guests enjoyed tasty spirits throughout the evening.

A Generous Surprise: Our Open House is a great time to engage with the community, AND to raise funds to support our work throughout the year. This year we were surprised with a generous matching gift donation, so for every dollar earned during the course of the evening, we were able to double it!
Food, oh, the food! Special thanks goes out to the local businesses that generously donated a wide array of delectable delights.

Plus, this was the first year Global Exchange staff and interns were invited to cook up their favorite dish to share with guests and boy did they deliver! Empanadas, muffins, bean salad, the list goes on and on. I made crab puffs:)

Staff Presentations: Global Exchange campaigners shared updates about their social justice work with guests, and GX Executive Director Carleen Pickard got the crowd excited about becoming Global Exchange members.

And this offer is still good> Join Global Exchange for $35/year and we’ll send you a gorgeous customized Global Exchange tote bag from Handmade Expressions women’s cooperative in India, a No-Nonsense Guide book and a bag of Equal Exchange chocolates!

Guests Voted! Open House guests were able to directly practice democracy at the event’s “Elect Democracy Voting Booth” where they voted on future projects for our Elect Democracy campaign. Results forthcoming!

New GEMS! We welcomed some new GEMS (Global Exchange Monthly Sustainers) to our growing network of supporters. It’s not too late to become a GEMS now!

Guests shared “What Democracy Looks Like”: We had a wall where folks could share their thoughts about democracy for all to see. We’ll be sharing some quotes from that, also forthcoming.

********

Tex (left) with Fair Trade Stores Director Jocelyn (right)

So there’s your handful of Open House highlights. I’ve attended many Global Exchange Open Houses, and this year was the best one yet. (I swear I don’t say that every year!)

Special thanks to all of our guests and volunteers for making the event such a success, along with all the businesses who donated food, drinks, and prizes. Hope to see some of you next year!

Now for the best part…PICTURES!!! You can view them all on our Facebook page here.

PHOTO RECAP OF GX OPEN HOUSE:

Zarah, Kylie and Ashley, your friendly Open House Greeters!

Arriving guests signing in at the front

Then the hugging began!

and continued throughout the evening!

People started meeting people…

and chatting away…

more chatting!

Then there was the food. Oh, the food!

there were all sorts of yummy things to dip and dunk and munch and nibble!

and refreshing, cold beer and local organic wine

Guests got to vote!

Some guests shared what they thought democracy looks like on our wall.

The Photo Booth was a lot of fun!

for lots of people!

Check out GX former staffer Sally dancing with GEMS (Global Exchange Monthly Sustainer) Tom last year, then re-enacting their dance again this year. What a hoot!

Global Exchange staff had the opportunity to showcase some of the work they are doing. Pictured: Dalit and Drea

Carleen got her soapbox (er, chair) moment to share with the crowd our $35 membership gift offer. (which includes that beautiful bag pictured on Carleen’s shoulder)

Hillary spoke about our Elect Democracy campaign and tools such as the Legislative SCORECARD pictured in her hand

Cosmo the dog made an appearance, along with his parents. (Click on this photo to check out his photobooth pic on Facebook, it’s pretty groovy!)

Zarah poses with Design Action friends who showed up in awesome form

GX Fair Trade Store staff know how to pose, and it shows!

Chandrika, Leslie and Jessica perfectly posing!

and finally, GX Executive Director Carleen Pickard shares a pic with former board member towards the end of the night.

TAKE ACTION!
Now that you’ve seen some of the great work we do (and how much fun we have doing it) I would like to formally invite you to join the Global Exchange family. Consider becoming a GEMS today. You won’t regret it.

GX Community Rights Campaigner Kylie with GX interns Justin (middle) and Andy (right)

The following post was written by Global Exchange intern Andy, pictured in the photo on left, tabling at a Global Exchange event. 

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About 14 weeks ago I first set foot in the Global Exchange offices at 16th and Mission. I was four days removed from my undergrad career at UC Santa Cruz and had no idea what I wanted to do with my future. My shiny new sociology degree had yet to lead me to any kind of paid employment. Friends of mine who also graduated with social science degrees gave me warning of the difficulties that awaited me in the post-undergrad world.

When Global Exchange offered me a spot in their summer internship program several weeks prior to my graduation, I jumped at the opportunity. Getting experience related to my field of study immediately after college was, in and of itself, too desirable to pass up. The fact that I could intern for an organization whose mission was to manifest the very ideals that I had embraced without pause for the last four years was the cherry on top.

2012 Global Exchange summer interns, with Andy holding down the middle!

But I didn’t know what exactly Global Exchange did. Some brief Google reconnaissance revealed that they operate several fair trade stores, facilitate trips around the globe called Reality tours, and run a series of campaigns dedicated to a wide variety of issues. And they build people-to-people ties. Lots of people to people ties. Needless to say, this didn’t help me to figure out precisely what my role in the organization would be.

A Project is Born

My first project as a Global Exchange intern was to work with  fellow interns to create a Global Exchange intern alumni network we ended up naming Generation for Justice Network.

The goal of Generation for Justice Network is to enable Global Exchange interns past, present and future to stay in touch with the organization and continue to support Global Exchange’s work after their departure.

The first step in this process was to track down all of the GX interns of the past so that we may invite them to re-connect with us through this alumni network, which we’ve called the Generation for Justice.

This research took weeks, even despite my deft Google recon skills. I quickly learned that Global Exchange has had hundreds of interns dating back to its inception in 1988. For frame of reference, I was born in 1990.  Not only did GX intern alums vary across, literally, generations, the breadth of professional fields, locations, backgrounds, and life paths was astounding.

While Global Exchange regards its internship program in great esteem, it is easy to overlook the long term and wide-ranging impact its interns have gone on to make in the world. My research showed that many of GX’s former interns carried that GX passion, dedication, and integrity into a wide range of fields.

Today I am among the last remaining summer interns here. I’ve just begun the process of updating my resume, in hopes of moving on to a paid job. Most likely I’ll simply be moving on to an internship somewhere else. I still have no clear idea as to what I want to do with my future. My B.A. in sociology is scarcely more valuable than it was twelve weeks ago. The only thing certain about my immediate future is that I won’t be moving out of my mom’s house any time soon.

Despite the uncertainty of my future, I derive hope from the many Global Exchange interns who came before me. They, like myself, were drawn to Global Exchange because of their passion for human rights and their drive to transition from bright-eyed, idealistic undergrads to active, difference-making professionals. I’m sure many left, as I am about to, having learned far too much to fit onto one resume. And I know from my research that for most interns, Global Exchange was an early stepping-stone that helped to carry many to tremendous success in countless fields.

If the overwhelming success of our past interns is any indication, we look forward to staying in touch with future Global Exchange interns as they successfully navigate their way through their fulfilling post-Global Exchange careers. Bonded by a common experience and passion, Global Exchange interns past and present will be able to continue to support the organization and remain a part of GX’s broader community even after they’ve moved on to other stages of their lives and careers.

—

TAKE ACTION!
The Generation for Justice Network is now ready to launch. We will soon begin the process of reaching out to our past interns in hopes of re-incorporating them into our community.

If you or someone you know is a past intern, have them:

1. Visit our brand new web page for a sneak peek of the alumni network;
2. Please provide your contact info on this page if you wish to receive more information about Generation for Justice.

Refinery fire blazed through the Richmond community

 “If Chevron violated the law,” spouted EPA Assistant Director Dan Meer at a recent public meeting,  “we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”  After the refinery explosion and fire that rocked the entire Bay Area—if Chevron did NOT violate the law, maybe there is something wrong with the law.

Chevron reps announced it would pay medical expenses and reimburse property damage resulting from the heavy smoke that billowed for miles throughout the night. Not surprisingly these big statements offer no large comfort to angry and frightened residents—14,600 of whom were sent to the hospital in the aftermath of the August 6 blaze.

And while a total of 5 investigations have been launched, those living on the refinery fenceline have heard it all before—and more critically live with it everyday—not just on days Chevron’s negligence makes headlines. “In North Richmond, we are on the front lines of chemical exposure on a daily basis,” Henry Clark, founder of the West County Toxics Coalition told demonstrators on Labor Day.

What would it really take to make Chev-wrong truly responsible to the community and to the ecosystem—more hearings? A fatter fine? Up-to-date first warning systems? How about another task force made up of city officials, regulators and members of Chevron’s slick PR machine? While ideas like these have popped up at Town Hall meetings and other public forums, they all seem right out of the Chevron public-backlash playbook.

But what if we actually believed we could get what we WANTED, not just what we thought we could get? We could ask real questions such as:

• What would  it look like if the residents of Richmond were truly in charge—would Chevron operate differently (or would it be there at all)?
• What if the local ecosystem had legal rights and could sue Chevron … to make the local environment whole, the way it was before the refinery was ever built?

Shannon Biggs

Weekend Seminar in Richmond CA September 7-8th

These are questions Global Exchange and Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus (WECC) will be asking at a weekend seminar taking place in Richmond, CA September 7th-8^th.  I’ll be there on behalf of Global Exchange, and Osprey Orielle Lake will represent WECC.

Osprey Orielle Lake, founder WECC

We are thrilled that joining the discussion will be local activist and Native American gallery owner, Pennie Opal Plant, who said, “Chevron has been destroying nature and poisoning people for over 100 years. Humanity is part of the web of life known as Nature. If Nature doesn’t have rights, then a viable future for the next seven generations is doubtful.”

Pennie Opal Plant and Michael Horse from Gathering Tribes

Please join us for a rich discussion of just what rights of nature could mean for residents in Richmond, CA—and across the country. Learn what over 100 other communities across the US are doing differently to put the rights of residents and nature before corporate profits.

In this dynamic seminar we will discuss whether or not rights of nature would be a good campaign for residents of Richmond, and look at the historic 2008 event when Ecuador became the first country to include Rights of Nature in its national constitution and then cover movements since then in Bolivia and here in the U.S. as Rights of Nature takes hold as an idea whose time has come.

Rights of Nature laws create a right to legal standing, offering citizens, communities, Indigenous peoples, and others a revolutionary new way to protect the vitality of the ecosystems we live in and depend upon.

Seminar Details: The seminar will run from 7:00-9:30pm on Friday, September 7th and 10am-5pm on Saturday, September 8th. The cost for both days is $50 and includes all materials. (If you are a resident of the Richmond fenceline community, we may have a scholarship for you.   To register, please contact Jordan Vilchez (jordanvilchez@gmail.com).

After months of looking through applications, we finally ended up with 20 participants for our summer Green Economy Leadership Training program in Highland Park, Michigan. We are in the middle of our second week of the program, but let’s re-cap what took place in our first week.

After going through basic orientations for the program, participants were eager to get started and get to work in the community.  They dove in and got to work planting the “GELT” garden which is 20 x 40 space being used to grow food to sustain the participants over the course of the summer.

We did some site visits to local urban farms and started our permaculture trainings. Participants have been split into 4 “green industry” teams so that they can gain a deeper expertise in a particular field of the green economy. The 4 teams are – solar, energy efficiency, urban agriculture, and waste re-purposing/deconstruction.

Over the course of the summer each team will be implementing a project in their respective field. Each team has been paired with a staff member or volunteer of the program to receive mentor-ship in their respective field. More to come on these projects and the work of the GELTers.

As I write this, they are rebuilding the tire dragon playground from last year with a group of neighborhood kids pitching in. We have slowly been turning Candler Street in Highland Park, where the GELT program has been based for the past couple of years, into a sort of campus for the training program. Some friends of ours who own 28 units of apartments down the street from us have offered up free housing for all our participants in exchange for the participants helping to fix up the “slightly” dilapidated units.

We are hosting most of the trainings and meals for the program in the basement of the auditorium of St. Benedict’s Church, which is also located on Candler. The space was donated to us to use for the summer – also in exchange for fixing up the space.

We are really excited to watch the third year of GELT really come together and are inspired by all the participants who are taking part and working together with the Highland Park community. Look out for blog posts on the evolution of the program over the course of the summer.

If you’d like to help support this program, please consider making a donation.

Should a river have the right to flow? Do trees have the right to grow? What does it mean to recognize the inherent rights of nature and how different would our world look if we did? These are just a few of many questions youth will come together to discuss this summer at our Rights of Nature Youth Summit — with your help.

Last week, the Community Rights Program entered the “Doing GOOD This Summer” challenge for a chance to win $5,000 to create social and environmental change. But here’s the catch — only the idea with the highest number of votes can win. We need your vote to make our “good” vision a reality.

Today’s youth must bare the future consequences of our current approaches to protecting and conserving the planet’s resources. Young people, who have been collectively termed The “Waking Up” Generation, have a unique potential to do just that: be strong advocates for nature’s well-being and wake everyone else up to a rights-based framework that is necessary to ensure a just future for the earth. We must strive for truly sustainable development and laws that respect nature, instead of exploiting it, for market-based financial benefits. It is up to the younger generation to move this vision forward.

Our proposal is to host a Rights of Nature Youth Summit that gives young people the tools to initiate campaigns in their communities that will protect the environment and assert their democratic power. We will introduce youth to a new rights-based framework of organizing that more than 140 communities across the U.S. have adopted in order to assert their rights to local self-governance and prohibit unwanted corporate activity where they live.

Help Global Exchange start the youth movement with your VOTE for our proposal and the chance to win $5,000 for a Rights of Nature Youth Summit: http://goodsummer.maker.good.is/projects/Rights-of-Nature

Youth will learn about the emerging global movement of Rights of Nature and how recognizing legal rights for nature provides us with tools for protecting the environment. By exploring the concepts of community and nature’s rights, law and democracy, participants can begin to recognize the inherent rights of nature, understand how to apply these new ideas to their local communities and strategize ways to assert their self-governing rights over corporations.

Ideally, the Youth Summit would be held in a community meeting space that also has an on-site ropes course. We would begin with team-building exercises at the ropes course in order to begin building the people-to-people relationships that are central to rights-based work. Through experiential learning, youth will participate in a combination of interactive exercises and sessions that incorporate learning pieces of rights-based organizing, the history of corporate power, the limits of current environmental regulatory law, and what the movement for communities and nature’s rights currently looks like.

Our goal is to create a space where youth can lead discussions on how they can use Rights of Nature as a tool for protecting their local environments and generate ideas and action plans for how they can engage in Rights of Nature work after the summit — and personalize it for their own communities.

Vote today! Voting is open now through Friday, June 29 at 12:00 PM (PDT). Spread the word to friends, colleagues, allies and other networks to keep the energy going around this exciting opportunity for Global Exchange to empower youth about how to create a more sustainable future!

If you’re on social media, consider posting the following:

• Twitter: VOTE to help @globalexchange win $5,000 for a Rights of Nature Youth Summit – http://goodsummer.maker.good.is/projects/Rights-of-Nature

• Facebook: What does it mean to give rights to nature, and how different would our world look like if we did? Help @Global Exchange win $5,000 to host a youth summit to move this vision forward. Vote NOW – http://goodsummer.maker.good.is/projects/Rights-of-Nature

• Join the public Facebook event and invite your friends!

P.S. Check back next week for the launch of our newest report, Rights of Nature: Planting the Seeds of Change

The Climate Reality Project emphasizes the power of the fossil fuel industry to skew the debate about climate change away from the facts—we are destroying the planet’s ability to support human life—and thus the only effective counter-balance will be mobilizing masses of well-informed citizens.

The project is correct in assuming that reality is our most powerful weapon. People need to grasp the intensity of the crisis confronting us. Major cities such as Miami and Houston will go under water—and that will happen even if we were to implement radical lifestyle changes right now.

The organizers of the Climate Reality Project understand that many people are vulnerable to the lies and distortions of the fossil fuel industry, so they are organizing a global educational event September 14 to get the basic facts of climate change out to the world while we still have some time to save humanity from itself.

Their promo material sums up the idea: “What can change in a day? Everything. On September 14, the world will focus its attention on the truth about the climate crisis. For 24 hours, we will all live in reality. Pick a faraway place or a city near you. Make it yours for one day. We’re hitting every time zone — but only once. 7 p.m. in your time zone. Choose a location and get involved.”

As Al Gore puts it: “24 Hours of Reality will focus the world’s attention on the full truth, scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis. To remove the doubt. Reveal the deniers. And catalyze urgency around an issue that affects every one of us.”

Please join Global Exchange and many other organizations in supporting this major global effort to wake people up to the climate challenge and what we can do about it.

It was an afternoon in summer. Me, this guy James, and a girl named Marion walked down the middle of the road. We were in a rough area. It’s called Highland Park.

The three of us were working with GELT, a project of Global Exchange, an international human rights organization based in San Francisco that focuses on social, environmental and human rights. In Detroit, Global Exchange wanted to take local action to get some energy efficiency to houses that needed it most. The GELT project had local headquarters just down the street

Continue reading: How to Overcome Fear: Canvassing for Energy Efficiency in Highland Park

Written by Cory Connolly, aka, “the Finisher”

Why is it that the green economy, in many ways, remains intangible? Why must those who are passionate about people and the environment choose between doing what they want and between living comfortably? What does a green economy look like in the country’s most devastated communities?

Continue reading: “It’s not what you do; it’s why you do it” : Green Economy Leadership Training Week 1