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With late winters come school delays, temperature drops, and long lines clearing out aisles at the grocery store. For many of us, winter nights are accompanied by hot cocoa and cozy blankets. But how does winter look for people living with food insecurity? How are their food needs met?   

According to Feeding America, In 2020, an estimated 1 in 8 Americans were food insecure, equating to over 38 million Americans, including almost 12 million children. Food insecurity increases in winter. Food insecurity is not only a health problem but also a policy issue.   

With increases in home heating and cooling costs in many parts of the U.S., it is important to understand the extent to which households make tradeoffs between heating and cooling costs and other basic needs that affect their food security.  

“In high-cooling states, the odds of exceptionally low food security for poor, elderly only households were 27% higher in the summer than in the winter. In high-heating states, the pattern was reversed for such households; the odds of exceptionally low food security were 43% lower in the summer”.  

There are several ways to prepare to restore communities that are suffering from food security. In a recent interview with the founder of the Wombyn’s Wellness Garden, Roberta Eaglehorse- Ortiz, she shares that to help her community meet food needs in the winter, "It is all about Preservation and Dry storage.” Harvest work does not have to go to waste in the winter months. Food preservation and dry storage are sustainable ways to keep eating fresh long after the harvest season. Many dry storage facilities can provide warehouses, containers, and rooms with specific air temperature and lighting levels. These are also things you can manage at home to prepare for the winter months.   

Here are 5 ways you can preserve and store your goods: 

• Dry Herbs: Herbs are quick and easy to dry and store for year-round use. They can be dried in a dehydrator or an oven, or even air-dried. When air drying, hang small bundles of clean herbs in a dry, airy place, out of direct sunlight. Herbs are sufficiently dried and ready for storage when they are crisp and brittle.  

• Dry Salting: When fermenting vegetables, dry salting refers to massaging or mixing salt into fresh produce to draw out the liquid from the produce naturally. The liquid that is created through dry salting is the natural brine you will ferment with. 

• Sealing: Sealing is one of the methods that does require a particular piece of equipment, but home food sealers are generally inexpensive appliances. This method merely seals the air away from the food to prevent spoilage. You can combine sealing with freezing or drying. Green America suggests seal containers when performing this method of preservation.  

• Canning: Canning is a process of heating and sealing foods (generally in glass jars), which kills the bacteria and preserves the food. Canned foods usually last for years. Canning is useful for many types of foods, including vegetables, fruits, meats, and even seafood. 

• Below the Brine:  When fermenting produce, it’s important to keep the fruits and vegetables below the brine level. Brining is a salt solution, and traditional brining is done by soaking ingredients, predominantly meat or fish, in brine prior to cooking. Anything above the brine is susceptible to mold. If everything is held below the brine (usually with the assistance of a fermentation weight or other food-safe weight alternative), it will be safe in an oxygen-free (anaerobic) environment. 

Little Free Pantry  

For more community needs that are immediate and local, there are pantries, soup kitchens, and churches such as the Little Free Pantry. The Little Free Pantry was started in 2016 by Jessica McClard. Jessica wanted to raise awareness of food insecurity while connecting and helping her neighbors. These pantries have now gone global and may be found near you. If you aren't able to find a pantry near you, there is also an option to build a pantry for your community, much like the "Little Free Libraries" you may have spotted in a neighbor's lawn. When winterizing the pantry, community leaders ask for more nonperishable items. The food can freeze or mold during the winter months. There are many ways to help the community by building or contributing to your local food pantry. 

Don’t Buy the Shelves Out  

If you're hitting the grocery store to prepare for winter weather, please just buy what you need and leave some for others!

You may have noticed empty shelves in some stores due to national supply chain issues, but there is no need to buy more than you normally would. pic.twitter.com/RcCNNa4Zj4

— DC Homeland Security & Emergency Management (@DC_HSEMA) January 15, 2022

When preparing for winter, most of us make our first stop at the grocery store or local market. It is common in moments of high stress or panic to clear shelves and overstock our cabinets- don't. Taking more than you need at the grocery store does more harm than good. Shopping in moderation is beneficial to families that face food insecurity. 

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSAs, is a setup where consumers connect directly with a farm and buy shares of the season's harvest. Typically, you buy into a CSA in the spring, purchasing crops upfront for weekly or bi-weekly pickups during the entire season.

Some CSAs have various sizes to choose from; some even let you choose what goes in your box each week. If you think a share might be too much produce for you, find a friend to split it and you can take turns picking up your weekly produce box!

There are other models, like Old City Acre’s year-round CSA, where patrons can use their CSA buy-in like a debit card, ordering what they would like each week, their credits never expiring.

Joining a CSA is also a great opportunity to ask the farm about their growing practices. They may very well use organic and regenerative practices, or even consider their farm to be biodynamic, but cannot afford the certification.

Why Are CSAs Important

The CSA model is more sustainable than traditional grocery stores as it connects consumers directly to more local food sources. That means that the produce travels a much shorter distance, saving fuel, and the direct-to-consumer relationship means the farmer retains a larger share of the profit.

CSAs also allow consumers to eat more sustainable, in-season produce.

Additionally, CSAs benefit farmers by distributing both the bounty and risks of the harvest across the farmer and consumers. For example, if one crop doesn’t do well in a season, the CSA member could get more of another crop that did grow better.

You can also save up to 40 percent on in-season and organic (or close-to-it) produce over buying from the grocery store by joining as well according to DailyFinance.com.

How to Join a CSA

Spring is the best time to purchase shares of a CSA. Many of them have long waiting lists, so be on the lookout for when to sign up!

You can find a CSA near you by visiting https://www.localharvest.org or https://www.eatwellguide.org/.

You might also visit your local farmers’ market and see if any of the farmstands there offer CSAs.

What’s more, flower CSAs are growing in popularity. If you like having fresh-cut flowers regularly in your home, consider supporting a local floral CSA as well.

You will have to commit to a weekly (or bi-weekly) pickup or you will lose out that week. And, you’ll need to be flexible and creative with your recipes, as you can’t predict exactly what you’ll get each week. But, it will be fresh. And some farms include recipes for the week's produce. It's a fun way to learn about new vegetables and try new recipes.

Try out a CSA yourself and help support local, sustainable agriculture which is better for you, the farmers, the climate, and the planet.  

Learn more about the issues with industrial agriculture and how agriculture affects the climate.

Green America’s chocolate scorecard included a few new, fair trade chocolate brands that are leaders in their field and earning A-ratings. The scorecard is still heavily based on efforts to combat child labor, but we’ve added a new category on deforestation, one of the many issues facing the cocoa industry.

Direct and fair trade chocolate companies have been placing farmers front and center of their business models for years. In this article, we highlight some A-rated chocolate companies. 

Vegan options are available from all the companies in our list.

Direct and Fair Trade Chocolate Companies

Alter Eco 

All of Alter Eco’s products are made with ingredients sourced directly from small-scale farms it partners with. In addition to having Fair Trade Certified cocoa and paying farmer co-ops a premium for their cocoa, Alter Eco also provides targeted assistance to its cocoa farmers. This assistance addresses issues that farmers and their co-ops may face, such as food assistance, gender equality, and biodiversity. 

Shop Alter Eco. 

Beyond Good 

Beyond Good's cocoa beans come from Madagascar (and soon Uganda), and their chocolate is organic. Beyond Good has a radically different supply chain when compared to big name chocolate companies - they cut out the middlemen so Beyond Good has a direct relationship with cocoa farmers. This has resulted in farmers making 6X more than the industry standard. In addition to prioritizing cocoa farmers, Beyond Good is prioritizing the environment; their agroforestry practices have led to 5 species of endangered lemurs living where their cocoa is grown!

Shop Beyond Good.

Divine Chocolate 

Like many other companies on this list, Divine Chocolate has a direct relationship with the cocoa co-op it sources from, Kuapa Kokoo. But Divine and Kuapa Kokoo don’t just have a direct relationship – Kuapa Kokoo owns 20% of Divine Chocolate. Kuapa Kokoo farmers also have seats on Divine’s Board of Directors. Farmer representation is key to improving farmer livelihood, and Divine’s business model allows Kuapa Kokoo, which has over 80,000 farmer members, to have a voice in key business decisions. Divine Chocolate is certified Green Business Member. 

Shop Divine Chocolate.

Dr. Bronner's

Dr. Bronner’s cocoa beans are sourced from Ghana, from farmers that are treated fairly and practice regenerative organic agriculture. Dr. Bronner’s Magic All-One Chocolate bars are 70% cocoa, vegan, and sweetened with coconut-sugar. The chocolate bars are USDA Organic and Fair for Life certified. You can learn more about Dr. Bronner’s path to regenerative cocoa here.

You can buy Dr. Bronner’s chocolate online at Thrive Market or Hive Brands, or find it at your local retailer.

Endangered Species 

Endangered Species is the first American-made chocolate to use fully traceable cocoa sourced from West Africa. This means that, in addition to paying higher prices for cocoa and paying a premium that can be invested in community projects, Endangered Species can track their beans to the very farms they source from. This increased transparency is welcome, as the cocoa supply chain in West Africa can be long and opaque. Endangered Species is certified Green Business Member. 

Shop Endangered Species.

Equal Exchange 

Equal Exchange is one of the pioneers of the fair trade chocolate movement, and to this day is so dedicated to worker co-ops that the company itself is worker owned too. Equal Exchange continues to adhere to the fair trade movement in the strictest sense, and has direct relationships with over 40 small farming co-ops. Equal Exchange is certified Green Business Member. 

Where to buy: Select Whole Foods, Walmarts, and Targets. But we would encourage you to look for Equal Exchange products in your locally owner grocers and organic markets. Equal Exchange also has a robust, easy-to-use online store.

Support small-farmer coops with their Solidarity Box here!

Theo  

Theo has direct relationships with cocoa cooperatives in Peru and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It negotiates prices with farmer co-ops directly, provides training on good agricultural practices, and is transparent with farmers about pricing and payments. Theo also works with the different cocoa communities it sources from to develop meaningful projects tailored to their needs. Theo is certified Green Business Member. 

Shop Theo.

Tony’s Chocolonely

Tony’s Chocolonely is a Dutch brand, aiming to show the big chocolate brands that sustainable chocolate is possible. Tony’s chocolate is 100% fair trade certified and they pay an even higher price to cocoa farmers then required by fair trade’s standards. Tony’s entire cocoa supply is from West Africa; this is because they are trying to create change where it is needed the most.

Shop Tony's Chocolonely. Send a custom message with their 'make your own wrapper' option here!

This is, of course, not a complete list of alternative chocolate companies that are helping farmers on the ground – we are at a time where ethical chocolate alternatives are gaining larger footholds in the marketplace. For further reading, check out our Chocolate Company Scorecard.

Hours: Full-time (4-days, 32 hours/week)
Salary Range: $89,000  - $95,000
Benefits:  Generous benefits including medical, disability insurance, dental, sick leave, vacation
Supervisor: Director, Soil Carbon Initiative

Green America is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a just and sustainable society by harnessing economic power for positive change. Our unique approach involves working with consumers, investors, and businesses to create a world that works for all. We deploy marketplace solutions to solve the most pressing social and environmental problems facing society today.

The Center for Sustainability Solutions builds on Green America’s work over the years, where we’ve brought together industry groups across supply chains to create major shifts in such areas as solar, banking and investing, sustainable agriculture and fair labor. The Center supports Innovation Networks, focused working groups of stakeholders with the objective of making significant, industry-wide system change.

The Soil Carbon Initiative (SCI) is an outcomes-based commitment and verification program that empowers and incentivizes farmers, food companies, and the entire food supply chain to transition acres to regenerative management to maximize regenerative outcomes – soil health, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water quality, climate resiliency, and farm and rural economics. 

Key elements of SCI include farm and company commitments, measurement (Farm Standard), verification (farm and company commitments), farmer funding and farmer technical guidance.  The SCI Verification Director will work closely SCI Managing Director, CEO, and SCI staff.  Primary responsibilities of this position include ongoing development and management of the SCI verification process, farm standard and farm pilot programs.

After three years of development and pilots, in collaboration with over 150 stakeholders from across the food supply chain – farmers, suppliers, food companies, soil scientists, investors and NGOs – SCI is preparing to launch the Farm Standard and Go-to-Market Demonstration Pilots in 2022.  SCI has raised $2 million for the 2022/23 phase of work.

The work for this position can be fulfilled remotely or at Green America’s offices in Washington, DC.  Post-pandemic, the position will involve domestic and international travel for business development, strategic partner and stakeholder meetings, pilot development and execution, conferences, and staff meetings.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Launch and Pilot implementation of SCI Farm Standard

• Develop communications plan and information sessions for farms and food companies interested in the Farm Standard post March 2022 launch.
• Work closely with SCI Specialist on the ongoing education and support of farms enrolled in the SCI demonstration pilot to ensure successful onboarding for the program.
• Develop strategy for managing interest, enrollment, and ongoing engagement of farms and CPG's interested in SCI during the demonstration pilot phase.
• Serve as main point of contact with certification body and manage SCI relationship with certification body.
• Track and manage work streams to update and modify the Farm Standard based on pilot results.

SCI Verification Work Stream

• Work with SCI labs, verifiers, and enrollment platform provider to create the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for each process step in farm verification.
• Ensure farm feedback from demonstration pilots is incorporated into the development of SOP's.
• Create final reporting and data output requirements for labs, and certifiers.  Develop standards and protocols for data sharing, public communications, and public claims made related to farms and company performance within verification program.

SCI Company Commitment Program Standard

• Lead the scoping and development of Company Commitment Program Requirements, measurement, and verification.
• Provide supervision and guidance to SCI Project Manager on the development of the Company Standard.

Demonstration Pilot Verification Coordination

• Coordinate verification requirements across demonstration pilots including facilitating the work of farm consultants, company/brand teams, labs, certifiers, and other stakeholders.
• Provide project management for pilots, as needed.

Data and Systems Infrastructure

• Oversee selection and build out of data management system including farm data portal, CRM, stakeholder reporting, and other data management needs as specified.

Green America Internal

• Participate in Green America Cross Departmental Teams: The success of our organizational work includes the voluntary participation of staff members from all levels of the organization in cross departmental teams addressing a range of issues to strengthen our impact and planning, as time and other work commitments allow.
   

Qualified Candidates should have the following skills and qualities:

• At least 5 – 10 years of experience working with farmers and food companies.
• Experience with regenerative, organic, biodynamic, or other biologically based agricultural systems.
• Understanding of agricultural supply chains.
• Familiarity with managing or developing certification or verification procedures in an agricultural setting
• The ability to understand and converse competently about complex sustainability, environmental and agricultural issues with a broad range of stakeholders, and to provide useful frameworks for analysis and action on key supply chain issues.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to develop trusting relationships with senior executives and high-level leaders across the agriculture sector.
• Strong project management and team leadership skills, with 10+ years of experience managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Proven experience with business and client development (10+ years)
• Strong research and writing skills.
• Strong speaking skills.
• Experience with facilitative leadership and directing multi-stakeholder networks
• MBA or equivalent strongly preferred

To apply, please email your resume and cover letter to scihiring@greenamerica.org.

________

Green America is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination regarding: actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding, or reproductive health disorders), age (18 years of age or older), marital status (including domestic partnership and parenthood), personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, citizenship status, credit information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is included as a form of discrimination and is strictly prohibited.

Hours: Full-time (4-days, 32 hours/week)
Salary:  Commensurate with experience
Benefits:  Generous benefits including medical, disability insurance, dental, sick leave, vacation
Supervisor:  Director, Soil Carbon Initiative  

Green America is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a just and sustainable society by harnessing economic power for positive change. Our unique approach involves working with consumers, investors, and businesses to create a world that works for all. We deploy marketplace solutions to solve the most pressing social and environmental problems facing society today.

The Center for Sustainability Solutions builds on Green America’s work over the years, where we’ve brought together industry groups across supply chains to create major shifts in such areas as solar, banking and investing, sustainable agriculture and fair labor. The Center supports Innovation Networks, focused working groups of stakeholders with the objective of making significant, industry-wide system change.

The Soil Carbon Initiative (SCI) is an outcomes-based commitment and verification program that empowers and incentivizes farmers, food companies and the entire food supply chain to transition acres to regenerative management to maximize regenerative outcomes – soil health, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water quality, climate resiliency, and farm and rural economics. 

Key elements of SCI include farm and company commitments, measurement (Farm Standard), verification (farm and company commitments), farmer funding and farmer technical guidance.  Working closely with the SCI Director and CEO, the SCI Managing Director will provide organizational direction and team support for all key elements of the Soil Carbon Initiative.

After three years of development and pilots, in collaboration with over 150 stakeholders from across the food supply chain – farmers, suppliers, food companies, soil scientists, investors and NGOs – SCI is preparing to launch the Farm Standard and Go-to-Market Demonstration Pilots in 2022.  SCI has raised $2 million for the 2022/23 phase of work.

The work for this position can be fulfilled remotely or at Green America’s offices in Washington, DC.  Post-pandemic, the position will involve domestic and international travel for business development, strategic partner and stakeholder meetings, pilot development and execution, conferences and staff meetings. This position has direct supervisory responsibility for the SCI staff team and some contract positions, as applicable.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategy, Planning, and SCI Team Management

• Lead efforts to successfully launch, maintain, and evaluate SCI initiatives.
  • Develop SCI strategy and priorities with SCI Director and CEO
  • Oversee and support SCI team to implement project strategy.
• Ensure team produces accurate, high-quality project deliverables in a timely manner, including reports, special research projects, and other outputs. 
• Lead the development of the framework and strategy for adding nutritional density and landscape biodiversity (insects, birds, pollinators) to the next phase of SCI.
• Participate in Green America Cross Departmental Teams: The success of our organizational work includes the voluntary participation of staff members from all levels of the organization in cross departmental teams addressing a range of issues to strengthen our impact and planning, as time and other work commitments allow.

SCI Business Plan Development

• Work with CEO to develop an enterprise model with explicit funding requirements for 3-5 years.
• Work with CEO, the Center's Foundations and Corporate Giving Director, and Green America's Director of Development and Institutional Advancement to pursue grants and other funding opportunities.

SCI Verification

• Work with our SCI Verification Director to ensure the final development and initial implementation of verification for SCI Farms and Companies.  This includes ensuring that all of our strategic partnerships are in place for implementation, including with our third-party verifier, testing lab, and enrollment and data management platform provider.

Farmer Guidance, Pilots and Consulting Program

• Work with our Verification Director and SCI Specialist to ensure that we have the agreements in place for on-farm pilots and the guidance in place for on-farm pilots and the guidance in place for farms to develop their SCI plans and have the information they need to implement their plans.
• Work with our SCI specialist to develop the criteria for our SCI Consulting program, to ensure that all SCI qualified consultants can provide the guidance needed to implement SCI plans.
• Work with our CEO and SCI specialist for recruiting farm pilot partners, including co-ops and research partners.

Company Program

• Work with our Verification Director and SCI Manager to ensure that we have the agreements in place for company pilots and the guidance for the company commitments, acre calculations and farm funding transition requirements.
• Work with our CEO and SCI Manager for recruiting company pilot partners.

SCI Fund Development

• Coordinate SCI Fund Development Strategy, including development of partner funds, resources, scoping of Pilot Fund and possible scoping of ongoing SCI Fund.

SCI External Communications and Engagement

• Work with brand and communications agency to complete certification mark and visual identity.
• Create and implement external communications plan including channels geared toward key SCI constituencies (CPG's, farmers, farm support networks).
• Design Strategic communications plan for post-pilot launch of SCI.

         Qualified Candidates should have the following skills and qualities:

• At least 5 – 10 years of experience working with farmers and food companies.
• Experience with regenerative, organic, biodynamic, or other biologically based agricultural systems.
• Understanding of agricultural supply chains.
• Familiarity with managing or developing certification or verification procedures in an agricultural setting
• The ability to understand and converse competently about complex sustainability, environmental and agricultural issues with a broad range of stakeholders, and to provide useful frameworks for analysis and action on key supply chain issues.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to develop trusting relationships with senior executives and high-level leaders across the agriculture sector.
• Strong project management and team leadership skills, with 10+ years of experience managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Proven experience with business and client development (10+ years)
• Strong research and writing skills.
• Strong speaking skills.
• Experience with facilitative leadership and directing multi-stakeholder networks
• MBA or equivalent strongly preferred

To apply, please email your resume and cover letter to scihiring@greenamerica.org.

**********************************************************************************

Green America is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination regarding: actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding, or reproductive health disorders), age (18 years of age or older), marital status (including domestic partnership and parenthood), personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, citizenship status, credit information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is included as a form of discrimination and is strictly prohibited.

Buying household essentials individually can add up fast—in packaging waste and actual dollar cost. Yet according to a study from Portland State University’s Food Leadership Center, shoppers can save an average of 56% by purchasing natural and organic foods in the bulk foods aisle of a grocery store. Bulk buying is exactly what it sounds like—instead of purchasing items like hand soap, rice, coffee, and other household essentials in small, individual containers, bulk buying means purchasing a lot all at once. Some grocery stores offer bulk aisles, where shoppers can fill a bag and pay based on weight, or a store can be entirely dedicated to bulk shopping. Whether you’re looking to cut costs or reduce your own packaging waste, review our key tips to maximize your bulk-buying benefits.

Get the most bang for your buck

The key to being a bulk aficionado is having a solid plan! Before heading to the store, take inventory of what your household regularly uses. Non-perishables are the way to go. Fruits, vegetables, and dairy products aren’t the only items that may spoil: spices and oils are a few products with surprisingly quick expiration timelines. Consider what items you could purchase in bulk that could refill existing containers—hand soap is a common example. Keep this list handy and reference it often.

Stay intentional

Once you are at the store, being intentional about your purchases is key. The many deals offered by bulk sellers can be tempting—overconsumption is a frequent pitfall of buying in bulk. Whether you visit the bulk aisle of your local grocer or a wholesale co-op, sticking to your list will save you from unnecessary purchases.

Save by calculating cost-per-unit

A 50-pound sack of rice will cost more than a 16-ounce bag, so check the price tag for unit cost. If this measurement isn’t available, use your calculator to divide the total price by the number of units–for example $22 for 50 pounds of rice would be $0.44 per pound. If it’s cheaper than your regular purchase, you’re saving.

Additionally, bulk products typically last a long time—so if you stick to your list, you’ll save money in the long term and use less packaging. You can also dedicate some time to couponing; an extra 5% off can go a long way.

Curb the packaging waste

Some stores allow you to bring your own container for bulk purchases, such as filling a reusable produce bag with your favorite dried fruit. Of the packaging you do have to purchase, make the most of it by reusing—such as a large plastic bag to line a trash bin or big boxes that can double as crafting materials.

Share the goods

Prior to picking up that pallet of garbanzo beans, make sure that you will use it all! If some might go to waste, reach out to friends to split bulk purchases. Green America staff have long shared bulk-buying from Frontier Co-op {GBN}, and go in on monthly orders together that get shipped to the office and split up.

Buy green in bulk

Just because bulk is cheaper doesn’t always mean it’s better. A gallon of laundry detergent may be cheaper at a bulk store, but if it contains toxic ingredients, then it’s just a bargain sale on chemicals. We recommend purchasing from local wholesale co-ops, the bulk aisle of green grocers, and asking sustainable businesses if they sell in bulk.

Green Business Network® has a page dedicated to bulk food vendors that have achieved Green America’s Green Business Certification; these vendors are great places to find organic, non-GMO, and Fair-Trade food items. Here are a few of our favorites:

• GloryBee Foods Inc : GloryBee is a family-owned bulk food distributor dedicated to providing high-quality organic ingredients to its customers. It also offers beekeeping and hygiene products alongside a selection of groceries.
• Numi Tea : This Bay Area-based company produces premium quality organic teas and fresh herbs, which you can buy in bulk if you’re a big tea-drinker. Their blends are created with only 100% real fruits, flowers, and spices, and the Numi team travels around the world to source their organic ingredients and build partnerships with farmers.
• SunRidge Farms : This purveyor of snacks was founded during the organic movement of the 1970s. What was once a small family business and has grown to offer a selection of almost 1,000 products in bulk. “Our bulk shopping mantra relates to [being] earth-friendly, with less packaging to help our planet and a reduced carbon footprint,” says Greg Koenig, SunRidge Farms’ director of e-commerce. Its inventory includes trail mixes, seeds, dried fruits, granolas, grains, and beans.

Tip: If you have your own containers to refill in the bulk section, be sure to weigh them empty and label them with the weight. Then you can reuse them over and over, and not pay for the weight of the container itself.

Buying in bulk may not always be the best option for you or your household, but consider your shopping habits and long-term needs to decide where it can be a helpful green hack.

In an effort to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline several years ago, individuals and institutions pulled their money out of the mega-banks that were funding this destructive pipeline, threatening American Indian lands and the drinking water of millions of people, while accelerating climate change emissions.

This movement highlighted the role of banks in financing climate change and fossil fuel projects.

By financing extreme fossil fuel infrastructure, these banks are responsible for the corresponding violation of human rights that the fossil fuel industries cause as they destroy the environment and repress those who oppose them, especially Indigenous communities. 

Fossil fuel financing from the world’s 60 largest banks has reached USD $4.6 trillion in the six years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, with $742 billion in fossil fuel financing in 2021 alone.

- 2022 Banking on Climate Chaos Report

Of this financing, the banks most responsible for funding the finance crisis are four US banks – JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.

They also continue to bankroll the expansion of the fossil fuel industry – allowing it to grow at the very time we need a concerted focus on and just transition to renewable energy.

The Role of Green America

Green America launched our Break Up with Your Mega-Bank campaign in the years leading up to 2008 financial crisis. We focused primarily on the abusive, fraudulent, and deceptive practices of the big banks that have wreaked financial havoc on millions of individuals, families, and communities – especially those with the least wealth. At the same time, we called on the megabanks to end their financing of fossil fuels.

Over time, the big banks have agreed to increase their clean energy investments and more recently, many have made public announcements about getting their portfolios to “net zero” emissions by 2050.

To date, however, the positive steps by the big banks are still greatly outweighed by their continuing support for dirty energy. 

Fortunately, more and more organizations are adopting “move your money” campaigns, urging the public to stop banking with the big banks, especially Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

Green Americans are increasingly moving their accounts to community development banks and credit unions, financial institutions certified by our Green Business Network, Minority Depository Institutions, and members of Inclusiv and the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, all of which you can find here.  

Are you still banking with a conventional Big Bank?

For the sake of people and the planet, now is the time to switch. Visit  Get a Better Bank to find banks and credit unions that can work for your financial life – and for people and the planet. 

Guest written by Jonathan Sharp of the Environmental Litigation Group  

Popular discount mattresses are using fiberglass in place of safe and natural flame retardants. If you unknowingly unzip your mattress, you could face serious health problems and costs. Learn about the problems with fiberglass and find a truly safe, green mattress from Green America’s certified green businesses.    

Why Is Fiberglass Harmful?  

Since 2007, mattress manufacturers in the United States have been required by law to add a fire retardant to their products. The most common flame retardant used in modern mattresses, especially the less expensive ones, is fiberglass. The tiny glass fibers woven together to form a protective layer are built into the mattress to create a barrier between the highly flammable memory foam and a possible open flame. Many companies use fiberglass because it is widely available and cheap.   

Recently, the mattress manufacturer Zinus, one of the most popular brands in the country, has gained negative attention due to a design defect. The flaw lies in its zippable cover, which, even though it suggests it’s removable, it’s not—due to its 62% fiberglass content.   

Removing the outer cover of any mattress containing fiberglass will expose the inner layer. With the slightest disturbance, tiny, sharp pieces of glass can and will spread throughout the room and contaminate your whole home. Exposure to fiberglass can cause skin rashes, lacerations, eye injuries, dermatitis, upper respiratory infections, gastrointestinal problems, and the aggravation of asthma and bronchitis.  

Fiberglass Is Almost Impossible to Remove  

Sadly, numerous families who made the mistake of unzipping their mattresses experienced extreme contamination with fiberglass in their houses. Many people had to throw away most of their belongings. Glass fibers are very sharp and have rough edges, meaning they attach to objects made of or covered in fabric, such as carpets, pillows, clothes, couches, and drapes.   

Fiberglass contamination takes a tremendous emotional and financial toll, between associated medical costs and the cost of fiberglass removal, which can be carried out only by professionals. 

How to Choose a Safe Mattress  

There are many reasons to seek out an all-natural mattress. Not only do you avoid breathing in all the off-gassed chemicals that memory foam is usually treated with, but some of these materials, for example, organic wool, are natural flame retardants that can easily exceed the flammability standards required by law without adding in any chemicals. These mattresses are also a lot friendlier to the environment, and they have a longer lifespan.  

If you want to make sure the mattress you’re sleeping on doesn’t affect your health, the best way to do that is to figure out precisely what’s inside your mattress. Reading the label, asking the manufacturer directly, and seeking out trustworthy and reliable sources regarding the product you’re interested in, should be a good starting point. Unfortunately, just because a mattress is labeled “organic” does not mean it’s safe. Many companies add just one organic component to an otherwise toxic product and call it organic.  

In general, avoid synthetic materials such as polyurethane foam, synthetic latex, and chemical compounds. Look for mattresses made entirely of organic fabrics instead, and stay away from fiberglass. If you can’t easily find this kind of information about the mattress you’re interested in, consider it a red flag. Most organic mattress companies are usually quite transparent about the manufacturing process and the materials used.  

You should also make sure that the company is appropriately certified. Two of the most important certifications to look for are GOLS-Certified Organic Latex Standard and GOTS-Certified Organic Textile Standard).  Green America also certifies green companies, including those that make mattresses and bedding--check out our standards for those companies. 

Find a truly green mattress at GreenPages.org. 

Even though mattresses that contain natural materials such as wool, cotton, natural latex, etc., and meet ecological requirements can be pretty expensive, they may be worth the investment since sleep is a vital element in our daily lives to function at our best.      

About the Author  

As Chief Financial Officer, Jonathan Sharp has been part of Environmental Litigation Group, P.C., for over 20 years. The law firm is focused on toxic exposure and product liability and is currently assisting people affected by the fiberglass in Zinus mattresses. Jonathan Sharp’s primary responsibilities are case evaluation, management of firm assets, client relations, financial analysis, and the collection and proper distribution of the funds.  

Do you think employers should be able to offer 401(k) plan participants the ability to choose socially responsible investment options? How about investments that consider the impacts of the climate crisis?

Should all investors be encouraged to vote on shareholder issues affecting people and the planet?

If you answered yes, we need you to take action to restore these basic rights and responsibilities for 401(k) plans. Please add your name to our letter by December 9, 2021!

Take Action

Many of the rollbacks of social and environmental protections under the Trump administration that Green Americans have opposed are being restored under the Biden presidency. This includes a public comment period on a new rule that is crucial to re-establishing the ability of 401(k) plans to allow investors to select funds based on their financial, environmental, social, and corporate governance performance.

The rule also supports the right of retirement plan votes to be cast on shareholder proxy ballots, including those addressing human rights, labor rights, climate, corporate political contributions, corporate equity and diversity issues, and more.

Please take action today as a green business leader! Help us build a solid public record of support for protecting millions of retirees’ savings from climate risks and for enabling all investors to vote their proxy ballots to hold corporations accountable.

Women are more likely to be displaced in a climate disaster. Transgender people are more likely to be incarcerated. Communities of color are more likely to live in polluted neighborhoods.

Tragically, these statements are true today. But they don’t have to be the case in the future.

In a crisis of climate or capitalism, no one is safe. But some people are safer—the more privileges you hold in life, the better off you’ll be in a natural disaster, rising seas, or conflict. Women, people of other marginalized genders (think nonbinary, transgender, genderqueer, Two-Spirit, and other identities), and people of color face disproportionate hardships which accumulate on top of each other.

The LGBTQ+ or queer liberation movement has made incredible strides in the last 50 years, with advocates winning victories like equal marriage and repeal of don’t-ask-don’t-tell in the military. For each step forward, there are hundreds of tugs back. According to legislation tracking from the ACLU, in 2021 alone, 15 bills have been signed into law in six states to restrict LGBTQ+ rights. Dozens more have been introduced or are in committee discussions.

LGBTQ+ communities and individuals who present gender or sexuality in unconventional ways are under attack across the globe. Denmark, Romania, Poland, Turkey, and Hungary have all passed laws to stifle activism, teaching of gender theory, and people themselves, wrote Judith Butler, a queer philosopher and gender studies professor, for The Guardian.

The backlash against LGBTQ+ communities and individuals is all too similar to policies that have been used to restrict other communities—namely Black and brown people, Asian people, immigrants, Native Americans, and religious minorities from the beginning of American history through today. From Jim Crow laws to restricting voting rights in the South today, from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the Muslim ban of 2017, from the Trail of Tears to Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline through Native land in the north Midwest, even if harmful policies and actions are eventually reversed, they leave deep scars.

When coal is placed under enormous pressure, we get diamonds. When people are placed under pressure, we get resilience and creative solutions.

Through these pages we have the stories of leaders from around the country who face big challenges in their communities today and in the climate future. Yet they are pushing forward to create inclusive communities, meaningful protests, and powerful teachings that can be applied far beyond their locales.

We hope our Green American readers will be able to find insight for inclusion in whatever circles you move in, ideas for making your own communities more just, and hope for our future from these inspirational leaders.

1844
A Creek Indian mother and grandmother,
Sally Ladiga, fights for her land and wins a
Supreme Court case.

1924
Zitkala-Ša of the Yankton Dakota Sioux leads a
voting registration drive for Native Americans.

1961
Armed, women of the Northwest Indian Nations made up half of arrested protesters during
fish-in protests.

2021
Attorney and member of the Couchiching First Nation, Tara Houska, is violently arrested for trespassing while protesting the Line 3 oil pipeline.

What these environmental acts of resistance have in common is that Indigenous leaders and communities were at the helm—and women are their invaluable leaders.

“I’ve always been involved in community organizing in some way, shape, or form since I was a teenager,” Joye Braun says.

Braun is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and currently serves as the national pipelines campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network’s. She was actively involved in the Keystone XL Pipeline protests.

“Local activism can change so many things,” she enthuses. “You can make a lot of waves locally, you don’t need a lot of people.”

In July 2021, the people of Rapid City, South Dakota staged a protest led by the NDN Collective.
“The city has made it almost impossible for any small organization to get any kind of permit, so we just take over the sidewalk,” says Braun. “Having, you know, 200-300 people lined up in a state like South Dakota is pretty significant. We made national headlines.”

Historical Trauma: The Root of Activism

Acts of resistance became a refrain for Indigenous tribes following colonization and the bloody establishment of the United States. One of the earliest was in response to the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which was a law passed by President Andrew Jackson ordering the resettlement of Native people to the west of the Mississippi. Jackson ultimately signed 70 removal treaties into law, forcibly moving numerous tribes, beginning with the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole, away from their homelands.

The Cherokee Nation condemned the Act and challenged it in court. Two years later, in 1832, the Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia determined the Cherokee had a right to their land and political independence. Despite the ruling, Jackson also forcibly removed the Cherokee Nation and by the 1840s, there were no Native American Nations in the American South.

Modern activism is rooted in historical trauma, says Dr. Natalie Avalos, who is a Chicana of Apache descent and a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“Historical trauma as a conversation has been percolating for a long time, but it has become more salient as younger generations have become hyper-aware of just how impacted they are by this kind of trauma,” Avalos says. “One of the means folks are using to try and work through and heal some of that trauma is coming together for [Indigenous] self-determination. Protecting your water, protecting your land becomes unifying points.”

For Bernadette Demientieff, a member of the Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in Tribal Government in Fort Yukon, Alaska, and director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, Avalos’ explanation rings true.

Since “time immemorial,” Demientieff says her people have had a spiritual and cultural connection to a caribou birthing place called Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit, or the “Sacred Place Where Life Begins.”

“We made a vow to take care of them and for 40,000 years we migrated alongside them, until the government forced us to settle.”

The Gwich’in people settled along the caribou’s migratory route, where they take the steps they can to preserve their history and culture against government actions. More recently, Gwich’in people have been leaders in the fight against the Line 3 oil pipeline construction, which is set to weave through Indigenous lands in Canada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Matriarchs on the Frontlines

The fight for the Earth’s revitalization is deeply embedded in Indigenous women, who are seen as powerfully spiritual and revered figures in many Native American nations.

“The work Indigenous women are doing on the front lines is no surprise,” explains Avalos. “For many Native nations, the idea that women have this sacred, procreative power lends them to intuitive knowing on how to care, how to heal, how to rectify, and at times even be wrathful and powerful and create boundaries.”

Braun believes the power of women as community organizers and activists is not only traced to Indigenous cultures and beliefs, but again back to historical trauma.

“After a long time of patriarchal rule, marginalized people get left behind when it comes to these fights—climate fights, justice fights,” Braun says. “Because of that, we have a connection that white men are never going to have.”

Demientieff shares that grief roots her in her work every day.

“I lost my son to murder in November 2019. It’s heartbreaking,” Demientieff says. “I realized that our children, they have every right to clean water, they have every right to clean air, to healthy animals to hunt. And I will fight for that every step of the way. I will fight for that for my grandchildren.”

Her people didn’t go looking for a fight, but her children are worth fighting for, she explains.
“That’s why there are women standing up speaking. We understand the importance of Mother Earth.”

Listen to Native Women—and other Actions to Take

To support Indigenous women and the causes they champion, Avalos says there is a foundational first step: truth and reconciliation, which she talks about with her students.

“We have one week where we talk specifically about gender justice and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women [MMIW], and they’re always shocked and horrified by the numbers and the stats,” she explains. “The level of violence that Indigenous women experience is often invisible. And if it’s invisible, then you can’t do anything about it.”

Her advice for white allies is to learn about the plights Indigenous people have faced and continue to face, and then tell their friends and family about what they’ve learned. What’s so important about this is having Indigenous people’s historical and current traumas witnessed and acknowledged.

Listening, as a first step, can make big impacts.

“Having people come in making decisions about our future and not involving us is disrespectful, and, quite frankly, violating our human rights,” Demientieff states.

What follows—the action—is even more powerful:

“We have to have more people involved, we have to have more people speaking out,” she says. “We have to have more people standing as one because who wants to see one star in the sky? You want to see a bright and shining sky, and that’s the way I see community organizing. Be loud, be proud, because we’ve come from some of the strongest people that ever walked this planet.”

Look where you live—there is likely a Native community closer than you think. There are many things you can do to support your Indigenous neighbors.

Helpful actions you can try:

• Buy from Native-owned businesses
• Support Native-led organizations like the Indigenous Environmental Network by donating or showing up to events
• Learn about whose land you occupy
• Listen to their stories and priorities
• Pay voluntary land taxes: learn more at nativegov.org
• Respectfully attend public-facing events
• Seek consent for land usage—you can read more about prior, informed consent from Native scholars Carla F. Fredericks and Kate R. Finn.

“As far as my people are concerned, I’ve already faced mass genocide, loss of land, and loss of language and culture,” Braun says. “If we can come back, then the world has an opportunity to as well.”

Dr. Avalos’ Syllabus

Check out Dr. Avalos’ recommended articles and books for further reading on Indigenous activism:

• “Indigenous Stewardship and the Death Rattle of White Supremacy,” an article by Dr. Avalos at politicaltheology.com
• “Recovering the Sacred” by Winona La Duke
• “Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance” by Nick Estes

Maybe you’ve seen the phrase “climate anxiety” pop up all over the internet. Maybe you’ve felt it yourself.

Since 2019, the term has been recycled by news outlets and Instagrammers to describe the very real emotional reaction many people are experiencing as a result of the climate crisis. According to a 2021 study from the University of Bath, 59% of 10,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 are extremely worried about climate change. Over 45% said that climate feelings negatively affect their daily lives. Respondents who felt most worried were from nations that have been hit hard by climate change already and felt like their governments weren't doing enough, including those from the Philippines, Brazil, and India.

Climate anxiety is one way to describe the stress and worry about climate change and its effects, and though it is widely used, are we all talking about the same thing? Better yet, should we really be trying to rid ourselves of it?

Investigating Climate Anxiety

Selin Nurgün, a queer Turkish American somatic coach and climate resilience practitioner, says we should be embracing all of our climate emotions. While anxiety is often spoken about, grief, dread, and guilt are also feelings that many people experience related to the climate crisis.

“[Climate anxiety] is turning a bit into a buzzword and becoming divorced from experience and real action,” Nurgün says.

“That is the opposite of what we need to be doing. I believe we need to be actively practicing how to become more resourced people willing to grow their capacity for discomfort and uncertainty, while centering joy and imagination. This is so that we may face our reality everyday, rather than turn away from it.”

At the root of the climate crisis and our climate emotions are systems that destroy natural resources, exploit labor, and encourage large-scale overconsumption and industrialization. While colonization, capitalism, and white supremacy continue to destabilize the planet and destroy natural resources, we cannot detangle ourselves from emotions brought on by these issues.

Climate Connection to Feminism

Vandana Shiva, environmental activist and ecofeminist, believes a strong connection between identity and land is the key to forming a healthy and sustainable relationship between people and the planet.

“The failure to understand biodiversity and its many functions is at the root of the impoverishment of nature and culture,” Shiva says.

Ecofeminism, by definition, is the distinct connection between women and nature, and how both exist under patriarchal structures. The term coined by French feminist Francoise d’Eaubonne offers us a lens to look through when we discuss the climate crisis and helps us ask deeper questions. As oppressive systems continue to foster and promote individualism, capitalism, and globalization, Nurgün finds themself working together with their community to address climate emotions.

“Ecofeminism can describe and help us kind of frame the crisis we are in right now with disembodied and disconnected people and leaders all over the place,” Nurgün says. “We’re responding to the destruction we are seeing.”

There are several ways to address the emotions we are collectively feeling in response to the rapid destruction of the earth, and isolating and ignoring them may not be the most productive solution.

How to Process Climate Anxiety

Somatics, a word with roots in the Greek word meaning body, is an opportunity for connecting between the emotional and the physical. It’s a ritual practice where feelings are allowed to present in the body in whatever way they arise. Nurgün finds that it is one of the ways that has most helped them deal with their own climate emotions.

“It’s really a philosophy of experiencing what is within; connection that aims at repairing the perceived split of the mind and body,” says Nurgün. It’s an experience of the self in the present moment.”

Through movement, the body is able to release tension and bring internal stress and turmoil outward.

It is not the only option, however, when it comes to addressing climate emotions. Talk therapy is another way to identify and explore distressing and intensifying feelings. Gathering with peers in a support group can help resolve the loneliness of climate anxiety, and can also help solve the ever-present question—what do we do now?

“There is such a great and understandable urgency within social and climate movements for systemic change, that many activists inevitably fall into martyrdom and burnout," offers Nurgün.“If we're going to stay with the work for the long haul and be effective leaders, we must learn how to listen to what our bodies are communicating.”

There is such a great and understandable urgency within social and climate movements for systemic change, that many activists inevitably fall into martyrdom and burnout. If we're going to stay with the work for the long haul and be effective leaders, we must learn how to listen to what our bodies are communicating.

—Selin Nurgün, somatics coach and climate resilience practitioner

As we continue to be complicit in the systems that perpetuate the climate crisis, the crisis and our emotions toward it will remain. These systems reward and replicate violence and are ingrained in the way we respond, promoting isolation and distraction rather than addressing how we feel and channeling that emotion into action.

Removing these emotions from our lives completely is an impossible task considering the steady rise in global warming. Instead, a better use of our energy and our feelings can be funneled into communicating our distress, organizing within our communities, and fighting against the purveyors of climate change.

Rachel Komich (they/them) is a queer writer, archivist and organizer from Ohio currently living in Miami, Florida. They write about politics, gender and sexuality, and things that make them curious.

In a social justice workshop conducted by Ilsa Govan, an anti-racism facilitator at Cultures Connecting, a Korean American woman shared that when she was a child, kids teased her about the foods she ate. All the white women in the workshop responded with things like, “I love your food,” “it’s great when you bring your food for lunch”—meaning, “I’m not like those kids.” For the white women, it may have felt like an expression of empathy, but for the Korean American woman, it was de-centering her experience with racism by making the conversation about them.

“What would it look like instead for us to lean into that conversation, to listen for understanding, to say, ‘what was that like for you as a child?’” asks Govan. “We perpetuate racism by keeping it invisible.”

Govan and her colleague Tilman Smith are co-authors of the new book, “What’s Up with White Women: Unpacking Sexism and White Privilege in the Pursuit of Racial Justice.” It is a practical guide for white women interested in becoming more effective in their cross-cultural and anti-racist practice, with concepts rooted in real stories. The intention behind the book is to invite white women to understand their gendered role in systemic racism and how their access to institutional power grants them a unique opportunity to act.

How Strategies for Surviving Sexism Can Perpetuate Racism

Smith and Govan explain that white women occupy a space between white men and people of color—a space called the “buffer zone,” a term they credit to Paul Kivel, a social justice educator and co-founder of the Oakland Men’s Project. In the buffer zone, white women—regardless of other marginalized identities they may hold—can access institutional power through their relationship with white men, yet still experience the oppression of sexism. While all women experience sexism, it plays out differently for women of color who are also dealing with racism. Sometimes, strategies white women use to survive sexism in the buffer zone can perpetuate racism.

“If we’re in a meeting and we feel like we’re not being heard, we tend to get big and talk firmer, louder,” says Smith. “When we’re with a group of white men, that’s what we need to do to present—‘you are not going to render me invisible.’ But that same strategy in a multiracial group is maladaptive. It does not work well because we leave no space for anybody else. And therefore, we perpetuate white supremacy, think that we’re being our nice, firm, feminine selves, but we’re actually being oppressive.”

Similarly, body language to survive sexism can perpetuate racism in other situations. Throughout the book, Smith and Govan use personal stories to illustrate these concepts—one of which is how some white women respond to confrontation.

During a committee meeting, a multiracial woman gave Govan some criticism on her allyship in front of the entire group. Govan confronted her after the meeting and when the woman of color became visibly angry that Govan wasn’t listening, Govan shut down.

“And as a young child, I learned [to be icy and quiet] to deal with sexism when I knew I couldn’t fight back,” says Govan.

While the silent treatment would hopefully prevent a violent confrontation with a white man, for a Black or brown person, even being loud when addressing a quiet white woman could result in arrest and detention in a system that historically does not protect them—African Americans are more likely to be wrongfully convicted of a crime than any other ethnic group, according to a 2017 report from National Registry of Exonerations and the University of California Irvine.

Govan’s initial reaction to defend her allyship feeds into the internalized belief that white women want to be good people, and that good people can’t make mistakes. However, when a person of color gives feedback, it is an invitation to do better—regardless of delivery. It is important to believe them and thank them. The price of not doing so is continued injustice.

“White women often think the opposite of racist is good, rather than the opposite of racist is anti-racist,” says Govan of what she learned from that and other interactions with people of color.

That idea of goodness is counterproductive to learning and practicing anti-racism, the authors
say. Unlearning white supremacy messaging will result in many mistakes and that is something white women will need to come to terms with to make progress.

What White Women Can Do

Govan and Smith hope that white women who read their book do not expect a step-by-step handbook to becoming anti-racist—every journey is different and is informed by personal experiences. However, Govan explains that a social justice framework can offer guidance.
Awareness: Have awareness of yourself and how you move about the world. Govan explains that she had to look deeply at how experiences throughout her life taught her to internalize white superiority from the teachers she had at school to the unspoken messages in the communities she lived in.

Knowledge: Amassing knowledge by reading the works of educators who have been writing about these issues for years. See recommendations below.

Skills: Practicing what has been learned through self-reflection and knowledge. Sometimes that’s knowing when to remain silent and when to speak up. Govan emphasizes that white women who want to learn anti-racism must get over the fear of failure—making mistakes is part of developing skills. Smith hopes that white women will help each other learn as they struggle on this journey.

Advocacy: Advocating for anti-racism in laws and in the policies of organizations. The personal work is important, but it is not enough to herald the changes necessary for justice in society; systemic changes are critical to advancing anti-racism at scale.

Proceeds from Govan and Smith’s book will be donated to organizations with leaders of color: Unspoken Truths, the award-winning American history exhibit by Delbert Richardson, and Tsuru for Solidarity, a Japanese American organization working to end detention sites on the US-Mexico border.

Acknowledging the Educators who Informed this book:

Govan and Smith acknowledge that this book has been informed by the writings of many educators of different backgrounds. They state that giving credit where credit is due is part of dismantling white supremacy. Here are some of the educators they acknowledge:

• Angela Davis, “Women, Race, and Class”
• Melissa V. Harris-Perry, “Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America”
• Audre Lorde, “Sister Outsider”
• Leticia Nieto, “Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment”
• Paul Kivel, “Uprooting Racism: How White People can Work for Racial Justice”

Get your copy of What's Up With White Women

While there are different diets that reduce meat intake, from vegetarian to flexitarian, veganism has the lowest carbon footprint, and is about kindness to animals and the planet. Veganism is about refusing to eat, wear, or otherwise consume animal products. As a lifestyle that is about caring for others, why is it met with vitriol?

The loudest proponents of veganism have made the diet seem exclusionary—as if it’s impossible to care about the climate without being vegan. Even more exclusionary is the veganism commercialized by celebrities who sell an upscale vegan lifestyle and even weight-loss scheme. Often, these vegan influencers are white and do not acknowledge the cultures they are appropriating for their vegan recipes, nor do they acknowledge the damaging environmental impacts of trendy vegan foods—many mock meats contain genetically modified soy, which contributes to deforestation, habitat loss, and toxic pesticide use.

For the mainstream vegan movement to be more inclusive, it will need to recognize where it intersects with other issues—whether that’s the planet, animals, or marginalized communities—and help people understand that veganism is more than a diet, but a way of thinking that prioritizes liberation for people, animals, and the environment.

Beyond the Diet

LoriKim Alexander is a self-identified Black dyke vegan and organizer in New York City. Alexander’s vegan practice is about education and community, where she organizes with groups like Black VegFest, the North Bronx Collective, and The Cypher. She wants vegans of color and marginalized gender identities to be heard.

“We, Black, Indigenous and people of the global majority, have held this knowledge and influenced this work for generations,” Alexander says. “If we are truly dedicated to ending oppression of all oppressed beings on this planet, then there must come input from oppressed humans—Black, Indigenous, and people of the global majority, especially trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people.”

For Alexander, inclusion is one part of the conversation; for inclusion to work, the delivery of a message must be carefully considered and culturally relevant.

Alexander worked on a mutual aid project in the Bronx neighborhood to feed predominantly Black and brown folks vegan, whole foods during the pandemic, as well as cultivate a forest fragment for nature-based learning. Through the project, Alexander can connect ideas like food justice with veganism and environmental stewardship.

This project captures her nonhuman-centered approach that prioritizes liberation for all beings—for Alexander, veganism is keeps marginalized humans and nonhuman animals at the front of her mind.

“To be truly vegan means that we look at the most sustainable, equitable, and careful ways of going about feeding ourselves and taking care of ourselves in the world,” she says.

Part of that is recognizing that industrial animal agriculture not only oppresses animals, but marginalized groups, too.

A Diet for the Planet Must Include its People

Going vegan can reduce the effects of the climate crisis—factory farms account for 37% of methane emissions—and veganism can also reduce the impact of pollution on marginalized communities. Environmental Working Group’s 2020 “Fields of Filth” report demonstrates that communities of color are still the most affected by pollution from factory farms—and farmworkers are exposed to diseases and pesticides at disproportionately high rates.

Initially, Z. Zane McNeill became a vegan at 14 for the animals, but their identity as a nonbinary vegan has helped them recognize how seemingly disparate social issues intertwine. McNeill is a co-editor of “Queer and Trans Voices: Achieving Liberation Through Consistent Anti-Oppression,” which unravels the deep connections between issues such as racism, transphobia, xenophobia, and animal agriculture. Alexander is also a contributor to the book and talks about the limitations of the word “inclusion” in the vegan movement.

McNeill notes how the vegan movement has prioritized animal rights without including Black and brown communities, which are oppressed under the same system.

Slaughterhouses are well-known for their dangerous working conditions. Workers are more than three times likely to be injured than in other industries. The workers—a third of whom are immigrants, a quarter whom are undocumented, and some whom are currently incarcerated—live in fear of deportation or punishment to report workplace and animal abuses. As undercover investigations into concentrated animal feed operations (CAFOs) are outlawed, the ability to reveal dangerous workplace conditions and inhumane animal treatment goes with it. It is the meat packing corporations that benefit the most from this silence.

It would make sense for vegan advocacy organizations and immigrant and worker rights organizations to work together to end these abuses for the collective liberation of both parties. Yet in 2019, 700 Latin American workers were arrested when US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided several chicken processing plants in Mississippi—the largest workplace raid to ever occur in a single state. Facility operators, employed by the wealthiest meat corporations in the US, complied with officers—and white-led vegan advocacy organizations remained mostly silent. Alexander says that Black- and Latinx-led vegan groups have been working on this for years now. It's time that white-led vegan organizations spoke up for Black, brown, and immigrant workers as well.

Human rights and animal rights groups will have to cultivate intersectional approaches to veganism in order to collaborate toward collective liberation, according to McNeill.

“In my perspective, you can’t fight for animal liberation without fighting for queer liberation, for justice for Black folks and for the environment, and for immigrants and for slaughterhouse workers,” McNeill says.

Intersectionality is Inclusivity

Contributors to McNeill’s book draw parallels between white supremacy and animal oppression. Leah Kirts writes that their uncle’s cruelty towards cows on his dairy farm mirrored his abuse towards the undocumented Mexican immigrants he employed. Reducing non-white humans and humans with marginalized gender identities to an “other” mirrors the behavior of “othering” animals.

For Alexander and McNeill, understanding veganism as an ideological framework is to recognize the many ways marginalized groups—both human and nonhuman—are oppressed by white supremacy. Whether fighting for food sovereignty, animal liberation, immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, or environmental racism, it’s important to consider how these issues intersect to work towards solutions that don’t leave any one issue behind.

“A lot of [friends] have come to understand veganism as a politic,” says McNeill. “When they’re doing direct action work, it’s not always possible to eat plant-based, but they’re always fighting for animal liberation, as well as their work fighting pipelines—which has a direct impact on not just human communities and the environment, but also animal communities.”

Being generous with people is important to making veganism inclusive, says Alexander, who encourages welcoming imperfect progress.

“Recognizing that if someone isn’t vegan, that doesn’t mean they’ll never get there, or that they don’t have the capacity for information,” she says. “If we don’t uphold that folks can do it, then we’re going to miss them.”

Contact LoriKim Alexander at lorikim@email.com

Order a copy of Queer and Trans Voices: Achieving Liberation Through Consistent Anti-Oppression from Sanctuary Publishers

“The Atlantic Slave Trade permanently altered shark migration in the Atlantic Ocean,” Arielle V. King, 23, begins her TikTok.

The video, viewed nearly 600,000 times on her account @ariellevking, explains how sharks following the slave ships, feasting on the Black bodies thrown overboard, forever changed their movements.

On Instagram, Isaias Hernandez, aka @QueerBrownVegan, 25, posts about everything from foraging mushrooms to divesting from fossil fuels. Leah Thomas, 27, is @greengirlleah on Instagram, where she educates on topics like zero waste and promotes her organization Intersectional Environmentalist.

With knowledge gleaned from childhoods spent online, young people have harnessed the immense power of the digital world—and proven social media is more than its faults.

Don’t Underestimate Them

Despite confidence and passion for these causes, ageism is often an ugly truth for young people—especially those who use their voices publicly.

According to the UN’s 2021 Global Report on Ageism, discrimination and stereotyping of young people “manifests across a range of institutions including the workplace, the legal system and politics.”

King has experienced ageism, having gone to college at 16 and being viewed as the “little kid” in workplaces.

Now, in her role as an environmental justice staff attorney at the Environmental Law Institute, she finds spaces where her contributions are appreciated.

“I would never limit myself to only listening to people who are older than me—it would shut out so much learning,” she adds.

There are times when it’s not possible to choose a safe space, however. According to the UN report, in the political world, older people tend to dismiss the voices of youth and children due to doubting the “authenticity” of their perspectives.

It makes little sense when you realize Millennials are the generation of 9/11 and the 2008 housing crisis, and Gen Z-ers are the generation of mass shootings, climate change, and covid-19. Their life experiences uniquely prime them to speak out.

Thomas explains another reason to respect and listen to younger voices.

“Children are forfeiting some of their childhood because they care so much,” she says, referring to students’ decisions to participate in protests like Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for the Future. “People don’t realize kids are missing school and life moments because they’re scared and so deeply want a future where they’re safe.”

Fighting for a Collective Good

These experiences are compounded for marginalized voices, like communities of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, and others.

“We have been normalized and indoctrinated by an economic system to believe we deserve to live in a poisoned environment,” Hernandez says.

Even social media—an ideally democratic space where anyone anywhere can create an account—bends to the wills of oppressive institutions.

Tired of a sustainability space dominated by white, wealthy voices talking about throwing money at a $300 sustainable dress or an electric car, Thomas took matters into her own hands. She created the Intersectional Environmentalist, a “climate justice community and resource hub centering BIPOC and historically under-amplified voices.”

“There’s a lot of Black women who have been doing this work before me,” Thomas explains. “There’s no reason this attention needs to be going one person, it needs to go to a collective good.”

While reflecting on a viral post she made in 2020 that read “Environmentalists for Black Lives,” Thomas described feeling “afraid” because in most environmental spaces she inhabited, she was “one of only a few Black faces.” The virality of her post revealed not only the message’s resonance, but the need to do the work and make environmental spaces more diverse.

Accessible Content for a Curious Audience

According to Pew, a majority of adults in the US use Facebook and Instagram daily, and nearly half use Twitter every day.

An added bonus to using social media to share their message, according to King? “There’s no barrier for entry. Especially in the US, where we have to pay for higher education, having access to people sharing this information for free opens up opportunities.”

This learning can not only co-exist with often-inaccessible academic spaces, but also transform them into something accessible, inclusive, and truthful. Historically, communities of color face more barriers getting into higher education—from attending poorly-funded high schools to the attacks on and limits of programs like affirmative action. Denying people the chance to learn—in a society where higher education is often deemed necessary—ensures they will not have a seat at the table, despite their lived experiences, knowledge, and ideas.

King, Hernandez, and Thomas all agree environmental justice can be for everyone, especially those disproportionately affected by climate disasters, like Black communities in the South and Indigenous people fighting for clean water and their land.

“These terms don’t have to be as complex as the ivory tower has made them,” King says.
The ease of social media can also account for people’s learning levels and lack of education access.

“A lot of people respond to social media posts: ‘You’re just synthesizing the work I’ve been doing for years, people should read a book.’” Thomas says. “I do believe in reading books, but [some audiences are] more likely to read or watch this post than that dense book with words I can’t even understand with my degree.”

I do believe in reading books, but [some audiences are] more likely to read or watch this post than that dense book with words I can’t even understand with my degree.”

—Leah Thomas,
Intersectional Environmentalist

It’s hardly the first time introducing big concepts to different audiences. Bill Nye, anyone? Encouraging and advocating for education is to see someone’s potential.

By its nature, social media fosters community and learning via engagement (comments, re-sharing, “dueting” on TikTok, etc.) Features like events and groups on Facebook make it easy to plan actions and collaborate. Communication is simple on social media, making vital information—a protest location, talking points—accessible, which in turn encourages action.

As Advocates for Youth states in its Youth Activist Toolkit: “You will not win your campaign because of social media, but you can’t win without it.”

In June, King spoke on climate justice at a virtual, international Model UN climate conference for middle and high school students.

“Some of the things they were bringing up and asking me [like suggestions for holding corporate polluters accountable] I hadn’t heard any of those comments in my classroom discussions or considered those ideas. It’s really inspiring.”

Picture a farmer. Are you seeing a gruff white man steering his tractor between perfectly aligned Iowa corn rows? If you were to look at US Census of Agriculture data on farmer demographics, you might even be convinced that this is what farming in America looks like.

The US Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service conducts a census of farmland and farming communities every five years, but that data fails to highlight many of those who are out in the field every day. But in spite of this lack of representation for women and queer farmers who the survey fails to highlight, there are many incredible farming initiatives, farms themselves and research initiatives changing the face of agriculture in the US and inspiring others to see role models in women and queer people like themselves.

As climate change, institutional sexism, and discrimination disproportionately bear down on farmers and farmworkers who identify as women or queer, these individuals face more challenges getting started and staying in the workforce than their cisgender, straight, and male counterparts. This is the story of those who bear the brunt of these challenges, exacerbated by the climate crisis, and their positive adaptations to a field marked by discrimination.

Climate Change and Farming

The climate crisis has intensified the daily challenges that farmers face out in the fields, first and foremost from heat exposure. According to the American Public Health Association, crop workers face a high risk of heat-related death and illness. Excessive heat seriously injured nearly 80,000 US workers and killed 907 between 1992 and 2019 according to data analyzed by Public Citizen, though experts say heat deaths are likely under-counted. To make matters worse, pickers are often paid by the piece, like per tomato, resulting in a disincentive to take breaks, even when it’s excruciatingly hot.

An increase in pests and evaporation from rising temperatures is leading to increased use of pesticides. Pesticide exposure has a disproportionate effect on people who can get pregnant as it can increase the rate of poor birth outcomes, developmental issues, and childhood tumors. Mónica Ramírez, executive director of Justice for Migrant Women, notes that studies on farmworkers, especially in relation to pesticide exposure, have largely been focused on male farmworkers, making this impact particularly difficult to quantify.

Close-quarter living poses a challenge for farmworkers who have no other options than the farm-provided housing. Crowded conditions, a lack of air conditioning in hot climates, and an inability to follow social distancing recommendations throughout covid-19 all make housing uncomfortable, compounded by rising temperatures year after year. Lastly, farmers and farmworkers often lack insurance and thus are often excluded from affordable healthcare. This especially affects migrant farmworkers and queer farmers who face limited access in rural communities.

What About Queer Farmers?

Challenges to accessing agriculture do not stop with climate change. Markets and policies favor straight, white male farmers. Climatic challenges are exacerbated by racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia for women, LGBTQ+ farmers, and farmers of color. Women farmers in the American West have traditionally accessed land through heterosexual relationships like marriage or inheritance, or they have had to find innovative routes to land ownership, explains Jac Wypler, sociology PhD who researches queer farmers.

“Patriarchal gatekeepers make it very difficult for queer women to gain access to land, to remain on land and to continue their businesses,” Wypler says.

Visibility in the marketplace is another challenge as many queer farmers seek to separate their public image on the farm from their sexuality and identity, meaning would-be farmers who can’t identify peers may never join the workforce.

As women and queer farmers are often given the lowest-paying, least desirable jobs, face fewer advancement opportunities, gender-based discrimination, and regular sexual harassment, it’s not surprising that these groups drop out of the work force at an alarming rate, according to the National Farm Worker Ministry. However, because of the lack of diverse gender options and sexual orientation questions in national censuses, the rate at which women and queer folks drop out of the workforce is not readily available. Wypler is currently working to close this data gap.

Twenty eight states do not have explicit protections for victims of discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation, in employment, housing and public accommodations, according to the Freedom for All Americans campaign. This leaves out LGBTQ+ individuals and farmers across the South and Midwest, largely.

Despite these many challenges, it’s really the persistent and exclusionary farm culture that turns many queer, nonbinary and underrepresented farmers away from the field, which makes the work of women- and LGBTQ+-owned farms all the more important.

Queering Farming Models

Despite the many obstacles women and marginalized people face in accessing land for their own farming operations, Rock Steady Farm and Flowers got started in 2015 seeking to be reflective of and serve food to the queer community they call family.

Amara Ullauri, the programs and education manager at Rock Steady, found through speaking with queer and marginalized farmers in the Northeast that there are many queer and BIPOC folks [Black, Indigenous, and other people of color] who lack entrance into the farming community, much less making the business of farming work long-term. Social and community barriers can be just as restrictive to farm ownership as the economic barriers. The Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network Northeast, together with Rock Steady, has launched the Northeast Queer Wellness micro-grant intended for queer and trans land stewards.

“We identified many instances of transphobia not only in the workplace but in the surrounding neighborhood… folks not necessarily involved in the farm,” Ullauri says about the research that led to the grant program. “When we’re thinking about creating a safer farm space for queer and trans farmers, we’re thinking about the overall environment, the social environment, whether we will be safe when we leave the farm premises.”

The goal of the program is to help farmers access funds to address their overall wellness, acknowledging that queer farmers know best how to help each other and what they need to support themselves.

Ang Roell of They Keep Bees founded their apiary and organization seeking to enhance the overall health of the environment. Drawing on the deep connection between identity and agriculture, They Keep Bees offers a “queer model” of beekeeping as Roell calls it, whereby they provide other farmers with queen bees in a sustainable manner. Roell calls their business an alternative to the expansionist model of beekeeping which is “very deeply tied to capitalism and rapid-growth of mono crop agriculture.”

When Roell started out, they knew that they were going to face resistance. But despite the hesitancy from farmers, They Keep Bees has blossomed, serving as a space for queer farmers to learn about beekeeping, engage in sustainable agriculture and uplift the voices of those traditionally left out of the conversation.

Roell continues to find ways to expand the beekeeping family, by breaking down the heteronormative culture of farming, bringing a social media presence to agriculture and engaging young people across the country.

“I would love to see the census create space for queer and trans and nonbinary folk to self-identify and call us families and farmers instead of glossing over us,” Roell says. “Because that’s a way that larger-scale agriculture money gets allocated.”

I would love to see the census create space for queer and trans and nonbinary folk to self-identify and call us families and farmers instead of glossing over us.

—Ang Roell, They Keep Bees

Changes to the System

As climate change, the pandemic, bigotry and discrimination rage, more and more queer people, women, and farmers of color are forced out of farming or have no way to access a career in agriculture in the first place, making it harder to feed a growing population. Simultaneously, it is becoming harder for farmers to access land, especially for queer folks.

Wypler, Ullauri and Roell all believe the key to our food crisis, exacerbated by climate change is found in support of queer farms and farming networks. For those who aren’t farmers, there are many ways to support LGBTQ+ farmers, including:

• Vote to support affordable housing.
• Back the Justice for Black Farmers Act—a bill brought to the Senate floor to provide debt relief and encourage the next generation of Black farmers through land grants—and bills like it for the queer community specifically
• Buying from queer and trans farmers at local markets.
• Donate to queer community networks such as Not Our Farm, Out in the Open, and the Queer Farmer Network.
• Write your representatives to broaden the horizons on nondiscriminatory protection laws and increase funding for marginalized demographics within farming

Diego Velasquez is an artist, podcaster, writer, photographer, and environmental nonprofit professional based out of Moab, Utah, spending his free time climbing, mountain biking, and baking bread.

Queer leaders are making healing happen—healing for humans as people find a place to connect in safe spaces in nature, and healing for the Earth as thinkers come together for creative solutions to the climate crisis.

By connecting people with nature and inclusive communities, emerging outdoors groups are creating connections which can lead to fulfilling personal goals and being able to reflect on bigger issues too. At the same time, other queer groups are starting with the big picture and working inward, to see how resilience and creativity already within their communities can heal our earth.

Why Queer Justice is Climate Justice

Struggles against oppression are intertwined—people left out of support systems and oppressed by systemic injustices face the greatest threats in the climate crisis. Along with people living in poverty and people of historically disenfranchised racial and ethnic groups, queer people will and do face disproportionate burdens from natural disasters, polluted air, and unstable housing.

Not being accepted by family, feeling tokenized at work, or being left out of a social group is indicative of the systematic discrimination that queer people and especially queer people of color face. LGBTQ+ people are overrepresented in the unhoused population, particularly in youth, and in the prison system, with lesbian, gay and bisexual people being incarcerated at three times the rate of straight people, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Trans people are incarcerated at even higher rates.

Reducing CO2 emissions and bringing down the global temperature will disproportionately benefit people living in poverty, unhoused people, and incarcerated people, and the queer people represented in those groups along the way, even more than the general population. That means LGBTQ+/queer justice is climate justice.

"[Queer people] have been great at adapting in urban communities, and it’s going to be our resilience in non-urban communities, communities that are more integrated into the ecological system, that’s going to be able to allow us to thrive and be a part of the [climate] solution.”

—Layel Camargo, Shelterwood Collective

Why Community is Important

At their office, Jas Maisonet didn’t feel like they fit in. As a nonbinary person with brown skin at a largely white company, they wondered if they were a diversity hire, and if they were getting paid what they were worth for their work as a graphic designer. Maisonet wondered if they were the only one feeling this way, but didn’t know who to talk to about it. An avid outdoorsperson since childhood, Maisonet had been part of hiking groups in the past, but not any that made them truly feel seen. That’s why they started QPOC Hikers [i.e. Queer People of Color] after settling into a new home in Seattle, Washington.

It turns out they weren’t the only one feeling isolated—Seattle has grown into a tech hub where white men have an easier time fitting in at work or in social spaces. Maisonet found their people in nature. They started the group in 2019, so most of the group’s outings at this point have been during the pandemic—which complicated matters but didn’t stop the group. If anything, it grew.
The work done on the trail by QPOC Hikers community members is subtle but vital—and it’s not just about hiking.

Maisonet was inspired by the StoryCorps project, which facilitates conversations and storytelling between families and community members. As they navigate the trails on day hikes or backpacking weekends, QPOC Hikers also find a safe place to talk about handling feeling tokenized at work or where to get a haircut for curly hair. They also make space for story sharing for people who are not able to hike together in person online at qpochikers.com.

“I wanted to bring that element to the space of if there’s an experience that you love, or maybe that wasn’t so pleasant, that you’ve had on the trail, and you want to share that with other folks, maybe because you feel like you’re the only one going through something,” says Maisonet. “It’s a therapeutic space as well.”

Across the country in Atlanta, Georgia, Eileen Pagán was also looking for their people. Pagán is a queer, trans, nonbinary, first-generation American with Puerto Rican heritage who spent their childhood often with bare feet on the beach in Puerto Rico marveling at the ocean and hiking back at home in Florida. Pagán says queer, Latinx, and fat hikers like them often feel excluded, stigmatized, or even in danger when outside in nature.

Pagán got word of a new hiking group in their area, called Latinx Hikers, which was a community designed to be inclusive of people of all genders and sizes.

“It was one of the first times that I went on a group hike where I didn’t feel like I was bringing the group hike down because of my own accessibility,” Pagán says.

Pagán works as a trauma counselor and art therapist and says it’s no coincidence that nature has healing properties for humans—that if people are able to feel safe in nature, whether with a community or by themselves, there can be healing outdoors.

“I found connection and reconnection to being outside and being a part of this earth because I resemble so much of what I love,” Pagán says. “I feel so attached to the mountains, like the vastness of the valleys, and the way that they all connect to each other, and how unapologetically they take up space. Finding that connection to the Earth was really important for my own healing process of my body—destigmatizing that for me, and finding healing in that.”

Queer Protectors of Nature

In Cazedero, California, pine trees, oaks, and Douglas fir trees give shade to cabins and trails—the area is serene and popular for camping and hiking. As wildfires threaten the dry West year after year, Cazedero is at risk. It’s going to take creative solutions to manage climate risks in forested areas like this.

Shelterwood Collective is working on it. The nonprofit group, started by Nikola Alexandre, Layel Camargo, and Sovereign-Xavier Oshumare, intends to bring land healing and community healing together in this small town. The nonprofit venture they started will bring together their perspectives as queer, Black and Indigenous people, along with other members of queer and communities of color, to model how ecosystems can be healthier when they are stewarded by people who shed colonialist conservation principles.

It sounds complicated, but at its core, it’s about resilient, creative people working the land. Alexandre, who has a master’s degree in forestry from Yale University, will be leading the group’s forest-management efforts to restore historic redwoods to the area—he points out that in Western conservation methods, it is ignored that Indigenous people co-evolved with forest ecosystems as they stewarded them for the last 10,000 years.

“A lot of traditional land trusts and conservation organizations are very [cisgender-, hetersexual-], and white-dominated and bring a lot of that ethic into how they manage forests. You can often see the poor quality of land stewardship and conservation activities,” says Alexandre. “I was very interested to see how we could create a model of land stewardship that centers de-colonial, queer, and racially just land ethics.”

Camargo says during the worsening climate crisis, cultural preservation and unconventional resilience strategies will be necessary. They give the examples of using art, retaining Indigenous and immigrant languages, and learning about historic resilient, and natural practices from those communities as strategies that they hope to make space for thinking about and practicing at Shelterwood.

“I think Shelterwood is a hub for just being in right relationship with the land, with the pressures of climate change. As queer people, we had to build that for ourselves, because there weren’t land projects that are exclusively working to bring in some of the most marginalized people—which can be us,” says Camargo, a cultural worker who is transgender, gender non-conforming, and an Indigenous descendant of the Yaqui and Mayo tribes.

Looking for Your People

If you’re looking for community in an outdoors group, you might not be too far from the trail right now—try a search engine, social media, or asking a local LGBTQ+ support organization. Or you can be like Jas Maisonet, and be the organizer you want to see in the world.

Queer-, BIPOC-, and women-led land management is becoming more common too. Try searching for “queer-led land trust” and your state, or substitute for other historically underrepresented groups in land ownership.

Camargo’s emphasis on the preservation of queer, Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and other traditionally oppressed experiences as being key to survival in the climate crisis shows that so many activities can play a part in queer justice and climate justice—from an inclusive group taking walks and connecting in nature to growing their own food to taking on a land management project.

“[Queer people] have been great at adapting in urban communities, and it’s going to be our resilience in non-urban communities, communities more integrated into the ecological system, that’s going to be able to allow us to thrive and be a part of the [climate] solution.”

The global gender pay gap will now take 136 years to close. In early 2020, the World Economic Forum (WEF) had estimated that it would take 99 years to close the gender pay gap. But after just a year of the pandemic, WEF calculated that women were set back by nearly four decades. Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other women of color who were already battling a larger pay gap than white women, were set back further. The United Nations UN) reports women and girls will bear the brunt of environmental, economic, and social shocks from climate change—the UN also says women and girls are early adopters of new technologies, first responders, and important decision-makers about sustainable home decisions.

Despite those facts, women, and LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and more identities—the Human Rights Campaign has great definitions and resources at hrc.org) people are taking control of finances by being on the board of corporations and banking their values. They are creating solutions to climate change, not being victims of it.

This is an important point for the many women and LGBTQ+ leaders in the socially responsible investing movement (SRI) who are creating pathways for investors to support businesses that are run by diverse leaders and making better decisions for people and the planet.

“At every level, from the village to the middle management to the executive suite, the more women there are in decision-making, the more likely climate is to be part of that decision,” says Julie Gorte, senior vice president for sustainable investing at Impax Asset Management{GBN}.

Corporate Responsibility has Intersectional Benefits

In the SRI community (also called Environmental, Social, and Governance [ESG] investing) analysts look at different markers for diversity—including how racially and gender-diverse a company’s leadership is, pay equity, and other factors to create products like index funds for investors to back companies with strong social justice values.

“When there is more diversity in decision-making, the companies tend to be environmentally better, they tend to manage resources better, and they tend to be more innovative,” says Gorte.

According to studies from 2019 and 2012, firms with female CEOs had lower emissions than their peers; companies with women in the executive levels were more likely to invest in renewable energy, integrate climate into decision-making, measure and manage emissions, and find other solutions to reduce environmental risks.

When there is more diversity in decision-making, the companies tend to be environmentally better, they tend to manage resources better, and they tend to be more innovative.

Julie Gorte, senior vice president for sustainable investing, Impax Asset Management

Impax is one of several companies that has developed index funds for sustainable and diverse investments. Another is Adasina Social Capital, which uses connections with social justice organizations to decide what priorities to consider when creating sustainable and socially just fund products.

Renee Morgan is a social justice strategist with Adasina and works with social justice partners to establish investment criteria and direct investment campaigns.

All sorts of investments can be looked at from a gender perspective, but gender justice is so closely linked to racial justice and climate justice that it's hard to talk about just one, Morgan says. For example, the prison divestment movement grows as investors decide they don’t want to own stocks in private prison companies—or take it one step further by also screening companies that provide services to prisons, says Morgan.

With Black, Latinx, and Native American men being incarcerated at far higher rates than white men, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, their families have to face life with their loved ones behind bars. The partners of those incarcerated men, often women of color, are likelier to be caring for family members on one income, paying for transportation to visit their loved ones, and paying for overpriced prison “services” like phone calls and commissary foods. LGBTQ+ women of color face much higher rates of incarceration than their straight and cisgender peers.

The good news is that companies are seeing more investors who don’t want to participate in the prison industrial complex, and as Adasina reviewed its portfolio, it found 21 companies it had previously excluded because of their participation were now not involved in prisons, so they could be re-introduced to socially responsible funds. Activist investors have pushed major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and others to exit the private prison and immigrant detention industries, as of 2019.

“Even though we talk about our four pillars being gender justice, racial justice, climate justice, and environmental justice, nothing we do fits into neat categories,” Morgan says. “We’ve been working deeply on a sub-minimum wage campaign, and even though that means a wage increase for tipped workers, it’s 70% women and something like half of those women of color that work in restaurants.”

Building Better Banks

For many women and people in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as people of color and those who grew up without much money, investing can feel out of reach. Even banks can feel out of reach. More and more financial institutions are working to serve people who have been historically not included in the investing community—including those women and people in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as communities of color, blue collar workers, and poor people. Make no mistake about it—banking is investing.

So says Dara Kagan, the first vice president of social impact banking at Amalgamated Bank{GBN} which is based in New York City and serves people all over the country through online banking. Amalgamated was founded by the Amalgamated Clothing and Textiles Union in 1923 because there just weren’t banks that had open doors for people without large amounts of wealth, like union members.

A growing number of socially responsible financial institutions, like Amalgamated, are prioritizing transparency in their values and investments. For people who feel that they can’t afford to invest in the stock market or other traditional investments, choosing a bank that aligns with personal values is especially important, because money held in your accounts is invested by the bank until you need it. Amalgamated lists the issues it invests in and how on its website, like building a special lending solution for Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country and providing pro-bono services for the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, as well as many more initiatives related to LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights, climate justice, worker’s rights, and others.

“We build on our history by virtue of serving not just working families and individuals, but entire organizations of social justice movements that work on change,” Kagan says. “It’s not just what we say, it’s what we do, trying to live up to our values. That is so important for those who choose to bank with us.”

What all these investing professionals show is that whether you have a modest paycheck to deposit at the bank or are a shareholder worth millions, investing in women and the LGBTQ+ community is a win for the triple bottom line—people, planet, and profits.

**GBN notes a certified Green Business Network member at Green America

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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom:10px; text-align:start">VIA ELECTRONIC FILING:&nbsp;Office of Regulations and Interpretations;&nbsp;Employee Benefits Security Administration Room N-5655</p>

<p><strong>RE: Proposed rule on Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights (RIN 1210-AC03)</strong></p>

<p>Dear Acting Assistant Secretary Khawar,</p>

<p>We, the undersigned members of Green America and Green America’s Green Business Network write to express our support for the direction of the proposed rule “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” issued on October 14, 2021, by the Department of Labor (DOL). We especially welcome the return to the long-standing support within the DOL for the:</p>

<ul>
<li>Inclusion of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria -- including consideration of the impacts of the climate crisis -- in the selection of investments for 401(k) plans and other employer-sponsored retirement plans; and</li>
<li>Recognition that proxy voting and other shareholder actions are important fiduciary responsibilities that should be fully promoted, not discouraged.</li>
</ul>

<p>Since the up ending of these positions by the last Administration, investment advisors, plan sponsors, asset managers, investors, investor and consumer groups, and labor organizations have called for clarity and a return to these investment practices that have been successful for decades.</p>

<p>ESG investing has grown tremendously in the United States and is now valued at $17 trillion in assets under professional management.<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="">[1]</a> It is used by a growing number of individual and institutional investors resulting in mainstay, conventional financial firms now routinely offering a range of ESG products and services. In fact, seven in ten individual investors now want to invest in accordance with their values.<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title="">[2]</a> Moreover, institutional investors globally are working to decarbonize their portfolios and reinvest in climate solutions to help prevent the worst climate outcomes, protect their assets, create jobs, and grow the clean energy economy on which a livable future depends.</p>

<p>In addition, we strongly support giving investors the right to select these investments for their portfolios as a prudent choice, given the positive financial track record of ESG investing. As studies have repeatedly shown, including a 2020 analysis by the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business<a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title="">[3]</a> of more than 1,000 studies on ESG investing, an ESG approach can help protect companies and investors from a wide array of risks and support positive financial returns.</p>

<p>Moreover, investors have a crucial responsibility when it comes to holding the corporations in which they invest, accountable to the many stakeholders their actions affect. By filing and voting on shareholder resolutions, investors identify issues of risk, new opportunities, and the need to correct negative impacts on communities, workers, consumers, the climate, environment, and more. Discouraging investors from exercising their proxy voting rights is anti-democratic and an irresponsible approach to corporate ownership that decreases corporate accountability and transparency.</p>

<p>We also value the DOL’s recognition of the importance of addressing climate impacts as a fiduciary duty. The need to explicitly integrate climate crisis impacts into investment decision-making is essential if we are to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis for life on Earth. We therefore recommend taking the DOL’s position a step further to require all publicly traded companies to report on their climate impacts and mitigation steps. So doing at this time is a prudent measure for our long-term economic viability and success.</p>

<p>Thank you for your leadership and consideration of our recommendation on climate. We look forward to the results of the public comment period and next steps to ensure the long-term financial well-being of millions of Americans. We believe our economic interests are best served for generations to come by acting on the connections between financial, social, environmental, and corporate governance factors.</p>

<p>Sincerely yours,</p>

<div>
<p>[Your Name]</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<div id="ftn1">
<p><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title="">[1]</a> US SIF Foundation, 2020 Report on US Sustainable and Impact Investing Trends</p>
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<div id="ftn2">
<p><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title="">[2]</a> Natixis Investment Managers, Looking for the Best of Both Worlds, 2019</p>
</div>

<div id="ftn3">
<p><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title="">[3]</a> NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, ESG and Financial Performance: Uncovering the Relationship by Aggregating Evidence from 1000 Plus Studies Between 2015-2020</p>
</div>
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Hours: full-time (4-days, 32 hours/week) 
Salary: $70,000 - $75,000/Grant Track Position
Benefits: a generous benefits package, including medical, dental, disability, sick days, vacation, holidays
Supervisor: Managing Director, Climate Safe Lending Network   

Green America is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a just and sustainable society by harnessing economic power for positive change. Our unique approach involves working with consumers, investors and businesses to create a world that works for all. We deploy marketplace solutions to solve the most pressing social and environmental problems facing society today.

The Center of Sustainability Solutions builds on Green America’s work over the years, where we’ve brought together industry groups across supply chains to create major shifts in such areas as solar, banking and investing, sustainable agriculture and fair labor. The Center supports Innovation Networks, focused working groups of stakeholders with the objective of making significant, industry-wide system change.

The Climate Safe Lending Network (CSL) is a multi-organization, multi-stakeholder collaborative working to align bank lending with climate safe scenarios. CSL supports lending institutions to collaborate with each other and wider parts of the financial system – including investors, clients, regulators, policy makers, academics and civil society organizations – to align bank lending with climate safe scenarios that contain emissions to a 1.5ºC temperature increase and incorporate strategies for a socially equitable and just transition.   

This is a new position on the CSL Network team. Working closely with CSL’s Executive Director and Managing Director, the Policy Director will manage the development and implementation of the Climate Safe Policy Initiative, which aims to inject thought provocation into the debate on financial regulation to reframe the design of the financial system consistent with societal and environmental objectives. This initiative influences financial policies to help meet the network’s goal of aligning bank lending with the Paris Agreement.  

Post-pandemic, this position will involve domestic and international travel for Network meetings, conferences and business cultivation meetings, staff training, and other purposes. CSL is a virtual Network – the position may be housed in Washington, DC at the Green America offices, but may also be filled remotely.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Climate Safe Policy Initiative Development & Management

1. Mobilize a powerful and effective multi-stakeholder network co-creating financial policy and regulatory proposals and practices that can help systemically change the banking and finance sector to accelerate decarbonisation and a just transition to a climate-safe world.
2. Lead the development and execution of a strategy for achieving initiative goals as well as develop collaborative structures and processes to support the work of this initiative, such as working groups and task forces.
3. Engage financial regulators, policy makers, bankers, bank clients, and other stakeholders in the work of this initiative, which includes influencing the enactment of financial regulations and policies that address the real impacts of finance on climate, co-creating effective channels for dialogue and constructive debate on taking bolder climate action. This may also include work on primary market policy in conjunction with financial stakeholders to help drive climate solution markets and optimize flows of green finance.
4. Lead the design, planning, and organizing of meetings and events to advance the work of this initiative as well as facilitate meetings alongside CSL staff.    
5. Oversee and support collaborative efforts undertaken by initiative participants, which could include preparing sign-on letters, drafting financial policy proposals, and/or coordinating political debates at the domestic and regional levels.  
6. Monitor the progress of this initiative according to established goals and benchmarks.
7. Identify and act on opportunities to support the development and growth of this initiative in collaboration with the CSL staff team.
8. Coordinate with the leads of other CSL initiatives, including the Climate Safe Learning Lab and Climate Safe Prosumers & Influencers Initiative, to facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas, sharing of best practices and lessons learned, and engagement of members across the network.     
9. Contribute to the design, planning and execution of Climate Safe Lending Network convenings and events.
10. Participate in regular meetings with the CSL staff team and network leadership body.

Writing & Communications

1. Prepare policy-related news articles, op-eds, blog posts, and reports as part of enhancing CSL’s reputation as a sustainable finance thought leader.
2. Stimulate dialogue on topics pertaining to climate safe policies and regulations in online forums, such as CSL’s LinkedIn group and network member discussion portal.
3. Coordinate with the Program Manager on sharing information about the Climate Safe Policy Initiative through CSL’s monthly newsletters, social media posts, and website.   

Fundraising, Budget Management & Funder Reporting

1. Prepare and manage a detailed Climate Safe Policy Initiative budget.
2. Participate in securing funding for the Climate Safe Policy Initiative and Climate Safe Lending Network, which includes helping to identify and cultiate funders and contributing to the development of grant applications and other fundraising materials.
3. Participate in donor stewardship to include tracking the completion of grant deliverables and preparing narrative and financial reports to funders.

Participate in Cross-Departmental Teams

1. Provide operational support to the Center for Sustainability Solutions, as needed.
2. Participate in Center for Sustainability Solutions efforts and ensure the collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas, tools, and resources between teams, as needed.
3. Ensure that knowledge gained is converted into “knowledge capital” for the Center for Sustainability Solutions by documenting work processes involved in managing Innovation Networks and successful strategies used in CSL operations.
4. Participate in Green America staff meetings and processes and other duties as required.
5. Participate in Green America Cross Departmental Teams: The success of our organizational work includes the voluntary participation of staff members from all levels of the organization in cross-departmental teams addressing a range of issues to strengthen our impact and planning, as time and other work commitments allow.

Qualified Candidates should have the following skills and qualities:

• Minimum of five years professional experience, ideally in the sustainable finance and/or environmental sector
• In-depth knowledge of the international financial system, including key actors and the architecture of financial regulatory frameworks
• Previous experience working with international collaboratives involving international finance, banking, and/or environmental sustainability
• Proven ability to build collaborative relationships within the financial sector, including commercial and central banks, regulators, and policy makers
• A passion for finance, environmental sustainability, and cross-sector collaboration.
• Demonstrated project management skills, with experience managing several projects simultaneously with minimal supervision
• Strong written communication and research skills; able to synthesize and effectively communicate complex ideas and concepts in a variety of written formats, including reports, press materials, and social media
• Strong verbal communication skills; skilled in delivering interactive and engaging presentations  
• Adept in using technology, such as Microsoft Office, Zoom, and social media
• MBA or Masters degree in a related field required
• Group facilitation experience desired
• Experience with fundraising or business development a plus

How to Apply:

Please send your cover letter, resume, and a writing sample (ideally one that has not been professionally edited) to connect@climatesafelending.org.

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Green America is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination regarding: actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding, or reproductive health disorders), age (18 years of age or older), marital status (including domestic partnership and parenthood), personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, citizenship status, credit information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is included as a form of discrimination and is strictly prohibited.

Hours: 32 hours per week/4 days 
Grant Track: This is a 4-year position with opportunity for extension 
Salary: $75,000 - $82,000 
Reports to: Soil Carbon Initiative Managing Director 
Benefits: Excellent benefits including health care, dental care, paid leave, socially responsible retirement plan, friendly work environment, 4-day work week 
Application Deadline: June 15, 2023, details below 
Apply to: scihiring@greenamerica.org with cover letter, resume and writing sample  

ORGANIZATION SUMMARY:

Green America is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a just and sustainable society by harnessing economic power for positive change.  

The Soil Carbon Initiative (SCI) is a project housed at Green America.  This outcomes-based, scientific, agricultural commitment and verification program is designed to help farmers and supply chains measure improvements in soil health and scale the adoption of regenerative agriculture across food and fiber acres. The SCI Company Program empowers food and fiber brands, processors, aggregators and other supply chain participants to advance regenerative outcomes through their support of farms in the program.  

We are seeking an experienced account manager with the ability to develop relationships of trust with food system stakeholders, up to and including the C-suite. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in business development and relationship cultivation, project management experience, and a passion for regenerative agriculture. Experience working with CPG brands and other supply chain stakeholders on sustainability assessments, reporting and claims, ecolabels, and consumer engagement campaigns are all a plus. International project experience is also a plus.  

SCI team members can choose to work remotely or in our Washington, DC office. This position will involve occasional travel to Network meetings, conferences and business cultivation meetings, staff training, and other purposes.  Most travel will be domestic, but there may be one or two international trips each year. 

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Company Program Manager will be responsible for working closely with the rest of the SCI team to evolve and expand our Company Program. Responsibilities include: 

• Manage a portfolio of account relationships with senior program leaders across a range of food supply chain stakeholders 
• Identify and recruit Companies to participate in SCI through targeted outreach, relationship cultivation, and partnerships development 
• Onboard participating Companies into the program and guide them through the process of assessing their product Acre Footprint, establishing goals and commitments, verifying adherence to the SCI Company Standard, and making sustainability claims 
• Work with the SCI Farm Program team to prepare periodic progress updates to participating Companies and other stakeholders 
• Coordinate stakeholder feedback (internal and external) to inform program improvements and Company Standard revisions 
• Establish and improve systems and workflows for data management and reporting related to Company program  
• Ensure that Company timelines and project activities stay on track  
• Assist with the development of communications updates related to the project development for internal and external stakeholders 
• Organizational Support: The success of our work and the strength of our organization depend on the voluntary participation of staff from all levels of the organization in various cross-departmental teams, in addition to the core responsibilities of each staff position. While staff members are not required to participate in a voluntary team every year, we do depend on volunteers throughout the year for teams such as: Operating Plan & Budget; Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) Team; Pulse Survey Team; and our annual in-person staff gathering.  
• Other duties as assigned 

QUALIFICATIONS: 

• 5+ years account management experience with demonstrated prior experience on complex multistakeholder initiatives 
• 3+ years project management experience  
• Experience with business development and fundraising.   
• A passion for and strong knowledge of regenerative agriculture. 
• Experience with sustainability assessment platforms, ecolabels and/or verification. 
• Experience developing collaborative programs and systems. 
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with internal and external audiences 
• Strong technology skills, including videoconferencing and website platforms (e.g. Squarespace), Microsoft office tools, with mastery of PowerPoint, and the ability to pick up a variety of data/project management platforms. 
• Demonstrates a high degree of adaptability to work on a rapidly growing team 
• Creative approach to problem-solving  

Please note, we recognize that experience doesn't always look the same – skills are transferable, and passion is important. Please tell us how your experience can lead to success in this position.  

HOW TO APPLY:   

Please email your resume, cover letter, and a writing sample to scihiring@greenamerica.org  Applications are due by June 15, 2023 and will be considered on a rolling basis.   

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Green America is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination regarding: actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding, or reproductive health disorders), age (18 years of age or older), marital status (including domestic partnership and parenthood), personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, political affiliation, citizenship status, credit information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is included as a form of discrimination and is strictly prohibited.

Leaders around the country are creating inclusive solutions for their communities, climate, and the environment.

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58% of Black business owners said their business’s financial health is “at risk” or “distressed” during the COVID-19 pandemic. And, today, the median wealth for white families is about 12 times that for Black families with a mean of around $140,000 for white families versus $11,000 for Black families, and one in four Black households have zero or negative net worth compared to less than one in ten white families without wealth.  

Why it is important to shop Black 

6 Reasons to support Black-owned businesses:  

1. Closes the Racial Wealth Gap  
2. Strengthens Local Economy 
3. Fosters Job Creation 
4. Celebrates Black Culture and Serves Community 
5. Holds other Companies Accountable  
6. Visibility and Representation in the Green Economy  

Directories to support locally owned Black businesses

Here are some of our favorite resources:   

• Eat Okra: EatOkra is a go-to app for discovering Black-owned restaurants. Where food, culture, and community link, EatOkra connects 330,000+ diners to culinary creators and restaurants, reimagining the dining experience in local neighborhoods nationwide.  
• Black Business Green Book: a new digital directory from Color of Change that helps consumers locate Black-owned small businesses across the country to patronize during the holiday season and beyond.  
• BLK + GRN: At BLK + GRN, our all-Black artisans are carefully chosen by Black health experts who know what an all-natural product truly looks like. Our marketplace connects Black people with natural lifestyles to high-quality, toxic-free brands that share in our mission of health, wellness and community cultivation.  
• Get The Bag: Get The Bag, LLC is a community to connect with Black women who are aspiring and current entrepreneurs, motivated, courageous and fired-up about becoming more financially informed to start and scale successful businesses.GBN
• Shop Black Owned: is a business directory specific to eight cities at the moment, with more to come: Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle. Shop Black Owned is a free, crowdsourced and map-based tool that makes it easy to find a Black-owned business in your immediate area. There are more than 1000 businesses listed and more are being added every day.  
• Miiriya: An app that allows you to shop all Black-owned Businesses on just a single app. Miiriya’s goal is to create convenience for shoppers who want to support black businesses seamlessly, while also creating a surge recirculating the black dollar. 

Small, Black-owned businesses with great products

This list was curated by Brooke Bennett, Green America staff member. Descriptions are from businesses. All businesses sell online, unless noted. 

Green Business Network Members that have earned Green America's certification are denoted as GBN.

**This business is part of the Get the Bag directory; Get the Bag supports Black women entrepreneurs.

Self-care products:  

• Natural As I Wanna Be: Our plant-based clean beauty skin care products are unisex and for all skin types: sensitive, normal, dry, oily, combination and mature. GBN
• 4elements Bath Products: All-Natural Soaps, spa style foot and body scrubs, body butters, lip balms—all packaged in recycled and recyclable containers. No artificial preservatives, no animal testing. GBN
• SMB Essentials: We are a beauty-wellness company that incorporates sustainable business practices to create natural, non-toxic, earth-friendly, cruelty-free beauty and wellness brands. GBN
• Touch Body Works: Touch Body Works is an all-natural beauty brand. Formed out of the need to create natural skincare that was affordable, truly natural, and pleasant for everyone who experiences it. 
• Bomb’d Aesthetics: Bomb’d skin care products are all handmade and 100 % Cruelty-free and vegan. 
• Cecile's Bath and Beauty : Featured in NY Times. Revolutionizing small-batch skincare and empowering you to live a cleaner, more authentic life through effective, high-quality and truly clean options.**
• Bevel: Men Skin Care : Sold At Target: “Our vision is to build the world’s most consumer-centric health and beauty products company, inspiring unprecedented consumer loyalty.”
• SenTeamental Moods Tea: Ethically sourced teas incorporating regionally (Chicago, Illinois) grown vegetables, fruits and botanicals into tea blends.**
• Pretty Honest Candles : Sustainability focused candle company based in North Carolina.**
• Alexandria Winbush : Luxury Candles: “We want our products to create an uplifting environment with positive energy. In addition to the products creating the atmosphere in these spaces, we aim to close the wellness gap by creating a community for our customers.”  
• Fari Organic: A San Francisco based company working toward a more sustainable future. Organic, sustainability focused beauty company. Our mission is to provide an all-natural, eco-friendly collection of skin care products, so neither your body or our planet suffers.**
• Kazmelege : Plastic Neutral hair tools company. Made for curls, coils, kinks and great for all hair types.**
• Ooopolish:  Vegan nail polish line that is diversifying beauty in nail care with all-inclusive imagery and 80+ handmade African- inspired shades. 

Bookstores and authors:

All bookstores ship throughout the US.

• Be Rooted: Be Rooted inspires customers to explore their inner muse and celebrate self. (Journals and Planners) 
• Alexandra Elle: (Author)The intention behind Alex’s work is to build community & self-care practices through literature & language.   
• Mahogany Books:   Mahogany Books is a local independent bookstore that believes in social entrepreneurship. We take a leadership role in the African American community by promoting reading, writing, and cultural awareness as tools to improve self-esteem, self-love, and our communities to enrich the lives of motivated individuals. 
• Semicolon: Black: Black woman-owned bookstore and gallery space, Semicolon Bookstore and Gallery is committed to nurturing the connection between literature, art, and the pursuit of knowledge, while also using the power of words to better our community.  
• Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books: Uncle Bobbie's was created to provide underserved communities with access to books and a space where everyone feels valued. In addition to our specially curated book selection, we also serve high quality coffee, food products, and more, including apparel and children's games. 
• Loyalty Bookstore: a Black and Queer Bookseller who has spent her career working to diversify the book industry for it to better serve the powerful communities of color and queerness.
• Entrepreneurs Color Too  : A coloring book, aiming to inspire and empower women of color and fill the diversity gap in the book publishing industry. Each book features 24 illustrations, celebrating black and brown women.**
• Self Care for Black Women : Prioritize your wellbeing with these 150 self-care exercises designed specifically to help Black women revitalize their outlook on life, improve their mental health, eliminate stress, and self-advocate. **

Home goods and others:  

• Jungalow: We are also proud to offer an exclusive, rotating selection of high-quality, limited-edition art prints from an international group of artists.  
• Karbie Company: "We are offering quality cookware at an affordable price, while also sharing the Karibe culture.”  
• Green Top Gifts: Black Santa wrapping paper: We bring diversity to your celebrations with apparel, home decor and stationery. 
• Blk & Bold: Enjoying a cup of coffee & tea, into a means of giving back. BLK & Bold pledges 5% of its profits to initiatives aligned to sustaining youth programming, enhancing workforce development, and eradicating youth homelessness. Fair trade and B-Corp. 
•  Destiny Darcel:  Black Girl Decor/ Black Girling with My Friends details the love and light that Black girls bring to one another. I hope that each one of you sees yourselves and your best friends in each piece.  
• DASH Safety Solutions  Environmental, Health, & Safety For Your Home & Business Give the gift of a virtual Home Ergonomic Assessment.**
• Seed Mail Seed Co : Ethically sourced non-gmo seeds from common and rare plants and herbs.**
• Mocktail Club : Non-alcoholic beverages. We are focused on sourcing our fruit juice from organic suppliers and using sustainable packaging that helps to reduce our footprint and waste. We are mission driven. 1% of our sales goes to supporting clean water access globally.**
• Gift Shop: The Gift Shop is a physical space to find, learn, and discover and shop for incredible brands from Black entrepreneurs in the DMV. Washington DC area  
• Spice Suite: That spice shop has become a dream incubator and haven. Having hosted over 450 free pop-up shops for black business owners, this space has become a DC staple for this DC native. 

Apparel:  

• Cise: Protect Black People Bag/ Our very first initiative was the Protect Black People line. Under this campaign, we released varied pieces with a poignant message, PROTECT US! 
• Culture Clips: We at Culture Clips believe in representation in the black community. We offer high quality, affordable and most importantly, long-lasting shoe charm pieces. 
• Elexiay: Handmade Crochet and knit brand: Elexiay are a fashion brand that highlights Nigerian craftsmanship sustainably. All pieces are handmade and recyclable. 
• Vertical Active Wear: Vertical Activewear is a slow-fashion brand for woman made on-demand in the USA. We are inclusively made in sizes XS-5XL, consciously manufactured using eco-friendly fabrics on-demand in the US, and mindfully shipped using recycled packaging.  
• GaleriaLa: The concept is simple: fashion with integrity. We thoughtfully curate the finest selection of sustainable fashion from emerging brands worldwide. You can shop for clothes that are artisan made, locally made, and made with fair trade principles. 
• Cotton Blocks : Cotton Blocks is a fashion-meets-history brand offering unique products that celebrate, educate, and uplift the people, places, and events of the Black American experience.** 
• All Very Goods Accessories/Stationery Design studio that uses personal illustrations, graphic design, patterns and symbols from Africa, Asia and Europe to create products that are visual metaphors of the founder's African American history and present experience. D.C. based. Incorporates sustainable business practices.**
• Thrift with JT: ThriftwithJT was founded by an entrepreneur, thrift guru, model, stylist, & HBCU student. He has a lifestyle of bringing a unique sense of fashion together from many different decades. He aspires to share what he loves with the world. Clothing that is new to you. 
• Vintage Royalty: “We started The Vintage Royalty with one goal in mind: to create pieces of wearable art that are inspired by the past and made for the future.” 
• Legendary rootz: “Our purpose is to reclaim our history and celebrate black culture through powerful apparel and accessories.”  

Gifts for kids:  

• The Black Toy Store: is your online destination for hand-picked, curated children’s toys, games, books, and gifts that reflect the beauty and diversity of the African diaspora. 
• Kids Coloring CO: Kids Coloring Co is dedicated to producing hands-on activities that will be loved by your child and enjoyed by you!  
• Just Like Me Box: Just Like Me! Book Box® was built on the foundation of exposing children of color to literature, characters, authors, and stories that are reflective of them. Picture books are among the first representations of the broader world that we see, and they are introduced at a critical time. The truth is EVERYBODY should read Black children’s literature. 

We are Innovative and Organic Hair pioneers, perfecting sustainable beauty methods for and with the most talented hair artists in Dallas, Fort Worth, and now our second location in Kansas City, MO. We specialize in Color, Cuts, Blowouts, Special Occasion Hair & Makeup, Hair Extensions, and Full Body Waxing.

We are a Certified Green Circle Salon that recycles over 95% of our waste to lighten our carbon footprint.  We have conquered the misconception that "natural" beauty products do not work by bringing you the cleanest, safest, and best-performing products. 

We strive to educate our Head Cases and fellow salon professionals to empower people with the knowledge they need to make healthier choices. Visit your sustainable beauty destination. Thank you for joining us on this journey of changing the way we do beauty. 

Green America’s Green Business Network® launched a CBD (cannabidiol) certification standard focused on sustainability and social impact and released a new chart so that CBD consumers can compare the industry’s various product certification labels and what they mean.

The new Green Business Network® CBD certification standard addresses a wide range of social and environmental issues facing the industry and will play an important role for consumers in affirming that businesses providing CBD products are operating in accordance with practices that support people and the planet.

The need for a new “truly green” CBD certification is illustrated by the consumer resource chart comparing CBD certification labels:

Megan Stansell, certification manager, Green Business Network®, said: “There are a lot of CBD certifications and labels out there, but Green America identified the need for this new certification standard after conducting extensive stakeholder engagement with multiple hemp and CBD industry professionals and organizations and finding that none of the other labels completely address sustainability and social impact. We researched best practices and identified appropriate requirements for small-midsized businesses within the industry and are pleased to launch this certification standard to provide CBD businesses and their customers the benchmarks and seal of approval for being a truly green, sustainable business.”

Required criteria for this certification address social and environmental initiatives in ten different categories:

• Company: All businesses in all certified industries must have a social and environmental mission and vision statement.
• Legal Compliance: The FDA has made hemp a legal product in the U.S. per the FD&C Act. However, legal compliance will depend on local (local & state) laws and regulations. These businesses must prove their compliance at all levels.
• Cultivation Practices: Businesses must prove they are supporting sustainable growing practices, such as building soil health, maximizing the use of recycled materials, and applying energy efficient technologies.
• Materials Used: This category applies to the actual CBD products that are made (oils, salves, creams, etc.). Products must be free of phthalates, certain chemicals, and synthetic fragrances, among others. Businesses’ use of solvents during the extraction process must be transparent and animal testing is prohibited.
• Product Safety: This section ensures transparency around CBD products and is a common practice for CBD/THC products. Criteria include having traceback/recall protocols in place, using child-proof containers, testing products in third party laboratories, and storing the product in a safe environment.
• Manufacturing: Whether done by the business directly or a manufacturer, these criteria will show transparency around the manufacturing process and ensure ethical and sustainable labor practices are in place.
• Product Packaging: Packaging of products is important to consider and must be recyclable and compostable. Packaging should be minimal and use post-consumer content
• Employment: Fair employment and labor practices are a key part of the green economy. Certified companies prove that they treat their employees better than average.
• Education: Educating consumers and the community on sustainable practices is important to implement behavior change. Businesses must educate their consumers on proper disposal of their products, advocate for green practices in their industry (e.g., support for hemp/cannabis research), and establish a program from receiving input from both internal and external stakeholders.
• Green Office: Businesses must implement sustainable practices in their office or facilities; these criteria also apply to home offices. Items addressed in this category include energy efficiency, recycling and composting, landscaping, and use of paper products, among others.

The Green Business Network® is a national network of small to mid-sized companies that work to integrate strong social and environmental commitments into their business operations. The Network is home to both rising social and eco enterprises and to well-established green businesses. The Network provides the tools, information, and – for certified members – access to consumers to help green businesses thrive in today’s competitive green marketplace.

The Green Business Network® certifies businesses across 38 different industry sectors, including apparel, banks and credit unions, cleaning products, housewares, travel and more.

Green America Rolls Out New CBD Certification and Releases Label Guide for Consumers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 18, 2021 – Green America’s Green Business Network® launched a CBD (cannabidiol) certification standard focused on sustainability and social impact and released a new chart so that CBD consumers can compare the industry’s various product certification labels and what they mean.

The new Green Business Network® CBD certification standard addresses a wide range of social and environmental issues facing the industry and will play an important role for consumers in affirming that businesses providing CBD products are operating in accordance with practices that support people and the planet.

The need for a new “truly green” CBD certification is illustrated by the consumer resource chart comparing CBD certification labels:

Megan Stansell, certification manager, Green Business Network®, said: “There are a lot of CBD certifications and labels out there, but Green America identified the need for this new certification standard after conducting extensive stakeholder engagement with multiple hemp and CBD industry professionals and organizations and finding that none of the other labels completely address sustainability and social impact. We researched best practices and identified appropriate requirements for small-midsized businesses within the industry and are pleased to launch this certification standard to provide CBD businesses and their customers the benchmarks and seal of approval for being a truly green, sustainable business.”

Required criteria for this certification address social and environmental initiatives in ten different categories:

Company: All businesses in all certified industries must have a social and environmental mission and vision statement.

Legal Compliance: The FDA has made hemp a legal product in the U.S. per the FD&C Act. However, legal compliance will depend on local (local & state) laws and regulations. These businesses must prove their compliance at all levels.

Cultivation Practices: Businesses must prove they are supporting sustainable growing practices, such as building soil health, maximizing the use of recycled materials, and applying energy efficient technologies.

Materials Used: This category applies to the actual CBD products that are made (oils, salves, creams, etc.). Products must be free of phthalates, certain chemicals, and synthetic fragrances, among others. Businesses’ use of solvents during the extraction process must be transparent and animal testing is prohibited.

Product Safety: This section ensures transparency around CBD products and is a common practice for CBD/THC products. Criteria include having traceback/recall protocols in place, using child-proof containers, testing products in third party laboratories, and storing the product in a safe environment.

Manufacturing: Whether done by the business directly or a manufacturer, these criteria will show transparency around the manufacturing process and ensure ethical and sustainable labor practices are in place.

Product Packaging: Packaging of products is important to consider and must be recyclable and compostable. Packaging should be minimal and use post-consumer content

Employment: Fair employment and labor practices are a key part of the green economy. Certified companies prove that they treat their employees better than average.

Education: Educating consumers and the community on sustainable practices is important to implement behavior change. Businesses must educate their consumers on proper disposal of their products, advocate for green practices in their industry (e.g., support for hemp/cannabis research), and establish a program from receiving input from both internal and external stakeholders.

Green Office: Businesses must implement sustainable practices in their office or facilities; these criteria also apply to home offices. Items addressed in this category include energy efficiency, recycling and composting, landscaping, and use of paper products, among others.

The Green Business Network® is a national network of small to mid-sized companies that work to integrate strong social and environmental commitments into their business operations. The Network is home to both rising social and eco enterprises and to well-established green businesses. The Network provides the tools, information, and – for certified members – access to consumers to help green businesses thrive in today’s competitive green marketplace.

The Green Business Network® certifies businesses across 38 different industry sectors, including apparel, banks and credit unions, cleaning products, housewares, travel and more.

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ABOUT GREEN AMERICA 

Green America is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses, investors, and consumers to solve today’s social and environmental problems. http://www.GreenAmerica.org 

MEDIA CONTACT: Max Karlin for Green America, (703) 276-3255, or mkarlin@hastingsgroup.com.

Amazon—it’s one of the biggest corporations in the world, raking in tens of billions of dollars annually, even while earning the ire of the masses for its treatment of employees, effects on the planet, monopolistic practices, and more. 

Another pitfall of the giant conglomerate is how it dwarfs and harms small businesses. 

Below are five ways small businesses are suffering under the domination of Amazon: 

1. Amazon Thrives, While Small Businesses Die 

At the height of the pandemic—most of 2020—Amazon thrived. People following stay-at-home orders used internet retail and delivery to supply their homes, from groceries to sourdough starter kits and Pelotons. Last year, Amazon stock was up 77% from 2019, all while small, local, and brick-and-mortar businesses were forced to close. Our point is quite simple: when you buy from Amazon, you are not supporting small business which is key to a green economy. 

According to Yelp’s 2020 Local Economic Impact Report, nearly 180,000 businesses closed in March, some only temporarily, while for others it was a permanent closure. 

As the year went on, more and more businesses began reopening—sometimes multiple times. Yet from March to August 2020, the number of permanent business closures jumped from 36,718 to nearly 100,000. 

All the while, Amazon continued and remains thriving. While it cannot be blamed for the economic impacts of people following health and safety guidelines, many small businesses have online stores yet were completely overshadowed by online retail giants. 

2. Copycatting 

Last year, the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee released a report claiming it had evidence of Amazon using data from third-party sellers to identify the most popular products, and then create its own versions and sell them. This is known as copycatting and in worst case scenarios, it can put a small business out of business when consumers flock to mass-produced, and often cheaper, versions of products. 

“We have heard so many heartbreaking stories of small businesses who sunk significant time and resources into building a business and selling on Amazon, only to have Amazon poach their best-selling items and drive them out of business," subcommittee chairman David Cicilline said. 

Amazon has repeatedly denied this practice, while third-party sellers and former Amazon employees offered testimonials to the contrary. 

The Wall Street Journal also published an extensive and in-depth investigative report into Amazon and found evidence of copycatting. 

“We have a policy against using seller-specific data to aid our private-label business," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in Washington, before adding: “"I can't guarantee you that that policy has never been violated.” 

3. Forced Reliance 

The close relationship between Amazon and third-party sellers, often small businesses, is what allows for the possibility of copycatting. So why don’t small businesses stop selling on Amazon? 

Amazon is a juggernaut, which can help small businesses potentially achieve more sales, exposure, and engagement. 

According to Amazon Vice President of Small Business Nicholas Denissen, this is the goal: “We want to see small businesses across the country thriving like never before. We are committed to helping them harness the power of online sales, reach new customers, and provide fantastic selection, value and convenience.” 

If small businesses want this potential growth, however, they are forced to rely on Amazon, undermining their agency as an independent business. It places small businesses in between a rock and a hard place, forcing them to choose between the massive consumer audience of Amazon and the risk of falling prey to a monopoly. And that risk is a real one. 

Last year, Amazon kicked a small business off its site and seized the inventory, but in November, the merchant won its legal battle, earning one of the biggest acknowledgements of Amazon’s mistreatment of small businesses. 

4. Playing Monopoly 

In Lendio’s 2018 American Dream Survey, two-thirds of 2,000 surveyed small businesses said they view Amazon as a threat to their bottom line and a negative influence on growth. 

Small businesses responded in the survey that they had less concerns about money and brand growth and retention, and more concerns about going up against a monopolistic beast like Amazon. 

Earlier this year, the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law found Amazon “has monopoly power over many small- and medium-sized businesses.” 

Voters and legislators alike have expressed support for breaking up Amazon in order to give back power and equity to small businesses. 

When Amazon retains 50-70% of the online marketplace, it then acts as a gatekeeper and autocrat of the online retail space, able to oppress—or even obliterate—small business competitors. 

5. Fixed Pricing 

Amazon can use its monopolistic power and influence in numerous ways, from the aforementioned copycatting to fixing prices. 

In May 2021, attorney general of Washington, D.C., Karl Racine, filed a lawsuit against Amazon for this exact practice. 

The lawsuit alleges Amazon is engaging in monopoly practices by blocking small businesses as third-party vendors on the site from offering lower prices and better terms of service. 

According to the lawsuit, such practices “impose an artificially high price floor across the online retail marketplace and allow Amazon to build and maintain monopoly power in violation of the District of Columbia’s Antitrust Act.” 

The negative consequences of monopoly practices include suppressing consumer choice, healthy and fair market competition, and innovation. 

Demands for Amazon’s breakup, more regulations of giant conglomerates, and better treatment of employees is a win for everyone across the board. 

You can get started in divesting from Amazon right now by shopping directly with small businesses, including all of our Green Business Members. 

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This certification addresses sustainable CBD farming, manufacturing, and production practices. If you are a CBD business interested in pursuing this certification, please join our Green Business Network®. Membership includes educational resources, marketing opportunities, business services discounts, access to our certification program, and more! If you have any questions about certification, please contact us at certification@greenamerica.org.

by Jamie Landa, Food Campaigns Fellow

From travel arrangements to meal planning, preparing for Thanksgiving can be stressful. With so much going on, we want to help make it easier to identify which foods to put on your table for an environmentally sound and healthful Thanksgiving feast. By following these five simple steps, you can ensure you are feeding the highest quality food to your loved ones and using your dollars to vote for sustainable growing and sourcing.

1. Buy Organic
   In order for a product to be certified organic, it must not be produced using genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This means that if the potatoes or squash you’re cooking with this Thanksgiving are certified USDA Organic, then they were not grown from genetically engineered (GE) seeds. Any product that is certified organic does not use GMO ingredients.
2. Look for the Non-GMO Project Verified Label
   Some products are not certified organic, but still have gone through a certification process that ensures they do not exceed a threshold level of GMO ingredients. The Non GMO Project is a third party verification for non-GMO products that consumers can trust. Do be wary of products that make non-GMO claims that are not verified.
3. Avoid conventional soy, corn, cottonseed, canola oil, alfalfa, sugar beets, milk, and aspartame
   When you do not have the option to buy organic or non-GMO verified, there are certain ingredients that are more likely to be made with GMO’s than others. Products containing soy, corn, cottonseed, canola oil, alfalfa, sugar beets, milk, and aspartame are almost certain to have been produced using GMO’s if they lack a certification indicating otherwise. Substitutions can often be made for these ingredients. For instance, coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil can be used in place of oils like canola oil and soybean oil. Also, organic soy milk and coconut milk are great substitutes for milk made from dairy, which usually comes from cows fed GMO feed in inhumane conditions.
4. Shop at the farmers’ market
   Another great way to avoid using conventional animal products, which are usually raised in poor conditions and fed GMOs, is to shop at your local farmers’ market. You can find a turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner that had a good life eating a nutritious diet. At the market, you can speak to the farmers in your area and have a conversation about what their practices are regarding sustainability and animal stewardship. The farmers’ market is also a great place to find fresh, local vegetables which may not be certified organic but are grown using organic methods free of harsh chemicals and GMO’s. By going to the farmers’ market, you can support your local economy while feeding your family and friends the freshest and best-tasting ingredients possible.
5. Choose brands wisely
   When it comes to GMO’s, not all brands create their products equally. Some of the foods traditionally seen as integral to a Thanksgiving dinner unfortunately contain GMO’s. Luckily, there are even tastier alternatives. For example, Land O’ Lakes butter is produced by Dean Foods which raises its cows on GE corn, soy, alfalfa, cottonseed, and/or sugar beets. You can ask them to stop doing so here. In the meantime, Straus Creamery, Organic Valley, and other dairy producers do not use GMO’s. There are also a variety of vegan options, like Miyoko's and Kite Hill, which are great non-dairy and non-GMO alternatives. Many traditional Thanksgiving dishes use Campbell’s soups as a base. Campbell’s has made great strides in ditching GMO’s; however, many of its popular soups still use GMO ingredients like vegetable oil and milk. Campbell’s fortunately has a wonderful line of organic soups that includes flavors like Chicken Noodle and Creamy Butternut Squash. Amy’s Kitchen has a wonderful selection of all organic soups.

   Some brands that are ideal for your Thanksgiving needs (and the planet’s) are Nutiva, which has line of ecologically sourced cooking oils; and Arrowhead Mills, which sells a delicious organic stuffing mix. For dessert, Wholesome! has an array of organic and fair trade sweeteners including cane sugar and stevia that are perfect for baking.

However hectic your Thanksgiving plans are this year, one thing that can be simple are the ingredients in your food. By following these guidelines, you can keep unnatural GMO’s out of your kitchen and feel pride in your shopping choices. After all, a health planet and people is something to be thankful for.

COP 26, the latest United Nations meeting to forge agreements between nations on climate change, has come to a close in Glasgow, Scotland. While the countries present reached an agreement that improves on the current commitments, the world is still far from keeping global warming to the 1.5 degrees Celsius or less that scientists assert is necessary to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. 

In particular, poor countries that contributed the least to creating global warming are still at the greatest risk of ongoing catastrophic impacts from the climate crisis, with little concrete financial assistance coming from wealthy nations to help them adapt or rebuild. 

Rich countries, including the United States, are refusing to contribute to a loss and damage fund that would provide poor countries with money to address the billions of dollars in damage already resulting from the climate crisis.  This continues a pattern of wealthy countries failing to provide the funds needed to help poorer countries reduce their emissions and invest in climate adaptation. 

There Were Important Steps Forward on Climate at COP 26 

The countries reached these positive agreements: 

• Over 100 countries agreed to reduce methane emissions 30 percent by 2030 

• Over 130 countries agreed to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030 (although a similar agreement in 2014 has not slowed rampant deforestation) 

• 23 countries agreed to phase out coal (but major coal burning countries including the United States and China were not on board) 

• 25 countries agreed to end financing coal by the end of 2022 

• A number of governments and companies (including Ford and GM) pledged to only sell electric vehicles by 2035, but the US and China did not sign on, nor did four of the largest car makers in the world (Volkswagen, Toyota, Renault-Nissan and Hyundai-Kia) 

If these agreements are actually put into place by participating countries and companies, it will make a difference, but clearly significantly more needs to be done, and more countries and companies need to get on board with these pledges.  In addition, as a recent Washington Post investigation found, many countries are underreporting out their true emissions.  We can't make progress on climate change if countries aren't accurately measuring their emissions and the impacts of their reduction strategies.

The World is Not Acting Fast Enough on Fossil Fuels 

COP 26 ended with countries pledging to “phase down” not “phase out” fossil fuels, which will slow the progress of the most polluting countries in reducing their emissions.   

Earlier in the week, the United States and China (the two largest climate emitters in the world) issued an agreement where both countries agreed to new actions to reduce emissions but included the phase down language.  India then pushed for the final COP 26 agreement to include a phase down (not phase out) of fossil fuels.  While a definitive end to fossil fuels is needed, at least there is language in the agreement that recognizes the need to ramp down on fossil fuels. 

One reason that it is so hard to get necessary commitments to end fossil fuels is largely the result of the huge presence of the fossil fuels sector at COP 26 and prior climate summits.  

More than 500 attendees at the summit were from organizations that lobby on behalf of the oil, gas or coal industries, or represented countries with major oil and gas industries.  

These countries and lobbying groups pushed hard to limit language that harms their interests. Additionally, India, China, and other developing countries argue that they should be allowed to burn fossil fuels longer than wealthier countries that can better afford the rapid transition to renewable energy. 

At the same time, climate activists, including indigenous activists, disabled persons, and representatives from poorer nations, found themselves excluded from many of the official meetings.   

Their voices were not in the room. 

Activism is Essential to Progress 

Exclusion from official COP 26 meetings didn’t stop young activists and indigenous leaders from protesting loudly outside of COP 26, including an historic march through Glasgow that focused world attention on the lack of progress from world leaders.  Activists chanted “Keep 1.5 degrees alive” and that pressure helped to ensure that progress was made inside the summit.  

Their voices were joined by representatives of small nations, including Barbados and Tuvalu, who forcefully told attendees of COP 26 that the very survival of their nations was at stake if the world doesn’t hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

In the spirit of the activists who turned out at COP 26, we all need to keep pressure on our governments and corporations in the coming year to make sure that pledges to reduce emissions are kept and strengthened. 

What You Can Do for the Climate 

Green America is encouraging our members and the public to support: 

• New EPA rules to reduce methane emissions from fossil fuels by 30 percent by 2030 

• The Build Back Better Act, that would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in government support for a transition to renewable energy and establish a Climate Corps, amongst many other climate measures.  Take action with Call 4 Climate now! 

• Regulations to shift the financial sector away from fossil fuels to investing in renewable energy and other climate solutions and working with banks to get them to decarbonize their lending 

• Ramping up pressure on banks that invest in fossil fuels to urge them to end their financing of fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy solutions instead 

• Shifting to regenerative agriculture in the US that will sequester carbon in the soil and create healthy soils for future generations -- a real transformation to biologically based, not industrial chemical, agriculture.  That’s what will get us all the benefits along with carbon sequestration – improved soil health, water quality and conservation, reduction of polluting fertilizer and dangers pesticides, biodiversity, climate resiliency and food security, nutrient density in food, and farm and rural community prosperity. You can start by planting a Climate Victory Garden. 

• Divestment from fossil fuels and reinvestment into renewable energy, climate solutions, and green jobs. 

• Pressuring supermarkets to phase out HFC refrigerants, greenhouse gases up to 9,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide and leaking out at enormous rates. 

• Keeping pressure on telecoms and other companies accelerating the climate crisis through massive use of fossil fuels so they shift to 100% renewable energy rapidly.