Tag Archives: Climate Justice

Community

These Nonprofits Are Creating a Solar Punk Future for South Seattle, Today

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by Syris Valentine

When Black Panther debuted, Black folks everywhere lost their collective minds witnessing an African society free from the ravages of colonialism. One of the most striking aspects of Wakanda was how technology and the environment harmonized to support thriving communities. The movie might be a fiction, but community organizations in Burien are collaborating to make something like Wakanda a fact.

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Features

Seattle’s Heating Oil Tax: A Missed Opportunity for Environmental Justice

by Tushar Khurana

In September 2019, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan signed a law that would tax home heating oil sold within the city and could eventually require residents to upgrade or decommission their heating oil tanks by 2028. The legislation was introduced to meet the City’s climate goals by hastening the transition to cleaner electric home heating across the city. It was also lauded in a mayoral press release as a “bold and thoughtful approach” to environmental policy that “help[s] our most vulnerable residents move off heating oil.” Revenue from the tax is intended to fund rebates for homeowners and help provide 1,000 fully paid electric heat pump installations for low-income residents.

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Community

After 10 Years, Jill Mangaliman’s Departure From Got Green Leaves a Lasting Legacy

by Ronnie Estoque

Last month, Got Green, a South Seattle-based grassroots organization that works towards environmental, racial, and economic justice made a big announcement. The organization’s executive director, Jill Mangaliman, transitioned out of their position after a decade. Mangaliman joined Got Green as a volunteer in 2009 and has left a lasting impact on the organization through their leadership on various campaigns and programs over the years.

“I definitely consider myself like, you know, I call it a late bloomer,” Mangaliman said regarding their long-time community organizing work. They had grown up in a Filipino household where the discussion of politics rarely occurred, so they consider their road to activism to have begun much later in their life.

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Features

Weekend Long Reads: Seattle’s Vision for an All-Electric Transportation System

by Kevin Schofield

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, this weekend’s “long read” is a look to the future of transportation in Seattle and specifically how City officials intend to turn it green.

This past week the City of Seattle released its “blueprint” for how it intends to move to a transportation system that is nearly entirely electric by 2030. City leaders feel a sense of urgency about this, as Seattle has not been meeting its climate-change goals. In fact, according to the City it has “flatlined” on reducing transportation emissions, with only a 2% reduction since 2008.

As is frequently the case, the blueprint leads with climate justice principles. In this case, it emphasizes that the transformation to all-electric should address the higher levels of pollution in low-income and communities of color in the city, the inequities in availability of transportation to some communities, and making sure that new economic opportunities — both green jobs and investments in communities — are made available to all Seattle residents.

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News

Q&A: Mayoral Candidate Andrew Grant Houston Shares His Vision for Seattle, Starting With Housing and Climate Justice

by Mark Van Streefkerk

Andrew Grant Houston, AIA, Founder and Design Head of House Cosmopolitan and Board Member of Futurewise, officially announced his run for Mayor on Jan. 12, and he is clear about the cornerstone of his campaign: housing. The queer, Black, and Latino architect and small business owner has a vision for meeting the demand for affordable housing in Seattle, and is eager to share just how housing is directly linked to climate justice and defunding the police by 50%. Houston serves as Interim Policy Manager for Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, and is a member of AIA Seattle, Share The Cities, The Pike/Pine Urban Neighborhood Council, The Sunrise Movement, and the 43rd Democrats. He plans on contributing a portion of the campaign funds he receives to mutual aid groups he has worked with over the last year. 

Houston, also known as “Ace,” recently spoke with the  Emerald, telling us about his background, and the immediate actions Seattle needs to take in the next eight years to curb climate change. Check out his website at agh4sea.com.

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Voices

OPINION: Let’s Go Vote

by Pari McDonald, Ana McDonald, Marina Rojas, and Chiara Zanatta-Kline

(This article originally appeared on the South End Stories Youth Blog.)

The voices of those who are furthest from opportunity, who are actively being suppressed and kept from voting, must be heard, especially during this election. Ana (18), Pari (15), and Cymran (13) McDonald decided they wanted to do something about creating easy, accessible ways for the communities that they love and who have lifted them up in life, to register to vote. The sisters worked with young adults Chiara and Marina to build Mini Voter Registration Boxes for areas where QT/BIPOC voters may have difficulty printing voter registration forms or may not be able to easily get stamps or envelopes, especially during COVID. The girls also wanted to ensure that young voters were easily able to access voter registration by providing texting and QR codes to register online. Boxes were placed in the Central District, New Holly, White Center, High Point, Renton, Federal Way, and Tacoma.

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News

New Climate Justice for Black Lives Collective Holds First Rally on Beacon Hill

by Paul Faruq Kiefer

Over the course of two hours on Saturday afternoon, some 200 people trickled onto a sunny field in Jefferson Park on Beacon Hill to join a rally and march held by the newly formed Climate Justice for Black Lives collective. After a brief blessing by an Indigenous LGBTQIA+ drum group, emcee B.M. Williams explained that the gathering was “about celebrating our resilience as Black people, Indigenous people and People of Color” while calling attention to the dire and worsening impacts of climate change on BIPOC communities locally and nationwide. 

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