Climate Interactive Recommits to Systemic Change for Racial Justice
June 4, 2020 by Cassandra Ceballos
From Elizabeth Sawin, Andrew Jones, and the Climate Interactive Team
Systems thinking, the core methodology we use at Climate Interactive, teaches that we are all interconnected, that no one is safe unless everyone is safe, and that economic and political systems based on white supremacy are not compatible with a stable climate. It also teaches that societal patterns and behaviors only shift when underlying systemic structures are changed. We believe these truths apply to racial justice as much as they do to climate change, and strive to embody them in our work.
In this moment, where the violence and injustice directed at Black people in the United States are so apparent, we recommit to work with others to dismantle white supremacy as an essential element of protecting a livable climate. Black lives matter, and we have an obligation to transform systems to reflect that fact.
Climate Interactive is a learning organization, never perfect, but always working to do better, take risks, and share our successes and failures transparently.
Now, in light of the disparities in COVID-19 impacts on Black communities, which so mirror the disparities in climate change impacts, and in light of yet more killings of Black people by police, and the violent state reaction to peaceful protests demanding racial justice, we recognize that we have more to learn and more to do, across all elements of our organization.
Today we recommit to the following:
Our tools, frameworks, research, trainings, and convening will expand in their ability to address racial equity along with climate impacts and opportunities. We will continue to advocate for and showcase examples of multisolving, where climate solutions are intentionally designed with racial, gender, and economic equity at their heart.
In our internal operations, we will continue to increase the diversity of our team and network of advisors and insist that our policies around pay and benefits, as well as our expectations on conduct and communications, meet high standards of equity and fairness.
In our organizational culture we will continue to push ourselves as a learning organization, including being receptive to and acting on feedback and input from those within our teams as well as acknowledging the perspectives that come with different lived experiences. We can’t commit to not making mistakes, but we do commit to being open to hearing about them, ameliorating them where we can, and doing better. We will also continue to include opportunities for professional development for all of our staff to increase our ability to see and transform patterns of racial injustice.
In our networks we will strive to be good partners, sharing resources, giving credit transparently, being willing to talk about power, equity, and fairness in our collaborations, and being responsive to and grateful for feedback.
Finally, we commit that these four principles are subject to future modification and expansion as we learn more, and as the world and our society continue to change and transform. We will check back in regularly to assess our progress at living up to these commitments and make course corrections and improvements as needed.
