Dear It Takes Roots family, friends and supporters,

In September 2018, the Climate Justice Alliance, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Right to the City Alliance, which together form the It Takes Roots Coalition travelled from the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Mozambique, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Switzerland, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland, Nigeria, and more to gather in Occupied Ohlone Territory- the San Francisco Bay Area- for the Solidarity to Solutions (#Sol2Sol) Week! It was an amazing and inspiring time that has been documented by hundreds of journalists, bloggers, photographers, videographers, and every day people over social media.

The goals of our week spent together were first- to challenge and expose Governor Jerry Brown’s Global Climate Action Summit for being nothing more than a trade show; not a venue providing real solutions to address the intersecting crises of our communities and the planet, and second- to create space to strengthen our multi-racial and multi-issue movements through strategy exchange, relationship-building, and creative solutions. Over the course of this week, we spent time building community, sharing strategies and best practices and challenging the dominant myth that market-based schemes will stop the devastating impact of an extractive capitalist economy, such as climate change and gentrification, and save the world. Through our actions, words and a deep love for people and the planet, frontline community organizers from Mississippi to Occupied Ohlone Territory, San Francisco, and around the globe broke through the media. We challenged this narrative to ensure climate profiteers knew that our future cannot be traded and that those at the Global Climate Action Summit will be held accountable for continuing to pollute and put our families at risk. Will you consider supporting upcoming It Takes Roots intiatives like this?

Some of our favorite coverage includes the San Francisco Chronicle article on our first action at the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change and Forests and the Democracy Now coverage all week long which on Friday highlighted our action inside and outside the GCAS along with a debate on carbon trading and geoengineering!

This is how we spent our week together during Solidarity to Solutions:

• We kicked the week off as the frontline contingent of the Rise for Climate, Jobs and Justice March on Saturday, September 8, in which 30,000 people joined us in the streets!

• On Sunday, September 9, we began the day with a prayer ceremony

led by Ohlone Leaders, Indian People Organizing for Change, Idle No More SF Bay, and Indigenous Environmental Network at the Berkeley Shellmound to recognize the ancestral homeland of indigenous peoples, ask for blessing for the forthcoming activities taking place on Ohlone territory, and harness our collective spiritual strength and power. Representatives from different indigenous communities from the Amazon to the Marshall Islands offered prayer, song and dance. From there, community activists and leaders joined community solutions tours in the Bay Area to learn how climate change and extractive industries are affecting local communities in spaces spanning anti-gentrification campaigns to urban farms to community art-builds.

• On Monday, September 10, our Indigenous allies from across the world delivered an open letter to Governor Jerry Brown and his Governors’ Climate and Forest Task Force at their annual meeting, to reject their market based climate solutions. Here is a video with more of their remarks addressed to Brown. We then came together for the ITR Membership Encuentro/Gathering – a powerful demonstration of the strength, creativity and diversity of our collective membership. Together we shared strategy, sang songs of renewal, laughed and visioned a multi-year strategy to lift up People’s Solutions and shift power nationally and globally.

• OnTuesday, September 11, It Takes Roots hosted the Solidarity to Solutions Summit, a full day of music, dance, art, local food, collective healing, ceremony, and , community-led workshops on themes of Just Transition Strategies, Protecting the Land and Mother Earth, Supporting Community Solutions, and Building Energy Democracy. These workshops were facilitated by members throughout Turtle Island and the Global South, and highlighted topics like A Just Transition to a Feminist Economy; QTPOC Healing Justice; Black Farmworkers’ Stories; Expanding Sanctuary and Defending our Communities from Displacement and Eviction; and the power of Intergenerational Organizing.

• OnWednesday, September 12, we spent the day building art for action and created artwork and trained up on strategies for non-violent direct action and civil disobedience. We were hosted by our allies at the Greenpeace Oakland Warehouse and were supported in training and art by the Ruckus Society and Design Action Collective. Thank you! In the evening, we learned how those forging Just Recovery solutions to address climate disasters in their communities are doing, less than one year after Hurricane Maria and other storms in the US. We also convened a meeting of our international allies to cross-pollinate ideas on a Just Transition from around the world and hosted the People’s Orientation to the Global Climate Action Summit to provide philanthropy with a people’s solution lens for assessing solutions showcased within GCAS and as a broader framework of analysis.

• Thursday, September 13, we marched and blocked the entrance to the GCAS to let all those who were entering know that climate capitalism is not a solution but rather the source of our intersected crises. Inside the GCAS frontline leaders disrupted Bloomberg’s remarks during the morning opening, ensuring that attendees knew this was an exclusionary conference and that we will not stand for “solutions” like carbon pricing and REDD+, that do nothing to stop global warming! ITR sponsored an important meeting on geoengineering to bring everyone up to date on the most disturbing tests and plans underway to manipulate the earth’s atmosphere and land, along with the launch of the new North American Geoengineering Working Group.

For all of you who joined It Takes Roots last week we want to send you our heartfelt thanks and gratitude, for it is only in community that we can create lasting change! For those who supported from afar, your support online and through word of mouth helped us push the needle and make a national and international impact. Together, we changed the story and inspired others to take bolder positions and action! You are appreciated!

Check out some highlights of our members at the many marches, events and actions by following us over social media @CJAOurPower @IENEarth @GGJAlliance @RTCAlliance Please share and pass along to your networks. And don’t forget to watch the first 3 days Sol2Sol video and stay tuned for the release of a full wrap-up video in the coming days. We continue to upload new and inspiring images and videos from the week, we hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we do!

In the weeks ahead as we approach the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in Poland, where more climate talks and negotiations will take place, we must remember the power we have and continue to bring it to bear during these important moments. Climate disaster profiteers are on notice, but nothing short of continued popular action will force them to stop polluting at the source and finally put all people and the planet first.

After COP24, we will be building towards a larger space for alignment and strategy building throughout It Takes Roots member organizations in 2019. The Climate Justice Alliance will host its National Convening January 24th-26th, 2019, please save the date and stay tuned for more report-backs as that space develops. You can also assist in moving resources through grassroots fundraising to support the building of this space that will enable us to shift power to people’s solutions and transition to a regenerative economy in the long term.

Please share this message with your communities and consider supporting our work below.

In solidarity,

It Takes Roots

 

An Alliance of Alliances
#ItTakesRoots to #GrowtheResistance centers the leadership and power of urban and rural communities on the frontlines of racial, gender, housing, environmental, energy and climate justice in the United States to advance regenerative economies and healthy communities. ITR is a multiracial, multicultural, multi-generational alliance of networks and alliances representing over 200 organizations and affiliates in over 50 states, provinces, territories and Native lands in the U.S. and Canada, and is led by women, gender nonconforming people, people of color, and Indigenous Peoples. It is an outcome of years of organizing and relationship building across the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and Right to the City Alliance (RTC) alongside Center for Story-based Strategy and The Ruckus Society.