Civilian Climate Corps and Mutual Aid

Senate Democrats have included a Civilian Climate Corp in the reconciliation bill currently being debated. Yesterday’s article was an introduction to the idea of a Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) and included a link for you to send letters to your representatives asking them to vote for it.

I’m really excited about the possibility of a CCC because that could be the final piece for a plan to address many social ills and make real progress to mitigate the environmental chaos that will continue and worsen. I’ve updated this diagram to include how a CCC could fit in.

I’ve been working with Des Moines Mutual Aid for over a year, which has taught me a great deal by seeing this concept in action.
https://landbackfriends.com/mutual-aid/

Mutual Aid works because Mutual Aid groups are made up of the people living in the neighborhood. Mutual Aid results in people getting to know and trust each other because it is about action, not meetings and plans for the future. And the work is to address the needs of the community, like food and shelter. Those involved get the satisfaction of making change happen immediately.

Mutual Aid should be integrated into the Civilian Climate Corps idea!

Key to the success of Mutual Aid is working to maintain a horizontal hierarchy, where everyone has a voice. Attention is paid to avoid vertical hierarchy from forming. Everyone is treated with respect, because we know circumstances might change where we need the help of Mutual Aid ourselves.

Because of these experiences, I wanted to find ways for Mutual Aid to be embraced by more communities. We need vast numbers of people to join in this work.

But how? Just talking to people doesn’t really demonstrate how Mutual Aid works.

Mutual Aid should be integrated into the Civilian Climate Corps idea!

That is how colonial capitalism can be replaced. That is how we can rapidly transition from fossil fuels. That is how we can rebuild caring communities.