Category: Civilian Climate Corps

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.

Civilian Climate Corps

There are so many reasons why a Civilian Climate Corps is important now. Millions of people, especially young people, are looking for meaningful work. And there is such a huge amount of work to be done. We routinely see images of the catastrophic damages from the wildfires in the West, and the hurricane and rains in the East.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see thousands of people deployed to disaster sites? Thousands of caregivers for childcare or to be there for senior citizens? To help in school classrooms. To coach sports teams. To raise healthy foods locally. To restore healthy soil and water. To build and repair housing. To build renewable energy infrastructure. To teach people how to pursue their interests, such as various forms of art.

I’m glad Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI) is working to support a Civilian Climate Corps (CCC). You can use the link below to send a letter supporting CCC to your Congressional representatives.

https://twitter.com/quakers_seekers/status/1435349147427786757?s=20

Inspired by the ambition and impact of the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps, a modern CCC will gainfully employ residents to confront the interlocking crises of climate change, environmental and racial injustice, and economic inequality. Doing work for the public good such as:

  • Retrofitting homes for energy efficiency, clean electrification, and climate resilience
  • Restoring native wetlands, prairie, and sustainable farming practices with Indigenous leadership to keep our water clean and soil rich
  • Collaborating with local governments to develop climate action plans and distributing aid in the wake of climate disasters

Corps members should be paid a living wage, receive healthcare and childcare support, and pre-apprenticeship training or full tuition reimbursement for stable careers in the clean economy.

Senate Democrats have included a Civilian Climate Corp in the reconciliation bill currently being debated. We need to step to ensure it is big enough to meet the scale of the crisis we face and that it prioritizes BIPOC folx who were cut out from the original New Deal.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI)
We need a fully funded CCC (Civilian Climate Corps)

https://www.evergreenaction.com/blog/evergreen-explains-what-is-a-civilian-climate-corps
factsheet-whatisthecccDownload

https://www.evergreenaction.com/blog/evergreen-explains-what-is-a-civilian-climate-corps

Climate change and the actions the government takes to address it are a key concern for the vast majority of young voters, who are set to take on more of the burden of dealing with increasingly extreme weather caused or exacerbated by human industrial activity.

Voters aged 18 to 29 are much more likely than older voters to list tackling the climate crisis as one of their top two priorities, according to Abacus Data polling released last week. Those who voted for the Green Party in 2019 and residents of Quebec and British Columbia also rate climate change as a particularly pivotal issue.

“One thing that we’ve heard from young Canadians that they want to see and that we haven’t heard lots of parties talk about yet is green jobs,” said Camellia Wong, a spokesperson for Future Majority, a nonpartisan group of young people pushing for politicians to take more notice of their concerns.

She said that a robust green jobs program would help address two major issues facing the younger generation: the climate crisis and the precarity of work.

NDP promises to double transit funding; youth want green jobs by Morgan Sharp, National Observer, September 8th 2021