ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE LEADERS RIPE TO DISRUPT FALSE CLIMATE SOLUTIONS & BUILD CLIMATE JUSTICE |
New York, February 2, 2022 -- The Tishman Environment and Design Center is proud to announce the inaugural cohort of fellows in the Ripe for Creative Disruption: An Environmental Justice Movement Fellowship (EJM Fellowship). Twenty groundbreaking leaders representing 18 frontline community organizations have been selected to design and test solutions at scale for just transition, climate justice, environmental health, and energy democracy. During the two-year program, fellows will participate in a combination of virtual and in-person retreats, group coaching sessions, and ideation to scaling project phases. The fellowship was designed to focus on collective leadership models making it distinct from other fellowship opportunities that focus on individual growth and development. During the fellowship, participants will work collaboratively in six groups of 2 to 4 leaders to innovate, test, and deploy contentious, creative, and scalable solutions to address the complexity of the climate crisis. The selected fellows include architects, urban planners, Indigenous leaders, artists, policy makers, green building/sustainability designers, advocates, and organizers, and are multicultural, intergenerational, primarily Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), women, and gender non-conforming. Their work spans eight states and five territories, including Indigenous territories, the Mariana Islands of Micronesia, and Puerto Rico. The Ripe for Creative Disruption: Environmental Justice Movement Fellows are: Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
The current year is shaping up to be ripe for systemic disruption. COVID-19 is in an upsurge; supply chains are stalling amongst labor shortages, and billions continue to be spent on climate investments that continue to impact and harm Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities. “The mix of climate missteps and inaction have proven harmful and deadly, this is especially true for Islands like the Marianas where militarization, climate colonialism, and pollution put our lives at risk in more ways than we’re even aware of, that is why we are designing to scale proven solutions,” said Sheila Babauta, Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives Member and EJM Fellow. For decades, EJ communities have directly faced the brunt of the climate crisis and impacts of pollution. EJ organizers and advocates on the ground have been leading the change despite federal setbacks. For example, in New Jersey, the home of two of our EJ Fellows who helped push for important policies, has kept its promise to defend their communities with Environmental Justice Bill S232 – one of the strongest EJ Laws in the nation. However, federal climate legislation is floundering in the halls of Congress and we have yet to see the fruits from the Biden’s Administration’s Justice40 initiatives in communities that are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. “The law has passed but our work is far from done. We have to make sure that the regulatory framework is one that delivers on the hard won laws' promises.” - Melissa Miles, Executive Director of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance “Billions of dollars are being wasted on Carbon Capture Sequestration (CCS) and other fantastical and failed geo-engineering climate mechanisms that only delay the phase out of a crumbling fossil fuel infrastructure. If we want to see results, we need to invest in frontline groups that are innovating real solutions to the climate crisis, so that we can multiply and scale these solutions.” - Miya Yoshitani, Senior Strategist, Asian Pacific Environmental Network “We need to understand and practice collective leadership if we are to radically reimagine the changes needed for the next 20 to 100 years. We as leaders don’t often get this level of opportunity and support to join forces across organizations, sectors, and collectively innovate. It is about time we “remix” design in the vision of EJ communities.” - Jacqui Patterson, Founder and Executive Director of The Chisholm Legacy Project and EJM Advisory Committee member. |
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Ripe for Creative Disruption: An Environmental Justice Movement Fellowship embodies design and collective leadership to support frontline leaders to transform political, economic, and social systems; reclaim power; and scale people-centered solutions for climate justice futures across local, Tribal, national and global scales. The Fellowship seeks to co-create the conditions, coaching, and curriculum that can best support groups of movement leaders in their efforts to generate and pilot these strategies for movement impact. The Tishman Environment and Design Center, as part of The New School, is a university-wide center committed to fostering the integration of bold design, policy, and social justice approaches to environmental issues to advance just and sustainable outcomes. Following the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing, the Tishman Center serves as a hub for climate and environmental justice research and practice, with a specific focus on critical, participatory action-based research produced in collaboration with frontline, grassroots and community based organizations and coalitions. Through our collaborative efforts, we impact research, practice and policy. Founded in 1919, The New School was established to advance academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. A century later, The New School remains at the forefront of innovation in higher education, inspiring approximately 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students to challenge the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The university welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and public programs that encourage open discourse and social engagement. Through our online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence.
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Media Contacts: The New School |
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