Why the Climate March Was a Rally for Jobs and the Economy

This is an opinion piece by Brooke Havlik, Director of Communications of WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

I'll admit it. President Trump is really good at one thing. Repeating over, and over, that he will bring back more American jobs. And he likes to focus on one industry he believes will help him fulfill this promise: fossil fuels — particularly coal. But reality is not on his side.

According to the Department of Energy, U.S. clean energy jobs have surpassed fossil fuel employment, and by a whole lot. Over one million Americans are now employed under some form of clean energy (solar, wind, energy efficiency, etc.), which is nearly five times that of fossil fuel employment. Solar and wind energy jobs are growing 12 times as fast as the U.S. economy.

Throughout the country communities are actively building a new economy that does not threaten the future of the planet, the air they breathe, and the people who live within it.

The People's Climate March on April 29 was a beautiful rallying moment for "jobs, justice and the climate," and a counter narrative to Donald Trump's actions and messaging. But here is the rub, and a central message of the march we have to focus on: the clean energy industry and economic transition must be a just one. Clean energy is, after all, still a business. And last time I checked, we still live in a capitalist society.

For too long (read: our country's entire history), communities of color, and specifically black and Latinx workers, have struggled for justice in oppressive, underpaid, unpaid, and often abusive industries. Even today, our country's labor laws still discriminate against farmworkers, and what meager protections they have are not enforced in the fields. The Fight for $15 movement demonstrates the ongoing fight for a national livable wage among service workers who struggle to support their families under current conditions.

The movement toward a new energy and economic future is our chance to right past wrongs, and to ensure that workers of color and low-income workers are gaining employment and community wealth under a more environmentally sustainable economy.

I work in northern Manhattan, or "uptown," in New York City for an organization called WE ACT for Environmental Justice that fights to build healthy communities and more leaders of color in the environmental movement. We have monthly meetings where hundreds of community members from Harlem to Washington Heights are able to express their concerns and about where to take action. Every month, affordable housing and jobs are top priorities.

Today's high poverty and unemployment rate in northern Manhattan has resulted from decades of poor and often racist public policy. Nationwide, the ratio of net wealth held by a median white household to that of a black household in 2013 was $13 to $1. The ratio is $10 to $1 for Latinx households. At WE ACT, we know that climate change will only widen existing such inequalities in our community, throughout New York City, and the world. We realize that as we plan for an energy transition and climate change, this is our moment to do everything differently.

A just transition would mean that every job pays at least $15 an hour, protects its workers, and provides a good standard of living, pathways out of poverty, and a right to organize. It also means that investments are targeted to create pathways for low-income people and people of color to access good jobs. The jobs should improve, not harm, the lives of communities of color, indigenous peoples, and low-income people.

While the mainstream, largely white environmental movement has not traditionally organized around economic justice—and to its detriment lost a lot of support among communities of color—the People's Climate March was a major step in righting that wrong, and broadening what's listed under the umbrella of "environmental issues."

A bill recently introduced by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), along with Senators Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), made the March's message into policy by laying out the federal "roadmap" for a just transition that includes protections for workers and communities of color.

Resistance in a Trump era can come in big and small packages, but don't underestimate the impact of speaking to and fighting for racial and economic justice as an environmental issue. It means we are more intersectional and inclusive, and in the end, a stronger movement.