User:Bluewater02/sandbox
Founded | 2014 |
---|---|
Headquarters | Shoreline, WA |
Area served | International |
Method | Activist |
Website | www |
Sustaining All Life (SAL) is an international grassroots organization whose publicly stated aim is "to end the climate emergency within the context of ending all divisions among people." SAL is an ongoing project of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities (RC) and offers the theory and tools of RC to environmental activists.
SAL has presented approximately 100 workshops and forums at numerous international climate conferences, beginning with COP21 in Paris in 2015 on various topics.
SAL is an Non-governmental organization (NGO) under the auspices of the Re-evaluation Foundation.[1] Its office is in Shoreline, Washington, U.S.
Aims
SAL was founded with the publicly stated goal "to end the climate emergency within the context of ending all divisions among people."[2] SAL asserts that the climate and environmental crisis can be most effectively addressed in the context of "ending racism, genocide toward Indigenous peoples, classism, sexism, and other oppressions." It encourages the use of the tools of engaged listening and mutual support developed by RC to free people from hurts of oppression and other past troubles. These hurts can create difficulties for effectively working together to solve the climate crisis.[3] SAL contends that this "healing work also builds courage and stamina, and the confidence that we can create a just, sustainable future for everyone."[4]
Approach
Sustaining All Life collaborates with other climate and climate-justice related organizations and initiatives to build unity towards the goal of ending the climate emergency and ending oppressive divisions among people.
SAL often presents jointly with United to End Racism (UER), another project of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities.
SAL organizes workshops and forums, as well as support groups, caucuses, listening projects, and introductory classes.
SAL workshops include presentations of what is termed "the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling--engaged listening and mutual support" and "perspectives on climate change and oppression."[4] These workshops cover a range of climate and climate justice related topics and are interactive, giving participants the chance to share their experiences and be listened to. Topics have included, “Tools for Ending Racism,” “Building a Strong Climate Movement,” “Supporting Indigenous Leadership in the Climate Movement”, “Healing Our Climate Grief,” and “Labor--Working Together for Unity.”[5] The organization asserts that these tools and perspectives enable climate activists and organizations to be more effective in their work, in particular, sharpening their thinking and assisting in reclaiming connections to other people.[6]
At some conferences SAL has also organized forums where delegates who are not part of SAL are given opportunities to present their personal experiences of the climate crisis publicly. These have generally featured speakers from frontline nations and indigenous groups. The forums allow activists to speak for a few minutes about the impact of climate change on their communities, what they are doing to address the climate crisis, and share stories of hope, courage and other successes in their environmental activism.
SAL employs "listening projects" at live, in-person events where SAL delegates invite passers-by to share their thinking on key climate change issues, using open questions such as "What do you think about climate change?"; "What should be done?"; "How do you see racism affecting your ability to organize effectively on climate change"; "What gives you hope as a climate activist?"; and "What's hard for you about it?[7]
At both in-person and online events, SAL offers support groups and caucuses daily where participants have an opportunity to be listened to about their feelings connected to climate change and the climate crisis.[7]
The events are interpreted into languages other than English to enable broad participation, and to include the voices of a wider range of climate activists.[8]
History
SAL was founded by RC in 2014. Since then it has presented workshops and forums at numerous international and U.S. based climate conferences and published pamphlets, handouts, and videos on various climate change-related topics.[9]
SAL delegations presented at COP21 in Paris in 2015; COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco in 2016; COP23 in Bonn, Germany in 2017; COP24 in Katowice, Poland in 2018; and COP25 in Madrid, Spain in 2019. After COP21, SAL became an official non-governmental organization (NGO) and operated in the "Green Zone" of the COPs open to the public. At COP24 and COP25, SAL collaborated with the Global Peace Initiative of Women[10] and Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association (DDMBA)[11][12], and presented under the theme of "To Stand United for the Climate, Overcoming Divisions." (Video excerpt of the COP25 event on YouTube)
The organization has also presented at other climate conferences (including online events): Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) (2018), as well as in the Solidarity to Solutions[13] alternative event sponsored by the Climate Justice Alliance; UN Climate Action Summit (2019 & 2020) and in the Nature4Climate[14] Hub; From the Ground Up (2020) sponsored by the COP26 Coalition[15]; Earth Day Initiative Virtual Festival (2021); and London Climate Action Week (2021).[16] In addition, SAL collaborated with UER and No Limits for Women[17], another Re-evaluation Counseling Communities project, in presenting a set of workshops during International Women's Month in March 2021 to highlight "key women’s issues with the intersection of the climate emergency." SAL holds that "addressing and ending sexism, male domination and its impacts" is a major factor in ending the climate emergency and that "women and girls are key in turning the tide to end this crisis."[18]
These SAL pamphlets: "Tools for Climate Organizing"[19] and "Sustaining All Life: Overcoming the Destructive Policies of the Past"[20] were distributed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the UN Climate Action Summit.
Media Coverage
External Links
References
- ^ "Re-evaluation Foundation". Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ "Sustaining All Life (SAL)". Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ Schaper, Donna (November 30, 2016). "After COP22, the importance of sub-national groups". EarthBeat. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ a b "Sustaining All Life (SAL)". Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ "Workshops". Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ "A Call to Unity: Standing Together for Climate Action" (PDF). Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ a b "Sustaining All Life/United to End Racism at Solidarity to Solutions (SOL2SOL) week and the Global Climate Action Summit". Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ "La Minga Indigena Presente All Cumbre Social Di Madrid (La Minga Indigena Presents at the Social Summit in Madrid)". La Bottega delle Storie. December 11, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ "Climate Week Handouts". Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ "Global Peace Initiative of Women". Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ "Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association". Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ "Reflections on COP 25". Retrieved June 21, 2021.
- ^ "Solidarity to Solutions". Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ "Nature4Climate". Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ "COP26 Coalition". Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ "London Climate Action Week". Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ "No Limits for Women". Retrieved June 21, 2021.
- ^ "International Women's Month". Retrieved June 21, 2021.
- ^ Tools for Climate Organizing. Rational Island Publishers. 2019. ISBN 978-1-58429-229-6.
- ^ Sustaining All Life: Overcoming the Destructive Policies of the Past. Rational Island Publishers. 2015. ISBN 978-1-58429-181-7.
Category:Advocacy groups in the United States
Category:Climate change organizations based in the United States
Category:Politics of climate change
Category:Low-carbon economy
Category:Political movements