Story Snapshots:
Living the Just Transition
About Climate Justice Alliance’s Story Snapshots
Climate Justice Alliance’s Story Snapshots invites viewers into the homes and hearts of CJA communities, those living on the frontlines of the economic, democratic and climate crises.
Through art, cultural tradition and future vision, we share how our communities are moving from an extractive economy to a future of meaningful work, equity, and a clean environment.
In the midst of this project, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world and pressed pause on all our muscle memory movements through society – our snapshots bear witness and pay homage to living Just Transitions as we adapt and respond to this global emergency.
To learn more about this project, listen to our podcast: Stories from Home: Living the Just Transition, with Keenan Rhodes of CJA and the Kheprw Institute. For more information about the Climate Justice Alliance and to follow our work, please sign up for our updates here.
Indigenous Environmental Network
Prairie’s hopes for the future lie in human relationship. Tanya sees our children learning all the ways of life throughout the Universe. Boots just wants to make sure there’s something for everybody. Watch the Just Transition visions of six Indigenous leaders from across Turtle Island come to life through Lakota artist Arlo Iron Cloud’s one-of-a-kind drawings, created on the spot at the Indigenous Just Transition Assembly at Haskell Indians Nations University. Step into the Assembly that brought together voices of the Assiniboine, Sioux, Crow, Dine’/Navajo, Oglala Lakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations, and watch their words come to life.
Snapshot produced by Jennifer Falcon, IEN
Micronesia Climate Change Alliance
Follow an all-star team of local women chefs, artists, nutritionists, farmers and more through 50 locally-sourced vegan/vegetarian recipes, adapted from traditional CHamoru and Filipino culture. This healthy, plant-based cookbook and e-book combats the modern colonized diet on Guam that relies heavily on processed imports, pollutes bodies and harms the environment. Tips on being a more planet-conscious consumer and growing and using traditional produce accompany a shopping guide for vegans to local restaurants and stores, enhancing life on the islands one reader at a time. This work of love fights the climate crisis, decolonizes our communities on the path to Just Transition, and shares the taste of our culture with the world. Check it out!
GreenRoots
Through family portrait and public testimony, follow us into the heart of “Eastie,” an historically immigrant and environmental justice neighborhood in East Boston. With a history of environmental and public health impacts from unaccountable polluting industries, Eastie’s push for a Just Transition is currently focused on stopping construction of an Eversource electrical substation proposed next to an eight million gallon tank of jet fuel, two public playgrounds, and athletic fields. Stories from diverse neighborhood leaders alongside images of the families who live, work and play here give an inspiring window into Eastie – its struggles, culture and vision for the future.
SouthWest Organizing Project
Project Feed the Hood has been creating a Just Transition away from an extractive food system for over a decade, creating a system rooted in their communities’ values and history. Celebrate the10-year anniversary of SWOP’s Project Feed the Hood as they expand their intergenerational garden programming and transition their community garden into an agroecology center – a place where frontline communities will learn ways to combat food apartheid for years to come. Get an inside look into how SWOP’s work supports international skill-sharing and solidarity building, uplifts traditional and Indigenous knowledge, upholds sustainable food sovereignty and inherently respects Mother Earth.
KHEPRW Institute
Experience a Just Transition based in Indianapolis, Indiana through the eyes, ears and heart of the intergenerational, multicultural, youth-focused Kheprw Institute. Named for the scarab beetle, symbolic of rebirth and regeneration, this community tells a simple, yet hard-to-achieve story of collective empowerment and wealth-building through visual metaphors, anecdotes and spoken word. The rich Kheprw community contributes to a film in which its desired future state of equity and liberation is embodied and projected through lived practice. Step into the kitchens, front porches, parks and classrooms of the vision that is Kheprw. Come take a look!
Soil Generation
Get a feel for how Soil Generation (SG) practices Agroecology with their comrades in Philadelphia. For over seven years SG has been a strong political advocate for urban agriculture, while also valuing Black and Brown leadership and building relationships with each other. Follow along as they grow food and dig deeper with one another (literally!) This sensory-rich short film invites viewers to show up with SG and feel what it’s like to work alongside the community on the ground. Learn first-hand how important growing food is to people in Philadelphia!
