KEXP Presents Mind Over Matters; Sustainability Segment: Jill Mangaliman

this is diane warren your host on the sustainability segment of mind over matter isn't k x p seattle ninety point three of them by mobile app and on the web at expedia georgie my guest this morning is teal mandela mann executive director of got green a grassroots group in the seattle area led by young adults and people of color that promotes the movement for an equitable green economy is the best way to fight poverty and global warming at the same time joe mandela managed here today to give us an update on the green projects and to tell us about the newly released climate justice project report our people our planet our power community led research in south seattle published in march twenty sixteen by got green and puget sound sage welcome joe solo which i want to begin by saying a few words about got grain my gut brain were started in your history we were founded in two thousand eight really wanted to create a space where young people call eric said the leaders in the green economy every movement and we define a green economy as access to healthy foods living wage green jobs

access to reliable public transit and access to help the affordable homes and for us you know we really wanted a space where people can i could talk about that by men learn about our impacts of climate change so i got green we have grass roots leadership committees who lead campaigns and we have a food access seen led by women of color and low income arms basically you working on increasing access to healthy foods in their communities that they worked on the fresh box which is a program that matches low-income dollars at farmers markets or people can get more local produce and also we have a young leaders team currently the youngest marine women who are focused on creating a green pathways into careers for young workers a color with an extensive party a local higher in which the people who are most impacted by climate change and social racial injustice have a pipeline into opportunities for them to lead rather than a prison

pipeline so we're looking to create some sort of resolution that would be require companies and the city to hire our young folks from impacted communities especially young workers of color and both of these projects were started by community based research our model is that the solutions inquiries come from the grassroots and so for him the grassroots committees designed a survey to interview people in the community for the women in the green economy project we interviewed women of color and low income women and down that was their priority and for the canadian campaign around that and just the same way in twenty thirteen are young workers in the green economy project was altered in a campaign for green pathways lead by people from the survey it's a cover model and it's continuing today as we have just recently released the results from a climate justice project which we launched last year it you know go

into detail about the greens' climate justice project what is the purpose so the cream in collaboration with peaches and sage which is that organization based in seattle that focuses on racial equity and worker empowerment they do coalitions and policy and organizing to really push for a good green jobs and a troubled transit dominant housing and transit and so satan our brain have been close partners for last few years in both of us were really being pulled into conversations around climate change policy and for us we didn't feel right on this week we're having these conversations with their communities can use a color the people we work with the most we want to know like what are people saying on the ground what is going on with this issue when we know impacts are committees however those issues don't seem to be perceived to be a priority and so the goal of this money based research was really to start to have those conversations on the ground too and part ask people what were the parties or what they thought about for

climate change in regards to their communities and also wanted to bring up this issue in a way that i can use talk about it so i think that by going to people whether at asking them what's important to you in a way it was a learning on both parts books or learning about the impacts of climate change as it was particular to the neighborhood and then at the same time we were learning from them what resonated with them what were their primaries would you say more about who was involved in the climate justice project yeah so you sense at that rainbow flag our staff to court made and so we had organizers and then we formed a grassroots steering committee that had basically young leaders of color from the community for example hold on her son was a volunteer at first but she had you know like going through the washington bus fellowship and was invalid black lives matter the same with other members like zahra tackle our who we all

know has been really a lead aaron byrd divestment campaigns and also black lives matter and so really wanted to bring in the folks who are connected with that in the it was already happening in the committee but also want to bring in folks who cared about this issue and wanted to basically start having these conversations with others and so it is steering committee they desire the survey they also did education wasn't shared and learned about what were the particular impact such as sea level rises the rising cost of food temperature heat waves and so it was in part also a way for gawker aint jaso learn more and more about the science impacts even though our mission has all this time be any global warming a lot of that weren't even as far side what is that men particularly to south seattle and wheeler and that climate change is a threat multiplier communities who already have been struggling to afford basic needs are our struggle with unemployed men particularly low income people people call at that for climate change would disproportionately

harm them in so really wanted to hit that home that he musical error hit first and worse not just in seattle but globally and so it was really great for a cock ring and giddy sensation have these conversations were ourselves and the take it to the street and we launched the survey in maine and you know with the goal of a hundred fifty we reached a hundred and seventy five i have face to face interviews and then sage and the crane surveyed thirty organizations which served are targeted audience inside kings of seattle so we also got information from gathering places and organizations who who have the stakes in this is while before we go into detail about the report and what the latest climate change a threat to racial justice yes so because of that existing conditions that can use a color have in the country and washington state we know that already have are facing environmental racism they say that sixty eight percent of african american households live

you know within a radius of coal power plant and with the whole thing open that happened in flint that is not something that is a anomaly that actually happens quite a bit where communities are least in places that are unfortunate sacrifice sense that there's more pollution is just more risk for environmental health issues we can look at south seattle as well right where the location of all the highways the industry's from the roadways and where people have the highest asthma rates amongst their kids and so i think that there are already existing conditions in which climate change just makes it worse and so the people who are really struggling will unfortunately get the brunt of the impact that come from climate change and we know like globally this is impacting the global south in a way that we can look at it more regionally a dozen packs like the south of my city and you know it's true that everyone's going to feel the

impacts of climate change in their own various ways but if you have limited resources if you already live at a neighborhood that is vulnerable then climate change will only make that worse and so if we're looking at from an equity standpoint the communities that have been historically cut off from opportunities or have less resources are community spaces that are there are well resourced and they will be very vulnerable in the face of emergencies not just major storms but when you know see the rise of costs of basic needs from shelter to food energy but also the very real impact and the stresses that come with not having a lot of historical access to resources forgot greene we notice that you know we're our local organization however we see ourselves as part of the are the global movement because we recognize that people are migrating because of climate change to so this is impacting

not just people hear about people everywhere and so we want to be in solidarity with other communities who are impacted by climate change and diane warren and my guest is jill men down in an executive director of got green our topic is the climate justice project report our people our planet our power community led research in south seattle and you are attuned to the sustainability segment of mind over matter is unless they're powered k e x the ninety point three fm by mobile out and on the web at x p dido it would you say more about the community based practice at the torrey researcher approach that you used yes so it is really our main tools as far as how to act cochran we identify parodies but there's two things that we really appreciate about it one that it has community ownership when that the questions are designed by committee members themselves when our policymakers and that also the results we report back can we continually report back to those that weren't over the

projects and then the other great thing about it is that it's not just some report that we we produced that also recommendations that were hopeful that our canoes can implement our push for war and that this document can also be used as a pool when they're advocating for these initiatives so it's an organizing tool but it's also a way for our voices to get lifted up and yeah it's been a really great way for us to start having these conversations with our allies with our partners and it's also been a way for us to bring in new leadership and for folks to be able to you know speak their truths one of the survey participants was saying africa released that you know now she feels her union is now that she can say that she also canadian expert on climate change as far as how it relates to her in her community and so that's our goal it's a relief to a firm that's pretty is that the community has people know what they need and want that won't improve their

conditions mansour to bring this information for it to you know lawmakers and policy folks and the general pablo like bizarre solution right here so that's why we did in the base research who are the survey that his opponents in terms of where they live race and age we actually surveyed folks who lived in zip codes in south seattle head and the south king county and analysts often can easily lives but we focus more on the surrounding neighborhoods like rent and then skyway and white center and so basically really wanted to talk to people who were living in the zip codes but also wanted to make sure that we were talking to folks who wear the working class are aware from that particular use a color and i really wanted to have a wide spread of folks so we've tried different languages including spanish somali chinese into gallaga the most of this because we're in english had english and spoke in the probably not a home also actually the folks who we did

talk to most of them were younger in their twenties to their forties with the pop age groups that we were able to get through from all ages and something else significant was that majority the folks with exception eighteen percent were not homeowners and so we surveyed ahead and seventy five people and now a military them where people color but we also make sure to have a variety of folks various vendors and age groups it's a debate about this earlier about what types of questions did you ask in the survey so the way that the survey raises it was actually a very long survey was among this community based survey ever the people's stuck around for the full thing was about twenty or thirty minutes long and some questions really didn't bring along a participant unlike the first ones were pretty easy it's like when you care about climate change would think of and most folks were like whoa you know polar bears and then as their questions one on and be more about like

them in their community like one area where it is right now the community look at this let's are you impacted by loose in our youth impacted by rising cost of food it impacted by noise pollution and so there is actually a section where the eu we're able to be like oh yeah i live on a really busy street where there's a lot of you know semi trucks or yes actually i noticed that last year there was a really bad heat wave and i don't actually have air conditioning or alike kling center nearby sit there staring back channel like oh yes this is happening when where i live and then there are other questions where people were able to say what they would thought were the solutions for example we asked them questions like what you think the city should do about flooding or heat waves and so folks are hidden you know reading i diaz or even just thinking about like oh you know what should they do about heat waves surprisingly some folks were like oh i go to the library to them on so that brought up a conversation like what the spaces are available to people

for emergencies extreme weather so it was a conversation starter but also a way for us to see where people were at one of the more making information that we found in the survey was that only twenty four percent of the people surveyed actually thought that their communities we're most vulnerable that low income people were vulnerable to climate change and when they asked who was most vulnerable and not just as a show how the un the dominant mainstream narrative is not working that people don't really see themselves in this issue is because it's talked about in some faraway faceless thing or something that has nothing to do like with what's happening locally and so i think that the goal also has to really bring home this issue so people can understand how this impacts directly seattle in south king so our goal was to really just to get rid of folks to connect with the issue as well what were the key concerns of the survey participants about climate change impacts so when we asked about

climate change impacts the top two that people definitely felt that they would experience where health issues and also rising cost of food and make sense because you've already feeling on that issue right now with access to health and also with the food access the other concern when we asked more generally asking them about what were their issues right now in the community who enjoy the folks a displacement and really goes to show how the rising costs and seattle are impacting people's ability to live in the city and as we did more conversations about the sweet side to make that connection like how this would play out with climate change if people are not able to live when their communities have then or where their jobs are basically i can use our very transit dependent and so as were pushed further away or cut off from the places that make us stronger and so a big

conversation was like how do we keep communities rooted in place so that they have the social safety nets when disaster happens in other words that we would rather see resilient well resourced communities for just the long haul i think that was the very issue that really came up as was like had only addresses the issue around housing and one other population would be really impact by climate changes are no houses populations we have a state of emergency in seattle and so people are losing their homes at home or of honorable dr to the impacts of climate and extreme weather and access to services and resources so we had all sorts of conversations with that part of the survey also is that we follow that with our tables and one on one discussions on that was on a lot of folks whose minds and diane warren and my guest is jill men down in an executive director of got green a topic is a climate justice project report our people our planet our power community led research in south seattle and you are attuned to the sustainability

segment of mind over matter is unless they're powered katie x p ninety point three of them by mobile out and on the web add k e x p nut allergy would support that you find for reducing carbon emissions in general when we talk to people people were really really supportive of coming up with ways to address climate change i don't think there was a disagreement that we need to do something we looked at fourteen different types of strategies and i call on how to reduce pollution and majority of them received very high rating it's i think people are looking at solutions that also have a full benefit that's both economic and environmental benefit to their communities for example looking at like transit the like actual transit bad that the displaced people but connect people another solution they look that was basically halo two add more community centers and gathering halls the climate prepared because we know won and there's an emergency the usual first responders are people from the community who will check on them and so

wanting to make sure that we had the training and the resources to handle those situations but in general like the folks who stopped where i'm interested or in and knew this issue and there was no argument that we needed to do something to really address this issue of climate change part of your report was recommendations for actions in policy that will maximize community resilience and build stronger but as a patient in the fight against climate change would you like to give an overview of those recommendations a lot of the recommendations in this booklet there's daschle a lot of them and a thing just goes to show that there's plenty of ideas that the community has been a big one is to really address displacement and have strategies to keep people in a place such as tv land trusts our neighborhood preservation and something else that people were really interested in a slight community benefits are for the city the other vegas area was how do we continue to get this information out there is to do the flea mork meaning gate manned

and more trainings around climate change issues and really supporting initiatives that kept fossil fuels in the ground to basically make sure that we're not worsening this problem and so really wanting to push for a release strong policies that reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and then last wave making sure that there is that community driven process in our action plans and are also in our budgeting and so there is a section about climate adaptation of participatory budgeting which are city it's learning about as well i know there's a huge project and he finished the radar where they're looking at the torrey budgeting by it away allowing those committees were most impacted to be able to come up with ideas on how they can make their communities help years can take those investments in them and where they need them that we're not just have income and the status quo or making things worse that actually we seeing improvements and these bases that have been neglected for so long so those are some of the ideas that are floating out

there i know that for the cranes climate justice committee they're really leaning towards addressing this issue of displacement and are learning more and more about their connections and what's going on in the city what are the most important lessons she learned from the survey i think that what's interesting is that people who gave the surveying who are part of the project have walked away with more confidence than better understanding know what climate change means and what we want to do about in our common performing messages are ways to talk about it with their community and i think that that in itself is well we're hoping that this is an issue that is happening here and now and that i can easily do care about contrary to let maybe thought out there that this is a really important issue for low income people and people call it and then lastly that the other important thing about this survey and not just i were having these conversations that there's action and

that now that people are having those conversations in trying to figure out what are the things that we need in our communities it's also wearing more spaces for people to really look at this issue and i really take it to their lawmakers to get to the relatives and so it isn't just about again this one thing like the weather or climate change is actually a very exceptional issued in that it's connected to many parts of our lives and so i think that the conversation would that leave or really wanting to have that this is also about racial justice is about food justice this is about worker justice and so really making sure that folks see this as an issue that's connected to various parts of our lives what his leadership by people of color mean for the broader environmental movement so this has been the co lead environmental movement for a long time or you could say that our native community where the original defenders of their land and so there is a very visible eyes history of groups that

were oppressed also seeing that they will defend their environment as well and so i think it is really one recognizing that other part of the movement and also really listening and learning from the people who are directly impacted and for us or also as organization that lives in the city those in the united states also recognizing how we benefit from this very system this current economy and environment so we try to rebuild solidarity with our rule communities in other communities around the world sicily in the global south and still trying to understand these systems but that said i think that when inmates environmental movement they're learning and really wanting to there is the motivation to really learn about the disproportionate impact learn about what communities to meet the need and how do we talk about these issues are what are the solutions we wanna see it may says there's not gonna be

a one size fit all solution yeah i think that very early is asha afraid not to say that this has as much to do it justice then the environment and really it is about how do we improve those conditions especially of those who are already challenged with the earth's grid systems we have so i think there's a lot of growing and learning to do but it's happening will what's the message you'd like to leave our listeners with i'm hoping that folks read the report it was made to be more of like a document that folks can utilize or can try to see how this issue relates to them and so i'm hoping that these conversations will continue and then that this issue again continues to ring in the new leaders and actually more and more campaigns and ways for people to improve the conditions in a community and i think that it's a really exciting time right now people are taking to the streets and even if this issue of climate change we have some tough times ahead i think that people are really energized wanna

take action will thanks so much for being here joe you were just listening to joe mandela mann executive director of got green for more information check on the web and got green seattle dot org again that's got green seattle dot org the sustainability segment of mind over matters program you have just heard we'll be on the screening archives section of katie x these one sided katie xv died or achieve for the next fourteen days in addition sustainability seven interviews are available as podcasts along with k x these music podcasts go to katie expiate out oh rj put on demand and then podcasting i'm diane warren thanks for listening and be sure to tune into the sustainability segment again next week and listener powered ninety point three of sam my mobile app and on k e x p dot org today