GCCLP Reports
Case Study: Transforming Narratives about Climate Migration
In this collection of case studies, we showcase five among a growing number of extraordinary “climate changemakers, innovators, and solutionaries,” as The Solutions Project says. They demonstrate a range of ways immigrant communities are meeting the climate crisis with distinct cultural knowledge and in solidarity with other communities to create the future we all want.
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What becomes clear from these case studies is that people leave their homes in search of safety, food, and shelter as an option of last resort, and in the words of Colette Pichon Battle, Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, “We must establish a new social attitude to see migration as a benefit, a necessity for our global survival.” What also becomes clear is that migration is a benefit both for people doing the moving, as well as the communities they become part of.
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Click here to read "Transforming Narratives about Climate Migration".
A Recovery Agenda for Louisiana
GCCLP's Co-Executive Director Colette Pichon Battle is a member of the Louisiana Climate Initiatives Task Force and helped to shape its first-ever Climate Action Plan, which was released in February 2022. The 2022 legislative session will be the Louisiana Legislature's first opportunity to implement key features of the plan. GCCLP has been working with Louisiana Budget Project and local allies to develop an equitable Recovery Agenda that will make use of one-time federal stimulus funds to help address the climate crisis.
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GCCLP COP26 Statement
As we look back on the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) we are disappointed in the failure of world leaders to rise to the urgency of the moment and in their lack of courage to address the root causes of this crisis. This year’s conference served as a forum for polluters and rich countries to promote false solutions such as blue hydrogen, carbon capture, and biofuels derived from deforestation and to escape accountability for their role in driving climate catastrophe.
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National Black Climate Mandate
The climate crisis is impacting communities in the U.S. and abroad and requires bold, immediate action. With the largest economy in the world and the greatest historical emissions of greenhouse gases, the U.S. must commit to doing its fair share of the global effort to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This effort must prioritize the dignity, well-being, and safety of marginalized communities and the most vulnerable people in both the U.S. and around the world. Now is the time for a Black climate agenda!
The Red Black and Green New Deal (RBG New Deal), an initiative of the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), puts Black liberation at the center of the global climate struggle and addresses the impacts of climate change and environmental racism on Black communities.
This RBG New Deal agenda proposes immediate actions policymakers, corporations, and people can do to fortify Black people—especially those most marginalized, such as disabled, chronically ill, transgender, gender- nonconforming, and intersex people— from the uniquely racist practices of the fossil-fuel industry.
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GCCLP's Statement on Hurricane Ida
On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf South experienced another climate disaster in Hurricane Ida. We are currently working with partners and communities to assess the immediate and long-term impacts of the storm. Many of you have reached out with messages of solidarity, support, and concern as well as with prayers, intentions, and offerings. In that spirit, we offer ways to stand with those impacted by Hurricane Ida.
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Click here to view our full statement.
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How They Vote
Legislative Scorecard
It’s incredibly difficult for ordinary people to take part in the legislative process. Hundreds of bills are introduced each session and move through committees and votes at lightning speed. We often do not understand the intent and consequences of these bills until weeks, months, or years after they become law. Bills that affect our environment, economy, education, and democratic rights are passed or killed with too little input from the people whose lives they affect. We developed the Louisiana legislative scorecard to help turn that around. Click here to visit howtheyvote.la.
Fossil Fuel Racism
How Phasing Out Oil, Gas, and Coal Can Protect Communities
Fossil fuels — coal, oil, and gas — lie at the heart of the crises we face, including public health, racial injustice, and climate change. This report synthesizes existing research and provides new analysis that finds that the fossil fuel industry contributes to public health harms that kill hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. each year and disproportionately endanger Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities. President Joe Biden and the 117th Congress have a historic opportunity to improve public health, tackle the climate crisis, and confront systemic racism at the same time by phasing out fossil fuel production and use.
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This is the most comprehensive analysis to date of fossil fuel racism and how fossil fuel production is creating a public health crisis for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities.
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Southern Communities for a Green New Deal Policy Platform
This Southern Communities for a Green New Deal policy platform outlines the key issues facing our communities as the global climate crisis worsens and provides a list of our key demands as a foundation for any Green New Deal policies enacted at all levels of government. As is outlined in the Green New Deal House Resolution, we believe that we can and must address the global climate crisis while also achieving justice and equity. Southern communities, particularly Black, Indigenous, people of color and poor, Queer, and disabled communities, have historically organized to pressure the federal government to take action to ensure equity and justice. While this has been a key strategy to protect the life and liberties of Southern communities, often federal actions fall short of its aim and/or are generally met with resistance from Southern state governments charged with implementation.
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State of the South Report 2020
Nothing About Us, Without Us! The State of the South report offers a frontline Southern assessment and vision rooted in the stories, traditions, and experiences of communities across the U.S. South. GCCLP is proud to have been a primary contributor to this report as an anchor of the Southern Movement Assembly, a 13-state Southern formation working for transformative change across our region.
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Click here to view the full report at southtosouth.org.
BP10 Commemoration Report
Communities from across the Gulf South and the nation joined together on April 20, 2020, to commemorate 10 years since the BP Drilling Disaster standing in solidarity with the frontlines to remember and understand the impact of the BP Oil Drilling Disaster.
Together, we remembered the lives lost, discussed the impact on Mississippi fishing communities, and lifted up the role of art and culture in disaster. Speakers included a former Deepwater Horizon rig worker, local advocates, and recovery leaders, all offering first-hand knowledge of impact and community solutions. The content of this report comes from their offerings.
Fair Housing, Climate & Health Report
Each year for the last nine years, the Center for Fair Housing in Mobile, Alabama has held a Regional Justice Leadership Summit bringing together leaders and advocates across the South working on housing issues and a range of other social justice issues. At this year's summit, over 300 people from across the country came together virtually to connect the dots between fair housing, health, criminal justice, immigration, and the climate crisis. The content of this report comes from the expert testimony shared during the Summit.
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Report on the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribunal on Human Rights
In response to the continued attempts by corporations and governments to erase the significance of their culture, history, and land, the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas held a tribunal on human rights on May 22nd and 23rd, 2020 to document past and present harms against their people, the Esto’k Gna. This report includes the testimony of Esto’k Gna people, allies from fellow Native nations, and other non-Native allies during the tribunal. Their testimony showed significant patterns of human rights violations and that the LNG terminals, as proposed, would violate Indigenous rights, rights to health through environmental racism, and even the most basic rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Click here to read the official Observer's Opinion submitted to the United Nations and click here to read the full report.
Environmental Justice & Philanthropy
Challenges & Opportunities for Alignment: Gulf South and Midwest Case Studies
The Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy was honored to partner with Building Equity & Alignment for Impact (BEA-I), the Tishman Environment and Design Center at the New School University, and Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) on a landscape assessment study that led to this report, prepared by Ana Isabel Baptista, Ph.D., Adrienne Perovich, MPA, and other collaborators at the New School. The study looked at funding disparities for grassroots environmental & climate justice organizations in the Gulf South and Midwest regions, and sought to identify opportunities for greater equity and alignment between the philanthropic community and grassroots organizers.
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Our deep gratitude goes out to Gulf South community partners who participated in interviews that were crucial to this report.
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Gulf South for a Green New Deal Policy Platform
Gulf South for a Green New Deal is a multi-year, multi-state initiative to address the climate crisis through the advancement of equity and justice along with the creation of living wage, ecologically sustainable jobs.
This document is a collective assertion that the Gulf South must be included in the development of national policy. This platform is not a comprehensive policy vision, but rather a starting point and living tool of regional alignment and broad organizing in the Gulf South. The principles, goals, and strategies of this Policy Platform are offered to address what a Green New Deal must look like to be successful in the Gulf South. We offer this document as a step towards climate justice, self-determination, and dignity for all people everywhere. As goes the South, so goes the nation.
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Click here to read the platform and sign on your organization at gulfsouth4gnd.org.