Why Now
In 2021, we witnessed a winter storm knock out the energy and water infrastructure in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Sixteen years to the date from Hurricane Katrina, we felt a hurricane intensify from a Category 2 to a Category 4 within hours, striking Southern Louisiana and devastating communities all the way up to New York City. We saw the largest fires in history rage across Washington, Oregon, and California.
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At the same time, we watched the assault on democracy and human rights: from a violent insurrection in D.C. to restrictions on people’s human right to healthcare. All of this, amid a global pandemic that is exacerbating economic and health apartheid favoring the Global North over the Global South. These crises are rooted in a culture and practice of extraction, anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and disposability; they elevate scarcity and fear, dividing communities from one another.
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We in the Gulf South are on the frontlines of these crises and we have had enough. The climate crisis is here: the time is now for us to address the root causes of these problems. This is not just a Southern problem — it's a global one. And our solutions require solidarity from the Gulf South to the Global South.
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When Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana, we knew we had to make sure our communities could tell their story of resistance and transformation. Together, frontline communities put forth a new message: one rooted not in fear or scarcity, but in love and abundance. After Ida, we called on our communities and our national allies to make our position clear. We have a choice. We have a choice to change how we move and address these crises:
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#WeChooseNow to stop investing in the same extractive economies that divide and harm us.
#WeChooseNow to demand that corporations pay their fair share on an equitable and transformative recovery.
#WeChooseNow to make a difference in how we live our best life into the future.
#WeChooseNow to rebuild our communities better.
#WeChooseNow to act from a position of Love and Abundance together.
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We have a choice, that choice is to CHOOSE NOW. Join us.
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#WeChooseNow is the message of the Southern Frontlines and describes a long-term communications campaign that GCCLP will advance into 2022 and beyond with our community partners and allies. Change is here, the time is now. Join us as #WeChooseNow to make our world a better place for each other and future generations.
November 6 Global Day of Action for Climate Justice
On November 6th, GCCLP will join the global call climate action in Glasgow, Scotland, and worldwide for the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice.
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On this Global Day of Action, we call on the United States to acknowledge and atone for its role in the global climate crisis that threatens our future by addressing the loss and damage to the Global South and the Gulf South. In particular, we call for climate reparations to the Black diaspora and Indigenous communities already dealing with climate impacts on their land, their life, and their culture due to the climate crisis fueled by the U.S. and Global North’s extractive systems and economic practices.
Join Us: Day of Action Toolkit
Join us with a solidarity activity in your own community and on your social media platforms. Check out this November 6th #WeChooseNow Global Day of Action Toolkit:
Hurricane Ida Response
Social Media Toolkit
National Press Briefing: Frontline climate communities respond to impacts of Hurricane Ida
On Thursday, September 9, the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy along with the Gulf South for a Green New Deal, the United Houma Nation, the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans, and the US Climate Action Network held a press call to report on how Hurricane Ida disproportionately impacted frontline communities. With the federal infrastructure bill at the top of the congressional priority list and the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties — COP26 — coming up in October, these groups will also highlight the cultural shifts and policy solutions that must be adopted at the local, national, and global levels in order to achieve climate justice and protect frontline communities from further harms caused by climate change and environmental pollution. This includes shifting away from fossil fuels, reducing greenhouse gas
emissions, and leveraging the Biden administration’s climate policies — such as the Justice40 Initiative — to help scale up community-led solutions.
Speakers:
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Colette Pichon Battle, Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy (GCCLP); Lead architect of the M4BL’s Red, Black & Green New Deal
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Principal Chief August Creppel of the United Houma Nation
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Jessica Dandridge, Executive Director, Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans
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Jennifer Crosslin, Southern Regional Organizer, Southern Communities for a Green New Deal, GCCLP
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Keya Chatterjee, Executive Director of the US Climate Action Network
