In 2018, Reel News went on a 14 week tour of North America to look at grassroots struggles around climate change, particularly struggles around a “just transition” from fossil fuels to renewable energy, where workers and communities control the process so that they benefit from the transition, and around “just recovery” – recovery from extreme weather events which do not exascerbate current inequalities.
What we found were inspiring and visionary struggles all over the continent, led by working class communities of colour, with people organising just transitions and just recoveries themselves. Now, you can see what we found in an 11 episode series.
This week: New York, where working class waterfront communities in New York City have been fighting for environmental justice for decades through groups such as UPROSE, the longest standing Puerto Rican community organisation in Brooklyn. Superstorm Sandy marked a watershed moment where that struggle also became a climate struggle. 400,000 people marched for climate justice in 2014, which gave rise to many new groups and new alliances – and now those social movements are making huge strides in making NYC a zero carbon, zero waste city by 2050, led by young women of colour.
Watch trailer for series: