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The Climate Mobilization

While massive CA fires burn, Yolo County Board of Supervisors declare a climate emergency, commit to justice and mobilization

Local Contact: Juliette Beck, Yolo Climate Emergency Coalition ​juliettegaia@yahoo.com​ (530) 902-8407
National Contact: Matt Renner, The Climate Mobilization ​matt@climatemobilization.org​ (510) 517-1343

Woodland, CA, Sept. 29 — ​With smoke still rising from one of California’s most massive wildfires on record, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to accelerate local climate action and to fund a climate advisory committee tasked with helping the county achieve just and equitable outcomes for marginalized communities and to retool livelihoods.

Yolo County joins over ​​1,750 local governments​ in declaring a climate emergency, part of a decentralized global campaign that has engaged local communities in policymaking.

Adelita Serena,​ a Woodland-based organizer for Mothers Out Front, a grassroots climate action organization and key supporter of the resolution, explained, “As a mother and Indigenous woman, what we are currently seeing is a very clear and loud alarm from our mother earth and ancestors. We must change course off fossil fuels before it’s too late. I have two sons and I want them to have a future. We must act now with great urgency.”

With their vote, county Supervisors committed the county to enacting a plan “to achieve a just economic recovery and transition to a countywide carbon-negative (climate-positive) footprint by 2030.” They also put the county on record recognizing the scientific consensus around the emergency and established an advisory committee to ensure the process is inclusive and effective.

At the meeting Supervisors committed $50,000 in county funds to support the advisory committee. Supervisor Don Saylor was emphatic during the hearing on the resolution: “We as a planet really have to get going on reaching the goal of zero carbon emissions by 2030. We need to hold ourselves accountable to real deadlines just to keep things from getting worse. The goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 might not be fast enough. I’d like to make sure we as a county have done our part and have made measurable progress by 2025.”

The resolution was spearheaded by a team of volunteers organizing as the Yolo Climate Emergency Coalition and endorsed by over a hundred grassroots organizations and individuals including representatives from small farms and businesses, faith-based alliances, educational institutions, student and youth groups, and climate, environmental, women’s empowerment, public health, and racial justice campaigns.

“We are on the frontlines of the climate emergency. With our COVID infection rate dropping, we know we can tackle big problems by working cooperatively. This resolution now puts in motion a collaborative response that centers the needs of our most vulnerable populations and provides pathways for a healthy, climate-positive recovery,” said Juliette Beck, an organizer with Yolo CountyClimate Emergency Coalition.

Yolo is an agricultural county just west of Sacramento. As of this writing, the LNU Lightning ComplexFire has been burning for 42 days, killed four people and destroyed over 1,400 structures and360,000 acres, making it the fourth largest fire in California’s recorded history. This has been a season of disaster for the county; prior to the fires, the community and local economy was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, farmworkers who were already living on the edge have little choice and are working long hours inhaling toxic smoke to bring in the harvest —tomatoes, almonds, and other crops — around the clock from August to October, a period that also coincides with the lengthening fire season. A farmworker who requested to remain anonymous described the situation: “My lungs are still irritated from breathing contaminated air, all the smoke, dust, ash I inhaled while working in the fields.” Adding, “I’m still working every day even though I can’t stop coughing because I know the work will end soon and I need to be responsible and help take care of my family. What other choice do I have?”

This declaration is the latest example of local governments taking strong action on climate in the face of local disasters. This organizing approach has helped community groups win policies to achieve climate and environmental justice at emergency speed.

The Climate Mobilization​ and Climate Mobilization Project support climate emergency campaigns in the U.S., where over 11% of the population of the country now lives in a jurisdiction that has declared a climate emergency. The Climate Emergency Campaign is a pathway for people who want to “do ​something​” but have been told for decades that we must wait for federal or international action.

The resolution was spearheaded by a team of volunteers organizing as the Yolo Climate EmergencyCoalition and endorsed by over a hundred grassroots organizations and individuals includingrepresentatives from small farms and businesses, faith-based alliances, educational institutions,student and youth groups, and climate, environmental, women’s empowerment, public health, andracial justice campaigns.“We are on the frontlines of the climate emergency. With our COVID infection rate dropping, weknow we can tackle big problems by working cooperatively. This resolution now puts in motion acollaborative response that centers the needs of our most vulnerable populations and providespathways for a healthy, climate-positive recovery,” said Juliette Beck, an organizer with Yolo CountyClimate Emergency Coalition.Yolo is an agricultural county just west of Sacramento. As of this writing, the LNU Lightning ComplexFire has been burning for 42 days, killed four people and destroyed over 1,400 structures and360,000 acres, making it the fourth largest fire in California’s recorded history. (See​​Yolo County FireMap​)This has been a season of disaster for the county; prior to the fires, the community and localeconomy was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, farmworkers who were already living onthe edge have little choice and are working long hours inhaling toxic smoke to bring in the harvest —tomatoes, almonds, and other crops — around the clock from August to October, a period that alsocoincides with the lengthening fire season.A farmworker who requested to remain anonymous described the situation: “My lungs are stillirritated from breathing contaminated air, all the smoke, dust, ash I inhaled while working in thefields.” Adding, “I’m still working every day even though I can’t stop coughing because I know thework will end soon and I need to be responsible and help take care of my family. What other choicedo I have?”This declaration is the latest example of local governments taking strong action on climate in theface of local disasters. This organizing approach has helped community groups win policies toachieve climate and environmental justice at emergency speed.The Climate Mobilization​ and Climate Mobilization Project support climate emergency campaigns inthe U.S., where over 11% of the population of the country now lives in a jurisdiction that hasdeclared a climate emergency. The Climate Emergency Campaign is a pathway for people who wantto “do ​something​” but have been told for decades that we must wait for federal or internationalaction.

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Zakaria Kronemer

Climate Survival Farming and Food Sovereignty Coordinator

Zakaria Kronemer is a farmer from Richmond, Virginia with roots in community organizing and climate activism. In 2017, he began working with farmers and other communities in rural Virginia to develop a robust campaign against the construction of two fracked-gas pipelines. It was through this struggle —and the relationships built along the way—that connections between food, land, and climate justice were revealed to him. He teamed up with other BIPOC farmers and set out to build an alternative, regional food-system founded on sovereignty, security, ecological stewardship, and human dignity. Zakaria most recently worked as a field manager and program lead with Real Roots Food Systems—an emerging organization striving to increase participation in our food system. He envisions a food system that people can meaningfully participate in without needing to become a farmer, chef, or professional, in which nutrient-dense, healing food is not a luxury or a lifestyle, but a right.

Daisy Carter

Kentucky Movement Incubation Coordinator

Daisy Carter (she/they) is a New Orleans native, queer multi-disciplinary artist and climate justice organizer working at the intersections of mutual aid, disaster resiliency, African-American herbalism, and grassroots organizing. Daisy is inspired by the black radical movements of the so-called U.S and African diaspora, reimagining what healing + self-determination look like for frontline, BIPOC (black, brown, and people of color) communities who are most vulnerable to climate disaster. For the past few years, they have been organizing around mutual aid, environmental + climate justice, and building BIPOC and marginalized leadership throughout Kentucky. In 2021, they founded Rise and Shine, a community-led mutual aid organization building power and solidarity with low-income, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities in Bowling Green, Kentucky and beyond. She has also led numerous political campaigns, direct actions, and led outreach + communications strategy for organizations such as The Sierra Club, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival. At the Climate Mobilization, she is supporting programming, the development of the Movement Incubation Program, and the creation of climate survival outreach projects.

Alexia Leclerq

Network Coach

Alexia (she/they) is an environmental justice organizer based in Austin, TX. They graduated summa cum laude from NYU (’20), where they self-designed a major titled “The Politics and Economics of Inequality.” Their research focuses on political ecology, environmental justice, AAPI communities, inequality, postcolonialism. As an organizer and researcher they have spent the past 5 years working on various issues from preserving the Colorado River, water rights, fighting land use policy and zoning that enforces race-based discrimination, conducting ethnographic research on climate health, to organizing mutual aid, youth programming, and shaping national legislation alongside members of the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance; today Alexia continues to work as an organizer with PODER, a grassroots EJ org. Alexia is also the co-founder of Start: Empowerment, a BIPOC led social and environmental justice education non-profit working with youth, educators, activists, and community members to implement justice-focused education and programming in schools and community spaces. S:E curriculum and programming has reached over 2,000 students, been recognized by the NYC Department of Education, and taught in universities. In 2021, their work was recognized by the prestigious Brower Youth Award.

Emmett Hopkins

Co-Leader and Director of Operations & Programs

Emmett manages operations and leads Climate Mobilization’s intersectional organizing around transportation justice, where he works with local community groups to build commitment, alignment and action among frontline constituents who rely on public transit and active transportation modes. He brings over a decade of experience collaborating with diverse stakeholders to activate power towards equitable, climate-friendly transportation systems, build mutual-aid-based community food systems, ensure equitable access to public lands, and mobilize resources towards a just transition. In 2021, Emmett developed an online platform for collaborative, community-scale visioning of a just, zero-carbon future. In 2022 he helped launch a transit riders union in Sonoma County, CA, which has engaged in mutual aid, storytelling, and a successful campaign to win fare-free buses and expanded frequency.

Suha Dabbouseh

National Organizer

National Organizer Suha Dabbouseh leads national strategy for The Climate Mobilization. They are originally from Chicago but have lived, organized and rebel-roused in seven states and 11 cities. Suha received their law degree from CUNY-School of Law where they focused on social justice lawyering representing detainees at Guantanamo Bay. While practicing law, Suha had worked to advocate on behalf of domestic violence survivors, transgender clients and fighting employment discrimination. Their passion is building people power and organizing to dismantle structural inequities.

Matt Renner

Executive Director of The Climate Mobilization

Matt has worked as a nonprofit executive in clean energy, climate policy, and journalism for over a decade, focusing on the near-term social and economic impacts of climate change. He leads organizational expansion and works closely with the communications and organizing teams. Matt earned a BA in political science from UC Berkeley, where he was deeply inspired by the work of Professor George Lakoff.

Extended Bio

Mariyah Jahangiri

Co-Leader and Network & Movement Building Director

Mariyah is a first-generation Pakistani community organizer who is on a life-long journey of working to create alternative, anti-capitalist models of collective healing, popular education, community organizing, and mass movement. She has been inspired by studying social movements and organizing in many movement ecosystems and geographies – most recently in Cape Town, Iowa, Puerto Rico, Atlanta, and currently in Los Angeles. At Climate Mobilization, she started as a Network Organizer where she leads programming, coaching, and other resource development for a learning hub of 43+ local decarbonization and climate justice campaigns. She also recently developed strategy for youth, BIPOC-led, climate movements alongside the Network Support Team at Power Shift Network, and organized with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network to base-build in Wilmington and San Pedro alongside low-income API communities most impacted by extractive industries in Los Angeles. Mariyah has spent the past 7 years leading campaigns for Just Transition, abolition, food sovereignty, housing justice, undocumented workers’ organizing, reproductive justice, and Palestine solidarity as well as being involved in mutual aid projects, across more than 15 geographies.

 

Rebecca Harris

Co-Leader and Director of Resource Mobilization

Rebecca has been with Climate Mobilization since 2019 leading our organizing efforts. In this role, she has coached dozens of local climate groups, coordinated organizing trainings, and launched the campaign for a national Climate Emergency Declaration. In July 2021, she collaborated with Acton, MA residents to launch Housing and Climate Justice for Acton, a renters rights and climate justice group led by public housing and Section 8 renters and other low-income residents, and has already won several campaigns. Along with a history of social movement organizing, Rebecca previously worked as a journalist covering equity in Chicago public schools and as the Development and Communications Manager at Latino Union of Chicago, an immigrants’ and workers’ rights organization. She is a 2017 graduate of the Reframe Mentorship in strategic communications and a 2019 participant in the Anne Braden Organizer Training Program.

Marina Mails

Co-Leader and Director of Operations
Marina manages operations and volunteers for both The Climate Mobilization and Climate Mobilization Project. She brings broad experience working in non-profit organizations, health care settings, and running her own private counseling practice. Before joining Climate Mobilization, Marina maintained a practice focusing exclusively on climate-related emotional coping, helping people make bold choices for lifestyle and professional change in response to the Climate Emergency. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish from Wake Forest University and a Masters in Counseling from UNC Greensboro.

Meghann Beer

Co-Leader and Director of Resource Mobilization and Strategy

Meghann brings more than 20 years of nonprofit management and fundraising experience to The Climate Mobilization and Climate Mobilization Project. For over a decade Meghann has worked as a nonprofit consultant helping organizations expand their capacity, secure revenue, develop successful strategies, and effectively evaluate their programs, enabling them to create greater positive change in the world. She has also worked as an executive director, designed and facilitated international service learning experiences, and taught university courses in fundraising and nonprofit management. Meghann earned a MPA in Nonprofit Management and Comparative and International Affairs from The School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, in Bloomington, IN and a BA in Art History and American Studies from Tufts University in Boston, MA.

Cris Lagunas

Strategy Director

Cris is helping to grow the Climate Emergency Movement by supporting creative campaigns and extending the reach of the movement’s message. Cris is a co-founder of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, an organization dedicated to using direct action tactics to expose, challenge and dismantle the immigration detention system.Cris got his start in organizing when he was 15 years old, getting involved in a local group of fellow undocumented youth.

Extended Bio

Zack Burley

Policy Associate

Zack provides policy support for the Climate Mobilization team, and brings a versatile set of policy skills and experiences in labor organizing, journalism, legislative politics, and legal practice to the climate emergency movement. Zack earned a JD from Denver University Sturm College of Law, is a founding organizer of the Political Workers Guild of Colorado, and formerly served as a legislative aide in the Colorado General Assembly.

AriDy Nox

Co-Leader and Director of Narrative Strategy

 AriDy Nox is a multi-disciplinary black femme storyteller and social activist with a variety of forward-thinking creative works under her/their belt. They create out of the vehement belief that creating a future in which marginalized peoples are free requires a radical imagination. Their tales are offerings intended to function as small parts of an ancient, expansive, awe-inspiring tradition of world-shaping, created by and for black femmes. They have over a decade of experience as a young social activist and organizer, within reproductive justice and racial justice frameworks with organizations like the Young Women of Color Leadership Council with Advocates for Youth, the Toni Cade Bamabara Collective at Spelman College and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. They bring creativity, enthusiasm and a tremendous capacity for organization to her/their role and deep belief that times of apocalypse are opportunities for rebirth. We need first imagine the world we want in order to create it.