Eastside Community Network Fighting for Climate Justice
Sections of Belle Isle Park experienced significant flooding two years ago. Image courtesy of Jim West
In times of crisis, it helps to remember that trouble doesn’t last, always. Despite climate change, COVID-19, economic inequality, and structural racism we can respond to these challenges by pushing for transformational change and envisioning new ways of living together. We can engage with the natural world in a manner that promotes our mutual health and wellbeing.
Our eastside neighborhoods have endured the racist fracturing of our social, economic, and structural fabric. Yet the forces that frayed us will not save us. Eastside Community Network (ECN) works with neighborhood leaders and institutions to leverage our shared expertise, amplify resident voices, and create shared pathways for a more just and inclusive future.
Climate justice is central to our health and wellbeing, determining the quality of the air we breathe, the health of the soils under our feet, our protection from street and basement flooding, our access to power, and, ultimately, our predicted life expectancy.
So what specifically are we doing about it and how can you get involved?
Rain Barrel workshop at the Detroit Riverfront. Image courtesy of Jim West
Resident leadership and land stewardship - Our LEAP Sustainability Fellowship is currently in its third cohort, and we just started a Resident Climate Corps. These programs help build the knowledge and skills for resident leaders interested in sustainability related projects in their neighborhoods.
Some examples include transforming vacant lots into community gardens and neighborhood hubs, leading bike tours to promote greenways and green stormwater infrastructure, and helping residents with flood recovery.
Reach out to Erin Stanley at estanley@ecndetroit.org or (313-331-3495) if you have a project idea or want to become an eastside climate ambassador!
Promoting climate resilience - The Stoudamire Wellness Hub serves as a space for the community to access recreation, resources, healthcare, and assistance while staying safe during climate crises. The Stoudamire has a variety of programming underway and is being retrofitted with solar storage and other “green” features that will ensure it is safe and operational even during extreme weather.
The Stoudamire is part of the Resilient Eastside Initiative building a network of resilience hubs in neighborhoods across the eastside that will provide food, supplies, information, and a safe place during emergencies as well as normal times.
For more information contact Nayomi Cawthorne at ncawthorne@ecn-detroit.org or (313-264-1417) or become a member by paying anywhere from $0 to $20 a year at https://www.ecn-detroit.org/the-stoudamire.
Policy advocacy and community power building - The Eastside Climate Action Coalition (ECAC) is a group of residents, community organizations, environmental groups, and government allies guided by a resident leadership team.
Its goals are to build community power, make the concerns of eastsiders around climate issues heard, and promote community health and climate resilience. We are building a climate policy agenda that reflects the concerns and needs of eastsiders around specific issues and are developing advocacy skills and strategies to implement these ideas.
Join us! We meet monthly on the second Wednesday from 5:00-6:30 p.m. on Zoom. Register at bit.ly/eastsideclimate. We are combining our August and September meetings into one exciting in-person event at the Stoudamire (4401 Conner St.) on August 24th 5 - 8 p.m., where we will learn to build community power and develop strategies to combat climate change on the eastside! Find out more about our events here: https://www.ecn-detroit.org/events-calendar.
The time is now and the solution is us.
Resources for further reading:
“Racism is killing the planet,” By Hop Hopkins in Sierra Magazine
The National Black Climate Mandate from the Movement for Black Lives and the Red, Black, and Green New Deal
Toxic Debt: an Environmental History of Detroit, by Josiah Rector
Living Detroit: Environmental Activism in an age of Urban Crisis, by Brandon Ward