Natasha’s time @ Greenpeace Training

Some of you may know that I was away in sunny Los Angeles at Greenpeace’s Non- Violent Direct Action Camp for an entire week, and if you didn’t, now you know. I took in some sun, but most importantly, I took in some climbing skills- yes, climbing!

This is the second direct action camp GP has held in the past 21 years, when they used to do them quite regularly (at least that is my understanding), and they offer 4 different tracts: Climbing, Arts in Action, Blockades, and Boating. Me, I chose climbing so that I can scale buildings a fly through downtown like Spiderman! If you are not familiar with GP they are “the leading independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.” They work all over the world on various environmental campaigns: Protect Ancient Forests, Protecting our Oceans, Stop Global Warming, No New Nukes, Chemical Security, and Sustainable Agriculture using non-violent direct action- which is what I went  to learn.

If you are an active member of Clean Air, you know that we use actions to gain media and public attention, and to push our elected officials to act, but those actions have equated to rallies for the most part, and I think we need to shake it up! At camp, I learned how to climb on ropes and scaffolding, how to scout for an action, a little bit of stenciling and blockades, and the basics of dropping banners, and I am really excited to bring all of these skills to the Coalition.

I also learned that we have a lot of work to do if we want the environmental movement to be completely inclusive of the individuals who are most affected by environmental injustices.  The training was free and GP provided some travel stipends, but traveling to Los Angeles isn’t cheap, and I did some fundraising for it (thank you to those who donated!), the gear needed to climb and to drop banners is also expensive, not to mention the insurance needed to perform those actions, and possible bail money depending on the type of action- all of these factors add up and contribute to whom can participate.  Also, from about 160 participants at camp, there were only about 9 individuals of color, and I think that’s a problem. There was a serious disconnect between environmentalism and environmental justice throughout the week.  To me, those two things are very different, and while ultimately they are hopefully achieving the same long term goal, the means to get there look very different and GP was very intentional about admitting that they still have long strides to make to bridge that gap and to make sure that the movement is more inclusive than it has been in the past, and how it is currently.

All in all, I am very glad to have gone to camp (I also got a tan!) and to have met such great people doing amazing work, and to have come back in one piece and with great skills in my back pocket.  I will be speaking with the ladies at the office on how we can use these skills to advance our work in the future, but until now, it will be stored in my head, fermenting and juicing until we can make it our own- and it will be delicious!

You can read more about Greenpeace and Action Camp in their blog: http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2013/03/27/at-greenpeace-action-camp-a-vision-of-the-movement-we-want/