Local Environmental Action Draws Hundreds for Day of Movement Building
Our annual Local Environmental Action conference this March drew nearly 500 activists together for a day of learning, networking and movement building. This year, we were proud to host a powerful group of visionary speakers and workshop leaders to share their work and wisdom with hundreds of activists looking to sharpen their skills and grow our movement together.
Our keynote speakers this year were Loretta Ross, co-creator of the term “reproductive justice” and a leading advocate on human rights and antiracism, and Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, Minister for Ecological Justice at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and a powerful leader for climate and social justice in Boston and beyond.
Together, the keynote speakers addressed some of the most pressing issues facing our movement and invited us to envision a better future.
Loretta Ross encouraged the audience to consider how to create a “callin” culture where we can unite across differences to achieve the changes we want to see.
At the day’s close, Rev. White-Hammond encouraged us to dream up our vision of the world we want to see—to imagine a just future, define what we want to protect, and give birth to a new way of doing things that reflects our shared values.
In our workshops, we had expert trainers from organizations working for climate, environmental and social justice, including: Grassroots International, Neighbor to Neighbor, the North American Indian Center of Boston, Silent Spring, Coalition for Social Justice, Clean Water Action, Alternatives for Community & Environment, Environment Massachusetts, Sustaining All Life/United to End Racism, #DeeperThanWater and so many others.
We are proud that Local Environmental Action, which we co-host with Massachusetts Climate Action Network, brings so many incredible organizers and activists together from across the northeast each year. We host this conference because we know we need to be connected to build our movement—and with each new activist who joins our community, we are that much stronger.
