Regional Convergences

The changes we need to address the climate crisis requires an understanding of the motivation and drivers of Southern oppression and strategies will have to come from the communities that have survived the impossible. Gulf South communities are deeply connected to the industries accelerating the climate crisis and understand the roles these industries have played in our region generationally. These communities are uniquely positioned to support workers and develop their own plan for what a just transition can look like for their community and our region. Our nation's best chance at just transition and transformation starts with following the leadership of frontline communities.

Following Indigenous and frontline leadership is one of seven critical values you will find in our regional collectivized Gulf South for a Green New Deal policy platform. One of the ways we actualize this value is through holding strategic regional convergences that bring attention and movement to the frontlines. We hold regional events that commemorate important moments in our history. This year, 2020 marks ten years since the BP Drilling Disaster devastated our region, 50 year celebration of Earth Day, and fifteen years since Hurricane Katrina forever changed our lives. These are important moments to remember and honor the on-going impact and solutions coming from those most impacted by extractive industries and the climate impacts they are accelerating. Following Indigenous and frontline leadership, Gulf South for a Green New Deal regional convergences amplifies the experiences and solutions of the those most impacted and connects the dots between the climate crisis, the coastal crisis, and the toxic impact of extractive and polluting industries.

#Katrina 15

As a regional convergence of Gulf South for a Green New Deal, the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy is coming together with the Common Ground Collective, Ashé Cultural Arts Center, and other valued partners across New Orleans and the Gulf South to commemorate fifteen years of ongoing recovery since Katrina. We invite you to join us on Saturday, August 29th, 10:00am - 3:00pm CDT, as we honor this land and its peoples, uplift fifteen years of transformative community work, heal and remember through ritual and public art, and collectively vision for a just and resilient future for Gulf South communities on the frontlines of climate change.

To attend this virtual convergence, register in advance at tinyurl.com/RememberKatrina15. For questions or to join the planning team, contact Troy Robertson at troy@gcclp.org.

#BP10 Commemoration Event

The Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy invites you to join us online to commemorate 10 years since the BP Deepwater Horizon Drilling Disaster on April 20th, from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm CDT (11am-2pm EDT/ 8-11am PDT), as part of the Gulf South for Green New Deal regional convergence to mobilize support to the frontlines. Register here!

Together we will remember the lives lost on Deepwater Horizon, and lives which continue to be lost as a result of extractive industry. We will hear from frontline leaders in Mississippi, learn about the role of art and culture in disaster, and take action together to show our solidarity with fisherfolk and those on the fence line and frontlines of environmental and climate injustices.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN us for this 3-hour virtual gathering on Monday, April 20th, from 10:00am-1:00pm CDT to REMEMBER together and HONOR the frontline workers and communities who were most impacted. We are asking participants to:

TUNE IN to the call wearing green. Bring a candle, as well as something to write on and with for a collective exercise in solidarity.
POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Post a eleven second video on social media that includes the message "We can no longer afford a polluting economy" or a photo of you or your friends and family wearing green, with signs that say or show "We can no longer afford a polluting economy." - #GulfSouth4GND #BP10 #SouthernSpring2020
SIGN UP TO JOIN & SUPPORT GSGND. Rather than a final plan, this GSGND Policy Platform is a unified assertion that the Gulf South must be included in national policy processes around a Green New Deal. This platform is a grassroots tool to guide and anchor organizing and strategy in each of the Gulf South states toward a more resilient and sustainable future. Click here to sign-on the policy platform.
RESOURCE THE FRONTLINES. All dollars raised here will be aggregated into a community controlled fund for MS frontline leaders directly impacted by the BP Oil Drilling Disaster to collectively decide how to distribute to the ground.

Earth Day 50

On Wednesday, Apr. 22nd - on the fiftieth anniversary of the first Earth Day - community partners at the Cosmic Poetry Sanctuary in Vancleave, Mississippi will lead a virtual Earth Day celebration that will center Black farmers and gardeners, herbalists, and artists on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Tune in to participate in virtual farming & foraging tours on Mississippi land, learn from demonstration projects, watch local artists perform, and learn about the collective healing & reconciliation work of Gulf South for a Green New Deal. Join the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy as we build together towards ecological equity in the Gulf South.

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020, 10:00am - 1:00pm CDT

Email any questions to jennifer@gcclp.org.