GCCLP & our partner Lift Louisiana were honored to be joined by more than 100 people on Wednesday August 29, 2018 to explore the role of women & the sacred feminine in climate disaster. What surfaced was a rich conversation about the connections between climate change, gender, and our common work for justice. Watch the recording of the entire event here.
Below find photos from the day and an event welcome letter from our own Executive Director, Colette Pichon Battle. Thank you again to all of our panelists, guests, and the fierce women leaders who have been working on the ground since well before the storm and also in its aftermath. Let us continue to uplift and honor each other’s leadership together.
A welcome from the Executive Director:
Greetings friends, allies, warriors and Katrina survivors.
On behalf of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy (GCCLP) and Lift Louisiana I would like to welcome you today as we remember Hurricane Katrina, her impact on our life and our work and the thirteen years of recovery that have shaped our understanding of family, community, justice and climate change.
For many of us, today is one of mourning. But as with much in the Gulf Coast, we have our own unique way of doing even that. As southerners we know to gather, to pause and to remember. As folks on the frontline of disaster, social injustice and systemic discrimination, we know that in order for us to win, even our rational rage must be accompanied by learning, laughter and love. As allies, today is another day to stand with the Gulf South and follow the resilient leadership of the South’s greatest asset- its women.
GCCLP was born out of Katrina and the recovery that followed. We are a public interest law firm and justice center working to promote structural shifts toward ecological equity for Gulf Coast communities of color on the frontline of climate change. We understand that while everyone in impacted by climate change, not everyone is impacted equally. For more than 13 years, women have been on the frontline of recovery. We honor all of those who have come before us, blazed paths and laid the groundwork for many of us to be in leadership today.
There is power in that sacred feminine that we all possess. And if we listen to that sacred feminine voice, we will hear clearly the earth’s signal of distress and disapproval. Climate change is real and its effect has been felt here for the last thirteen years.
#Katrina13 seeks to create a space for all to gather and explore the unique impacts of climate change on women and the sacred feminine. As part of that learning, today’s space will help to better understand how honoring the divine feminine in our work and daily lives might start to heal our relationship with the planet and with each other. This is a safe space for all races, ability levels, genders, spiritual practices and learning levels.
It is my honor to welcome you to a day of honest conversation, genuine connection, and collective healing. Today we honor all women and the sacred feminine. Let us root ourselves in that love and that power, together.
In solidarity,
Colette Pichon Battle, Executive Director
Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy