Building the Movement for Climate Justice

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As environmentalists, labor unions, and local, state and world leaders come together to find solutions for a healthier, more sustainable environment, nurses are there. As frontline caregivers, we see first-hand the impacts of climate change, including increases in disease and catastrophic harm from extreme weather events, and we have an important role to play in reducing harm to our patients—and the world.

• Morocco – In large part because of our “out front” leadership in support of the struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline, NYSNA was invited to participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakech, Morocco in November. Stay tuned for updates from those talks!
• COP21, Paris – After years of failing to reach a climate agreement through the United Nations process, the most significant and successful summit since international climate talks began took place in Paris, and NYSNA’s voice was heard. President Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez advocated a “just transition” framework at a panel on trade unions and climate change, saying, “This is an urgent call for an immediate and significant transformation process that moves us away from dependency on carbon-emitting poisons, in a manner that embraces energy democracy. When communities have control over the production and distribution of clean energy, that’s environmental justice.” The agreement that came out of these talks was historic, laying the groundwork for further measures that increase accountability and move us toward the just and sustainable future nurses demand for our patients and communities.
• Peoples Climate March – With hundreds of thousands of participants, 2014’s People’s Climate March in New York City was the largest ever mobilization against climate change. “Climate change is a healthcare crisis. We see its effects everyday,” NYSNA’s President Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez told the crowd. “Our for-profit system that will lead to the devastation of our planet”

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• Trade Unions For Energy Democracy – Through NYSNA’s relationship with the international Trade Unions for Energy Democracy coalition, we have had a voice in major world climate summits from Paris to Morocco. TUED’s public policy papers, member education programs, and viral videos are instrumental in forging a broad based understanding of democratically-controlled, publicly-owned energy resources, governed not by what will produce profit but what will meet the needs of families and communities.