North Carolina Climate Justice Collective

Greensboro, NC

In 2021, Climate Nexus launched an Energy Equity Regranting Project to help resource organizations, tribes, and community leaders on the frontlines of climate change and the impactful work they are doing to fight the gas industry. The energy equity transition grants prioritize grassroots groups with an annual budget of $1 million or less to boost their efforts in racially, ethnically, gender, and culturally diverse communities across the United States and at the intersections of public health and energy justice.

In our second year running the program, 11 organizations received grants ranging from $20,000 to $40,000, including the North Carolina Climate Justice Collective, whose work is detailed below. 

Overview

Jodi Lasseter and Connie Leeper started the North Carolina Climate Justice Collective in 2013 because they didn’t want just to bring a chair to the table; they wanted to create their own table. With an intersectional approach that is rooted in cultural organizing and popular education, they work to address environmental issues that directly impact North Carolinians living on the frontlines of extractive industries and climate change.

Activities

Jodi Lasseter and Connie Leeper started the North Carolina Climate Justice Collective in 2013 because they didn’t want just to bring a chair to the table; they wanted to create their own table. With an intersectional approach that is rooted in cultural organizing and popular education, they work to address environmental issues that directly impact North Carolinians living on the frontlines of extractive industries and climate change. 

Activities and Outcomes

There are five issues that NCCJC consistently organizes around: 

• Gas infrastructure, including pipelines, compressor stations, liquified “natural” gas facilities, power plants, and false solutions like “renewable natural gas” from industrial agriculture
• Coal, coal ash, and proposals to reburn coal
• Wood pellet manufacturing and deforestation
• Extreme weather disasters, resilience-based organizing, and climate resilience planning

Sixth North Carolina Climate Justice Summit

After a hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, NCCJC hosted its sixth North Carolina Climate Justice Summit from August 25 – 27, which provided an interactive, inclusive space to enhance the connection between groups with unequal power, like youth and adults.

Holding Toothless Regulators Accountable

NCCJC has been organizing a steep uphill battle against the North Carolina Utilities Commission, whose job is to regulate the state’s monopoly utility run by Duke Energy, which has tremendous influence over state politics and policy. Recently, Duke Energy released an updated carbon plan that purports to reduce emissions by replacing coal with methane gas and threatens to phase in false solutions such as so-called renewable natural gas, all while raising utility costs for consumers.

Leading Statewide Coalitions

NCCJC is the founder of Thrive NC, a growing network of organizations representing the intersection of the movement for environmental, climate, and economic justice. NCCJC is also a founding partner of the Climate and Jobs Roundtable, which is focused on building labor’s contribution to transforming the state’s economic and political systems toward a regenerative economy that supports workers, protects the environment, and paves the way for a sustainable future.

Lessons Learned

Connie Leeper, NCCJC Co-Founder and Co-Director, reflected, “So the country girl in me, you know, has to talk about the pacing, the scaling, and the timing to see change in our lifetime. I can be impatient, and I want to see the results right away. And this climate justice work is not that kind of party. For me, it would be always having to pay attention to the fact that organizing and community building is really slow work, and it’s a process. And for it to have good outcomes, we got to get out of our own way.”

Jodi Lasseter, NCCJC Co-Founder and Co-Director, said, “All the isms of domination–racism, sexism, classism–and on and on it goes are also tripping us up because we think because we’re progressive-minded people. We’re engaged in movement-building and we think those things aren’t at play inside of our organizations and between our organizations. But they very much are. So I’m really hungry for us to be able to have accountability processes where we can call each other in and be really courageous and deal with these conflicts and deal with these hurt places and understand that there is tremendous collective trauma and be able to get to a new place and how we can work strategically together.”

Future and Sustainability

NCCJC is cultivating regional resiliency hubs to provide interactive, culturally relevant training in resilience-based organizing. These hubs provide a space for respite, connection, and consciousness-raising. NCCJC hopes they can be a platform to galvanize a just transition and to develop a foundation for a local regenerative economy as an alternative to the extractive fossil fuel economy.

NCCJC hopes to expand the process of a year-long cohort training of grassroots organizers from all of their hubs on energy justice. They also want to expand the staff positions they need over the next two to three years to grow into the green jobs workforce.

• 

  Rio Grande International Study Center

  RGISC conducts independent research and community education to steward the environmental preservation and restoration of the Rio Grande Basin.

• 

  Mississippi Communities United for Prosperity

  MCUP is examining the feasibility of Duck Hill developing a solar and wind park to convert the town to 100% electric and renewable energy.

• 

  Miami Climate Alliance

  The Miami Climate Alliance works across three areas: climate and health, energy justice, and advancing The Gulf South for a Green New Deal.

• 

  South Carolina Interfaith Power and Light

  SCIPL develops programming and resources around food insecurity, high energy bills, electric vehicle infrastructure, and resilience hubs.

• 

  Beyond Toxics

  Beyond Toxics is fighting the fracking industry, educating Lane County residents on climate and fossil fuels, and advocating for renewable energy projects.

• 

  Youth vs The Apocalypse (YVA)

  YVA uses Zoom to both build community and practice key leadership skills from strategic planning to giving interviews to social media strategies.

• 

  Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas

  The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe travels throughout Texas, monitoring pipelines, disposal wells, ongoing border wall construction, and fracking/flaring violations.