Ideas beyond time.

Justice Statement

Anthropocene Alliance combats climate change and environmental abuse by building and supporting grassroots coalitions in the most impacted communities. We provide money, grant-writing help, and access to government agencies and other non-profit organizations. We also offer community leaders a forum to meet, address common concerns, and give mutual support.

Because these leaders know more about the harms they suffer than we do, and because they often possess both resilience and creativity, they are essential partners in the search for practical and policy solutions to our most urgent environmental challenges.

Anthropocene Alliance broadly agrees with the Jemez Principles for democratic organizing.

Priorities

We support everyone we can, but our special priority is Black, Latino, Native American and other underserved or working-class communities. Research has shown they suffer disproportionately from climate change and environmental abuse. They have fewer financial resources and are therefore less likely to be heard by politicians and other decision makers.

The toll of climate and environmental injustice is not just economic. Many Anthropocene Alliance partners have suffered physical and mental trauma from the experience of displacement, homelessness, and exposure to toxins. There are no perfect formulas for an organization like ours to support people who’ve experienced trauma. What works best, we have discovered, is patience, kindness, and compassion. 

Commitment

Our mission is reflected in our board of directors, leadership, staff, fundraising, and communications. We commit to:

1. Recruit Board members committed to our mission, and experienced with the communities we serve. We seek leaders in business, science, education, and the arts.
2. Hire a talented, and diverse staff. We do this by making sure that job candidates are judged on their merits and not the prestige of their educational institutions or the seamlessness of their CVs. We also try to ensure fair compensation and benefits. 
3. Identify, train and support grassroots leaders from low-income, Black, Latino, Native American and other historically oppressed or marginalized communities.
4. Shift resources and decision-making when possible, to the communities we serve. While we gladly accept the responsibility of leadership, we recognize that many community members have better leadership skills than we do. When they step up, we get out of the way.
5. Deploy social and traditional media to amplify the voices of our grassroots leaders. Whenever possible, engage art — fine writing, the visual and performing arts — to convey our messages in the most compelling ways possible.