Talking Climate: Labor
Our 2021 Talking Climate programming concluded in November with Talking Climate: Labor. This event took place on November 5, 2021.
Expert panelists examined what kind of labor organizing and worker protections are necessary for this moment, what it means to work in coalition with labor leaders on climate, and how a just transition to a green economy can create new jobs and center climate justice.
Climate Museum Director Miranda Massie moderated the discussion with expert panelists Eddie Bautista, Executive Director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance; Jeff Goodell, journalist and Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone; Michael Leon Guerrero, Executive Director of the Labor Network for Sustainability; and Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, former President of the New York State Nurses Association.
In this moment of urgency, Talking Climate: Labor, like all the Climate Museum’s programming, aims to create ground for community-building, democratic engagement, and civic action on the climate crisis.
This resource guide is designed to complement our Talking Climate programming. If you enjoyed these readings or want to add to the list, please let us know!
Background on Labor, Climate, and Inequality
“The Migrant Workers Who Follow Climate Disasters” by Sarah Stillman (New Yorker Magazine, November 2021)
“This past summer, Hurricane Ida sent Biblical rains through the roofs of homes across the Gulf Coast, then pushed north, killing at least eleven people in flooded basement apartments in New York City. But, even as awareness grows about what President Joe Biden calls our “code red” extreme-weather threat, most Americans know little about the labor crisis tucked within it.”
“Sebastian Perez Did Not Have to Die” by Jeff Goodell (Rolling Stone, August 2021)
“Extreme heat is predatory – like all predators, it goes after the weakest and most vulnerable. It kills people on the margins of our society, and in that way, exposes the moral and political failures in how we care for each other. Many of the people who died in the Pacific Northwest were old, alone, or in poor health. But others, like Perez, died because they were working in blatantly unsafe conditions.”
“Regulators refuse to step in as workers languish in extreme heat” by Ariel Wittenberg and Zack Colman (Politico, August 2021)
“Worker Health on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis” by Juanita Constible (Natural Resources Defense Council, July 2020)
“To keep our economy and ourselves vibrant and healthy, we need to take care of the workers who take care of us—now, and into the future. That means making sure teachers, delivery drivers, janitors, hospital workers, and all the other folks who keep the country humming get the protections from COVID-19 and climate-related health harms that they need and deserve.”
We encourage you to read the Natural Resources Defense Council’s 2020 report “On the Front Lines: Climate Change Threatens the Health of America’s Workers” here.
“Reject the 'jobs versus environment' narrative – we can have both” by Mijin Cha and Jeremy Brecher (The Guardian, September 2019)
“The media has propagated the false impression that union workers oppose climate action and the Green New Deal. By trumpeting the age-old “jobs v environment” framing, they are echoing Republican talking points, not reporting on the empirical data-driven truth.”
“Climate Disaster Is a Labor Issue. Here's Why” by Kim Kelly (Teen Vogue, May 2019)
“Make no mistake: The coal miner and pipeline worker know about the environmental costs of their labor, but when faced with the choice of feeding their kids or putting down their tools in the name of saving the planet, the pressures of capitalism tend to win; their choice is made for them. That is why it’s so important to dismantle the structures that force these impossible decisions and offer instead real, equitable alternatives to those whose livelihoods depend on industries that harm the earth.”
A Just Transition
“Want to know what a just transition to a green economy looks like? Ask the workers” by Anna Markova (The Guardian, October 2021)
“Any job can be a good job. If we want workers to move from high carbon jobs to net zero jobs, climate movements must help unions fight for decent pay, terms and conditions. When these four challenges are met – enough resources, workers’ voices listened to, barriers brought down, every green job a good job – climate action will be made with people, not done to them.”
“How the US labor movement is getting to grips with the climate crisis” by Michael Sainato (The Guardian, September 2021)
“‘The world is changing,’ added Levy. ‘And the question is: what’s our role going to be in that? Are we gonna just watch it happen, and watch jobs disappear and watch new jobs created in a way that doesn’t lift up working people, or can we actually sit at the table and try to direct that change?’”
“Why Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Is a Green Jobs Plan” by Gernot Wagner (Bloomberg, April 2021)
“Re-guiding market forces toward fully decarbonizing economies implies more economic activity, more jobs, not less. That does not mean that all jobs will stay the same. They won’t, and they shouldn’t.”
“The Climate Crisis is Reshaping the Future of Work” by Juanita Constible (Natural Resources Defense Council, January 2021)
“Climate change isn’t just a corporate sustainability problem. It’s not just about reducing emissions. It’s about the health and safety of your direct employees and those in your supply chain. It’s about what you do to ensure those workers—wherever they’re located in the world—keep bringing their best, healthiest selves to their job every day, and get home in one piece.”
For further reading we suggest purchasing A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal by Kate Aronoff, Alyssa Battistoni, Daniel Aldana Cohen, and Thea Riofrancos (Verso Books, 2019) from your local independent bookstore.
Work and Insights from our Expert Panelists
Eddie Bautista, Executive Director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance
“Environmental Rights Amendment Passes in New York” (EarthJustice, November 3, 2021) Collection of quotes from environmental leaders on the passing of the Environmental Rights Amendment.
“Everyone who values living in a place that doesn’t make us sick now has another tool in our toolbox to force better decision making from our government to combat the foul and ongoing legacy of continued environmental racism. New Yorkers have overwhelmingly embraced clean air and clean water for everyone, now is the time for everyone else—from business to elected leaders — to do the same. —Eddie Bautista”
“How New York can prepare for flooding” Interview with Anne McDonough (City and State,
September 2021)
“‘Put up or shut up’: New York forges ahead with statewide environmental justice measures” by Rachel Ramirez (Grist Magazine, June 2020)
Sign up for NYC Environmental Justice Alliance’s newsletter here.
Jeff Goodell, journalist and Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone
“Climate Change: 10 Reasons to Stay Hopeful About Progress” by Jeff Goodell (Rolling Stone, October 2021)
“Joe Manchin's Reconciliation Bill Stance Is Gonna Cook the Planet” by Jeff Goodell (Rolling Stone, October 2021)
“And the price of inaction on climate is a lot more than the price of action. It’s not just the tens of billions of dollars or so spent every year recovering from natural disasters. It’s also the price of the priceless: How do you put a dollar value on the extinction of monarch butterflies? How do you put a price tag on the 600 Americans who died during the heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest last summer? How do you run the numbers for a vanishing Arctic?”
“Hurricane Ida and Our Summer From Hell” by Jeff Goodell (Rolling Stone, September 2021)
The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World by Jeff Goodell (Little, Brown and Company October 2017)
Michael Leon Guerrero, Executive Director of the Labor Network for Sustainability
“Building Back with Justice: Environmental Justice is Central to the American Jobs Plan” Testimony before House Committee on Oversight and Reform by Michael Leon Guerrero (House.gov, July 2021)
“Why some labor unions are talking about climate change” (Yale Climate Connections, May 2020)
“But Guerrero says other unions represent workers who worry about how climate policies will affect their jobs. For example, those in the fossil fuel industry are often concerned about the transition to clean energy. ‘What happens to workers in communities that are going to lose their industries that they’ve been dependent on for so long?’ he says. ‘How do we make sure that there’s a social safety net? And how do we make sure that there’s quality work on the other end of that transition?’”
Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, President of the New York State Nurses Association
“From Hunts Point to Riverdale, the Bronx rallies behind climate justice now” (Bronx Times, October 2021)
“Global Youth Climate Strike” by Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez (New York State Nurses Association, Accessed November 2021)
“Our planet is crying out to us to heal its wounds, to remove the cancer that is destroying the only body we have as a people, to save it from its ultimate destruction. We promise to work with each and every one of you, our youth, the unsung heroes of the universe. You hold the future in your hands and in your hearts. We stand by your side with our stethoscopes, with our voices and with our bodies and souls, because saving the planet is saving ALL of our lives.”
Support Indigenous Organizing
In a virtual context where readers and audience members join us from across the United States and around the world, we acknowledge that this event, and our work and lives generally, take place on unceded Indigenous territories. We encourage readers to discover the histories of their particular locations and of others listed here, to engage with efforts restoring land back to Indigenous stewardship, and to support Indigenous-led organizing against the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.
Native Land Digital: This is a tool to use as a first step in learning more about the names, traditions, and histories of Indigenous communities and land across the globe.
There’s a growing movement to return stolen lands to Indigenous peoples. You can learn more about the Land Back movement and how to contribute here. For more on returning National Parks land to Indigenous nations, you can read “Return the National Parks to the Tribes” by David Treuer (Atlantic, May 2021).
We encourage you to read the recent articles: “Effects of land dispossession and forced migration on Indigenous peoples in North America” on indigenous land dispossession and vulnerability to climate change in Science; and “Indigenous Activists Helped Save Almost A Billion Tons Of Carbon Per Year” on the ways indigenous activists are leading the path towards climate progress in Science Friday.
We also wanted to highlight the work of the Mixteco Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP), an organization that recently celebrated 20 years of advocating for indigenous workers’ rights in California. You can listen to MICOP’s Executive Director Arcenio López speak about the organization as an expert panelist at our May 2021 discussion Talking Climate: Food.