Earth_Island_Journal_-_Spring_2020

EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL • SPRING 2020 17

just and sustainable world. For over a
decade now, WEA has worked alongside
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elevate their knowledge and grassroots
solutions.
Both organizations have consistently
heard the same needs expressed:
Women need increased capacity, better
paths for knowledge and information
sharing, more funding, improved tools
for advocacy, and more robust alliances
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way to make these resources more
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communities dealing with the very real

impacts of the climate crisis.
The four-month accelerator
program was designed by team
members who have lived through
these struggles themselves and want
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for women on similar journeys. With
their experience and knowledge in
mind, the US Climate Accelerator
includes skill-building through group
and individual sessions. Through many

sessions, participants sharpened their

lobbying, communications, digital,

and fundraising skills. The program

wrapped with an in-person immersive

session, hosted by the Occidental

Arts and Ecology Center, where the

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project proposals and share their

visions with partners and funders.

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the program included women

who are using data to advance

progressive climate policies, teaching

urban agriculture methods to their

communities facing food insecurity,

plugging their neighborhoods into

clean and decentralized energy sources,

bringing together interfaith Earth

stewards, and much more. These are

the kinds of solutions that have lasting

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We recognize that women, and

women of color in particular, are

underrepresented and seldom acknowl-

edged for this work despite being

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change and injustice. The truth is that,

from Alaska to Louisiana to North

Dakota, women are the ones leading

on climate adaptation. They’re piloting

community clean-energy programs,

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ers, while at the same time managing

to feed and shelter their own families

in the aftermath of severe natural

calamities.

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cohort joins the ranks of women

around the world who are building a

diverse and just movement of women’s

environmental leadership and unleash-

ing solutions that will shape our col-

lective future. And as future cohorts

complete the program, in the years

to come, the network will continue to

grow and strengthen.

Santos, the youngest of the cohort,

and Corrina Gould, an accelerator

team member and Ohlone leader who

taught us about traditional knowledge

that has been passed down in her fam-

ily for centuries, are both planting the

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crisis. Both women are on the front-

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it, but persevering and organizing for

environmental justice.

I will never forget their stories.

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like the US Climate Accelerator are

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to build a world that is more equitably

confronting the climate crisis.

Courtney Bourgoin is communications

coordinator at the Sierra Club.

Learn more about the accelerator program

at: bit.ly/ WEA-accelerator

Earth Island Reports

Ohlone leader Corrina Gould (right) shared with Beyond Organic Design founder Monica
Ibacache and others her community’s fight to protect their sacred lands against development.