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The IICAT Climate Justice Project: A year to shape the planet's future

Producing a film and a book on climate justice to inspire action toward a sustainable, democratic future for today's and coming generations everywhere!

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The IICAT Climate Justice Project: A year to shape the planet's future

The IICAT Climate Justice Project: A year to shape the planet's future

The IICAT Climate Justice Project: A year to shape the planet's future

The IICAT Climate Justice Project: A year to shape the planet's future

The IICAT Climate Justice Project: A year to shape the planet's future

Producing a film and a book on climate justice to inspire action toward a sustainable, democratic future for today's and coming generations everywhere!

Producing a film and a book on climate justice to inspire action toward a sustainable, democratic future for today's and coming generations everywhere!

Producing a film and a book on climate justice to inspire action toward a sustainable, democratic future for today's and coming generations everywhere!

Producing a film and a book on climate justice to inspire action toward a sustainable, democratic future for today's and coming generations everywhere!

John Foran
John Foran
John Foran
John Foran
1 Campaign |
Santa Barbara, United States
$2,440 USD 43 backers
22% of $11,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
Choose your Perk

The 5 and 5 Challenge!

$5 USD
Est. Shipping
October 2013
1 claimed

Postcard from COP 19!

$10 USD
Est. Shipping
November 2013
1 claimed

Be on our list of supporters

$25 USD
4 claimed

iicat CJP cloth patch

$50 USD
Est. Shipping
December 2013
7 out of 50 of claimed

Book: At the COP: Youth Speak

$125 USD
Est. Shipping
May 2014
2 out of 100 of claimed

DVD: Not Yet the End

$250 USD
Est. Shipping
September 2014
0 out of 100 of claimed

All 3: patch, book & film

$500 USD
0 claimed

How to use this website

Watch the first few minutes of our video to learn about the project.  A clip for the film we are making can be found here.  A short film we have made about Earth in crisis is here.

Our objective

Greetings!  We are IICAT - CJP, eight Climate Justice researchers and activists from the International Institute of Climate Action and Theory and the University of California, Santa Barbara, united in our passion to help prevent global warming from becoming a genocidal climate catastrophe.

We are producing a film and an e-book focused on the youth side of the Global Climate Justice Movement, based on our recent participation with the movement at the UN climate negotiations that just concluded in Warsaw.

Our goal is to support the climate justice movement as it tries to shape the global climate treaty that is being negotiated for 2015.

But to do it we need your help.  We need to raise $11,000 to continue our work over the next six months and complete our film and book.

Climate justice” can mean many things:  for us it is meaningful action toward the most progressive possible global climate treaty, the strongest possible social movement participation in creating that treaty, and through both of these channels the creation of a low-carbon, sustainable, equitable, and deeply democratic future.  We believe that if we are to inhabit a livable world in coming years, this movement must become the biggest the world has ever seen.

Our goals for the next six months are to produce, with your generous support, a book and a film documenting the global fight for climate justice, both of which we will make available to the public for free.  We have so much fantastic footage and interviews we hope to show you, and much more work to do.

Our plan

The project consists of several intertwined activities:

We attended the COP 19 climate talks in Warsaw where our team of activists, investigators, writers, and photographers documented the climate negotiators, carbon capitalists, and global climate justice movement activists, by interviewing whomever we could, with a special focus on youth delegates and climate activists from the global south.  We wrote blogs and news analysis from Warsaw, posted photos and videos, and filmed and interviewed climate justice activists while we were there. 

We will produce a 45-minute film, Not Yet the End of the World: With the Global Youth Climate Justice Movement, that focuses on the actions and visions of the young activists of the movement for use in schools, community settings, and in movement organizations, to be ready in the summer of 2014.  See a clip of one of the actions above.

We are going to publish a high-quality, beautifully illustrated and wonderfully free of cost e-book, At the COP: Talking and Making Global Climate Justice, to be ready in May 2014, including interviews, blog posts, and other materials gathered in Warsaw.

We will be hosting a conference, Re-Imagining Climate Justice, at our home institution, the University of California, Santa Barbara, in May 2014.  This gathering, open to everyone, is a space for envisioning ways to help  make the many struggles for climate justice stronger and more creative as they scale up their efforts to force governments and the corporations who control them to take the measures necessary to ensure a livable planet for future generations.  

No political process or treaty construction has ever held more universal importance, so we think it’s crucial to get involved and let people know that the whole world is not only watching, but participating in whatever way they can. We hope to provide them with the support they need; by scrutinizing the small print of the official documents, tracking the polite but deadly serious exchanges between negotiators, exposing the maneuvers of the big corporations and their cheerleaders, and, especially, spreading far and wide the analyses, actions, and dreams of the youth climate justice movement, composed of organizations and individuals from all over the world.

What we need

We raised enough funding from our university to get this project off the ground by going to Warsaw to get the interviews and film footage we need for the book and the video.

What we still need to do is raise enough money to make the film and the book between now and May 2014.

Your contribution, however large or small, will support the work of our five young researcher-activists who have done the interviewing and filming, and are now set to transcribe the interviews, edit the film, put the book together, and organize the spring conference.  We can assure you that on a per hour basis they will be making a lot less than minimum wage, and that is because we are all passionate about climate justice work.



What you get

The main thing we hope you will take away from supporting our activities is a sense of having contributed something to the epic struggle for a livable planet.

In exchange, we will share with you all the products of our work, including eyewitness accounts from Poland, a film, an e-book, and an invitation to the conference in the spring.

In addition, we want to thank those who contribute significantly to our work with a number of very special gifts, which you can find in the "Perks" section of this webpage.

Other Ways to Help

Even if you can't contribute a dime, there are some other great ways you can really help us out:

How to find out more

If you look at the "Media Gallery" link above, you'll find analysis, photos, blog posts, and footage from Warsaw and previous UN climate summits we have attended.  They will give you a real sense of the excitement, the high-stakes, and the dramas that play out in these places, far from the view of most of the world, but conducted in our names and affecting all of us.

At the Media Gallery are two trailers -- snippets of footage arranged by Richard Widick when he and John were at the Durban COP 17 in 2011, which will show you the climate justice movement in action!

You can also see a short video in which John Foran and Summer Gray's students role play the COP 19 climate summit in Sociology 134EC:  Earth in Crisis, on October 29 and 31, 2013!

Finally, you will see some of Richard's photos from the COP 17 in a PowerPoint at the Gallery.

You can follow our work as it emerges at www.iicat.org/cjp/, on the Climate Justice Project page of the website of the International Institute of Climate Action and Theory, which Richard Widick and John Foran co-direct and all of us contribute to.  You can also e-mail project facilitator John Foran at jforan5@gmail.com

Who we are and why we are doing this

Celia Alario

Celia Alario is a communications strategist, media trainer and facilitator, working at the intersection of campaigning, grassroots organizing, media and marketing.  In the last 20 years she has helped spin groundbreaking media campaigns, provided one-on-one trainings for dozens of incoming Communications Directors, trained hundreds of grassroots spokespeople and placed thousands of stories about critical social justice and environmental issues in media outlets worldwide.  She also teaches Environmental Communications courses in the Environmental Studies Department and at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at her alma mater, UC Santa Barbara.  Read more here...

Corrie Ellis

Corrie Ellis is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and an activist with 350 Santa Barbara.  Read more here...

I am part of the Climate Justice Project because I believe we must prioritize and take action toward averting the greatest social and environmental disaster the world has ever seen.  Climate change threatens all peoples’ quality of life and our very existence.  It exacerbates already existing inequalities and is fueled by unaccountable corporations who profit from wrecking our planet.  We must become active citizens to stop this now!  By going to the COP, learning from activists and broadcasting their insights, concerns and knowledge far and wide, I believe we can improve the efficacy of the global climate justice movement to facilitate the rapid local and global actions that are needed to secure everyone’s rights to enjoy a beautiful and healthy life on Earth. Please support the future of our planet and society by supporting our endeavor -- any contribution will help!  By supporting our team, many of us students, you'll help future leaders of the world start to make connections with other young climate activists, learn how to best organize against climate change and shape solutions for the future.  If you've been waiting for a new way that you can support efforts for system change (a healthier environment and society) here's your chance!

John Foran

John Foran has taught sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara since 1989.  His books include Fragile Resistance:  Social Transformation in Iran from 1500 to the Present (1993, get it free here) and Taking Power:  On the Origins of Third World Revolutions (2005).  Since attending the COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, he has taken constant inspiration from the global climate justice movement, which he teaches, researches, and speaks about whenever he can (he has been accused of talking about nothing else).  He is active in a number of local, national, and global organizations dedicated to climate justice, and writes for a number of on-line publications about these struggles (see his work here and here).  

I live for these kinds of projects.  There is nothing more fulfilling than trying to move the world a few inches away from the cliff we now stand over.  To be part of a movement for real social change, or to see one close up, is to live life to the full.  It's fun, energizing, hopeful, exasperating, and exhilarating -- a roller coaster that makes you laugh, cry, despair, and rejoice.  This is a movement about life, and we are going to fight for it!      

Summer Gray

Summer Gray is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Research Associate at the International Institute of Climate Action and Theory. She is studying seawalls and climate change adaptation comparatively around the world, and is especially interested in the Maldives, which she has written about here and here.   

I became involved with this project because I want to see the world come together to prevent a sinking ship from going down with everyone inside.  My research takes me to places that will cease to exist if carbon emissions continue to go unchecked, where entire histories will be washed into the sea for the sake of some 200 years of "progress."  This is not a time for helplessness and despair.  It is not a time to leave it to the politicians and economists to find a solution to the crisis.  If we are to avoid a future defined by the phrase "too little, too late," then this is a time to come together and do everything humanly possible to turn the tide.
                                          

Jenna Liddie

Jenna Liddie is an undergraduate Sociology major at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she pursues a focus on social change and the environment.  Read more here...

Through sharing kernels of insight on the movement, the situation we face, and the work that lies ahead from the perspective of people invested in creating a climate future that is livable for all on this planet, it is my hope that we can create new ways of understanding and working against the climate reality we are now confronted with.  It is the time to envision a "future otherwise";  I believe we can grow the seed of hope in alternative futures into a force strong enough to reinvigorate those already involved in climate justice work, inspire more to join in the fight that is for all of our futures, and start provocative conversations within the movement on how to better pursue the system wide changes we seek.  I do this work because we ought to have a better future than the one global power structures currently have planned for us. It is of utmost importance that the voices of young people around the world be heard in the process of shaping the climate future they will inherit.  Please support our team in pursuing this work!

Natasha Weidner

Natasha Joyce Weidner is an undergraduate in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Read more here...

The issue of climate change is related to every other challenge that we face as a global community, from immigration conflicts to economic decline, and it requires a global response.  After years of studying the international climate negotiations, I believe that a successful global response won't come from the UN decision makers -- rather, it will come from community organizers around the world who are mobilizing to address these challenges in a variety of creative ways.  These are the stories that I hope to tell and learn from my research at the COP 19.  The COP provides an important nexus where the global climate justice movement can come together to build momentum.  By supporting our project, you are allowing us to document this movement, contribute to it, and bring the world one step closer to climate justice now!
Richard Widick

Richard Widick holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he lectured on theory, culture, media, globalization, social movements and environment before coming to the Orfalea Center.  He is the author of Trouble in the Forest: California's Redwood Timber Wars (University of Minnesota Press, 2009), an ethnography, cultural analysis, and 150 year social history of the US colonization and industrialization of California's northern redwood region—a history of the Indian wars and labor trouble that set the legal, social and ecological conditions for converging peoples, labor and environmental movements in the present era of globalization. In new research aimed at further integrating global studies and cultural sociology with media and environmental theory, Widick scales up his institutional analysis of US culture to the international scene of western modernity and the UN climate negotiations. In preparation of a new manuscript Climate of Empire, he is conducting fieldwork with collaborator John Foran at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conferences of Parties to the negotiations (COPs), first at COP 17 in Durban, South Africa 2011 and COP18 in Doha, Qatar 2012, and presently at COP 19 in Warsaw.  Looking forward, his research program includes ethnographic participation at COPs 20 in Lima, Peru 2014 and COP 21 in Paris, France 2015, at which latter event the UN’s new climate treaty governing the post-2020 global response to climate change will be adopted.  Widick and Foran are founders and co-directors of The International Institute of Climate Action & Theory (IICAT), and publicize their climate-related work at iicat.org.

Emily Williams

Emily Williams is a recent alumnus of UCSB, with a B.S. in Environmental Studies. She is currently a Campaign Director with the California Student Sustainability Coalition.  Read more here...

Climate change is the largest, most threatening, and possibly most elusive threat facing humanity.  It is the largest because it affects all living beings, no matter where they live, who they are, or what they do.  It is the most threatening as it can destroy economies, rob people of their livelihoods and their very existence, and cause massive environmental devastation.  And it is the most elusive since it is not nearly as visible as war or apartheid.  Yet there are those who are actively fighting climate change, and again, those who actively fight them. 

I am excited to attend COP 19 because it's the place where all of this comes together.  I hope to see for myself what it all means and to share the stories of those who have had their voices muted.  I strongly believe that meaningful action must be taken on the international level, yet there is something that consistently blocks such action.  I hope that my background in science and my current work in activism will me help piece together the pieces of this complicated puzzle and share with you the youth story.  I sincerely hope you consider donating to help us make this a reality.  With it, we will be able to better dissect the information we gather while at COP 19 and share it with our communities, including the larger earth community.  That's you!

There are Many Ways to Help

Remember, even if you can't contribute a dime, there are some other great ways you can very concretely help us (and if you've read this far, we hope you will!):

  • Ask folks to get the word out and make some noise about our campaign.
  • Use the Indiegogo share tools!


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