Countering a national agenda which seeks to divide us will require us to discover our shared values. Renew Alabama is a new coalition united under a common banner of social, environmental, and climate justice. Grounded in our shared humanity, experiences and faith, we are calling on community leaders and elected officials throughout Alabama to shift the paradigm.
On May 6, 2017, partner organizations will come together to host the inaugural Renew Alabama Conference. The free, full-day workshop will take place at The Edge of Chaos on the University of Alabama Birmingham campus. Participants will explore the link between social and environmental justice, how climate change will exacerbate many of these historic wrongs, and what we can do to build a more just and sustainable future.
Organizers hope the conference will ignite a conversation about how to remove barriers to clean energy, to invest in sustainable infrastructure, to increase opportunities for green jobs, and to protect public health and our environment.
Whether we seek to ignore it or not, there’s no debate that climate change will adversely impact Alabama. From saltwater intrusion of our aquifers, to increasingly powerful hurricanes, we are already witnessing many of these impacts. At the same time, addressing climate change has the potential to create thousands of new jobs and ensure a more just and sustainable Alabama for us all.
Conference hosts include the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise, Alabama Environmental Council, Alabama Rivers Alliance, Center for Earth Ethics, Climate Speakers Network, Eagle Solar & Light, Energy Alabama, GASP, Sierra Club Alabama Chapter, USGBC Alabama, UAB Sustainability, and Village Creek Human and Environmental Justice Society. This is an opportunity to right the many wrongs done to our communities and our earth, and to bring about a revitalization to historically disadvantaged communities.
Participants are asked to RSVP at renewalabama.com by May 2. For more information, contact Michael Hansen at 205-320-9670 or [email protected].
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