Building a Local Climate Organization
Starting in 2015, after a few years of partial focus, I reorganized my life and put working on the climate crisis at the center. I kept a couple of part-time jobs and reduced my living expenses so that I could start building a new organization: Regeneración—Pajaro Valley Climate Action.
I decided to try my best with the information I had and the resources available to me. I set a big goal and started by doing small projects and consulting with people.
Regeneración owes much of its success to how I have built relationships and developed partnerships with other agencies and organizations. I have moved slowly and gathered the support of key people, and we now have a long and growing list of partners. Regeneración has become the hub of a growing climate justice movement here in Watsonville, California, USA.
I’ve prioritized centering our organization on the local majority population, which is low income and Mexican heritage. Eliminating racism has been central to our every action and decision: whom to hire or contract with, how to utilize volunteers, where and when to hold events, and so on.
Recent steps forward include the following:
- Major leaders coming together and for the first time focusing their comments on climate change and building resilience
- A young Latina videographer wanting to collaborate with us in creating a video campaign to inform people about the climate emergency and actions they can take
- Launching a heat-stress awareness and prevention campaign that will bring together stakeholders from agriculture, health, education, and government to address the effects of rising temperatures
- Slowly introducing RC practices into meetings and teaching RC to individuals
I believe any actions we take to lower emissions will protect some people’s health and save some lives. I am committed to doing everything I can figure out.
I think we are each in exactly the right place to start something, and we don’t have to know everything in order to start. Some helpful qualities we can bring to the work are being dependable and responsive, listening well, and managing our feelings. These qualities can take us a long way!
I’ve been battling distresses that have kept me small and quiet, and I’m getting bigger and louder. I believe I am benefiting the most from all my efforts. (I think this is always true when we fight our distresses to live the life we want to live.) Most days I am excited to wake up and start working. I am in contact with wonderful people and have creative work to do every day.
Big challenges remain! I still struggle to raise sufficient funds, organize volunteers to do more of the work, and take care of myself as I move all this forward. Working on early isolation seems to make the most difference.
Watsonville, California, USA
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion list for RC Community members
(Present Time 198, January 2020)