Courtney Martin wrote an article in the American Prospect about our recent Midwest Fair Climate Summit:
Life and Death in the Climate Change Debate
As we push Congress to pass a climate bill, let’s not forget the grass roots.
Courtney E. Martin | July 6, 2009 |
Elisa Young brushed her feathery blond hair back from her face, and her eyes grew teary as she looked at the panel of environmental activists and asked, “How do you keep up the fight under such difficult circumstances?” Young, who describes herself as a “survivalist, not an environmentalist” is a seventh-generation Appalachian and has been fighting coal-plant proposals in Meigs County, Ohio, for years.
LaDonna Redmond, a statuesque African American woman from Chicago, responded immediately, “You just keep fighting. What else are you going to do?” She recalled her own struggle with neighborhood gang-bangers who didn’t want her to open an organic food market in their area. She concluded with one of her trademark sayings: “Every community has the intellect to heal itself.”
