The Little Town That Would Transform the World

On this episode of Living Downstream, we take you to a little
city with big plans for changing the world. While we’re there, we
ask what role local governments can play in the movement for
climate justice — that’s where climate activism and the
fight for social justice meet. 


 


Ithaca, New York sees itself as a living laboratory for climate
justice. Climate justice is based on the recognition that the
people whose lives are most disrupted by climate change —
the people who tend to die in the storms and heat waves, or to
lose their homes in the fires and floods — are generally the
people with the least money, the most precarious jobs, the least
access to health care, the shabbiest housing, and the least
reliable transportation. 



So if you want to do something about the climate emergency, the
thinking goes, you can’t just focus on things like reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for disasters. You need
to address long-standing social and economic inequities at the
same time.


Climate justice is the big idea behind the Green New
Deal — the resolution that Representative Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez first introduced with Senator Ed Markey in 2019
and re-introduced in April of 2021.


Congress hasn’t formally adopted the Green New Deal, but many
local governments around the country have gone ahead and passed
their own versions. Ithaca is one of them. And it’s brought in
a man with a global vision to lead the charge.  Veteran
public radio reporter — and long-time Ithaca
resident — Jonathan Miller takes us there.


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