Transition is Inevitable. Justice is Not.
Kicking Gas understands that the transition to clean energy must be rooted in justice. In order for our shift from fossil-fueled to green economies to be truly just, marginalized peoples must be at the center of decision-making, especially when new policies and projects affect their rights and livelihoods. We are guided by the principles of a Just Transition, which recognize that extractive systems (built on the exploitation of land, labor, and disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color) have created the current climate crisis. We are explicit about this history in our community education and outreach, naming both the harms of the extractive economy and the opportunity to build a regenerative one. By framing decarbonization as both an environmental and racial justice issue, we support understanding and shaping the transition rather than being subject to it.
Kicking Gas envisions a world in which our technology replenishes Mother Earth rather than diminishes her; a society in which all of us are respected and valued equitably for who we are and how we identify. We envision communities who honor and uphold the thoughts, opinions, and concerns of each of their members. We envision a future that honors our ancestors and cherishes the generations to come. To do this, we help to eradicate the many forms of injustice within our world by reconceptualizing the practice of organizing and our work towards liberation; to tear down the barriers that have kept us divided and in competition with one another over limited resources; to remove the capitalist model and mindset of bigger, better, faster, cheaper, more, and now; and to push to the forefront of our consciousness our interdependence upon one another for our survival and flourishing as peoples.
We encourage you to join us in embedding Just Transition principles into your own work, community actions, and life.
Below are a few resources we are inspired by:
Just Transition Learning Library
The Principles of Environmental Justice (1991)
Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC, drafted and adopted these 17 principles of Environmental Justice. Since then, the Principles have served as a defining document for the growing grassroots movement for environmental justice.
The Sierra Club History of Environmental Justice
The Sierra Club recognizes that to achieve a mission of environmental protection and a sustainable future for the planet, we must attain social justice and human rights at home and around the globe. The Sno-Isle Sierra Club group is a strong and valued partner of Kicking Gas.
Indigenous Just Transition (IJT)
IJT empowers Indigenous communities worldwide to move beyond extractive economies and build sustainable futures and a world where Indigenous peoples lead the way toward just, regenerative systems: where our lands, people, and waters are healed, our children are thriving, and our sovereignty is fully alive.
Indigenous Environmental Network: Just Transition
As Just Transition is becoming popular with different theories, practices and approaches, the Indigenous Environmental Network felt the need to compile a set of Indigenous-based principles of what Just Transition means to Indigenous peoples in North America-Turtle Island.