Multi-state effort launched to address climate change effect in the states bordering Gulf of Mexico

By Michael Patrick Welch
Contributing Writer

Louisiana has often been called the canary in America’s climate change coal mine. But all of the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas – suffer unique environmental problems brought about by climate change. In response, the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy (GCCFLP) created the movement Gulf South for a Green New Deal (GS4GND), a multi-state effort to address the impact of climate change on the Gulf’s communities, and create equitable solutions.

A conference call on the morning of November 13 included a brief presentation of the Green New Deal policy platform, followed by a question and answer session with members of the coalition from across the Gulf South.

“This may be called the Gulf South Green New Deal, but is not just an environmental thing,” says Jane Patton, director of No Waste NOLA. “It’s about justice on so many levels: reproductive justice, environmental justice, prison reform and abolition, supporting workers, the right to unionize, and also making sure that as we transition to a new, healthier world, we are going to have to figure out what that different world looks like, particularly for the Gulf South.”

Wednesday’s conference call brought together representatives from each of the five Gulf states. And all of those reps are all working with different Gulf communities at ground level. When each representative on the call presented their most relevant piece of the policy platform, Patton focused on Gulf coast economies.

“My role in this is linking a lot of the economies across the Gulf South, meaning everything from fisheries to petroleum chemical plants – I’ve seen petrochemical companies take and take and never give back. I discussed these economies, and how to build new systems that are local, worker positive, and don’t make people sick. A lot of those plants up and down the river, they are killing people. So, I am excited we have this opportunity.”

Other speakers on the call included Colette Pichon Battle (2019 Obama Fellow & Executive Director, Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy), Teresa Fox-Bettis (Center for Fair Housing, Alabama), Alana Greer (Community Justice Project, Florida), and more. Topics discussed in the conference call included the Gulf South Policy Platform, a monthly call for leaders across the Gulf South to cultivate environmental legislative priorities unique to the Gulf South. Along with discussing ways that those concerned about the environment can “build power from the ground up,” the group also detailed the new Regional Policy Advisory Committee that will “center and uplift existing leadership from across the region to identify points of alignment on policy.”

Anyone can join the Regional Policy Advisory Committee for the group’s call on the first Wednesday of every month at 11a.m.

The coalition has already launched a policy and organizing plan for climate solutions, designed to educate and to advance Green New Deal federal policies on behalf of Gulf South communities on the frontline of climate change – the fear being that the Gulf South will be short-changed during the development of national climate change policy. At the national level, more than 90 congressional representatives and 13 senators support Green New Deal legislation. The House of Representatives and Senate wrote a joint statement titled, “Green New Deal Resolution.”

In May 2019, The Sunrise Movement, a group of youth advocates dedicated to advancing climate change legislation, launched the Road to a Green New Deal tour to begin a national conversation about the Green New Deal. At the kickoff to their Road to a Green New Deal Tour, more than 800 advocates, farmers, fisherfolk, and community leaders across the Gulf South gathered in New Orleans at Congo Square. Forty-five different organizations co-sponsored the event, where throngs of supporters marched to Mahalia Jackson Theater to make their voices heard.

At that event, Colette Pichon Battle, executive director with the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy, announced, “We are here to honor Indigenous and Black leadership around caring for each other and caring for this earth; we are here to create a safe, inclusive, space so we can connect the dots between climate change, disaster and jobs, and we are here to launch Gulf South for the Green New Deal, a multi-state effort rooted in the unique reality of the Gulf South.”

This article originally published in the November 18, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.