People’s Plan for PA Climate Justice

For centuries, Pennsylvanians have labored, often in grueling and unsafe conditions, to build the Pennsylvania we know today. For too long, the wealthiest individuals, biggest landowners, and largest companies have benefited the most, while the workers and environment have struggled to survive. Now, Pennsylvania stands at a crossroads. Climate change, foes of democracy, racism, nativism, colonialism, and widening income inequality threaten our commonwealth, country, and world. We are working across the state to create a better, fairer future—a future where the environment is vibrant, people hold power, and democracy is secure. For that future to become a reality, we need changes at the local, state, and federal levels. The People’s Plan for PA Climate Justice includes a myriad of policies that will create a healthy, secure, and safe Pennsylvania now and for generations to come.

The People’s Plan for PA Climate Justice is the result of the collaboration between community partners, advocates, and workers from across the state working towards a common goal. Led by a small network coordinating team, individual organizations engaged their members in conversations about platform content. The end result is a state-wide platform geared towards education, base building, advocacy, engagement, and empowerment.

The platform calls for:

    • Clean, Accessible, and Safe Water
    • The Right to Breathe
    • A Just, Sustainable, Democratic, and Accessible Energy System
    • Safe, Affordable, and Sustainable Shelter for ALL
    • Protection of our Land and communities through Community Stewardship
    • Fair, Safe, and Living Wage Jobs for Our Communities
    • Investment in Public Systems that Ensure Healthy and Connected Communities
    • A Participatory Democracy Accountable to People so Climate Justice and Restorative Justice is Possible

With a primary interest in elections and federal investments, the platform focuses on base building, political education, mobilization, and communications. We believe this platform has the power to amplify and advance change in Pennsylvania and lead us to a better, brighter, and more secure future. To help make that future a reality, this platform should be used to:

 

    • Educate and build a collective understanding among our community members on policies and issues.
    • Spearhead a strategy in which our local communities and our commonwealth can divest from extractive industries, economies, and state violence and invest in making our communities healthy, whole, and just.
    • Make our issues and solutions front and center for leaders and decision-makers.
    • Ensure state agencies move public dollars to communities in need.

Courtesy of Pittsburghers for Public Transit

Courtesy of UE Local 506