Nightmare in South Africa

I had the honor of meeting Patrick Jacobs in a workshop on grassroots strategies for addressing climate change and poverty, hosted by Green For All, held in Durban, South Africa at the United Nations Climate Negotiations last month. I was drawn to his story because he shared about how it is peach season right now in his community and how horrible this season can be because the peaches are toxic. I sat listening in horror, my hands over my face.

“If the children eat the peaches, they will get sick. To save the children we just all go out and gather them and put them in the bin. They are so dangerous for the children.” He paused. “ I know there are times when we can’t be there and the children will eat one.”

Jacobs’ lives less that one kilometer from a coal plant in South Africa that is using explosives to remove the coal from the land. This process produces toxic dust that has devastated his community. Jacobs traveled to the UN Climate Negotiations to make his community’s story heard.

Check out the interview inside:

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Heather Box

My favorite rapper is Rick Ross and my favorite color is aqua blue!

This is the real Rick Ross!

So, this past weekend I hung out with Cashmere Agency’s Ryan Ford (former Executive Editor of the Source), the League’s Fahiym Ratcliffe and Tarik Ross. Boy ol’ boy did I learn a lot about hip-hop. I mean, you guys might not know this, but I didn’t exactly grow up in a hot bed for rap music.

So in the spirit of sharing, I’ve documented the top 5 things I learned while hanging out with these cool boys.

1. Hip hop can be dead to you but not dead

Yes, lots of people think hip-hop sucks right now. But according to these hip-hop aficionados, the spirit of hip-hop is still alive, even if it’s not present in mainstream music. Young people are still motivated by the same need to express themselves.

2. Asking people who their favorite rapper is is like asking them their favorite color

I learned this one from Ryan Ford. There are so many rappers out these days, it’ hard to chose, and it’s not really all that important because next week another one will show up.

3. The Boss is really just a different Ross

We actually ran into the original Rick Ross, a former Los Angeles based drug dealer who the rapper Rick Ross named himself after. Apparently, the rapper Rick Ross’ whole image is contrived and based off another person. How weird is that?

4. A culture is more true without corporate intent

This one speaks for itself. According to these guys, rap music was a lot better before money got involved.

5. Outkast could be the new Marvin Gaye

As in they make classic music. 20 years from now, your kids are going to be listening to Outkast in the very same way that we we listen to Marvin Gay. Good music never dies.

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Heather Box

The World Is Yours

From my friend Christina Polcari:

“Whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It’s mine, it’s mine, it’s mine” -Nas

Rapid response at midnight last night just after Obama broke the bad news and our activist hearts. Young people took to the conference center gates sounding “Our future is in your hands,” “Climate Justice Now,” and “EU don’t sign.” Props to some Bay Area flair for mixing up the straight chants with a taste of Nas. Had the enviros from the various other countries known the melody, we could’ve had something creative and real–a message from young people in our voice. Bookmark that kind of thinking for the strategy we need going back home.

Some thoughts on the protest…first of all, you should know I’m not a typical activist. I only believe in direct action when it’s clever, brilliant, beautiful, or necessary. And in the environmental movement, I’ve found that that caliber of direct action is few and far between. So I’m a cynic. This past week was no different. The march on the Bella Center Wednesday was an utter embarrassment. A few thousand people meandering down streets don’t reflect an urgent global movement. When we finally reached the entrance, police pushed even nonviolent activists around with pepper spray, tear gas, and German Shepherds. There was no “People’s Assembly” as planned. Delegates on the inside were supposed to do a walk-out to meet us, but we never reached each other. There was nothing effective or useful about it.

The only action I heard that was “useful” at the COP15 was a vigil the Saturday before I came. Activists and delegates alike called it beautiful.

But last night, I got excited. While I was wallowing after Obama’s press conference, the organizers were doing what they do best (and what I don’t). Rapid response. Storm the Bella Center gates. Bring candles. Hope you have warm clothes.

It was necessary. But I warned I’m a cynic, so it didn’t live up to what it could have for me. There weren’t enough people for enough of the time to stomp our foot down outside the gates. But there was something there. I started to think about our strategy again moving forward. And I started to see how we could combine the strengths of different types of activists differently than we are now. Next time, there will be Nas.

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Heather Box

Path Through The Parallels

There was a collective cringe in the room last night as activists and journalists listened to Obama’s closing press conference. There was no video, only audio, so you had to do something with your eyes. You could pretend to take notes on your laptop, but there was nothing to note. The speech was empty. As was the “deal.” You could do a slow pan across the room, but that would require making eye contact with people from other countries and there was an unsettling familiarity about being American with a leader failing the rest of the world…again. It would also require making eye contact with the kinds of Americans most responsible for our President’s world-changing election in the first place. So instead, I looked down.

Although I may dream it, I didn’t come to Copenhagen expecting some bold and valiant legally binding treaty. I try to be more of a realist. So maybe I’m naive because I did expect something more than what we got.

The “deal” is a failure. It has no real targets and no real timetables–that’s policy failure. But more importantly, it was reached without the participation of most of the countries that will suffer most and have contributed least to the problem–that’s system failure.

Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein gave our group a much needed therapy session after the speech. McKibben said: “Movements at their best work as people figure out how to exploit the zeitgeist of the moment – what the openings are. We don’t know what the openings are right now. Where there are wedges to be exploited. We’ll find them. This issue isn’t going away; it becomes more important with every passing minute. We’re gonna have to find them. That’s what human beings do. We’ll figure out how to build a movement that influences what it has to influence. But if the terrain shifts, strategy will shift and it will take a little while to figure that out.”

Our movement is strong, but we’re growing. We have learned so much this week especially about how we need to grow differently as a movement. It’s an interesting parallel to the change for which we strive and it brings me hope, drive, ambition, and focus. Here’s to the months that lie ahead.

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Heather Box

Playing Good Cop15

From my friend Christina Polcari:

What if Obama announced a plan today that promised green jobs for our urban youth, window panes and lower energy bills, urban gardens and lower medical bills, clean air and clean streets?

The Yes Men dare us to think so. They dare us to imagine the world is as we wanted it just for a minute. Earlier this week in Copenhagen, Canada dropped jaws when it announced a radical reversal of its climate change policy at the COP15. It was exactly the kind of action the world has been waiting for–bold and badass. But it was all a prank, compliments of the Yes Men.

We wanted a global deal out of the COP15. The Yes Men put the spotlight on countries standing in the way to publicly humiliate them. Because the people, the media, and the UN responded, and for a moment, we saw the change we believe in.

Last night, Jayme and Mahfam sat on the rogue Yes Men stage at the “Good COP15″ to tell our leaders about how urban communities are building a better environment and a better economy. People working together on projects like Green the Hood are the true agents of change.

This week, Mahfam has made us realize we need to go back home and “blow up our efforts and take them to the next level…to scale the movement.” She’s absolutely right. Coming from a global conference, to me, the next level looks more local. Our leaders can and must take bolder action but we have to do even more at home to show them exactly what that action looks like. Here’s to the next steps for our communities, the ones to scale the movement and to give our leaders no room to budge.

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Heather Box