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Isha Clarke is a founding member of Youth vs. Apocalypse, an activist organization that organized the first-ever youth climate strike in San Francisco. Isha has been fighting for climate justice since junior high school. That's when they spoke out against a coal terminal slated to be built in their hometown of Oakland, CA. A few years later they confronted senator Dianne Feinstein about the Green New Deal in a video that went viral.
Isha believes we all have the power to reverse the climate crisis.
This is episode 1 from a special segment for Women’s History Month about how we can build a more feminist future....and take care of ourselves and each other when the work is daunting. Find more trailblazers in our new book, It’s a Good Day to Change the World.
TRANSCRIPT:
Lauren Schiller: What does it take to create a more equal, just, and joyful world? And how do we sustain ourselves when the work is daunting?
I’m Lauren Schiller, creator of Inflection Point and coauthor of the new book IT’S A GOOD DAY TO CHANGE THE WORLD.
We’re bringing you a special segment every week of women’s history month, about how we can build a more feminist future....and take care of yourself and each other along the way.
Today, we hear from Isha Clarke about how to believe in your power...
Isha is a founding member of Youth vs. Apocalypse, an activist organization that organized the first-ever Youth Climate Strike in San Francisco
Isha has been fighting for climate justice since junior high school. that’s when they spoke out against a coal terminal slated to be built in their hometown of Oakland, CA. A few years later they confronted senator Dianne Feinstein about the Green New Deal in a video that went viral.
Isha believes we all have the power to reverse the climate crisis.
Isha Clarke: it started as early as I can remember, is listening to my grandpa's stories about his activism. he burned his draft papers and like peed in front of the Koch brothers building and protests and like, has done all these really incredible things his entire life and just hearing all of his stories and. Just seeing him lead by example I think was kind of my earliest introduction into social justice and, and knowing that I wanted to be like that
All the oil refineries are put in communities of color. The coal terminals that are being planned to build are built through communities of color, and pipelines are built through indigenous water supply and, and sacred lands.
I realized how central environmental racism is to climate justice and how historically the environmental justice movement didn't reflect the actual people who were on the front lines of the injustice.
Young people who are leading this movement have been getting a lot more attention Our job is both to redefine what climate justice means. And really working on the movement from the inside, trying to make sure that frontline voices are always centered and that we have this very clear agenda to normalize climate justice and reverse the climate crisis.
This is a fight for lives.
It's about creating an equitable just world. And to make sure that the new world that comes from. Is sustainable and run by solutions that are created by frontline communities
Lauren Schiller: Here are some of Isha’s tools to change the world:
First up: Imagine new systems
Isha Clarke: fighting the climate crisis is also fighting all of the systems of oppression that undergird our world, that have led us to this [00:03:00] crisis. We're taking on the task of completely dismantling everything that we know, and that is really scary, and people say that it's idealistic. And so I think the largest task is shifting from believing that what we need is idealistic and finding a way to do it.
Lauren Schiller: Second: Resist delay
Isha Clarke: We had this action at Chevron and we actually got to talk to some Chevron executives, and what we were saying was, we don't have time for this long, slow transition to renewable energy. We just don't have that time. And they were saying, you know, well change is slow. And over the course of history, you see that change has been slow. And that's exactly the problem. You know, we cannot do things the way that they've been done before. And that scares people.
Lauren Schiller: Third:Keep the pressure on
Isha Clarke: pressure makes diamonds. I think that the biggest thing that we can do is to never forget the power that we have as the people. And really, I have to emphasize this point , that power holders would not have power if it weren't for the people and. Just every day as a mantra and as an affirmation, remind yourself that you have power and that power is multiplied and multiplied as you link arms with other people and stand in solidarity
Lauren Schiller: And finally, how do we sustain ourselves when the work is daunting?
Isha Clarke: I'm starting to realize that. The only thing that really matters is that you feel comfortable in the body and in the being that you are. But that's really hard to do in a society that's telling you what you should do and who you should be all the time. So it takes a lot of self-reflection and self-awareness. Something that I started doing was keeping a, a journal.
Sometimes I'll do like a really corny journal entry and sometimes I'll write a poem or sometimes I'll make a list or you know it clears my brain and that's when I really get to check in with myself and also just seeing like what gets put on the paper? What, what was I thinking today? What did I do today?
Lauren Schiller: Find more of Isha Clarke's story, along with more trailblazers and their tools— in It’s a Good Day to Change the World--our new book based on inflection point interviews....You can find it wherever you get your books. Learn more at inflectionpointradio.org.
This series was produced in collaboration with K A L W. Our executive producer is David Boyer. Our impact producer and my co-author is Hadley Dynak.
I'm Lauren Schiller.
ISHA CLARKE
Illustration by Rosy Petri
“It’s a Good Day to Change the World”