Women, Gender & Climate Change

The Road to Paris and Beyond

Dear community leader and ally,

Southwest Workers’ Union and Fuerza Unida are traveling to Paris in December of 2015 and will be participating both nationally and internationally by convening and aligning with many coalitions in the global climate change movement. Our local leadership has opened the opportunity to deepen our narratives in the struggle of climate crisis to develop shared critical thinking and strategy base building in grassroots movements. As a frontline community we understand the urgency for a just transition. In Paris, we will demand a system change from capitalist and extractive economy to alternative systems and autonomy for equity and equality. During our stay in Paris, we will be together with our It Takes Roots To Weather The Storm delegation along with Grassroots Global Justice, Climate Justice Alliance, and the Indigenous Environmental Network with support of other support teams as well.

We have been visible in the struggle of labor, environment, gender, and youth injustices that are perpetual in our communities. Our visions manifest the resilience in the intersectionalities of our multicultural and intergenerational spaces for community empowerment opening us the platform to connect with local, national, and international alliances to transform the bridges of culture, critical thinking and direct action.

We will be hosting a panel discussion on the local experiences of race and gender to the larger struggle in climate change. As you know, SWU and Fuerza Unida have been presente in the current campaign opposing water rate-hikes, a new rate structure and the Vista Ridge pipeline facing consequences of perpetual economic disparity and environmental impacts, which are subjects of negotiations of governances targeting our human rights, bodies and climate resiliency. Because we have seen the alignment of your work with our vision as an organization in a community for opportunities for empowerment, transformation, and self-determination in San Antonio we invite you to speak at our space. Our objective is to share and identify our local experiences to uplift them at the global summit to express our demand for a system change at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties 21 in Paris.