Last week I wrote a little bit about the political scene where I live, about the interesting coalitions and fluid communities of those affecting change in their worlds. The post wasn’t mostly about that, just a wee bit, but I have been thinking deeply about it since. In light of the current Presidential race, I have also been musing on deep entrenchments, on divides that seem insurmountable, and whose interests are really served by these systems. I’ve been pondering the damage of purity tests and conformity covenants and how they are affecting our political discourse, our search for a common civic life.
I live near the state Capitol and we have a part time legislature here in Colorado. The lawmakers are only in session from early January to early May. So a lot needs to occur quickly while it’s all happening concurrently. This timing makes the Fall an interesting period of coalition building and information gathering. The flurry they are immersed in now is palpable in my neighborhood; the atmospheric political speech isn’t all NOV2020. Or even mostly.
I took a sabbatical in January, and am just now back to work full time. I have been catching up of what’s going on and noting where the quiet and effective work is being done. I have been eyeing the committee schedule for likely testimony opportunities, and reflecting back on my impressions and insights from previous years’ experience. That’s mostly what is in the last blog post, Part I.
Now, remember that unusual coalition building I keep mentioning? If you’ve not read other posts of mine, I have been struggling with how to describe the Tables and Coalitions that function here. The work is slow and deliberate and difficult and can be frustrating, especially from the outside. It requires putting aside one’s agenda for the whole at times, and paradoxically also requires full participation from one’s own point of view to function.
One of the most effective techniques to stop, slow, or manipulate change is to set factions against each other. The last 40 years of environmental policy throughout this country has been a primary battleground for this kind of conflict manipulation. Labor fights for jobs over owl habitats as farmers fight for their water rights over those of trout and Green interests sacrifice the daily concerns of the vulnerable populations on the ground for a bigger picture all time, or at least it can all be framed that way. Or Industry props up Labor as an obstruction to progress as Agribusiness sucks our rivers dry and fears over the end of the month are engulfed by fear for the end of the world, or at least it can all be framed that way.
Adversarial. Combative. Us vs Them.
Without real relationships, or at least open and authentic exchange providing counterweight to all the conflict, entrenchments get deeper and assumptions run wild. What is possible is constrained and money (economic development) will nearly always win the day. But with real relationships, deep listening, faithful solidarity, and a common purpose based in respect, what is possible is opened up and other values become priorities. New leadership emerges, voices from marginalized and vulnerable communities guide the conversation, and policy itself shifts.
For several years, a group of unusual allies has met around the issue of how Colorado will move forward in addressing the pending Climate Crisis. Environmental groups, community groups, representatives from Labor, and faith-based communities gathered to learn from each other, listen, create community and move forward together. This group has focused on the Just Transition of workers from industries based in or supported by Oil and Gas and many of its original members now serve on a statewide Advisory Council whose concerns include the Colorado Office of Just Transition.
New to Colorado, and indeed unique in the entire country, is the Office of Just Transition, founded out of the 2019 legislative work. A Director for the Office has just been named, and a general operating budget was appropriated. Housed under the Department of Labor and Employment, this statewide Office will facilitate the movement of coal industry employees out of that world through the distribution of benefits such as pensions and insurance and grants for education or new initiatives. In time, the Office of Just Transition will expand to assist the workers of more oil and gas sectors, and indeed may aid the workforce of subsidiary and supporting industries like agriculture and logistics.
This is the right thing to do for many reasons. From a practical standpoint regarding what I learned from statehouse testimony and speeches (see Part I), this kind of action undercuts the exploitation of people and resources by the oil and gas industry. From a practical standpoint in real progress to create a more sustainable world for all, this type of intervention provides common goals and shared work across sectors. It primes us for the tasks ahead, both the great and majestic works and the small important actions through which we must rebuild how we live. This will be –is– hard and slow, frustrating and empowering, accommodating and steadfast work.
The only way forward is together, for the common liberation and health of all.
