How workers, local unions can take the lead on climate change | Opinion

Vachon: Some of us in the labor movement have been building an independent, working class campaign to challenge the governments that permit climate destruction, the fossil fuel producing and using industries that conduct it, and the corporations and other institutions around the world that collude with it. January 2017 photo of flooding in Stone Harbor by Tim Hawk, for NJ.com.

By Todd E. Vachon

The bad news on climate change just got even worse.

A report issued earlier this month by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides the starkest warning to date on the real and immediate threat that global warming poses to human existence.

The report finds that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, the atmosphere will warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040. This will submerge coastlines, intensify droughts and wildfires, increase the frequency and strength of extreme storms, and worsen food shortages and poverty.

Perhaps the most attention-grabbing aspect of the report is that these dire consequences will come to pass well within the lifetime of much of the global population. In other words, most of us will be around to see the death and destruction this will cause.

While similar warnings about the consequences of continued fossil fuel consumption have been issued in the past, efforts to cut carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions to a climate-safe level have been largely defeated in arenas ranging from the United Nations to the U.S. Congress.

Corporations and other powerful political actors, including the current administration in the White House, have been the dominant factors in this process, but they are not alone. Many others have pursued short-term self-interest at the expense of climate protection, often with their own economic survival in mind. For example, local communities and workers dependent on fossil fuel industries have campaigned to weaken climate protection legislation and block international climate agreements.

The twist here is that local communities and workers are also the primary victims of climate catastrophe, as we have witnessed in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy and Hurricanes Katrina, Maria, Harvey, and now Michael. In fact, the working class is always hit first and worst by climate change, particularly those who are already most harmed by our economic and political systems: women and people of color.

That is why some of us in the labor movement have been building an independent, working class campaign to challenge the governments that permit climate destruction, the fossil fuel producing and using industries that conduct it, and the corporations and other institutions around the world that collude with it. This new climate movement is also promoting solutions that put the interests of workers and communities front and center.

Climate change poses a grave threat to humanity. We in labor, as the organized voice of the working class majority of the planet, must take a leading role in this struggle to put the interests of people before profits.

To this end, the Labor Network for Sustainability has been organizing a series of local and national "labor convergences" on climate change. Activists in Los Angeles met in July to strategize about ways to build the labor movement into a force for climate protection and justice.

In the Northeast, labor-climate activists from Maryland to Maine will converge at the Labor Education Center at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations on Nov. 17 (10 a..m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Labor Education Center, 50 Labor Center Way, New Brunswick).

A national convergence is being planned for Summer 2019.

These events will encourage climate protection advocates to organize locally and nationally in their own unions; advocate for climate solidarity with workers around the world; build cooperation among climate protection advocates and caucuses in different unions; educate labor's leadership and rank and file on the realities of climate change; transform the discourse and ultimately the policy of the labor movement; and inspire local labor unions and activists to engage with climate and climate justice organizations and activists in their own communities.

As workers and trade unionists, we can either initiate change or be the victims of it. We choose the former and thus resolve to use our power to reshape economic, political, and social systems for the good of our planet.

We cannot and must not suffer the consequences of inaction.

Todd E. Vachon, a postdoctoral associate in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University, is a member of the AAUP-AFT as well as the United Auto Workers, Local 1981. He also serves on the steering committee of the Labor Network for Sustainability's Labor Convergence on Climate.

Looking for more about climate change in the Garden State?

Hot pace for higher temps: N.J. is one of the fastest warming states in the U.S. Here's what that means

Storm ready: Hurricane season is heating up. Nearly 6 years after Sandy, is N.J. ready for another major storm?

Bracing for impact: Thousands of baby oysters have been enlisted to protect this N.J. Navy base

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.