Latin America is one of the regions most affected by climate change, with multiple impacts on our people and our territories, and increasing inequalities and oppressions. This workshop aims to provide a space for people from Latin America and with Latin American heritage to listen to each other and share experiences of how climate change impacts us, and how racism and other oppressions interfere with our climate activism. The listening tools used by Sustaining All Life and United to End Racism will be taught as a way to heal from hard experiences, empower us to stand up against oppression, and unite and back each other to fight the climate crisis. These tools can be used to process despair and discouragement, and reclaim hopefulness.
This workshop will include:
- An opening circle
- Information about oppressions we face as Latinx
- A space to share stories of loss and oppression in and out of the climate movement
- Explanation of the listening tools of Sustaining All Life and United to End Racism and a paired listening activity
- A closing circle Sustaining All Life and United to End Racism are international grassroots organizations working together to end climate change within the context of ending all divisions among people.
We use the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling* to free ourselves from the harm done by oppression and other experiences that separate us from one another and from the world around us. These tools provide ongoing mutual support and enable people to listen deeply to one another as we do personal healing work.
Our goals include:
• Increasing awareness of the existence of and damage caused by climate change
• Freeing people from oppression and hurts that turn them against one another and make them compete for resources
• Supporting one another to organize effectively to preserve and restore the environment