President and CEO of Global Greengrants Discusses the Importance of Representation for the Disability Community in Climate Justice Movements
Laura Garcia conveyed passion and conviction as she sat down with us to discuss the work she has done with her organization, Global Greengrants Fund.
Global Greengrants Fund strives to seek out grassroots-level activists, organizations, and non-profits that exemplify constructing local solutions to areas of climate justice, healthy ecosystems, local livelihoods, and the threads of intersectionality that connect them all.
The organization is currently funding over a thousand of these grassroot movements. Funding goes towards putting resources directly into the hands of these advocates and change-makers because Global Greengrants recognizes the most effective way to combat climate change is to lend a hand to the communities directly affected.
Realizing Hidden Intersections Between the Disability Community and Climate Justice
A few years ago, Global Greengrants began to realize that their funding outreach was sidestepping a critical group: the disability community.
The climate justice movement has traditionally been inaccessible to the disability community. Despite being some of the most vulnerable to emergencies caused by climate change, representatives have rarely been invited to multilateral discussions on how to limit the effects of climate change.
One reason is due to the issue of intersectionality. There are people with disabilities in every race, religion, nationality, gender, and socioeconomic class. The other reason is a world that has systematically barred people with disabilities from having a voice to share their stories and frustrations.
Laura Garcia wants to change that by committing to a focus on the intersectionality between disabilities and climate change.
Global Greengrants has begun to intentionally seek out disability advocacy groups working in areas of climate justice. The organization has combed every corner of the globe to find 40 grassroots organizations that are either led by a person with a disability or are seeking to address a problem that unequally effects people with disabilities.
Garcia herself has spent time researching the disability community, trying to understand the history and work towards solutions.
She is adamant that the answer comes through shining a spotlight on the disability community in connection to climate justice. In a world that has tried again and again to silence and oppress the disability community, it is time to fight back. It is time to give the one billion people living with disabilities around the world a chance to have their voices heard. It is time to make a seat at the table and provide accurate representation.
The work Global Greengrants is doing is vital to the disability community. Through their funding, the climate justice movement is becoming more inclusive and more diverse. Importantly, by giving resources to communities, Garcia and Global Greengrants are sending the message that community-led solutions are important and that every little fight against climate change matters.
People empower people to lead much needed change.
Want to listen to Laura Garcia speak in her own words about the passion that fuels grassroot movements to end climate change? Listen to Traipsin’ Global on Wheel’s YouTube Podcast!
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