Freedom Road Background

This year, The United Nations will host the 21st climate change conference in Paris, France from November 30-December 11, 2015. The COP21 negotiations are some of the most important negotiations in history, as global leaders aim to set a universal agreement for addressing climate change for decades. This agreement is set to do the minimum to stop climate change in order to preserve the capitalist system, leaving humanity and the worlds eco-systems in peril.

To challenge the climate negotiations and the false solutions the negotiations are upholding, social movements and activist from around the world will join together for a Global Climate Justice Convergence. Cooperation Jackson will participate in this convergence in conjunction with the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ) and the Climate Justice Alliance/Our Power Campaign. Eight of our members and allies are apart of the It Takes Roots to Weather the Storm Delegation. We've named our contingent, the Freedom Road from Jackson to Paris.

We dubbed our contingent "Freedom Road from Jackson to Paris" to highlight the fact that we are being intentional about constructing a road that will enable us to make our home - Jackson, MS - a leader in the fight for climate justice by turning it into a living example of how a sustainable city with zero-emissions and zero-waste can and will look.

Cooperation Jackson's delegation will participate in this convergence in order to share our Just Transition work for Climate Justice and Economic Democracy and learn from others around the world. One of our goals is to build solid international networks and alliances that can develop, support and promote practical, here and now solutions to the climate crisis.

Our delegation will help fulfill a core part of our mission, which is to facilitate the development of a new system of production, not dependent upon the extractive economy, but centered on the practice of economic democracy and committed to finding a regenerative balance between human economic activity and the worlds eco-systems and climate. We will learn a great deal about how communities from around the world are developing sustainable models with the potential to forge networks and alliances. 

Steps on the Road from Jackson to Paris

2014                                  Cooperation Jackson Becomes a "pilot site" of the Climate Justice                                                 Alliances "Our Power Campaign"

September 2014             Cooperation Jackson’s 18 members and allies traveled to join with the                                            Climate Justice Alliance and the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance                                                where they marched with over 300,000 people in the streets of New                                              York City for climate justice in the People’s Climate March.

December 2014              Cooperation Jackson sends two members to join the Grassroots Global                                          Justice Alliance’s delegation trip to Lima, Peru for COP20 and the                                                  People’s Summit on Climate Change.

June 2015                      Cooperation Jackson hosted a "Southern People's Just Transition                                                  Assembly" to continue the process of envisioning what climate justice                                            needs to look and feel like in the US South.

October 2014                 Cooperation Jackson launches the "Jackson Just Transition Plan" to                                               open up a broader municipal discussion about how to enact our vision.

November 2015              Cooperation Jackson sends contingent of 8 members and allies to                                                  Paris for the COP21, Climate Justice convergences and actions with the                                          It Takes Roots to Weather the Storm delegation. Cooperation                                                          Jackson’s goals are to learn more about the alternatives being                                                        implemented by communities of struggle around the world and to fight                                          for a just transition and firm, legally-binding commitments from the                                                  governments and transnational institutions of the world for science-                                                based emission reductions. 

January 2016                 Cooperation will host a series of events to report back on the Freedom                                           Road from Jackson to Paris. We will bring our experiences back to                                                 Jackson to share them with our community so everyone can gain from                                           the knowledge we acquired.

Beyond!                        Cooperation Jackson will organize and develop an action plan for 2016,                                         that will advance the struggle for economic democracy, a just transition,                                         and climate justice locally and globally.  

RETURN TO THE 'JACKSON TO PARIS' HOMEPAGE