About Us
Greens REALIGN brings together former, current, and future staff of environmental organizations to learn, share, ideate, and act to make the environmental movement more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just.
Greens REALIGN began in May 2021 when a few individuals across environmental organizations met to discuss their shared frustrations on the state of DEI and environmental justice goals in the environmental movement and at their organizations. They had a deep desire to ensure their work was accountable to frontline communities. By bringing together like-minded individuals, they realized they could create a space for conversations, sharing, and learning that was lacking within the movement.
Greens REALIGN's membership has since expanded to include individuals at over 13 organizations.
Our Mission
To build a collective of individuals at or associated with large, well-funded, white-founded environmental organizations and and other institutions with relative and positional power in the environmental movement (“Big Greens”) dedicated to redistributing environmental authority, leadership, and influence to grassroots networks (REALIGN).
Members of the collective are dedicated to advancing racial, economic, environmental, social, and climate justice; pressing for Big Greens to appropriately join the fight for environmental justice, climate justice, and restorative justice for communities that demand it and that seek our services; and to dismantling white supremacy culture at Big Greens.
It is a collective goal to develop practices to prioritize the voices, stories, and leadership of people that have historically been excluded from decision-making and/or harmed by past/current environmental injustices. We want to see Big Greens work to urgently alleviate disproportionate environmental burdens, and hold those responsible accountable in clear terms. We aim to identify and push for pathways for change at Big Greens that center the collective goals.
our definitions
Environmental justice means communities have decision-making authority over what happens in their environment and environmental burdens and benefits are shared equitably.
Diversity is the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different backgrounds and life experiences.
Equity is the achievement of just outcomes for everyone, taking into account prior distribution of resources and power.
Inclusion is the active promotion of diversity and meaningful involvement through intentional creation of an environment that is safe and accessible to all.
Our Principles
We hold the following community assumptions:
We respect the lived experiences of ourselves and others without question.
We are all here due to our desire to actively contribute to our shared mission.
We live at intersections.
We all benefit and are harmed by systematic oppression. Dismantling systems of oppression benefits everyone.
It is not useful to argue about which system is worse, or whether oppression exists.
All systems are interconnected.
Confronting social injustice is painful and joyful.
Liberation is possible.
Everyone has a choice in any situation.
Opposing systems of oppression, building alternatives, and cultural change are all necessary.
We recognize and value all forms of knowledge, including knowledge gained from personal and/or lived experience; ancestral, cultural and traditional knowledge; and other knowledge gained outside of educational and professional institutions.
The environmental movement and the “Big Greens” have and continue to operate in toxic and racist ways.
*This list was inspired by those drafted by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group.
We have formally adopted the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing and are inspired by and committed to adrienne maree brown's philosophy of emergent strategy.