High Road – Low Road
Erica Swinney, a member of the environmental justice organization Green Action, provides a case study of her work with this non-profit, and advocates for a shift in environmental justice work from short-term advocacy to building the technical capacity to engage in long-term visioning.
Erica answers questions about waste-to-energy technology, and about changing the targets of her advocacy and networking.
Dan Swinney, founder and executive direction of the Center for Labor and Community Research in Chicago, describes his work with the manufacturing sector in the city, and his newest project, Austin Polytechnical Academy.
Dan answers questions about sustainable production processes, capital acquisition, and the definition of a high-road practice.
Nedda Angulo Villareal, from the Grupo Red de Economía Solidaria del Perú, comments on the presentations, noting similar environmental justice struggles in rural Peruvian villages against multinational corporations, describing how Mondragon links the economic circuits of production, consumption, commercialization, technology and finance, and arguing that education is critical to creating a solidarity culture in which ethical consumption and production take place.