Climate Justice Alliance
Summer of Our Power Toolkit
Table of Contents:
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Introduction
Call to Action
CJA’s Just Transition Messages
Graphics
Social Media
Quilt Square Guidelines and Tutorials
#OurPowerSummer
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Summer of Power: Introduction
The Climate Justice Alliance’s Summer of Our Power launches on the Summer
Solstice—June 21, 2015—in recognition of our interrelated, interdependent, and
complementary relationship with Mother Earth.
In the face of a climate crisis, communities on the frontlines of the impacts are also
at the forefront of the struggle to create solutions that are healthy and equitable for
both people and the planet—what we call a just transition.
Over the course of two months during the summer of 2015, CJA’s Summer of Our
Power will undertake creative movement building projects to build interconnected
local strategies and broader public awareness for a just transition away from an
economy based on extraction and exploitation. The centerpiece will be a “quilt
relay” in August, through which CJA creates a collective quilt that symbolizes the
both the breadth and depth of frontline community solutions that offer real hope in
the face of climate devastation. The quilt relay will conclude in solidarity with gulf
coast communities at the 10th Anniversary Commemoration of Hurricane Katrina.
The Summer of Our Power, in addition to being an important movement building
opportunity for the membership of CJA, will serve to marshal our forces for a
vibrant fall season of mobilization on the “Road to Paris” and beyond. In the U.S.
we’ll engage our public officials to champion solutions that achieve a just transition.
The momentum we build through these activities will strengthen our member
delegation that represents grassroots communities at the December United Nations
COP-21 in Paris.
The Summer of Our Power includes CJA’s new Just Transition Fellowship program; a
story-telling project designed to share narratives and uplift our solutions; and a
“quilt relay” through which we will create a collective quilt. There will be
workshops, political education, and strategizing regarding the Clean Power Plan, our
energy democracy platform, and just transition principles and strategies.
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Call to Action: Participate in the Summer of Our Power
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Contribute a Quilt Block to our collective Just Transition Quilt.
In August, CJA members will make a collective quilt. Each participating organization
will create a quilt block to contribute to the quilt, and the quilt blocks will be
gathered along three “relay” routes running from the North—east, west, and
central—to the Gulf Coast. Our quilt will come together as we join with Gulf Coast
communities to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. For more
information about participating in one of the quilt relay routes, or to simply
contribute a quilt block, contact CJA organizer Brittany Gray at
Brittany@ourpowercampaign.org. This activity is open to all members of CJA as
well as their affiliates and member groups. We hope that all CJA members will
contribute a block!
 Connect your work through our Story-Telling Project
Are you holding an event in July or August that is alignment with the Our Power
Campaign’s focus on building local, living economies that are good for people and
the planet? Let us know—send an email to cja.chloehenson@gmail.com. And join
the conversation by engaging with us through social media—see more on social
media below.
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Support the Just Transition Fellows
The Climate Justice Alliance unveils an inaugural class of Just Transition Fellows on
June 23. Each of the fellows will be placed at CJA member organizations, with a focus
on pilot sites and organizations anchoring key aspects of CJA’s agenda in 2015. In
addition to the just transition campaign work they’ll be doing at home, our fellows
will be helping coordinate the Summer of Our Power activities. Be sure you’re
connected—engage with the fellows through the course of the summer:
Twitter: @CJAourpower
#OurPowerSummer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OurPowerCampaign
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Talking about Just Transition: CJA’s Main Messages
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The climate crisis is a symptom of a deeper problem: an economy based
on extraction and exploitation of resources and people. This economy
benefits a few at the expense of communities and the planet.
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Communities across the country are united for a Just Transition away
from an extractive economy based on fossil fuel and other dirty industries,
and towards clean community energy, zero waste, public transit, local food
systems and housing for all.
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A Just Transition keeps fossil fuels in the ground, creates millions of
meaningful jobs, and puts our communities back to work building the
infrastructure we really need to address the climate crisis.
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The frontlines of the climate crisis are low-income people, communities of
color and indigenous communities. We are the hardest hit by both climate
disruption––the storms, floods and droughts––and the extractive, polluting
and wasteful industries causing global warming.
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Frontline communities are at the forefront of innovative community-led
solutions that ensure a just transition off fossil fuels, and that support an
economy good for both people and the planet. Our solutions create
community owned energy systems, zero waste, public transit, local food
systems and housing for all.
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It Takes Roots to Weather the Storm. We are deeply rooted in
communities on the frontlines of the extractive economy as well as the
environmental justice movement. Our collective experience, resilience, and
commitment to a just transition provide a deep well of knowledge for what
action needs to be taken.
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The Summer of Our Power makes visible the breadth and depth of just
transition work happening on the ground in frontline communities. Building
together we are able to forge innovative solutions and strengthen the
broader movement.
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Summer of Our Power Graphics
You received three images. Email cja.marjorie@gmail.com if you need us to
email them to you again.
1. The Summer of Our Power logo.
2. A slightly revised logo that provides room for you to add your own event
details using a program like Photoshop.
3. A Summer of Our Power banner.
Social Media
Through the course of the Summer of Our Power, we’ll be very active highlighting the
amazing just transition work happening on the ground in frontline communities.
We’ll be profiling our Just Transition Fellows, and the fellows will also be actively
engaging in social media with us. Through the month of July we’ll be building
momentum for the August Quilt Relay. And in August we’ll be sharing the journey
across the country every step of the way through social media.
Help us build the CJA community through social media. Get to know our fellows.
Promote our collective vision. Join the conversation!
Places you can find CJA and the Our Power Campaign:
Twitter: @CJAourpower
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OurPowerCampaign
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwHzEMKM8k0q6UMAY5POu8w/feed
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ourpower
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ourpower
# Hashtags we’ll be using for the Summer of Our Power:
Always use #OurPowerSummer
Add one or more of these three other hashtags:
#ItTakesRoots
#JustTransition
#ClimateJustice
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Sample Tweets:
#JustTransition means (fill in the blank) #OurPowerSummer
#ClimateJustice requires (fill in the blank) #OurPowerSummer
We’re creating (fill in the blank, i.e. local food systems) that nourish our
community while healing the planet #ItTakesRoots #OurPowerSummer
Quilt Square Guidelines and Tutorials
Concept:
At the end of August, we will have quilt squares collected from each organization
along the relay routes, and hopefully more of our members will send them to us. We
would love to have a quilt square from each of CJA’s member groups, plus more
from allies who share our vision. The quilt squares will be sewn together to make
large panels. The panels will also include art pieces we have commissioned from
artists, transferred to fabric squares. These large panels form the “quilt top”, and
are ready for display.
The World March of Women undertook a similar project in 2004, which you can see
here: http://www.imow.org/exhibitions/women-power-andpolitics/organizing/solidarity-quilt
Here are other examples, similar in concept, found online:
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Ours will have a large
center art piece, like this.
Quilt Square Design:
The theme of the quilt is “It takes roots to weather the storm”. There will be larger
art pieces in the quilt that connect with the theme. Each organization will design
and create their quilt square.
 Use words or images to represent the just transition priorities of your
community, or your organization.
 Each square should include the name of your organization.
For ideas and inspiration:
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See individual quilt blocks from the World March of Women quilt:
http://www.imow.org/files/quilt_popup_slideshow.htm
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Quilt and Human Rights exhibit of the Michigan State University Museum:
http://www.museum.msu.edu/glqc/exhibits_Human%20Rights-1a.html
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Here is an example of how effective simple words can be:
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Purchasing and preparing your quilt square fabric:
1. Please use high quality 100% cotton fabric. You probably have numerous
fabric shops in your area, along with chain fabric stories like Joann. The
employees of these shops will be able to help you identify quilting quality
fabric. They often have fabric that is labeled specifically for quilting. See
here: http://www.joann.com/fabric/quilting/solid-quilt-fabric/
2. Purchase enough fabric for a one square foot piece. Fabric is often sold by
the yard. We recommend you get enough to have multiple squares so that
you have some fabric to practice with.
3. Cut a one-foot square piece of fabric and iron if necessary.
4. Draw a dotted line on the fabric very lightly with a ruler and pencil on all four
sides, one-quarter inch from the edge. This marks your “seam allowance”. It
needs to be drawn lightly—just enough so that you know how far out from
the middle you can make your design. Do not extend beyond that dotted line
because that’s where the blocks will be sewn together.
Your art goes
within the
dotted lines.
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One foot square box
Interior dashes lightly
drawn in pencil, onequarter inch from edge
Creating the Art:
First, you should identify the artist—Someone on your staff, or in your community,
who takes the lead on creating a design and transferring it to fabric. When making
your design, keep in mind how well you can see the overall shape of your design
from a distance while knowing that people will also look at your block up close.
There are a wide variety of techniques for creating art on a quilt square. If your
artist is skilled at quilting or working with fabric, they may have specific approaches
that they specialize in or use. But if this is the first time you’ve created a design on
fabric, here are some different techniques with beginner tutorials you can watch or
read online. Your quilt square can be created using one or more techniques.
1. Applique – Sewing fabric onto another piece of fabric to create a design. This
is probably the easiest approach. You can hand-stitch the edges or use a
machine.
a. Traditional turned edge:
i. http://www.sewmamasew.com/2011/05/easy-applique-thestarch-method-by-joanna-from-fig-tree-co/
b. Raw edge and fusible applique:
i. http://www.craftsy.com/article/raw-edge-applique
ii. http://www.nancysnotions.com/category/video+demos/easy
+fusible+applique.do
2. Piecing: Joining fabric pieces together to create a design.
a. http://pileofabric.com/blogs/modern-quilting/15172117-piecing101-beginners-quilting-tutorial-series
b. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uaW26igygE
3. Image transfer
a. A whole set of links on how to do image transfer:
http://thegraphicsfairy.com/12-easy-image-transfer-methods-fordiy-projects/
b. Printing an image on home printer:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Printing-Fabric-at-Home/
4. Paint your fabric. If you use this technique, be careful that the fabric doesn’t
become overly stiff.
a. http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Fabric-Painting
5. Embroidery: You may want to embroider the name of your organization
a. http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/hand-embroideryfor-beginners.html
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