Siwatu on what climate justice has to do with gentrification

We at EMEAC were all thrilled when we found out that Young Educators Alliance team leader, Siwatu Salama-Ra had been chosen to represent not just EMEAC, but also Detroit and Michigan as a member of the Global Power Shift delegation that is headed to Istanbul, Turkey from June 24th to the 30th.

The meet up in Istanbul will included over 100 delegates from around the world and will focus on creating a global climate justice movement. From the GPS website:

The Rio+20 Earth Summit in June of 2012 was meant to be the starting point for a three year push to 2015, but the summit ended in a whimper rather than a bang. 2015 will come and go with only a whimper as well, unless the international climate movement can generate an unprecedented level of political pressure for climate action. 

We need a massive and sustained show of force that disrupts the status quo and captures the public imagination. This ambitious goal is within reach. With a loose collection of organizations, activists, and networks in nearly every country on earth, the climate movement has the necessary potential to facilitate this sort of global groundswell. Now it’s time for us to realize this potential. 

Global Power Shift (GPS) will begin with an international climate leaders summit of mostly young people in Istanbul, Turkey, June 24-30, 2013. The week-long summit will be a chance for us to refine skills, create personal bonds and community, share a global vision for change, and strategize how to organize different actions and similar summits back home. In the months that follow, in country after country we will organize national or regional summits.

Before Siwatu left for Istanbul, we took some time to sit with her and discuss her upcoming trip. The major question we had: What does climate change have to do with gentrification? As a leader of the Young Educators Alliance, Siwatu has done extensive work around gentrification. Her response demonstrated not only the importance of YEA's work around gentrification, but also why her presence in Instanbul is so essential!