Debunking the Issue Silo Myth: Why the Broader Progressive Movement is Green
You can’t have a real discussion about biofuels without talking about indigenous people affected by deforestation, or people who survive on corn and are stuck with higher prices. You can’t discuss a carbon-free economy without talking about green jobs and alternative infrastructure. But instead of integrating environmentalism into the broader progressive agenda, mainstream media and even some non-profits keep green in a silo. We gain nothing by such segregation. Hear progressive activists, bloggers and environmentalists discuss environmentalism as it is understood by the rest of the world—as an issue that permeates most others.
Josh Hilgart has participated in the field of online organizing and communications for the last eight years. He directs Friends of the Earth's communications with the public and the grassroots, and previously served as the Director of Internet Strategy at People for the American Way (PFAW). Josh has experience using a wide range of online tools and strategies, pioneering now widely adopted online techniques, such as the use of mobile phone text message activism, deployed by PFAW in its successful campaign to defeat Republican efforts to strip Senate Democrats of their ability to filibuster judicial nominees.
David Roberts is a staff writer for Grist.org with a focus on energy policy and politics. He has contributed to or been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Fast Company, Huffington Post, Outside Magazine, Scientific American, and Wired. He was born and raised in the South and now lives in Seattle with his wife and two sons.
ILYSE HOGUE is the Director of Political Advocacy and Communications for MoveOn.org. Ilyse oversees the paid and earned media program and ran messaging strategy through the 2008 election cycle. With the organization since 2006, she previously served as Campaign Director and continues to help oversee political strategy and manage relationships with national coalitions and lawmakers. Before joining MoveOn, Ilyse spent seven years as Program Director for the Rainforest Action Network, working to pressure Wall Street to institute environmental and social screens on lending and investment. Ilyse is a cofounder of smartMeme, a national strategy project that links narrative development with legislative and social change.
Natasha is an amateur eater with severe snarkolepsy and a c. 2002 blogging habit. She's had a fabulous time writing on such blogs as Food.Change.org, MyDD and OpenLeft.
As a first generation Nigerian, Nwamaka Agbo did not actively begin pursuing her interest in civil rights and social justice issues until college. Nwamaka is passionately committed to the work of the Green Collar Jobs Campaign because she believes that the pressing environmental justice concerns are the civil rights movement of her generation. Nwamaka is also an active member of Ella's Daughters, a new national networking organization focused on connecting women activists and organizers from across the nation around issues affecting our communities in memory of Ella Baker.
