By Nicole Schmitt, Grants Administrator
Imagine if cities around the world united to address systemic social justice and environmental problems.
On July 17, I attended a panel discussion at the Biennial of the Americas—a festival to celebrate ideas, culture, art, and culture from around the Americas—on the return of the city-state. Mayors from across the Western Hemisphere talked about the growing importance local leadership has on issues that affect the global community.
Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock, former Mayor of Bogotá Dr. Antanas Mockus, and City of Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi spoke in depth about the power of cities to be both communities and the birthplaces of movements.
Every day, communities around the world are addressing things we think of as global issues, such as waste management, sustainable resource management, community safety, and gender equality. And they are doing so in very different ways.
Consider the panelists’ accomplishments:
In 2011, Mayor Nenshi ‘s Civic Engagement Committee launched “Three Things for Calgary,” in which Calgarians are encouraged to do three things each year to improve their communities—and encourage three of their neighbors to do the same. Community participation in trash clean-ups, recycling programs, and neighborhood community-building events has increased, and local social media campaigns have gained regional attention.
In the mid 1990s, Bogotá residents voluntarily reduced water use by 14 percent after Mayor Mockus starred in a funny commercial about taking shorter showers to save water. Ten years later, the city’s 6.5 million people were using 40 percent less water than in the previous decade.
Mockus also reduced traffic violations by hiring mimes to publicly shame reckless drivers. And he organized “Nights for Women,” in which men were encouraged to stay home and 1,500 women police enforced security for a Bogotá women’s night out.
The panelists encouraged a new paradigm, in which cities and communities would agree on reduced-carbon-emission goals, share software to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public transportation systems, or exchange creative ideas on techniques to mitigate gender discrimination, crime, and racial inequality.
What communities lack in resources and restricted regional authority, they more than make up for with community-based mobilization. Tapping into the pride and determination of a people united by a common space, such as a city or a neighborhood, can be a powerful tool.
So often, I feel disappointed by the speed and scope of national and international environmental policies.
As Global Greengrants’ Executive Director, Terry Odendahl, points out her EcoWatch post “Solving Global Poverty Should Not Accelerate Climate Chaos,” the overwhelming bureaucracy and political polarization involved in large-scale agreements often remove communities from crucial decisions about development goals and implementation strategies.
If local communities could unite to address issues that affect the global community, they could influence collective change on a massive scale—even though their means of achieving it might vary. In any case, it would be more impactful than top-down approaches that do not consider the local context.
This idea—of local participation and community mobilization with a global impact—is what inspires me about the Global Greengrants Fund. By supporting groups that empower communities, Global Greengrants works toward a time when local people will dictate the future of their community and connect with likeminded groups to influence, or even decide, global environmental standards.
Building international partnerships between grassroots initiatives has incredible promise, and I look forward to a future of community engagement, cross-cultural exchange, and maybe even a few mimes.
Of more than 8,500 grants Global Greengrants has made in its 20 years, more than 500 have gone to groups that unite communities across countries, regions, and the world.