Synergy Meetings

September, 2024, Oakland, California, United States

A Synergy Meeting took place in association with From Bhopal to the Bay in September, 2024, in Oakland, California, United States.

Event Context

40 years ago, Bhopal, India, experienced the world’s worst-ever corporation-caused disaster, resulting in the deaths and disabling of hundreds of thousands of marginalized people over multiple generations. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, corporations have been exploiting, polluting, and appropriating land and people for over a century. How can we disrupt this corporation-enriching global extractive system that results in widespread injustice, poverty, hunger, climate change, and irreversible environmental destruction? Join changemakers, knowledge-holders, and innovators from Bhopal and the Bay, representing over 30 organizations and diverse perspectives, as they discuss how frontline/ Indigenous communities and activists across the world are taking on what is the greatest challenge of our time. Participants will include organizers, community/ Indigenous leaders, artists, lawyers, activists, musicians, reformers, and other changemakers from a diverse range of ethnicities and perspectives, including waste reduction, carceral reform, Indigenous rights, land sovereignty, social-environmental justice, climate change, human rights, food sovereignty, and corporate accountability.

Participating/ sponsoring organizations

  • 350SF (350bayarea.org). 350SF is a local chapter of the broader 350 Bay Area network, focusing on grassroots climate initiatives in San Francisco. They work to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy through community outreach, policy advocacy, and supporting local climate actions.
  • Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (asata.org). ASATA is a San Francisco Bay Area all-volunteer group working to educate, organize, and empower the Bay Area South Asian communities to end violence, oppression, racism and exploitation within and against our diverse communities. They work toward a future in which all people are free and safe and have the tools to dismantle oppressive systems.
  • American Indian Child Resource Center (aicrc.org). AICRC is a Native American-led and -serving nonprofit community service organization focusing on Native American foster care, mental health, education and cultural protective factors. Since 1974, they have been leaders in Native American youth services and delivering best practice programs for positive cultural identity and belonging.
  • Arab Resource & Organizing Center (araborganizing.org). AROC is a San Francisco-based grassroots organization fighting for racial and economic justice and the dignity and liberation of Arab and Muslim communities. They work towards the self-determination of their people under attack in Palestine, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and across the entire SWANA (South West Asia and North African) region.
  • Asian Pacific Environmental Network (apen4ej.org). APEN is building an organized movement among Asian immigrant and refugee communities in California to develop an alternative agenda for environmental, social, and economic justice. They work on building community-owned renewable energy, sustainable housing, and climate resilience, with an emphasis on racial and economic equity.
  • Association for India’s Development (aidindia.org). AID India is a volunteer movement promoting sustainable, equitable, and just development, especially for marginalized communities. They support grassroots organizations in India and initiate efforts in various interconnected spheres, such as education, livelihoods, natural resources, agriculture, health, women’s empowerment, and social justice.
  • Biofuelwatch (biofuelwatch.org.uk). Biofuelwatch provides information and undertakes advocacy and campaigning in relation to the climate, biodiversity, land and human rights, and the public health impacts of large-scale industrial bioenergy. They are based in the U.S. and UK and aim to advance citizenship and environmental protection through their work.
  • California Trade Justice Coalition (catradejustice.org). CTJC is a growing alliance of labor, environmental, public health, immigrant rights, human rights, and socially conscious business leaders committed to building a strong California economy that works for all. They work to stop bad trade agreements that threaten jobs, the environment, and democracy.
  • Center for Political Education (politicaleducation.org). CPE is a San Francisco Bay Area-based resource for political organizations on the left, progressive social movements, the working class, and people of color. They offer critical analysis of local, regional, and global politics to ground and strengthen organizing and activism using historical knowledge, strong theory, and rigorous analysis.
  • CHIPS Communities United Coalition (chipscommunitiesunited.org). CHIPS Communities United is a coalition organizing for the responsible and equitable implementation of the CHIPS Act, uniting communities with new and expanding semiconductor facilities. They are an alliance of labor, environmental, social justice, civil rights, and community organizations nationwide across the U.S.
  • Climate Alliance for Palestine. The Climate Alliance for Palestine works to stop ecocide in Palestine. They are an international alliance of climate activists unified against ecocide and human rights violations tied to natural resource exploitation and militarization.
  • Communities for a Better Environment (cbecal.org). CBE builds people’s power in California’s communities of color and low-income communities, especially in heavily polluted urban areas. They work to achieve environmental health and justice by preventing and reducing pollution and building green, healthy, and sustainable communities and environments.
  • CURYJ (curyj.org). CURYJ (Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice) is an Oakland-based, Indigenous-founded organization that builds community and mobilizes young leaders in the movement to end youth criminalization and mass incarceration. They engage youth most impacted by the injustice, immigration, and foster care systems.
  • Earth Island Institute (earthisland.org). Earth Island Institute, based in Berkeley, California, supports environmental activists and projects globally. They offer fiscal sponsorship and resources to grassroots environmental initiatives working in many areas, including conservation, Indigenous communities, sustainable agriculture and food systems, community resilience, and environmental justice.
  • Ecosymbionts Regenerate (ecosymbiont.org). The mission of Ecosymbionts Regenerate is to regain the understanding that human communities are part of natural ecological webs (ecowebs) and to regenerate systems that restore, preserve, and foster the symbiosis between humans and ecowebs. Symbiosis encompasses the connectivity and dependence that exist within an ecoweb and that results in mutual benefit of all within that ecoweb, including humans.
  • Gill Tract Community Farm (gilltractfarm.org). The Gill Tract Community Farm in Albany, California is a community-managed food system centered around local, organic, agroecological farming practices. They form innovative partnerships with the public, academia, and policymakers to develop and test models for shared governance and co-stewardship that increase community resilience.
  • Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (no-burn.org). GAIA is an international alliance that strengthens grassroots social movements by helping them to fight pollution and build regenerative solutions in cities through local campaigns, shifts in policy and finance, research and communication initiatives, and movement building. They work on incineration, zero waste, plastic, and climate.
  • Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice (greenaction.org). Greenaction is a multiracial San Francisco-based organization that fights for health and environmental justice with low-income and working-class, urban, rural, and Indigenous communities. They work to hold corporate polluters and the government accountable and mobilize and organize within communities.
  • Hindus for Human Rights (hindusforhumanrights.org). Hindus for Human Rights advocates for pluralism and civil and human rights in South Asia and North America, rooted in the values of Hinduism: shanti (peace), nyaya (justice) and satya (truth). They provide a Hindu voice of resistance to caste, Hindutva (Hindu nationalism), racism, and all forms of bigotry and oppression.
  • Idle No More SF Bay (idlenomoresfbay.org). Idle No More SF Bay is a San Francisco-based collective inspired by the First Nations Idle No More movement of Canada. They are a women-led group of Native Americans and allies working together to create positive change concerning Indigenous rights, the rights of Mother Earth, and the rights of the coming generations to a sustainable and healthy environment.
  • Indigenous Justice (indigenousjustice.org). Indigenous Justice is a San Francisco Bay Area-based Native American group that organizes to end the incarceration of living native peoples in jails, prisons, and group homes, to end the harm dams cause their Salmon relatives, and to end the incarceration of their ancestors' skeletons locked away in the basements of universities.
  • Indigenous Women Defending Mother Earth Treaty (defendingmotherearth.org). The Indigenous Women Defending Mother Earth work to gain global support for a treaty that calls for a change in the extractive economic and corporate system that dominates globally. The Treaty advocates for an end to extraction, genetically modified organisms, environmental toxins, and commodifying natural systems.
  • International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (bhopal.net). ICJB is an international coalition seeking justice for the survivors of the 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster. They advocate for corporate accountability, environmental remediation, and healthcare for affected communities, while raising awareness of ongoing human rights abuses by multinational and chemical companies.
  • Leaders 4 Environmental Activism Reclaiming Their Health. Leaders 4E.A.R.T.H is a youth-founded and led working group that focuses on leadership development through a social and environmental justice lens. They approach grassroots community organizing through education and youth-led engagement to promote healthy and thriving communities within the environmental movement.
  • Marie Harrison Community Foundation (canwelive.org). Named after the late environmental justice activist Marie Harrison, the Foundation fights to demand a cleanup of the radioactive waste at San Francisco’s Hunters Point Shipyard. They also benefit impacted communities through environmental justice initiatives, community outreach, and housing and job resources.
  • Movement Rights (movementrights.org). Movement Rights is a women- and Indigenous-led organization, focused on advancing frontline-led climate justice, Indigenous Rights, and the Rights of Nature. They are founded on the idea that we must align human law (and culture) with the laws of the natural world, because the future of humanity depends on it.
  • Oil and Gas Action Network (oilgasaction.org). OGAN works to support grassroots and frontline movements taking action for a just world beyond fossil fuels by training organizers to catalyze actions that build the movement capacity we need to combat the climate crisis. They have trained over 5,000 grassroots activists and supported over 200 powerful actions for climate justice.
  • Our City San Francisco (ourcitysf.org). Our City San Francisco is a progressive grassroots network dedicated to linking families, neighbors, communities, and elected officials with a shared vision of a better San Francisco and California. They are committed to organizing people at a grassroots level and advocate for housing justice, environmental sustainability, and inclusive city planning.
  • Planting Justice (plantingjustice.org). Based in Oakland, California, Planting Justice works toward economic and environmental justice through sustainable land–based social enterprises providing livelihoods to formerly incarcerated people. They counter systemic oppression, violence, and inequity by creating good jobs with nature-based work and a healing environment with holistic community support.
  • PODER (podersf.org). PODER is a grassroots organization based in San Francisco that organizes with Latinx immigrant families and youth to put into practice people-powered solutions that are locally based, community led, and environmentally just. They focus on leadership development, solidarity economics, and immigrant rights.
  • Rich City Rays (richcityrays.com). Rich City Rays is a grassroots partnership of climate justice activists in Richmond, California, that uses kayaktivism to address the climate crisis and environmental injustice through community-led non-violent direct action on the water. They work to empower the communities most harmed by fossil fuel operations in the Bay Area to stand up to corporate polluters.
  • San Francisco Baykeeper (baykeeper.org). Baykeeper defends San Francisco Bay and its watershed from the biggest threats by holding polluters and government agencies accountable to create healthier communities and help wildlife thrive. Their field science team patrols the water by boat and drone to investigate pollution, while their advocates strengthen laws to protect wildlife and communities.
  • Sierra Club (sierraclub.org). Through community engagement and education the Sierra Club works to amplify the power of their millions of members and supporters across the U.S. to defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. They also use direct legal action and advocacy to combat climate change, protect public lands, and promote clean energy.
  • Sunflower Alliance (sunflower-alliance.org). The Sunflower Alliance works to promote environmental justice and the health and safety of all San Francisco Bay Area communities threatened by toxic pollution and climate change. They have engaged in campaigns for Fossil Fuel Resistance and a Just Transition away from a fossil fuel-based economy, for workers and communities alike.
  • UC Berkeley Labor Center (laborcenter.berkeley.edu). The UC Berkeley Labor Center conducts research and provides education on labor and employment issues, focusing on improving conditions for workers in California. They offer training, leadership development, and policy analysis on topics such as job quality and workforce development issues.
  • West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (woeip.org). WOEIP is a resident-led, community-based environmental justice organization in West Oakland, focused on improving air quality, public health, and neighborhood and community resilience. They conduct participatory research and community-driven advocacy to address pollution from local industrial activities.
  • Youth Vs Apocalypse (youthvsapocalypse.org). Youth Vs Apocalypse is a San Francisco Bay Area-based youth-led organization of diverse young climate justice activists working together to lift the voices of youth, in particular youth of color and working-class youth. Their collective actions, including Hip hop & Climate Justice, aim to fight for a livable climate and an equitable, sustainable, and just world.