Understanding Just Transition In Alaska

What is the Alaska Just Transition Collective?

The Alaska Just Transition Collective is an intersectional group of regional organizations who collaborate on a vision for the future. We recognize that justice in a transition requires the full range of Alaskan experience and knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is essential to our work to build reciprocity with lands, waters, and each other.

By supporting projects that contribute to the sovereignty of the original stewards of these lands, Alaska Native peoples, we advocate for leadership and economic change led by and for frontline Communities of Color. We must develop a narrative that works with and for all of us, tapping into a full spectrum of knowledge and ways of life. With this vision, the Collective:

Creates collaborative spaces to transition communities from an economy based on extraction and exploitation to one based in care.

Builds networks of local leaders to foster collaboration on a large scale.

Cultivates a broad movement to connect different change-makers and move communities toward an economic, social, and political transition.

The Just Transition principles exist with the understanding that the problems we face (climate change, health disparities, and worker exploitation, for example) are connected. Therefore, the tactics we use to solve problems must encompass these connected systems.

“Just Transition” is another way of saying “fair and equitable shift.” The Just Transition Framework is a set of guidelines for communities to shift away from extractive economies and toward regenerative economies.

"Extractive economies” create jobs and systems in our home that take from lands, waters, workers, and families without giving back in return. There is a lack of balance in extractive economies, which is why transitioning away from industries that deplete lands and cultures is important.

“Just Transition strategies were first forged by labor unions and environmental justice groups, rooted in low-income communities of color, who saw the need to phase out the industries that were harming workers, community health and the planet; and at the same time provide just pathways for workers to transition to other jobs. It was rooted in workers defining a transition away from polluting industries in alliance with fence line and frontline communities.”

“Regenerative economies” show us how care and management of home can be balanced. Resources and labor are sustainable because of this balance. In regenerative economies, industries value the offerings of lands, waters, and people and give back to them without stripping our home of resources and affecting communities negatively for profit.

Equitable regenerative economies have existed in communities of color in Alaska for millenia, so we use the phrase “Remembering Forward” as a reminder that the solutions to economic crises already exist within the fabric of our communities. We must lay the groundwork for a fair transition to an economy that cares for communities and the land.

TRANSITION IS INEVITABLE. JUSTICE IS NOT.