2007 EJCC/CJC Trainings in Altanta

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The 2007 EJCC Trainings have happened. Starting the first official day of summer, youth from Arizona, DC, the Bay Area, Florida, Detroit and Colorado came to the ATL for four days of Climate Justice workshops. Shacking up in a hotel in midtown Atlanta, we spent our days talking about issues of identity, Environmental Justice, Climate Scinece, Domestic and International Policy, Arts and Activism and more because, really, there's always more. Ansje, Jihan, Nia, Oriana, Shadia and other longtime EJCC supporters stepped in to facilitate the different workshops.

While we talked about Coalition Building and Goal Setting methods, the rest of Atlanta was bursting with Gay Pride. With people from all over the South converging on the city to celebrate, restaurants flew the rainbow flag, drag queens set up shop at the local park. Three blocks down the street from our hotel all the festivities were taking place. On breaks between workshops, some of us, filtering down to check out what was happening in the Atlanta heat, got participate in some of the parades and lip-synching extravaganzas that come with Gay Pride. It was beautiful.

Once night came, ending workshops for the day, we were free to check out some of what Atlanta has to offer. Sunday night, Shadia and a contingent of trainees, met up with people from RAN (Rainforest Action Network) to talk about Arts and Activism. On Monday, EJCC and RAN hooked up again at a joint event fundraiser where people shared original poetry, slam and hip-hop performance. Good times, man, good times.

Come Tuesday, the time to leave had come, so we took some last pictures, packed up and said goodbye. Now it's a matter of taking what we learned and doing something with it, effecting that change, being that change we want to see.