Last week, Lindsey and Scot along with our friends at Bountiful Cities joined over 30,000 people at the US Social Forum in Detroit. It was an exciting and enlivening event where we attended various workshops and gave a couple of our own; met and networked with activists from across the country; and joined together to work, learn, and party with people from an amazing cross-section of environmental, labor, civil rights and social justice organizations.

The theme of the forum was “Another world is possible. Another US is necessary. Another Detroit is happening.” As the week progressed, we were constantly reminded of the power of these words and the importance of joining together as a community to solve some of the most pressing problems in the world.

For our part, Scot spoke on two panels with over 80 people in attendance. The first was “Forests and Climate Change,” sponsored by Dogwood Alliance, Global Justice Ecology Project and BiofuelWatch. The three organizations covered a variety of issues from the importance of protecting and restoring Southern forests in the battle against climate change, the false solutions being posed by various governments and agencies that are capitalizing on the carbon market, and the need for community-based solutions that value standing forests over commodities.

The second workshop was “Biofuel, Biomass, Bio-economy: One Big Bio-mess!” This was sponsored by Energy Justice Network, BiofuelWatch, Friends of the Earth, ETC, and a local community in Traverse City, Michigan fighting four proposed biomass facilities. Here we covered a basic primer on bio-energy, the impact on Southern forests, the political landscape in DC, the threat of genetic-engineering for this industry, and how local citizens can stand up against the purveyors of biomass.

Lindsey got in on the action for the KFC Campaign. She attended a workshop on culture jamming where they were so impressed with our campaign that she ended up doing an ad hoc 20 minute presentation on the campaign. She shared ideas and brainstormed with an incredible group of folks.

Detroit itself was incredible. We were warned in advance to always be on guard, watch our backs, and to not travel alone. What we found was quite a different experience. The people of Detroit were grateful we were there, loved sharing stories about how Detroit used to be, and loved discussing ideas about what Detroit could become. Everywhere we went, we were literally welcomed with open arms. Additionally, the over 1300 community gardens across the city amongst the ruins of a once thriving city were inspiring.

Two other events we attended were the Eco-Justice People’s Movement Assembly (PMA) and the Clean Air, Good Jobs, Justice march and demonstration against the world’s largest trash incinerator.

The Eco-Justice PMA was an incredible gathering of over 200 people from across the US, working together to develop a common agenda for environmental justice across the country. It was so inspiring to join hands and work closely with people fighting against community pollution from BP in the Gulf, to stop mountaintop removal in Appalachia, to close down power plant polluting in the Bay area, against racism in Arizona, and many more. When all was said and done, we agreed to a common declaration and to support one another’s issues across the country. Scot was especially lucky to take part in the Southern working group where he got to listen to and work with amazing folks from across the Gulf States fighting to save their communities from both the BP spill and the continued devastation left behind by Katrina, Ike and Rita.

The final action before we hit the road back to North Carolina was a 2000+ person march and demonstration in front of the world’s largest garbage incinerator right smack dab in the middle of Detroit. We marched from the library to an elementary school within a few hundred meters of the incinerator where people planted flowers and trees on the grounds with local students. We then headed to the incinerator, which is a behemoth and spews pollution on the surrounding communities, many of whom we got to meet at the march or joined us along the way. We then finished at the local recycling center, which was forced to close by the operator of the incinerator because they did not have enough trash to burn. Now they burn what should be recycled. It was so inspiring to join hands with local community members and concerned citizens from across the country to demand clean air, good/green jobs and justice! You can read more about the action and see photos by our friends at the Global Justice Ecology Project here and here.

All in all it was an awesome event, and I am proud that Dogwood Alliance was able to be there and join so many amazing people from across the country envisioning another world!