Just Transitions: Social Justice in the Shift to a Low-Carbon World is a collaboration between Edouard Morena, Dunja Krause, and CSU’s own Dimitris Stevis, a professor in the Department of Political Science. The book builds on the Just Transition Research Collaborative, a collective project whose ambition was to fill in a gap in academic and policy literature. The book is a collection of essays from academics and activists all over the globe, the first entirely devoted to Just Transitions.
What are Just Transitions? Stevis explained that historically the term is related to ensuring that environmental policies and fair for the workers and communities affected. Its primary focus now is to enact equitable policy when it comes to climate change and how it affects workers. “The Just Transition concept has the potential of bringing people together, in particular, climate, justice, activists and labor,” explained Morena, one of the collaborators.
A core value of the Just Transition concept is that it stimulates discussions on the social dimensions of the low-carbon transition. In other words, it puts social justice on the climate agenda.The term was actually coined by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers, a union based in Denver, during the early 1990s. The main focus in Colorado are towns directly affected by coal mining and coal energy, putting the state and the city of Longmont at the forefront of Just Transition policies in the U.S.and the world.
Quick turnaround
It was a great opportunity with a quick turnaround, Stevis explained. They began in the summer of 2018 and the book will be released this month in time for Morena to take it to the Santiago Climate Conference in December.
Completing it in just over a year meant a lot of work went into putting this together. “I would not recommend it,” he chuckled.
Stevis has spent many years researching topics on labor and the environment and Just Transitions and uses what he has done on this project in his classes, such as Political Science 462: Globalization, Sustainability, and Justice. The students are doing research on projects that examine Just Transitions cases around the world and in Colorado to find out how they affect workers and communities.
One of the parts he enjoyed the most was the collaboration with contributors who came from across the globe. “It was interesting finding out what was happening in other parts of the world,” he said.
Stevis enjoyed working on the project immensely and will continue conducting research in this field. HIs future publications include a mini book on Just Transitions and collaboration on an edited handbook on environmental labor studies with particular attention to the topic of Just Transitions.
Just Transitions will be published by Pluto Press on Nov. 20 and will be available in the CSU Bookstore.
