Extreme Energy Extraction Collaborative

Apply for the 9th Extreme Energy Extraction Summit today! Applications are due April 1st and scholarships, including travel, are available.

The Summit, taking place May 30th - June 3rd at the Colby Ranch in Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles in the ancestral homelands of the Tongva and Tataviam people, will bring together a wide variety of leaders representing groups across the country who are resisting all forms of energy extraction, from small grassroots community groups working in frontline communities to large national nonprofits and everything in between. We are thrilled to finally bring our unique gathering to the West Coast for the first time, hosted by a powerhouse group of LA-area grassroots organizations including East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, STAND LA, and  Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples. This Summit will provide an opportunity to learn about the real issues impacting marginalized communities that are often lost in the image of “Green California,” such as urban oil drilling, the unique status and challenges of California Native Nations, immigration, and the connection between fossil fuels and shipping port and goods movement issues. We are also excited about this year’s new facilitation team, including longtime E3C participant Jayeesha Dutta with Another Gulf Is Possible and local LA facilitator June Marisa Kaewsith. 

The first day of the Summit will be an all-day tour of the Long Beach/LA area. We will visit sites and meet with impacted community members dealing with refineries, oil wells, ports and related transportation, ending with a community dinner.

This Summit will be a unique space to:

• Build the deep personal and organizational relationships that sustain our work.
• Shape a collective vision of collaboration and mutual support within the movement
• Learn about and support local organizing
• Build our skills and shared knowledge around addressing conflict and healing trauma.

Gathering in Critical Times

We all know how urgent and terrifying the crises facing our communities, country and planet are in this moment. While it can be hard to take time away from all our essential work at the frontlines, we also know that we need each other now more than ever. Much has changed in our movement and our world in the six years since the very first Summit, and we recognize that our work must change with it. For those that have been before, expect this Summit to be a little different. As a network deeply rooted in emergent strategy, we are always experimenting with new ways to build on the work of past Summits to make the most of our time together. The Collaborative has always been defined whatever the participants choose to do together, at the Summits and between them. In LA, we will take the next steps towards a collective vision of how we will move forward together in these challenging times as a community and a movement.

The Collaborative has been in process of reflecting and evolving since holding our Re-Visioning Meeting with core E3C participants and movement leaders in October 2017. While we still deeply value the relationship-building, open dialogue and knowledge-sharing that have made our Summits so impactful, we believe there is more we can do to build on the last 6 years of discussion and community-building. A team of core E3C participants is diligently all the records of our history to provide a framework for participants at the LA Summit, new and returning alike. From that starting place, it will be up to all of us to discuss what we can do together to strengthen our work and our movement at this critical time. So we hope you'll be able to join us. 

At E3C, we also firmly believe that all strong collaborations and movements are based on deep, healthy, and just relationships, both personal and organizational. Strengthening those relationships depends on addressing tensions, conflicts and trauma. Over the last several Summits, we have been increasingly incorporating the concepts of Healing and Transformative Justice into our work. In LA, we will continue to deepen our collective knowledge of these concepts and practices, focusing both on putting them into action at the Summit and learning concrete skills we can take home to our communities.

Check back here for more details as the event gets closer.

Schedule

Thursday 5/30: Travel day. Arrive at hotel in Long Beach area.

Friday 5/31: Water Ceremony. EJ Tour and Welcome Dinner. Travel to Colby Ranch.

Saturday 6/1: Meet at Colby Ranch.

Sunday 6/2: Meet at Colby Ranch.

Monday 6/3: Closing. Travel to Airports.

Our Summits

Dynamic Conversations

The heart and soul of Summits are small-group breakouts. At many movement gatherings, the productive conversations happen outside of organized activities. We focus on these crucial discussions, trusting that participants know best what topics are most relevant to their work. We see three kinds of conversations happen—it is critically important to be clear about which kind of discussion you are proposing:

Sharing Skills and Strategies:  The diversity of the Summit provides rich opportunities to learn from each other. Breakouts might generate list of lessons learned, and resources for further information.  Some examples include: how to stop oil trains, ballot initiatives to ban fracking, & citizen monitoring programs.

Building Shared Language and Analysis: Away from the daily grind, the Summits are a place for big picture conversations about critical issues that face our movement. Breakouts may generate key insights to be shared across the movement. Examples include: identifying false solutions, using a “rights of mother nature” framework, and articulating a critique of capitalism.

Creating Collaborative Projects: Summits are an opportunity to plan for collective action, big and small. Outcomes might look like project proposals or follow-up work to support national and regional initiatives. Examples include: coordinated direct action plans and community-exchange programs.

Start thinking about the conversations you want to have today!

Building Our Collective Voice

Our Summits have also become a place were we have some of the difficult, yet essential, conversations in our movement.  We've explored dynamics around race and colonialism, addressed conflict between Big Green organizations and the grassroots, and focused especially on issues of equity and resource distribution.  These conversations are always challenging but rewarding, resulting in real learning - and sometimes transformational changes in individual perspective and organizational policy.  

Strengthening Our Network

The most important outcomes of our Summits are the relationships formed and strengthened across a diverse cross-section of the movement.  These one-on-one connections have been leveraged by participants to resolve organizational conflicts, access resources, and provide tangible support for each other's campaigns.  The Summit has plenty of built-in self-structured time for you to connect with the people most relevant to your work.  We also take time to play together, knowing that a strong movement is built from more than just smart strategy.  Bring your instruments, talents, humor and culture with you to share at our always unforgettable Open Mic.

The Extreme Energy Extraction Collaborative has adopted the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing.