Themes
The JTL Institute addresses the following four themes:
From Exploitation and Extraction to Reparations and Sustainability
Within this theme, the JTL Institute will provide historical background on the ways that colonialism and systemic racism shape today’s climate crisis, introduce the just transition social movement framework and the proposition of just transition lawyering, and teach a systems-focused analytical approach to addressing systemic racism.
The Power to Protect
Within this theme, the JTL Institute will provide a high-level overview of existing legal tools in domestic environmental and climate law and policy and their limitations; examine approaches to climate litigation, stopping extractive industry expansion, the rights of mother earth, and disaster law; and investigate the roles of lawyers in equitable disaster recovery, protecting the protest, and defending land and water defenders.
Self-Determination and Community Power Building
Within this theme, the JTL Institute will shift from the power to protect to building the new. The JTL Institute will introduce local and regional examples of community governance, collective stewardship of land, and cooperative financial structures that build the power of frontline communities.
Healing, Reparations, and Building the New
Within this theme, the JTL Institute will culminate by examining how to use legal tools to achieve reparations and community healing. The JTL Institute will offer practical ways to shift various legal practice areas (i.e. real estate, land use, nonprofit, environmental law, local government, etc.) to advance a just transition.