What is the Reynoldsburg Climate Campaign?
The Reynoldsburg Climate Campaign is a project driven by the needs of Reynoldsburg residents most impacted by climate change. Climate change is impacting our communities right now, today, and what those impacts look like depend on the particular geographic realities of where people live. The work of the Reynoldsburg Climate Campaign is driven by its organizer, Franklin Davis, a Reynoldsburg resident, and supported by the Ohio Environmental Council and Ohio Organizing Collaborative.
In Reynoldsburg, many Black residents live in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by flooding. Central Ohio is experiencing more and more extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall and heat waves. The Reynoldsburg Climate Campaign will understand how these events are impacting the community. We will work with residents to create community-driven policy proposals to submit to decision-makers, or even directly to the voters.
Finally, the Reynoldsburg Climate Campaign will emphasize the importance of the vote. A participatory democracy is the best pathway toward ensuring Reynoldsburg residents come together to develop the change they need. We will be in the community both learning about what is most important to residents, how those impacts connect to climate, and communicating how voting will help improve quality of life, especially for those most impacted by extreme weather, like flooding.
Meet Franklin Davis.
My name is Franklin Davis. I am working with the Ohio Environmental Council and Ohio Organizing Collaborative on the Reynoldsburg Climate Campaign. I’m excited to work with the Reynoldsburg community I call home to learn more about how we all experience climate change and environmental justice in our city. We would love to connect with anyone on this issue and learn from them.
Though I’ve spent my adult life in Reynoldsburg, I’m from Washington DC originally, and went to elementary school across the street from the Environmental Protection Agency. My parents were from a small town, and a farm outside of a small town. Their influence created a borderline obsessive love of the outdoors and outdoor activities. I also have an active love of science, and as a kid, I devoted a lot of time to learning about the ecosystems that surround us. For example, I studied the effects of overfishing and water quality on bellwether aquatic species such as Rockfish, and my 2nd grade science fair project was on the effect of oil spills on the feeding habits of Gray Whales. With the amount of time I spent studying environmental science, my mother is still mad at me for not majoring in “a real science,” as she put it, but my true love lies in the policy world, where we can create new systems to improve the quality of life of our neighbors.
That’s why I am so excited to work with the Ohio Environmental Council. They believe in a four prong approach to climate justice: land, air, water, and democracy. How can we, as a Reynoldsburg community, find solutions together that improve our environment? For example, our city has been significantly impacted by frequent floods. What does it look like to build a collective solution to that shared problem? How do we develop in ways that have minimal environmental impacts on the surrounding neighborhoods and communities?
ABOUT THE OHIO ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL
The Ohio Environmental Council is a 50+ year old statewide environmental nonprofit advocacy organization committed to ensuring clean air, safe drinking water, vibrant public lands, and a healthy democracy for all who call Ohio home. To learn more about the OEC, visit https://www.theoec.org
ABOUT THE OHIO ORGANIZING COLLABORATIVE
Formed in 2007, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) builds transformative relational power with everyday Ohioans for statewide social, racial, and economic justice. As a grassroots people-centered power organization, we unite base-building community organizing groups, student associations and faith organizations, with labor unions, and policy institutes throughout Ohio. It is our mission to organize everyday Ohioans, building transformative power organizations for racial, social, and economic justice. Our vision is to build a democratic multi-racial populist governing coalition in Ohio. To learn more about OOC, visit https://www.ohorganizing.org.
