Cultivating ethical and caring relationships among Bronx Climate Justice North members that reflect our prioritization of climate, environmental, racial, and economic justice is at the core of our work. As members of BCJN, we recognize the inherent worth and dignity of each person and strive to elicit the best in others and ourselves.
The practices below can support our efforts to act in harmony with our beliefs and to be a community where people feel safe and supported in the often extremely challenging work of healing our society and our planet. We request that BCJN members practice these norms as part of a commitment to building and strengthening our collective efforts.
The norms provided below, which have been recommended by the BCJN Steering Committee and adopted by the entire membership, apply to all communication by BCJN members, individually and collectively – email, phone, and in person, both at meetings and outside of meetings.
As a member of Bronx Climate Justice North, I will:
- ascribe good intentions to others whether or not I agree with their views and actions;
- listen with respect and refrain from engaging in blaming language; use active listening to avoid misunderstanding: eg., “What I hear you say is…”;
- speak for myself and from my own experience;
- not assume I know where others are coming from or how they learn best;
- hold to the agreements and decisions that the group makes;
- use descriptive, not judgmental or inflammatory language;
- place principles before personalities; critique issues not people;
- handle differences collaboratively;
- strive to be lean and succinct in my spoken and written communications, in an effort to stress what is important, avoid repetition, and allow all voices time to be heard;
- respect confidentiality when it is requested and agreed upon.
Bronx Climate Justice North 