Each issue of Making a Living on a Living Planet we feature a member of the LNS network. This time it’s LNS’ new Young Worker Organizer Martina Manicastri. Martina writes:
I am excited to be joining the LNS team as a Young Worker Organizer and I am dedicated to helping young workers build foundational knowledge on political economy, climate justice, and the labor movement to encourage them to lead organizing initiatives that prioritize a healthy planet and a just transition.
Prior to joining LNS, I was a Communications Specialist and Labor Organizer for CWA Local 1036 where I primarily worked with membership in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. I’ve been a community organizer since 2018 and am currently Co-Chair of my local DSA chapter. I have helped organize robust mutual aid programs, community political education sessions, and have been in the fight for a free Palestine for many years.
As a New Jersey resident, I’ve seen firsthand the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Sandy and Ida, as well as the effects of increasingly harsh winters and summers on agricultural workers and unhoused members of my community. Like many young workers, my climate activism is shaped by the looming and deeply felt threat of global warming to the lives and futures of the working class, and I am committed to organizing for a sustainable planet run and shaped by workers.