Bypassing the Culture Wars to Energize Rural-led Climate Solutions

By Josh Ewing - Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, June 8, 2023

Josh Ewing grew up on a Nebraska ranch, lives on the edge of the Navajo Nation, and is now the director of the Rural Climate Partnership. Josh will share the strategies RCP uses to ensure rural communities aren’t left out and don’t opt out of all the opportunities that clean energy, regenerative agriculture and federal investments can bring to farmers, ranchers and other “country folk.”

While many liberals might think rural people can’t be motivated to take actions that will protect our climate, Josh will show how shared values and an economic-centered approach can help keep climate action from being sucked into the culture wars, shift the narrative of “rural neglect,” and remove roadblocks to our collective progress for climate, democracy and equity.

Bio: Josh Ewing leads the Rural Climate Partnership, a collaborative fund supporting working people, small businesses, and family farmers to implement rural-led climate solutions. RCP works to ensure rural communities have the tools and opportunities to benefit from all the economic and community benefits that flow from the transition to clean energy and regenerative agriculture. Born and raised in western Nebraska where the Ewing family runs a cattle ranch, Josh has lived and worked in rural America most of his life. With his wife Kirsten, Josh lives on the border of the Navajo Nation in the 150-person town of Bluff, Utah, where he serves as a volunteer firefighter and EMT.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author.