by Sophie Jones
The V,OID (Volunteers, Organized in Disorder) is a group of volunteers working to emphasize community-based responses to the climate crisis and to democratize environmental education. The V,OID is creating educational materials including a website, a podcast, accessible recommended literature, a zine series, a calendar of relevant events, and a forum for online communication. We believe that sustainable living is a natural product of tight knit, educated, and empowered communities. We are building an example of this from the ground up. We believe this model of a climate group is different and necessary in that it is an example of ecological thriving in the Anthropocene.
The V,OID has evolved into a fluid team of volunteers. Over thirty people, including students, professors, and creators have attended meetings and helped with projects. As time has gone on, we have been struck with a multitude of crises. The V,OID has mobilized to organize around these crises, including producing podcasts and zines regarding COVID-19 and the current BLM uprisings. Organizing during these crises has been difficult, but has bolstered the trust we have for one another as we’ve had to move our organizing online.
As COVID-19 and the BLM uprisings dawned on us, our work transitioned to focus on how communities can support each other in these times, specifically through acts of solidarity and mutual aid. The zine we are currently working on is focusing on the ecologically harmonious utopia that can come out of this moment. With the world in crisis, communities have the opportunity to build alternatives. We plan to present how mutual aid can transition us into a system of radical education, food security and distribution, extensive shelter, renewable energy, and more.
Our first many podcasts focused on both organizers’ experiences and thoughts on COVID-19. Recently, we released an episode, Abolition Now, a recording from a political teach-in about abolition at Abolition Plaza combined with an interview of Victoria Netanus, a black feminist abolitionist. We are currently editing a podcast from a poetry night at city hall, also known as Abolition Park, that will show the beauty of the community that was built there over the past month.
The V,OID is organizing horizontally for humans and non-humans in a time where our future is bleak. So far, we have produced eight podcasts episodes, 1 zine, and have built out our social media presence on twitter and instagram. We are working on our website, which has been slowed due to COVID-19, but the framework is promising. It has been a truly unique experience of building community online, but the work we are doing is extremely pertinent and has kept our collective strong.
Sophie Jones is a Gallatin student studying Power Structures in the Anthropocene, with a minor in Environmental Studies. Sophie’s studies focus on the Anthropocene as an end time and how anarchism can be used to prolong life for all species. She has spent her extracurricular time organizing with various groups such as Extinction Rebellion, MACC, Sunrise, and most recently The V,OID. Sophie lived at Earthaven Ecovillage last summer where she gained perspective on permaculture, food production, natural building, renewable energy, climate activism, honest communication, mindfulness, and alternative governance structures. Additionally, Sophie has been Stephen Duncombe’s research assistant, and is executing her own research focusing on how anarchism is being used as a method for survival during the capitalocene at the autonomous zone in France, la Zad.