Mosquito Fleet Engagement Policy

The Mosquito Fleet is a regional network of paddlers, sailors, and community activists fighting for climate justice and democratizing access to waterways. In the face of a global climate crisis, and an industry hell-bent on turning our waterways into fossil fuel superhighways, we’re building a bold and broad-based movement that defends and empowers local communities. We aim to dismantle the extractive economy by prioritizing indigenous sovereignty and protecting the health of our communities and ecosystems through creative on-water direct action and grassroots movement building.

We strongly believe that building deep reciprocal relationships is the key to our collective liberation, and aim to build a community that is safe, accessible and empowering for folks to build not just kayaking skills, but also organizing skills, liberatory political theory, and praxis. To that end, we have several core values and principles that root us in our work, and that we reflect on regularly. We share these publicly and invite folks who engage with us to review them and reach out to us with questions. 

As a group engaging in work in the climate justice space, we feel compelled to acknowledge that it is a space that has been historically dominated by white folks, cisgender folks, straight folks, able-bodied folks, and middle class folks. The Fleet aims to change this dynamic, by creating spaces that are safe, accessible and empowering to folks that have historically been left out including Black, Indigenous and other folks of color, queer folks, disabled folks, youth, and working class folks. One way we do this is be acknowledging and naming the inherent interconnectedness of our work in climate justice and:

• White supremacy;

• Settler colonialism; 

• The military industrial complex;

• The prison industrial complex.

As an organizational policy, we are committed to living these values as we engage with the community. We will not support, endorse or participate in events or collaborate with organizations that contradict our core values and principles. We are always open to having conversations with folks and welcome opportunities for discussion. We recognize that we are all socialized within overlapping systems of oppression, and do not expect everyone to be perfect or not make mistakes. Rather, we must develop awareness of ourselves, our communities and the world both as individuals and in relationship with each other. Analyzing and cultivating awareness about our individual privilege, position and power within these systems is a lifelong process.

Last Updated: Summer 2024