State legislatures, Congress, environmental organizations, and labor unions—including Service Employees International Union and United Steelworkers—have found powerful allies in each other. “It’s been a history of peaks and valleys,” says Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of labor unions and environmental organizations. She says APEN’s collaboration stemmed from a basic observation: In a lot of fights, climate and labor organizations were on the same side. For example, after a 2012 fire at a refinery in Richmond, California, APEN members joined labor unions on the picket line to demand better safety practices. “We’re really thinking about [climate resilience] in the context of these intersecting crises,” she says.