Moving to Action on Climate Justice
[Music]
like so many of us
around the world i was absolutely
transformed through higher education
for my undergraduate degree i attended
wesleyan university
a small liberal arts school in
connecticut where i learned critical
thinking
systems thinking the importance of
social and ecological justice
and the value of following my bliss i
also downloaded
a type of learning that was integrated
between what was presented in the
classroom
and life itself i walked onto campus a
young adult
operating from a certain level of
consciousness and four years later
walked out
completely transformed this is the
reason i’ve been motivated to develop
the center for climate justice
colleges and universities are critical
sites for social transformation
and climate action they are sites for
innovative ideas
have massive research capacity and most
importantly are dynamic spaces for
engaging young people
open to the type of radical
transformation needed to address climate
change
young adults are also deeply motivated
because
their generation and future generations
will be dealing with the greatest and
most devastating impacts of climate
change if we continue business as usual
this is why i’m launching and
co-creating the center for climate
justice across
multiple campuses of the university of
california
we are here at the tedx gaia journey
countdown event because
we recognize climate change as an urgent
existential crisis
and we know that the window for taking
action is rapidly closing
the intergovernmental panel on climate
change warns that if we continue
business as usual
global temperatures will increase to 1.5
degrees celsius by the year 2030
beyond which will unleash even more
dangerous consequences for all life on
the planet
however these impacts will not be
experienced equally as
low-income and marginalized communities
particularly in the global south
will be hit hardest due to loss of
livelihoods food and water insecurity
displacement health effects and more
this is simply unacceptable current
strategies particularly at the
international level
have been weak and inadequate given the
science these strategies keep the
political economic systems intact
that cause a problem in the first place
and largely ignore equity issues
so we need a different approach we need
a climate justice approach
climate justice treats climate change as
an equity issue
it recognizes the global and deeply
interconnected nature
of the climate crisis and that both the
causes and the effects of climate change
disproportionately affect
low-income and marginalized communities
and people of color around the world
climate justice also connects the dots
between
social and ecological crises thereby
addressing the underlying drivers of
climate change
from an equity perspective let me give
you an example
of the ways in which fossil fuel
development in the u.s intersects with
environmental injustice
coven 19 and deforestation in the amazon
in many places around the world
low-income and marginalized communities
are the most impacted by the presence of
the petrochemical industry
emissions from these facilities like
this one in california
degrade air quality in the region
putting residents at higher risk of
cancer
heart disease respiratory problems like
asthma
and other health impacts in the u.s
people of color especially
african-american latinx and native
communities
are more likely to live near power
plants and refineries
and are therefore disproportionately
affected and at greater risk of
mortality from
covet 19 given these health
preconditions
this is compounded by the often lack of
adequate health care and higher exposure
associated with their status as
essential workers
so how is this connected to the amazon
well the us
imports more crude oil from the amazon
than any other country
california’s refineries process over 170
000 barrels of those imports
every day making california refineries
the largest consumers of amazon oil in
the world
oil exploitation in the amazon is
responsible for deforestation
and the degradation of indigenous
territory and has severe
health impacts for local and indigenous
communities
so by centering social justice and
equity in climate action
we simultaneously address environmental
racism
access to health care biodiversity loss
deforestation
and the impacts on indigenous health
culture and territory
all the while holding polluters
accountable and
leading the world toward equitable
climate action
this is the work we are undertaking
through the center for climate justice
of the university of california the aim
of which
is to leverage and harness the power of
the university
to address the climate crisis from a
systems and social justice perspective
the center provides transformative
education conducts
innovative broader impact research and
engages the public in support of
environmentally sustainable and socially
just forms of climate action
there are four key approaches of the
center for climate justice
the first approach is convergence
research which is highly
interdisciplinary
in fact transdisciplinary it engages
academic and non-academic actors
and aims to solve urgent and complex
social and ecological problems such as
climate change
it requires deep integration across a
wide range of disciplines and fields of
knowledge
with interactions sustained over decades
the convergence paradigm at the nexus of
fields and disciplines
can catalyze important innovations that
have real-world application
for addressing the planet crisis the
second approach
is engaged for participatory action
research
participatory action research is an
approach that challenges
traditional forms of research often seen
as hierarchical and extractive
and instead attempts to democratize data
collection
choice of questions and analysis by
working collaboratively with
non-academic partners
in the co-production of knowledge
participatory action research is largely
distinguished from
other approaches and that its goal is
not only to study and analyze the world
but to advance social justice goals
the third is political ecology as a
systems and equity approach
political ecology is an
interdisciplinary field that addresses
environmental problems
as social political and political
economic
analyzes them from a systems perspective
and forefronts
equity and justice and the final
approach
engages awareness-based practices
climate justice requires nothing less
than a paradigm shift
in our fundamental relationship to all
life on the planet
which will inform goals that are
integrated for societal
ecological and planetary well-being i
believe this requires working across
multiple scales
in a fractal way from the individual to
communities
state entities nations and globally
education is key i teach undergraduate
and graduate students and in my
experience when it comes to the climate
crisis
students like so many of us feel a deep
disconnection between
the head the heart and the hand as otto
sharma and colleagues at the presencing
institute
write about and discuss students
recognize climate change as a massive
existential crisis with dire
consequences and can see that
insufficient action is being taken by
leaders
they can feel paralyzed and disempowered
deep down they know it’s going to take
a lot more than individual acts of
turning off our lights and
riding our bikes deep down we all know
it will require systemic changes
but we don’t quite know where to start
how all the pieces fit together
and how to work collectively to address
the root causes of climate change
a project that engages many of these
approaches and in many ways is a
precursor to the work of the center
is the climate alliance mapping project
which is a collaborative project between
academics environmental organizations
and indigenous nations
working together on issues of climate
justice it brings together critical
research
the power of maps and digital
storytelling allowing communities to
share
their own stories in their own words in
their own way on a digital platform
one of our first maps was in
collaboration with the ngo amazon watch
to identify areas where fossil fuel
development intersected with
conservation land and indigenous
territory in the amazon
because of the cultural and ecological
importance of the amazon
and its critical role in climate
regulation and as a carbon sink
it was clear that oil development made
no sense there
this is even more obvious given the
science that argues
most of the world’s fossil fuel reserves
must be left underground
in order to hold global temperature rise
below 1.5 degrees celsius
we’ve also worked with indigenous
leaders to map fossil fuel pipelines and
pipeline spills across the u.s
highlighting the places where pipelines
such as keystone xl
cross water sources particularly on and
near indigenous lands
we are now collaborating with a climate
justice organization
to support their interests in digital
storytelling
to add to these powerful maps we will
continue and expand work
such as the climate alliance mapping
project through the center for climate
justice
where we aim to support deep
collaborations between and across
disciplines
institutions and communities and empower
the next generation of climate justice
leaders
to address the climate crisis from a
systems and equity perspective
we have a number of new and exciting
projects in the works
the first one is the climate justice
research and action plan
it is oriented around a convergence
research agenda that includes multiple
ways of knowing
from our partners in academia climate
justice organizations
local communities indigenous nations
state entities
and private sector actors committed to
regenerative economies
the second is the development of a
climate justice science shop
which supports the specific research
needs of our partners
interested in equity-based climate
solutions by connecting them with
students
faculty and researchers committed to
real-world impact
the climate alliance mapping project is
the result of a sign shop process
the final project is the development of
educational curriculum
and a process that builds on an existing
university of california initiative
called bending the curve which began in
2015 and focused on the science
economics
and technology of climate change
inspired by the words of dr martin
luther king jr who said
the arc of the moral universe is long
but it bends toward justice
at the center we plan to develop
curriculum for students and the public
specifically oriented around climate
justice
we propose the bold goal to annually
educate and equip
one million climate justice change
makers to bend the curve on climate
change toward equity and social justice
we don’t have a generation we don’t have
20 to 25 years to make these changes
so every year we hope to educate empower
and catalyze millions of students at the
university of california and beyond
as well as individuals globally who
participate in the center’s offerings
to go out into the world and bend the
curve on climate change from a systems
and equity perspective