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