In the summer of 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement swept the globe with demands for racial equity. What does racism have to do with climate change and the environment? For starters, the world’s poorest countries, which have contributed the least to climate change, are among the worst affected by it. Indigenous lands are constantly threatened by the expansion of industry, lack of rights, and even conservation and restoration efforts conducted without proper inclusion. In the U.S., people of color are more likely to live near toxic facilities that contribute to global warming. These are just a few of the countless examples of where the issues of racial and climate justice intersect.
In this episode, which originally aired in July 2020, we speak with Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, a U.S.-based youth-led movement that seeks to address climate change by reconfiguring current systems through improved policy, creating more fair and flourishing political and economic environments in the process.
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