Speaking Out of Place: JUNE CHOI, YANNAI KASHTAN & BELINDA RAMIREZ on the Coalition for a True School of Sustainability
/Coalition for a True School of Sustainability
Speaking Out of Place: LIZA FEATHERSTONE on Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA)
/Journalist · Essayist · Author · Teacher
Columnist Jacobin Magazine · New Republic
We have passed the Build Public Renewables Act which mandates and requires the state's power authority the New York State Power Authority to build its own publicly funded renewables: renewable energy, wind, and solar. And this was a long, long hard hard-fought victory. And to say how it happened, we need to think back to the early Bernie days just after the Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. Obviously, people were very disappointed that Bernie Sanders didn't win, but a lot of people were also very politicized by that campaign and by that moment. And so a lot of people were joining DSA (Democratic Socialists of America). At the same time, a lot of young people were becoming very aware and very anxious, disturbed, and deeply depressed by the climate crisis.
Speaking Out of Place: TIM HEWLETT - Co-founder of Scientist Rebellion, Activist, Astrophysicist
/Co-founder of Scientist Rebellion · Climate Activist · Astrophysicist
I think the more pernicious aspect is the way that science as a set of institutions fits into a paradigm that is doomed from the outset. For instance, if you look at the framing of the science within the IPCC reports and how that informs the construction of policy related to the climate around the globe, well, it's foundationally dishonest. If you frame an entire report around the need to keep temperatures below 1.5 degrees or 2 degrees, and all of the efforts that societies are going to make to do that, and you omit from the public discussion the fact that we have no chance whatsoever of achieving those goals.
MARTIN VON HILDEBRAND
/Indigenous Rights Activist
Winner of Right Livelihood & Skoll Awards
His Fundacion Gaia Amazonas has been named #40 NGOs of the World
I went to the Amazon and I got a canoe and I started rowing into the forest. It was absolutely like going back into the 17th century! I went around for six months on my own and that was fantastic because in this part of the Colombian rainforest there were absolutely no roads, no towns, no electricity, no flowing water. You are with the indigenous group. They are all still in their loincloths. They speak different languages. I went through about eight different ethnic groups. They all spoke different languages. I couldn’t understand what they said. They couldn’t understand what I said, but we got along well.
JESS WILBER
/International Outreach Citizens’ Climate Lobby
Coordinator, Senior Stewards Acting for the Environment
When I was in highschool, I recognized that climate change was going to be the largest problem facing my generation and future generations, and I couldn’t help but feel like there was nothing I could do in the face of such an impending problem. So I was actively looking at different organizations that I could become involved with that would help me develop the skills and knowledge I needed to be an effective climate advocate.