We Don't Have Time U.S. Launch
We Don’t Have Time is the name of the world’s largest review platform for climate solutions, and it is now launching in the United States on Thursday, December 2.
RSVP.
1:45 PM EST — Introduction- Sweta Chakraborty, President of US Operations, We Don’t Have Time
- David Livingston, Senior Advisor to the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry
- Ingmar Rentzhog, Founder & CEO, We Don’t Have Time
- Alexandria Villaseñor (moderator), Founder, Earth Uprising
- Ebony Martin, Co-executive Director, Greenpeace USA
- Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President & CEO of the Hip-Hop Caucus
- Mustafa Santiago Ali, Vice President of Environmental Justice, Climate, and Community Revitalization, National Wildlife Federation
- Tim Kelly, Executive Director, Earth HQ
- Boaz Paldi, Global Partnership & Engagement Manager, UNDP
- Dr. Sweta Chakraborty (moderator), President of US Operations, We Don’t Have Time
- Boaz Paldi, Global Partnership & Engagement Manager, UNDP
- Sergio Fernandez de Cordova, Executive Chairman, PVBLIC Foundation
- Ingmar Rentzhog, Founder & CEO, We Don’t Have Time
3:20 PM EST — Media Interlude
3:30 PM EST — The Role of Business- Joe Romm (moderator), Founder of Front Page Live
- Avi Garbow, Environmental Advocate, Patagonia
- Adheer Bahulkar, Managing Director, NA Supply Chain, Accenture
- Marcus Lovell Smith, Founder & CEO, Neutral
- John Podesta, Former White House Chief of Staff to President Clinton, Counselor to President Obama, and Founder of the Center for American Progress
4:15 PM EST — Media Interlude
4:25 PM EST — The Role of Governments- Nancy Colleton (Moderator), President, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
- Sherri Goodman, Secretary General IMCCS Monica Medina, Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. State Department
5:00 PM EST — Summary & End of Broadcast
2021 Climate Jobs Summit
AGENDA SEPTEMBER 21, 2021
9:30 AM Welcome, Purpose, and Review of the Day- Gary LaBarbara, President, Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and New York State Building and Construction Trades Council & Climate Jobs NY
- Michael Fishman, President and Executive Director, Climate Jobs National Resource Center
- Maulian Dana, Tribal Ambassador, Penobscot Nation
- Eric Dean, General President International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental & Reinforcing Iron Workers (IW)
- Lily Gardner, Sunrise Movement member
- Aliya Haq, Vice President, U.S. Policy and Advocacy, Breakthrough Energy
- Becky Pringle, President, National Education Association (NEA)
- Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
CJNRC Video
10:15 AM Ali Zaidi, Deputy White House National Climate Advisor
10:30 AM American Jobs Plan: Impact & Opportunities for Clean Energy and Good Jobs
- Moderator: Lara Skinner, Director, Labor Leading on Climate Initiative, Worker Institute at Cornell University ILR School
- Marilyn Brown, Director, Georgia Tech, Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory
- John Cartwright, President, Toronto/York Labour Council (Retired)
- John Doherty, Special Assistant to the General President, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)
- John Podesta, Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors, Center for American Progress (CAP)
- Chris Shelton, President, Communication Workers of America (CWA)
12:00 PM Break
12:15 PM Equity and Good Jobs in a Clean Economy: State Strategies for Winning Labor Standards and Equity in Opportunity
- Moderator: Vincent Alvarez, President, New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO & Climate Jobs NY
- Priscilla De La Cruz, Senior Director, Government Affairs at Audubon Society of Rhode Island, President of the Environment Council of Rhode Island, Co-host Climate Jobs Illinois
- Aziz Dehkan, Executive Director and Lead Organizer, Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs
- Pat Devaney, Secretary-Treasurer, Illinois AFL-CIO & Climate Jobs Illinois
- Cynthia Phinney, President, Maine State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
- Melissa Shetler, Executive Director, Pathways to Apprenticeship
1:45 PM Two Concurrent Panel Discussions:
Building Carbon Free and Healthy Schools
- Moderator: Nikki Budzinski, Advisor, Climate Jobs National Resource Center
- Joseph Bryant, President, Service Employees International Union, Local 1021 (SEIU)
- Seanelle Leesang, Science Teacher, IS 68 Brooklyn, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)
- JP Patafio, Bus Operator/VP Transportation Workers Union Local 100 (TWU) & Climate Jobs NY
- Anil Singh, 2021 NYC public schools graduate, Sunrise Movement member
- Justin Thompson, Senior Policy Analyst, National Education Association (NEA)
- Gina Walsh, Deputy Director of Heat and Frost Insulators Cooperative Trust & Climate Jobs Illinois Executive Board
Building a Robust, Equitable Offshore Wind Industry in the U.S.
- Moderator: Lee Smith, Managing Member, American Solar Partners (ASP)
- Hae-Lin Choi, New York State Political Director, Communications Workers of America District 1 (CWA)
- Doreen Harris, President and Chief Executive Officer, NY Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
- Eric Hines, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University
- David Langlais, Business Manager, Iron Workers Local 137 (IW)
- Amanda Lefton, Director, Bureau Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM)
- Grant Provost, Business Agent, Iron Workers Local 7 (IW)
3:15 PM Secretary Marty Walsh, U.S. Department of Labor
3:40 PM Liz Shuler, President, AFL-CIO
3:50 PM Closing and Call to Action
Kyle Bragg, President, Service Employees International Union, 32BJ (SEIU) & Climate Jobs NY
4:00 PM Adjourn
New White House Adviser John Podesta: 'Unconventional Sources of Fossil Fuels Cannot Be Our Energy Future'
John Podesta, an advocate for strong climate action and opponent of the exploitation of unconventional fossil fuels, is joining the White House as a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, the New York Times reports.
In a 2010 keynote address at Canada 2020’s “‘Greening’ The Oil Sands: Debunking the Myths and Confronting the Realities,” a Canadian conference promoting tar sands extraction, Podesta apologized for being the “skunk” at the “garden party” as he laid out his profound skepticism about “green” tar sands, comparing it to “clean coal” and “error-free deepwater drilling.”
Below are some key excerpts:
Today, there is almost unanimous agreement that we can add another cost to dependence on high-carbon fuels. And this one is beyond our ability to calculate.In January 2013, Podesta announced his opposition to Arctic drilling, saying in a Bloomberg op-ed that “there is no safe and responsible way to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean”:Failing to curb our dependence on fossil fuels will create a world dramatically different than the one we’re currently accustomed to; one in which sea level rise, extreme weather, and reduced resource supplies will not only cause irreparable harm to ecosystems around the globe, but also tremendous human suffering and conflict.
Oil extraction from tar sands is polluting, destructive, expensive, and energy intensive. These things are facts. I think suggesting this process can come close to approximating being “greened” is largely misleading, or far too optimistic, or perhaps both. It stands alongside clean coal and error-free deepwater drilling as more PR than reality.
Oil sands can’t simply be as good as conventional oil. We need to reduce fossil fuel use and accelerate the transition to cleaner technologies, in the transportation sector and elsewhere.
We either rapidly green the world’s engine of economic growth, or we suffer consequences that are very difficult to even fully comprehend, in addition to those we already tolerate. Unconventional sources of fossil fuels cannot be our energy future.
Now, following a series of mishaps and errors, as well as overwhelming weather conditions, it has become clear that there is no safe and responsible way to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean. . . The Obama administration shouldn’t issue any new permits to Shell this year and should suspend all action on other companies’ applications to drill in this remote and unpredictable region.
“Moving beyond fossil fuel pollution will involve exciting work, new opportunities, new products and innovation, and stronger communities,” Podesta said in 2009 Congressional testimony.
In contrast, Podesta has laid out an optimistic vision for smart grids, utility-scale renewable energy development, and global clean-energy investment.