People's Climate Justice Summit
The Climate Justice Alliance, together with our friends and allies, is hosting the People’s Climate Justice Summit, featuring the voices, strategies, and solutions of climate-affected communities around the world.
On September 23, political and corporate leaders will meet at the United Nations in New York City for Climate Summit 2014. This summit represents yet another step towards the corporate takeover of the UN climate negotiations and the privatization of land, water, and air resources under the guise of a global climate compact. The climate crisis is a symptom of a deeper problem: an economy based on extraction and exploitation of resources and people. This economy benefits a few at the expense of communities and the planet.
While heads of state meet at the UN, communities across the country are united for a just transition away from an economy based on fossil fuel extraction and other dirty industries, and towards clean community energy, zero waste, public transit, local food systems and housing for all.
Schedule:
Church Center for the United Nations, 777 1st Ave at E. 44th St
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
PEOPLES TRIBUNAL- Dr. Robert Bullard, Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University
- Lisa Garcia, Friends of the Earth
- Jeremy Brecher, Labor Network for Sustainability
- Rex Varona, Global Coalition on Migration
- Rosa Guillen, World March of Women
- Julia Olson, Our Children’s Trust
Hear hard-hitting testimonies from affected peoples around the globe as we indict political leaders and corporate polluters for their failure to protect our health, communities and planet. We will hear from those living with the real and immediate impacts of climate change and people living on the frontlines of extractive industries that are contributing to climate change.
Opening- Julia Beatty, Center for Social Inclusion
10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Climate Change: Place-based Experiences, Impacts/Adaptation/Migration
- Laquan Thomas/Andres Felipe Hernandez, Ironbound Community Corporation (United States)
- Cynthia Moices, UPROSE (United States)
- Beryl Thurman, North Shore Waterfront Conservancy – Staten Island (United States)
- Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Earth Guardians (United States)
- Mamadou Goita, Institute for Research and the Promotion of Alternatives in Development, (Mali)
- Antolin Huáscar Flores, Confederación Nacional Agraria (Peru)
- Representative, Black Urban Growers (United States)
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Corporate Root Causes to Climate Change
- Patricia Gualinga Montalvo, Kichwa leader, Sarayaku, Ecuadorian Amazon (Ecuador)
- Jihan Gearon, Black Mesa Water Coalition (United States)
- Kelsey Julian, Our Children’s Trust (United States)
- Katherine Eglund, NAACP Gulf Port Chapter (United States)
- Venancia Cruz Jimenez, Movimiento Indígena Santiago de Anaya (México)
- Alex Cardoso, Movement of Recyclers/Catadores – MNCR (Brazil)
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
The People Face the Tribunal- Statements and Decision by Judges- Damaris Reyes, Good Old Lower East Side (United States)
- Miriam Miranda, Organizacion Fraternal Negra Hondurena – OFRANEH (Honduras)
- Stanley Sturgill, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (United States)
- Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Cree, Greenpeace (Canada)
- Mithika Mwende, Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance, Kenya (Nigeria)
New School, Alvin Johnson / J.M. Kaplan Hall Auditorium, 66 West 12th St
9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
TOWARDS LIVING ECONOMIES 1: SYSTEMS ALTERNATIVES
Speakers:- Casey Camp, Ponca Tribe (United States)
- Michael Leon Guerrero, Climate Justice Alliance Our Power Campaign (United States)
- Lidy Nacpil, Jubilee South Asia Pacific on Debt and Development (Philippines)
- Sandra Van Niekerk, Public Services International (South Africa)
Moderator:
Juliet Rousseau, Bizi, Alternatibas Process (France).
In the face of climate change, communities everywhere are experimenting with new and time-tested approaches to energy, waste, transit, and the provision of peoples’ needs that protect people and the planet. But to counter the systemic causes of the climate crisis and meet the scale of the problem, movement forces are also developing bold proposals for systemic alternatives. Join us for an exploration of new economic, organizing and worker-centered models that could help us all weather the storm as we build the next economy together.
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM
TOWARDS LIVING ECONOMIES 2: JUST TRANSITION STRATEGIES
Speakers:- Al Weinrub, Local Clean Energy Alliance (United States)
- Monica Wilson, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (United States)
- Juan Camilo Osorio, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (United States),
- Beth Grimsberg (Brazil)
- Rosa Miranda, Bus Riders Union (United States)
Confronting the climate crisis effectively – and building a climate movement strong enough to do so – will require us to take on the social, economic, and political inequities that have allowed the dirty energy economy to persist. And we must address these issues with a particular lens focused on how these systems have led to communities of color and low-income communities bearing the brunt of climate impacts. While we fight against the old energy economy rooted in inequity, we must continue to build a better and stronger vision that can both can work for all of us and is led by communities most marginalized and impacted by climate change. This requires a just transition from the old to the new. A transition into a new economy rooted in the foundation of racial and social justice, invested in people and the planet, and on that is regenerative and life giving. To do so, we must begin to think intersectionally and build cross-sectoral alliances for making change.
From transit to energy, in this panel and conversation, participants will learn from people who are envisioning a just transition and building towards a more sustainable and just future.