Presidential Plenary on Climate Justice
Type: Virtual Panel
Day: 2/27/2022
Start Time: 5:20 PM
End Time: 6:40 PM
Theme: Climate Justice
Sponsor Group(s):
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
Organizer(s):
Emily Yeh
,
,
,
Chairs(s):
Emily Yeh, University of Colorado Boulder
; ,
Description:
As the effects of climate change pummel the globe, they are doing so in a highly unequal way. Those least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions are also the most vulnerable to suffering its effects, as a result of historical and geographical processes including colonialism, racial capitalism, and dispossession. This disproportionate vulnerability also further exacerbates racial, gendered, socioeconomic, and other forms of inequity. Injustice plays out at many scales and in many realms. Projects aimed at adaptation or resilience may be as devastating for historically marginalized people as climate change effects themselves. Mitigation measures may also exacerbate injustice, for example through disregard for territorial claims in mining for materials needed in renewable energy technologies.
This presidential plenary seeks to draw more geographers’ attention to the problem of climate injustice, and to argue that only approaches to climate change policy based in justice can effectively address the roots of climate change, rather than treat the symptoms in ways that enrich and empower some at the expense of others. The panelists, all of them engaged in public policy as well as working with Indigenous and other marginalized communities, will present their research in this area, as well as their perspectives on barriers and openings.
The session will begin with a short introduction by Emily Yeh followed by presentations by the three panelists. Audience question & answer and general discussion will follow.
Emily T. Yeh, Introducer and Moderator Panelists:
Tracey Osborne, Associate Professor and UC Presidential Chair in the Management of Complex Systems Department at UC Merced. Professor Osborne is also the founding director of the UC Center for Climate Justice. Her research focuses on the social and political economic dimensions of climate change, the role of Indigenous Peoples, carbon markets, and climate equity and justice, particularly in Mexico and the Amazon.
Presenting: Decolonizing Carbon: Indigenous-Led Climate Change Mitigation in the Amazon Rainforest
Kyle Whyte, George Willis Pack Professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. His work focuses on the moral and political issues concerning climate policy and Indigenous peoples, the ethics of cooperative relationships between Indigenous peoples and science organizations, and environmental justice. Professor Whyte is involved with a number of organizations that advance Indigenous research and education methodologies.
Michael Méndez Assistant Professor of Environmental Planning and Policy at the University of California Irvine. His research concerns climate change and communities of color, environmental health inequities, and climate-induced disasters and social vulnerability. He is the author of the award-winning book Climate Change from the Streets (Yale University Press, 2020), about the contentious politics of incorporating environmental justice into global climate change policy.
Presenting: Tainted Grapes, Tainted Lungs: Extreme Wildfire Impacts to Undocumented Latina/o and Indigenous Migrants
Presentation(s), if applicable
Non-Presenting Participants Agenda
Role | Participant |
Introduction | Emily Yeh |
Panelist | Kyle Whyte University of Michigan |
Panelist | Tracey Osborne University of California Merced |
Panelist | Michael Méndez University of California Irvine |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Presidential Plenary on Climate Justice
Description
Virtual Panel
Contact the Primary Organizer
Emily Yeh - emily.yeh@colorado.edu