Climate justice

In early September, the Socialism 2026 conference convened at a Hyatt Hotel in Chicago.

It hosted about 3,000 paying attendees, masks required, who flowed from panel to panel and listened to activists, authors, artists, and organizers talk about issues like Marxism, Climate Justice, and Labor Strikes.

It was organized by the left-wing book publisher Haymarket Books, which has published a host of incredible books, including Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal, from my recent guest, Mohamed El-Kurd.

Shout out, Mohamed.

Torrential rain exceeding hundred and sixty millimeters was dumped on seven coastal regions of Ghana within twenty-four hours, resulting in thirty-nine deaths and one still unaccounted for.

And so climate justice demands that developed nations must fulfill their long overdue financial commitments.

Mitigation support must be operationalized with predictable non-debt-creating grants, not loans that further indebt fragile economies.

Similarly, global health security demands true solidarity because pathogens do not respect national borders.

I think in the case of an extractive technology that has clear environmental implications that are physical and really related to how close you are to the area, I think it's harder to justify that kind of rapid, fast tracking of extractive technologies.

Yeah, and I think it's a perfect segue to talking about climate justice, right? This term, climate justice.

I'd love for you to just define climate justice to start with, because I think not everybody knows what that means.

But also, where does empathy enter the AI infrastructure conversation, especially for communities that host data centers or power generation or water withdrawals or mineral extraction, but aren't receiving the benefits of all of that?

Yeah, that's a really good question.

I think that the climate justice one is... who benefits, who's paying the cost, where if, you know, there's this like geographical distinction between if certain communities are paying the cost for elements down the supply chain and how you insure.

And I think there's, you're right.

I think we need something like a nutrition label for AI, but that highlights, you know, there's no, there are no judgments or decisions that are made on nutrition labels.

Exactly.

And so I think in terms of media coverage, if we were to put a climate justice frame on COP 27, what would that look like if you're really looking at this huge number of lobbyists who are there instead of community representatives who are often pushed to the side tables, right? They're not even often part of the main table discussions and negotiations.

Mm-hmm.

So the last report for the UNFCCC, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the last report talked about how we needed to make major infrastructure changes, like massive infrastructure changes, in order to meet the needs of communities that will be impacted by climate change, cities, etc., So it's really this massive change that needs to happen.

He writes the substack The Crucial Years, and his latest book is titled Here Comes the Sun, A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization.

Kavita Stanamurti is a former software engineer at Amazon and a member of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice.

We're going to talk about this major climate protest in front of Amazon today.

But first, Bill McKibben, lay out what this week is all about.

And they convert sun and wind into firm baseload power.

They're precisely the kind of thing that places like Texas are developing in huge numbers, which makes it all the more ironic that the tech overlords planning our AI future can't think of anything more interesting to do than burn a lot of 18th century gas and oil.

I want to bring Kavita Stanamurthy into this conversation, a former software engineer at Amazon, a member of Amazon and employees for Climate Justice.

You're here in New York.

We're going to be joined by two guests.

Mitzi Jonel Tan is a climate justice activist and organizer from the Philippines.

She is the convener and international spokesperson of the Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines and also for Fridays for the Future of the Philippines.

She is also on the steering committee of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Youth Climate Justice Fund.

We're also joined by Ellie Kinney, who is a senior climate advocacy officer at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, which focuses on monitoring, understanding and increasing awareness of environmental and humanitarian consequences of conflicts and military activities.

She leads work on the Military Emissions Gap Project, which advocates for greater accountability for the military's contribution to the climate crisis.

landscape with escalating tensions around the world and most recently with conflict in the Middle East has really highlighted these links between conflict threats to security, environmental destruction and the need for justice for those living on the front lines.

The relationship between fossil fuel dependency and war has really come to the forefront.

Karen Byrne from True Blue Politics Podcast, as she co-hosts that, will be with us in the 630 hour, calling in.

And Aubrey Conner, attorney and director of environmental and climate justice for the NAACP, will be here.

And we'll be talking about some cases that have come her way and some work that she's doing.

She's a real person.

Thanks to Karen Byrne for hanging out with us for a bit.

And we're going to keep these voices of powerful folks moving right on down the track.

Director of Environmental and Climate Justice for the NAACP.

That's a big title, y'all.

Today's impactful guest is Evelyn Acham.

Evelyn Acham is a prominent climate justice activist from Kampala, Uganda.

Evelyn advocates for Africa and the Global South, who contribute the least to climate change, yet are the most impacted by it.

Evelyn is the co-founder of the Agape Earth Coalition, the founder of the +1 Tree project, and a national leader of the Rise Up Movement.

The Agape Earth Coalition is a youth-led African climate movement which unites grassroots activists, NGOs, and advocates across the continent to demand climate justice and to develop localized practical solutions to the climate crisis.

As the founder of the +1 Tree initiative, Evelyn leads a mission focused on environmental restoration, replanting, reducing land pressure, and building climate resilience projects.

Today, Evelyn will share her invaluable insights about how to promote climate justice.

We will also learn about the important work she does to advocate for climate adaptation finance funds that were promised internationally but not delivered, and to better understand the intersectional impacts of the climate crisis on women, children, and the poor across Africa.