How to Be a Leader for Climate Justice | David Lammy and Justin J. Pearson | TED

TED

Opening Context & Geopolitical Climate Assessment

Discussion between climate justice leaders about movement leadership
Current geopolitical moment characterized as "tough"
- US as world superpower, China rivaling US position
- Emergence of middle states (UAE hosting next COP, India)
- Rising short-termism due to populism in Northern Europe, US
- Tendency to focus on small divisive issues vs. big unifying challenges

Speaker's origin story: Memphis, Tennessee ("greatest place on Earth")
Byhalia Connection Pipeline case study:
- Multi-billion dollar corporations targeted community
- Called community "path of least resistance"
- Planned to take Black folks' land, threaten 1M+ people's drinking water
- Community response: "not path of least resistance but path of resilience for everybody"
Key community leaders: Clyde Robinson, Scottie Fitzgerald
- Refused to sell land to corporations
- Refused to accept being devalued for lack of formal titles
Boxtown community involvement:
- Built by formerly enslaved African Americans
- Helped launch environmental justice movement in Memphis
- Got VP Gore to visit and advocate ("racist, reckless rip-off pipeline")
Key lessons learned:
- Every environmental/climate justice fight is local
- Based in principle and people committed to justice
- "When we fight we can win, when we fight we do win"
- Importance of proximity and people power

Problem: Climate justice gets less attention than police brutality, other issues
Historical context - 20th century rights movements:
- Women's rights (Emmeline Pankhurst)
- Civil rights (Martin Luther King, Gandhi)
- LGBTQ rights (Harvey Milk)
- Disability rights
Current danger: Retreating into identity politics silos
Climate justice as connecting force:
- All marginalized communities suffer under climate emergency
- Border crossers/climate migrants: primarily Black and brown people
- Northern European/North American climate impacts: Black, brown, indigenous people most affected

Root cause analysis: 40-50-60 years ago, polluters placed facilities in:
- Lower income communities
- Indigenous communities
- Black communities
Consequence: Speaker's community has 4.1x cancer average
Communities became "sacrifice zones" (Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali term)
Pattern: Politically/economically deprived communities blamed for their situation
Global pattern: Those making least pollution suffer most
Solution requires proximity to most affected communities
Must bring peripheral voices to center for true climate/environmental justice

UK context: 3 prime ministers in short time
Previous PM didn't want to attend COP
Labour Party commitments if elected:
- No more North Sea oil drilling
- Return to 0.7% GDP for international aid/development
- Ecocide law implementation
- Authentic leadership "from somewhere real"

"First follower" concept as underrated leadership form
Current movement characteristics:
- Intergenerational
- Multi-racial
- Multi-socio-economic
- Multi-ethnic
- Multi-sexual orientation
Goal: Build movement "big enough for everybody"
- Everyone in room, outside room
- Those who want to be in room, can't be in room

Amerindian/Indigenous rights: "Don't cut down our forests"
Ecocide movement momentum:
- Comparable to UN genocide declaration post-WWII
- Small island states leadership
- France support, UK opposition commitment
Bridgetown Initiative: Mia Mottley (Barbados) leading global finance reform
Guyana case study:
- Hasn't cut rainforests, crucial Amazon basin location
- Recent oil discovery creates tension
- Need to support indigenous people
- Conservation center at "severe points"
Balance needed: "Outrage but optimism"

Biden Administration accomplishments:
- Inflation Reduction Act: $40B for environmental justice
- Justice 40 Initiative: 40% federal resources to underserved communities
Setbacks: Debt ceiling deal expedited Mountain Valley Pipeline
Continued resistance examples:
- Dr. Crystal Cavalier, Jason Keck (Occaneechi tribe, North Carolina)
Key insight: Institutions don't change themselves, require external organizing/mobilizing

Find common ground beyond current movement
Need "less bad faith, more good faith in politics"
Hold dual perspective:
- Good movements start on margins (rebellion, campaigns, civil disobedience)
- Climate emergency moving mainstream (economy, security, prosperity cornerstone)
Require "courageous moral imagination"
Vision: Everyone has clean water, soil, air
Put "God hands, God feet, God heart" into movement
Balance: Resistance will remain, but so will persistence
Focus on future generations "we will not know"

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