0:00:01.122,0:00:03.780
I've got to start by admitting[br]that in many ways

0:00:03.780,0:00:09.730
me giving a talk about how climate action[br]can help Black communities is surprising.

0:00:10.120,0:00:13.830
I grew up poor and Black[br]with a single mother in Tottenham,

0:00:13.830,0:00:15.840
one of the most deprived areas in London,

0:00:15.840,0:00:18.070
in the 1970s and '80s.

0:00:18.070,0:00:20.980
Climate change[br]was the last thing on my mind.

0:00:20.980,0:00:25.790
And representing Tottenham as its member[br]of Parliament for the past 20 years,

0:00:25.790,0:00:30.270
my focus has been on trying to reduce[br]the deprivation I grew up around.

0:00:30.270,0:00:34.510
In the past, the climate crisis never[br]featured at the forefront of my politics

0:00:34.510,0:00:37.220
because it was never one of[br]the most immediate challenges

0:00:37.220,0:00:38.880
my constituents were facing,

0:00:38.880,0:00:41.230
or at least it didn't feel like it.

0:00:41.230,0:00:45.300
Rising sea levels feel unimportant[br]when your bank balance is falling.

0:00:45.560,0:00:49.660
Global warming is not your concern[br]when you can't pay the heating bills.

0:00:49.660,0:00:54.020
And you're not thinking about pollution[br]when you're being stopped by the police.

0:00:54.020,0:00:55.930
And so perhaps this is why

0:00:55.930,0:00:59.610
as the Black Lives Matter movement[br]roared across the world,

0:00:59.610,0:01:02.820
there's been so little mention[br]of saving Black lives

0:01:02.820,0:01:04.870
from the climate emergency.

0:01:04.870,0:01:07.700
For too long, those of us[br]who cared about racial justice

0:01:07.700,0:01:11.200
treated environmental justice[br]as though it was elitist.

0:01:11.200,0:01:12.620
And at the same time,

0:01:12.620,0:01:15.210
the leaders who did focus[br]on climate change

0:01:15.210,0:01:17.140
were usually white

0:01:17.140,0:01:22.450
and rarely bothered to enlist the support[br]of Black voices in their work.

0:01:22.450,0:01:26.300
Even progressive allies[br]sometimes took our votes for granted

0:01:26.300,0:01:30.750
and assumed that our community didn't care[br]or wouldn't understand.

0:01:30.750,0:01:34.170
The truth is the opposite is true.

0:01:34.350,0:01:40.003
Black people breathe in the most toxic air[br]relative to the general population.

0:01:40.330,0:01:44.770
We are more likely to suffer[br]from respiratory diseases like asthma.

0:01:44.770,0:01:46.760
And it is people of color

0:01:46.760,0:01:50.620
who are more likely to suffer[br]in the climate crisis.

0:01:50.930,0:01:53.660
This is no coincidence.

0:01:53.660,0:01:57.240
The cheapest housing[br]tends to be next to the busiest roads,

0:01:57.240,0:02:01.870
and many of the lowest paid jobs[br]are in the most polluting industries.

0:02:01.870,0:02:06.210
People of color consistently[br]lie at the bottom of the housing,

0:02:06.210,0:02:08.800
educational, and employment ladders.

0:02:08.800,0:02:12.720
This story connects Black[br]communities across the world,

0:02:12.720,0:02:15.401
from London to Lagos to LA.

0:02:15.840,0:02:20.410
Black Americans are exposed[br]to 56 percent more pollution

0:02:20.410,0:02:21.790
than they cause.

0:02:21.790,0:02:26.140
White Americans breathe[br]17 percent less air pollution

0:02:26.140,0:02:27.840
than they produce.

0:02:27.840,0:02:32.780
It gives a whole new meaning[br]to the Black Lives Matter slogan

0:02:32.780,0:02:34.560
"I can't breathe."

0:02:34.560,0:02:37.890
We all rightly know the name[br]of George Floyd,

0:02:37.890,0:02:40.520
who was murdered by the police.

0:02:40.520,0:02:44.480
But we should also know the name[br]of Ella Kissi-Debrah.

0:02:44.480,0:02:48.610
Ella, a nine-year-old[br]mixed-race girl from South East London,

0:02:48.610,0:02:52.400
was killed by a fatal asthma attack.

0:02:52.400,0:02:53.990
Evidence suggests this was caused

0:02:53.990,0:02:59.150
partly by the unlawful levels[br]of air pollution near her home.

0:02:59.480,0:03:01.290
And it's not only urban areas

0:03:01.290,0:03:06.463
where Black lives are disproportionately[br]under threat from climate change.

0:03:06.920,0:03:09.840
My parents' home country of Guyana

0:03:09.840,0:03:12.440
is one of the most vulnerable[br]countries on Earth

0:03:12.440,0:03:14.730
to the effects of climate change.

0:03:15.070,0:03:18.070
So far, Guyana has contributed[br]relatively little

0:03:18.070,0:03:19.900
to the climate emergency,

0:03:19.900,0:03:23.900
but it's one of the countries[br]facing the most serious threats from it.

0:03:24.370,0:03:28.540
While the annual carbon dioxide emissions[br]per head in the United States

0:03:28.540,0:03:32.500
is a staggering 16.5 metric tons,

0:03:32.500,0:03:35.095
in Guyana it's just 2.6.

0:03:35.260,0:03:38.690
It is a pattern repeated across the globe.

0:03:38.690,0:03:42.910
Those countries that have contributed[br]least to the climate breakdown,

0:03:42.910,0:03:44.860
mainly in the global south,

0:03:44.860,0:03:49.310
will suffer the most from floods,[br]droughts, and rising temperatures.

0:03:49.500,0:03:53.890
This is a pattern of suffering[br]with a long history.

0:03:53.890,0:03:57.110
The exploitation of our planet's[br]natural resources

0:03:57.110,0:04:01.700
has always been tied[br]to the exploitation of people of color.

0:04:01.700,0:04:03.800
The logic of colonization

0:04:03.800,0:04:07.870
was to extract valuable resources[br]from our planet through force,

0:04:07.870,0:04:11.030
paying no attention[br]to its secondary effects.

0:04:11.030,0:04:17.050
The climate crisis is in a way[br]colonialism's natural conclusion.

0:04:17.360,0:04:20.120
The solution is to build a new coalition

0:04:20.120,0:04:24.550
made up of all the groups[br]most affected by this emergency:

0:04:24.550,0:04:26.700
Black people in American cities

0:04:26.700,0:04:29.740
who are already protesting[br]that they cannot breathe;

0:04:29.740,0:04:32.935
people of color in Guyana[br]watching sea levels rise

0:04:32.935,0:04:36.650
to the point where many of their homes[br]become uninhabitable;

0:04:36.650,0:04:39.330
young people in places[br]like Tottenham, London,

0:04:39.330,0:04:42.300
afraid of the world[br]that they will grow old in;

0:04:42.300,0:04:44.860
and progressive allies from all nations,

0:04:44.860,0:04:48.380
of all races, religions,[br]creeds, and ages on their side,

0:04:48.380,0:04:50.420
all demanding recognition

0:04:50.420,0:04:54.810
that climate justice is linked[br]to racial justice, social justice,

0:04:54.810,0:04:57.350
and intergenerational justice too.

0:04:57.350,0:05:00.910
And let me say something about[br]how we build this new movement

0:05:00.910,0:05:02.750
and what it must look like.

0:05:02.750,0:05:05.200
First, we need a recognition

0:05:05.200,0:05:09.130
that the climate movement[br]is not only about protecting the planet.

0:05:09.130,0:05:14.640
It is primarily about caring[br]for the people who live on the planet.

0:05:14.800,0:05:17.300
Globally as well as nationally,

0:05:17.300,0:05:21.810
we need to recognize[br]structural imbalances and inequalities.

0:05:21.810,0:05:25.940
A radical green recovery plan[br]should provide jobs to the people

0:05:25.940,0:05:28.670
who've been disenfranchised for centuries,

0:05:28.670,0:05:32.000
new jobs planting trees,[br]insulating buildings,

0:05:32.000,0:05:34.350
and working on green technologies.

0:05:34.350,0:05:40.100
We cannot tackle the climate crisis[br]without addressing racial inequalities.

0:05:40.100,0:05:45.080
And we cannot solve racial inequalities[br]without fixing the economic system.

0:05:45.080,0:05:48.420
The new deal the economy[br]needs is not only green,

0:05:48.420,0:05:50.740
it's green and Black.

0:05:50.740,0:05:54.830
Second, we need more Black leaders.

0:05:54.830,0:05:58.490
It cannot be right in 2020

0:05:58.490,0:06:03.980
that almost all the leading climate change[br]activists we recognize are white.

0:06:03.980,0:06:05.720
At Davos this year,

0:06:05.720,0:06:10.200
five young female members[br]of the Fridays for Future movement

0:06:10.200,0:06:14.710
came together to give a press conference[br]at the World Economic Forum.

0:06:14.710,0:06:18.477
This is a picture[br]the Associated Press put out.

0:06:19.828,0:06:23.113
Here is the original image.

0:06:23.800,0:06:28.307
As the Ugandan activist, Vanessa Nakate,[br]herself put it afterwards,

0:06:28.307,0:06:32.900
"You didn't just erase a photo,[br]you erased a continent."

0:06:32.900,0:06:35.720
We need to look at[br]who is being cropped out

0:06:35.720,0:06:39.630
of leadership positions[br]in environmental organizations too.

0:06:39.630,0:06:45.290
People of color makeup around 40 percent[br]of the United States population.

0:06:45.290,0:06:48.610
So why is it a University[br]of Michigan study

0:06:48.610,0:06:52.170
found that the percentage of minorities[br]in leadership positions

0:06:52.170,0:06:56.530
in US environmental organizations[br]is less than 12 percent?

0:06:56.530,0:06:58.430
Global organizations should consider

0:06:58.430,0:07:01.320
moving their headquarters[br]to the global south

0:07:01.320,0:07:05.740
and urban areas that are most affected[br]by the climate emergency.

0:07:05.740,0:07:09.910
There should be new scholarships[br]and bursaries in environmental science

0:07:09.910,0:07:11.750
for people of color.

0:07:11.750,0:07:13.210
Educate yourself.

0:07:13.210,0:07:17.900
Join great movements that recognize[br]the links between climate and race.

0:07:17.900,0:07:19.070
To name a few,

0:07:19.070,0:07:22.170
the Black Environment Network[br]and Wretched of the Earth.

0:07:22.170,0:07:23.300
And finally,

0:07:23.300,0:07:28.730
racial injustice and climate injustice[br]are both rooted in the evil notion

0:07:28.730,0:07:32.410
that some lives[br]are more important than others.

0:07:32.410,0:07:37.130
If you march to say Black Lives Matter[br]in Minneapolis, London, or Sydney,

0:07:37.130,0:07:41.500
please also march for the Black lives[br]on the Caribbean island of Haiti

0:07:41.500,0:07:44.040
as its children are displaced by storms.

0:07:44.040,0:07:48.120
Please also march for the Black lives[br]being lost in Darfur,

0:07:48.120,0:07:50.530
the first climate change conflict.

0:07:50.530,0:07:55.330
And please also march for the Indigenous[br]people of the Amazon rainforest,

0:07:55.330,0:07:59.820
as Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro[br]weakens its protections.

0:07:59.820,0:08:04.130
If we are serious about protecting[br]Black lives in the global south

0:08:04.130,0:08:05.200
as well as the north,

0:08:05.200,0:08:08.290
we need to strengthen international laws.

0:08:08.290,0:08:11.660
We need a way to apply[br]international criminal laws,

0:08:11.660,0:08:15.690
like war crimes or crimes[br]against humanity, to the planet.

0:08:15.690,0:08:18.610
We need a new international law of ecocide

0:08:18.610,0:08:22.980
to criminalize the willful and widespread[br]destruction of the environment,

0:08:22.980,0:08:27.880
a law that criminalizes the most[br]severe crimes against nature itself,

0:08:27.880,0:08:31.930
even for acts don't involve[br]direct human suffering.

0:08:31.930,0:08:34.310
Economics, race, and class

0:08:34.310,0:08:38.040
are at the center[br]of today's political struggles.

0:08:38.040,0:08:42.840
The Black Lives Matter movement[br]needs to wake up to climate injustices

0:08:42.840,0:08:44.640
just as the climate movement

0:08:44.640,0:08:48.750
must make every effort[br]to include the reality of people of color.

0:08:48.750,0:08:53.180
Young Black boys growing up[br]in single-parent households in Tottenham

0:08:53.180,0:08:58.080
won't have the opportunities I had[br]in a world ravaged by climate chaos.

0:08:58.080,0:09:01.560
My distant cousins and relatives[br]growing up in Guyana

0:09:01.560,0:09:05.473
won't have a future if their homes[br]are drowning under water.

0:09:05.840,0:09:09.660
Now is the time for Black[br]and climate movements

0:09:09.660,0:09:14.417
to come together unequivocally[br]and say, "We can't breathe."

0:09:14.790,0:09:16.360
Thank you very much.