Episode 139: People Powered Climate Justice

Climate change is real and it is the human rights issue of our time. L. Joy brings Elizabeth Yeampierre to the front of the front of the class to give us the context we need to get #CivicallyEngaged around climate justice. Then, we share L. Joy’s discussion on the Green New Deal with  Demond Drummer.

Our Guests

Elizabeth Yeampierre is an internationally recognized Puerto Rican environmental/climate justice leader of African and Indigenous ancestry, born and raised in New York City. Elizabeth is co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance, a national frontline led organization and Executive Director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's oldest Latino community-based organization. Elizabeth was the 1st Latina Chair of the USEPA National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and opening speaker for the first White House Council on Environmental Quality Forum on Environmental Justice under Obama and recently featured in NY Times as a visionary paving the path to Climate Justice. She's been named by Apolitical as Climate 100: The World’s Most Influential People in Climate Policy and a recipient of the Frederick Douglass Abolitionist Award FD200. Recently, she has spoken at Oxford University, and the Ethos Conference in Brazil.

Demond Drummer is the Chicago-based co-founder and Executive Director of New Consensus, a nonprofit working to develop and promote the Green New Deal that has advised many progressive leaders and organizations, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Sunrise Movement. Demond’s other notable projects include CoderSpace, a computer science learning lab where youths develop leadership skills, and LargeLots.org, a community-driven effort to reclaim and city-owned vacant lots in Chicago. He is an organizer and civic innovator whose grassroots work in Chicago has been recognized by the Obama White House, Code for America and the Aspen Institute.