Breakout Session: From Climate Curious to Climate Justice

Confronting and transforming the devastating harm of a planet in crisis stands alongside reckoning with this nation’s true history of genocide, land theft, and chattel slavery as The Work of our time. We know that communities of color bear the brunt of climate breakdown and also lead in implementing solutions. However, data indicates that white-led groups –especially the nation’s largest environmental and “clean energy”-focused nonprofits -continue to receive more than90% of philanthropic funding to address the climate emergency. At best, philanthropic resources can be deployed swiftly and with few strings attached, allowing room for innovation, rapid response, and adaptive interventions that criss-cross preparedness and mitigation. From the success of Standing Rock to millions of new jobs that can promote equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, philanthropic investments in BIPOC communities’ creative, effective measures to heal our planet can be among our generation’s most brilliant legacies. Come find out what you can do to be a climate guardian, a steward of climate justice.