Keynote

Kumi Naidoo resists ‘climate apartheid,’ calls for more voices, joy to address climate change

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 21:52:49 +0000

Kumi Naidoo resists ‘climate apartheid,’ calls for more voices, joy to address climate change Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 12/04/2022 - 14:52

Lisa Marshall

We are at a moment in history when all of us must now take on a mantle of leadership. And we must do it in a way that energizes and motivates rather than saying ‘It’s too late.

—Kumi Naidoo

South Africa-born human rights activist Kumi Naidoo kicked off a fiery Sunday-morning talk at CU ��«��Ƶ’s Glenn Miller Ballroom with a pointed request for his audience.

“Please stand if you believe that: A) Everything is fine climate wise; B) We have a massive challenge ahead, and the window of opportunity is closing; or C) It’s too late,” he instructed.

Seven people stood for C. The rest stood for B. Notably, no one stood for A.

Each and every one of them, he asserted, has a responsibility to rise up against climate change.

“We are at a moment in history when all of us must now take on a mantle of leadership,” said Naidoo. “And we must do it in a way that energizes and motivates rather than saying ‘It’s too late. What’s the point of resistance?’”

During a presentation that conjured reflections from Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Matt Damon, Cree elders, and the late South African rapper Riky Rick, Naidoo called for a new kind of collective action to push back on what he calls “climate apartheid” –– one that includes more voices, communicates more clearly and even incorporates a little joy.

“Pessimism and cognitive dissonance are not luxuries we can afford anymore,” he said.

As a lifelong human rights activist who first began protesting South Africa’s system of institutionalized racial oppression at age 15, Naidoo knows something about resistance.

After multiple arrests, he was forced to flee his country in the 1980s and lived in exile in the United Kingdom. He risked his life placing protest banners on oil rigs in Greenland, served in leadership roles with Greenpeace International and Amnesty International, and was instrumental in getting the African National Congress –– banned for decades under Apartheid –– formally registered as a political party again in the mid-1990s.

From this vantage point of experience, Naidoo shared a list of dos and don’ts for today’s climate activists, starting with a request to look inward.

“All of us, academia and NGOs included, have adjusted to injustices that we never should have adjusted to,” he said, suggesting that endemic “civil obedience” has stalled progress.

In addition to direct actions such as sit-ins, strikes and other protests, he said today’s activists have changed the way they communicate the climate crisis, moving away from the sterile language of science to the language of lives, land, health and jobs.

“We have tried to win this with facts and figures: ‘1.5 degrees. 350 parts per million. Blah blah blah. All of this goes completely over the heads of 99% of people,” he said.

He added that one mistake his generation has made as activists was to put too much power into the hands of a few, and he suggested it’s time for a more decentralized, participatory and collectively shared climate justice movement.

In the past, climate activists –– many of them white and wealthy –– have also failed to recognize the harm that their protests have on working people. This, too, must change.

“If you have a persistent pattern of civil disobedience being done by wealthy white people and it adversely impacts people of color, that is an arrogance that must be addressed,” he said.

Today’s climate warriors, he said, must also stop preaching to the crowd.

“Activism cannot continue to be the art of developing a position and mobilizing the people who agree with you and dissing the ones who don’t agree. It has to be about having the humility to build bridges with those we disagree with. That means learning to love the people who voted for Donald Trump.”

He praised a new generation of youth activists who have embraced the climate crisis with unprecedented urgency, but also with new tools. In addition to bringing economic and legal weapons to the fight, they are also bringing art, song and poetry.

In that vein, he ended his talk not with jarring statistics or talk of catastrophe, but rather with a song.

On a screen behind him played a music video created by his stepson, rapper Riky Rick, who tragically died this year. It was initially created as a love song –– one lover trying to woo back another who he’d harmed. But Naidoo and his family adapted it into a love song from humans to our planet.

On the screen, images of waterfalls and sunrises intermixed with those of trash heaps and sewage as the lyrics declared:

“I was focused on paying bills when I should have focused on showing you how I feel.”

Naidoo asked the audience to stand again, this time to dance.

And they did.

In keynote address on Sunday, South African-born Kumi Naidoo stressed the need for a “mantle of leadership” among all people as humanity works to address climate change, with a more inclusive, collective approach.

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Women need to lead next phase of climate justice movement, Robinson says

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 00:27:09 +0000

Women need to lead next phase of climate justice movement, Robinson says Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 12/03/2022 - 17:27

Kelsey Simpkins

On the second day of the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit, keynote speaker and former Irish President Mary Robinson posed a question about a pretty, yellow plant we all know but might not love: the dandelion.

She used the metaphor of the common weed to illustrate—and name—the latest climate justice movement taking root: Project Dandelion, the next phase of climate justice work, led by women. Dandelion seeds spread gently on the wind, and they grow on all continents around the world. To call them resilient is an understatement.

"Have you ever tried to get rid of the damn thing?” she said to applause in the full Glenn Miller Ballroom at the ��«��Ƶ.

Robinson was the second keynote in the inaugural Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit.

While she announced Project Dandelion at COP27, her speech focused on the importance of building trust and including all perspectives and voices, and holding governments and corporations accountable for the financial and policy reforms urgently needed now to address climate change.

One of the world’s most respected advocates for human rights and climate justice, Robinson said she hoped that, like the fast-growing dandelion, this movement would act as a feminist “moonshot” to achieve a more just and carbon-free world as quickly as possible.

“We have decided that what is needed is a women-led global climate justice movement, not women-only, but women-led,” said Robinson.

We have decided that what is needed is a women-led global climate justice movement, not women-only, but women-led.

—Mary Robinson

Climate injustices to address

Robinson cited five climate injustices that Project Dandelion aims to address:

First, that the climate crisis has disproportionately affected the poorest countries and communities, small island states, and Indigenous peoples. Second, the gender injustice within the climate crisis, noting that women and their children must travel further and suffer more in the face of climate change and disasters.

Third, the intergenerational injustices committed by her own generation, which have left younger generations with the possibility of an unlivable world. “We haven’t done what we should do,” said Robinson.

Fourth: the injustice of different development pathways. Developing countries around the world are told they now cannot use gas or oil to better their nations when it is the delay and lack of action on the part of developed countries that has led to this predicament.

Robinson said all nations and all people have to make not only a rapid, but a just transition, or we will not have a livable world.

Finally, the injustice to nature, which is especially important to Indigenous peoples around the world. In her time as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Robinson was coordinator of the Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, which taught her to listen first to Indigenous perspectives on climate issues.

“Yet they're very often not delegates at the table and they find it very difficult to bring that wisdom to decision-making,” she said.

Leadership on climate justice

There are two words Robinson doesn’t use anymore: climate change. Instead, she uses either “climate crisis” or “climate justice.” It’s a purposeful choice to highlight the “deep connection” between the climate crisis and all human rights in her international advocacy and leadership.

During her tenure as president of Ireland (1990-97), Robinsonnever talked about climate change. It wasn’t until after five years as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997–2002) that Robinson realized this critical connection when she saw firsthand how climate change was affecting several African countries and small island nations.

She went on to found the Mary Robinson Foundation (2010–2019), serve as the U.N. Special Envoy on Climate Change from 2014–2015, author the book Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future, and be a founding member and current chair of The Elders, an esteemed group of former world leaders with a focus on creating a world where “people live in peace, conscious of their common humanity and their shared responsibilities for each other, for the planet and for future generations.”

Getting fired up

Robinson was disappointed after COP27 concluded two weeks ago in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. It was touted as a COP of “implementation” but it did not deliver in important ways, she said.

While an agreement was reached to establish a fund for loss and damage and a link was made with reform of the international monetary system, “there was no move to increase ambition at COP27 by governments.”

“I came away from COP27 with a sense of what I can only describe as a terrible paradox,” said Robinson.

While we are on the cusp of a clean energy world, she said, we’re still heading for a catastrophic 2-degrees warming world.

“So what does this mean for the human rights community? I think it means one word, which we know and are familiar with but we have to really rise to: the word ‘accountability.’”

Robinson said she also aims to hold herself accountable, noting in her opening remarks that she traveled all the way from Dublin to be at the summit, and needed to justify her resulting carbon footprint.

She was going to do that, she said, “by making all of you as fired up as I was when I was leaving COP27 in Egypt a short time ago. I was fired up by anger and frustration and frankly, the fierce urgency of now.”

In closing, Robinson asked the audience: “I want to know, are you fired up?” A sudden, loud round of applause and a standing ovation gave her an answer.

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Climate solutions lie in ‘country food’ and Indigenous knowledge, Watt-Cloutier says

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 00:06:42 +0000

Climate solutions lie in ‘country food’ and Indigenous knowledge, Watt-Cloutier says Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/02/2022 - 17:06 Daniel Strain

Sheila Watt-Cloutier has a simple prescription for staying warm in the icy fringes of the Arctic where average annual temperatures can plummet down to near zero degrees Fahrenheit: Don’t eat brand-name soup.

“It’s not going to be Lipton Cup-a-Soup that’s going to keep you warm,” said Watt-Cloutier, who was born in the Eastern Arctic of Canada. “It’s going to be our ‘country food,’ our seal meat that warms you up from the inside out.”

Watt-Cloutier has spent more than 25 years advocating for the rights of the Arctic’s Inuit peoples and other Indigenous groups around the world. On Friday, she addressed an audience of hundreds in the Glenn Miller Ballroom on the CU ��«��Ƶ campus as the first keynote speaker of the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit.

Speaking to the packed room on her birthday, Watt-Cloutier quipped that when many people living in the United States think about the Arctic, their minds go to a hallmark of capitalism: soda commercials—the ones where polar bears frolic with seals on the ice.

“The world knows more about our wildlife and the ice of the Arctic than its people,” she said.

Watt-Cloutier has spent her career trying to put a human face on this cold part of the planet and on the changes in climate that have devastated the region—causing temperatures to soar and melting the Arctic’s all-important sea ice. She also noted that Indigenous peoples aren’t merely the victims of climate change. They are also in the best position to solve this global crisis, which has begun to affect communities around the world, even in the balmier south.

“Indigenous wisdom is the medicine the world seeks to attain sustainability, and we’ve got to start to tap into that wisdom,” Watt-Cloutier said. “We can show the world about sustainability because we still rely on our environment, our lands, our water to sustain our way of life.”

“The world knows more about our wildlife and the ice of the Arctic than its people.”

—Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Shared trauma

One of the key themes of Watt-Cloutier’s moving keynote address was that the problems facing the planet and its people today aren’t separate. As she put it, “Human trauma, planet trauma are one in the same.”

Today, roughly 165,000 Inuit people live in the Arctic, spread across parts of the United States, Canada and Russia. Watt-Cloutier explained that the legacy of colonialism has taken a toll on the culture and livelihood of these communities. In the 1950s, for example, the Canadian government began a campaign of taking Indigenous youth from their homes and sending them to schools far from home.

The impacts of climate change, she added, are just the latest manifestations of that traumatic history. At the same time, communities across the globe are also beginning to notice the consequences of the Arctic’s collapse—through wildfires, floods and other disasters.

“[The Arctic] is the air conditioner for the planet,” Watt-Cloutier said. “It’s breaking down and it’s hurting not just us in the Arctic and our way of life, but it is creating the havoc we see today.”

Warm bellies

She also believes that the ingenuity of Indigenous peoples can help to solve these problems.

Watt-Cloutier spoke proudly about how Inuit peoples invented, among other things, the kayaks that are popular across the globe.

“We can build a home of snow warm enough for your mothers to birth in,” she said. “We can still do that today. That’s architecture and engineering at its best.”

Time and time again, Watt-Cloutier returned to food as a solution to many of the issues in modern Inuit communities. She spoke about her young grandson who is autistic and feels more “grounded” when he eats a traditional Inuit diet, including seal meat.

“Food is medicine for him, especially protein, especially country food.”

Indigenous contributions to solving the globe’s climate crisis may also go beyond nutrition and inventions. Watt-Cloutier said that many Indigenous communities, including Inuit peoples, recognize that humanity can only solve its climate crisis by working across cultures and nations.

“We can’t think our way out of this,” she said. “We have to feel our way out of this.”

At the end of Watt-Cloutier’s talk, she and the audience highlighted what might have been a small example of that shared humanity. The Glenn Miller Ballroom serenaded the advocate with a standing ovation and rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

“I hope somebody captured that because my people aren’t going to believe this,” Watt-Cloutier said.

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South African activist Kumi Naidoo named keynote speaker

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 13:52:47 +0000

South African activist Kumi Naidoo named keynote speaker Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 08/31/2022 - 07:52

Kumi Naidoo, a South African activist, Rhodes scholar and former executive director of Greenpeace International, will deliver a keynote speech at this year’s Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit in ��«��Ƶ, Colorado.

Born in Durban, South Africa, in 1965, Naidoo has spent more than 40 years as a human rights and environmental activist. His activism has taken him from Greenland to the streets of Glasgow, Scotland, where he joined protests at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26. His life’s work emerged early: At age 15, Naidoo participated in school boycotts against apartheid, South Africa’s system of institutionalized racial oppression, for which he was expelled. After multiple arrests, Naidoo was forced to flee the country in the 1980s and lived in exile in the United Kingdom, where he earned a doctorate in political sociology from Oxford University.

Naidoo noted that he’s seen firsthand how young people can create positive change in the world. It was his own daughter, Naomi, who convinced him to get involved in the struggle against climate change.

“For a very long time and still today, it is young people who have been advocating for climate awareness and transformation because they are aware of what is at stake if drastic measures are not taken to address it,” Naidoo said. “However, the youth did not create this crisis, so I listened and learned from my daughter.”

The Dec. 1–4 summit, co-hosted by United Nations Human Rights and CU ��«��Ƶ, will bring to campus thought leaders, youth activists, and scientific, political, educational, cultural and industry experts from around the world for public keynote addresses and panels exploring how climate change impacts fundamental rights, including the right to food, safe water, housing and health.

“We are truly humbled to have Kumi Naidoo deliver a keynote address at the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit,” said Seth Marder, director of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) at CU ��«��Ƶ and one of three chairs of the summit’s steering committee. “Throughout his entire career, he has been a leading activist on human rights issues and brings a truly unique and holistic view to climate change as a human rights issue.”

Marder said Naidoo will “challenge and inspire our global community to understand its responsibilities and take action to address it.”

Naidoo will join keynote speakers Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, and Indigenous rights leader Sheila Watt-Cloutier. More than 30 other speakers and panelists from Chile, Uganda, the Philippines and beyond will join the summit this December. Members of the public will be able to join via livestream.

Naidoo said he wants to use his keynote speech to emphasize the urgent need for boldness on climate change.

“What we, as humanity, do in the next eight years will determine the type of future humanity will face,” Naidoo said. “Hopefully, the audience will be inspired to take bold action, get involved in fights for social and environmental justice, be creative, use all the tools they have available, and put pressure on leaders, governments, philanthropists and activists to act with greater urgency.”

Naidoo, who returned to South Africa in 1990, led the process to formally register the African National Congress as a political party. He served as the international executive director of Greenpeace International from 2009 to 2016 and secretary general of Amnesty International from 2018 to 2020.

He is currently a senior advisor for the Community Arts Network (CAN), an organization that seeks to create social impact through the arts, and a special advisor to the Green Economy Coalition. He is professor of practice at Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University and continues to serve as a global ambassador for Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity.

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Kumi Naidoo

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 17:16:50 +0000

Kumi Naidoo Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/22/2022 - 11:16

Day 3: Solutions

Keynote Speaker
Sunday, December 4, 2022

Recap of Kumi Naidoo's speech

Kumi Naidoo is a South African-born human rights and climate activist. At 15, he organized school boycotts against the apartheid educational system in South Africa. His work made him a target for the security police and he was forced into exile in the United Kingdom until 1990. Naido returned to South Africa and was asked to lead the process to formally register the African National Congress as a political party. Kumi then served as the official spokesperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, the overseer of the country's first democratic elections in April 1994.

He has served as international executive director of Greenpeace International (from 2009 to 2016) and secretary general of Amnesty International (from 2018 to 2020). Naidoo has lectured at Fossil Free University and was a Richard von Weizsäcker fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy until early 2022.

Naidoo is a senior advisor for the Community Arts Network and a special advisor to the Green Economy Coalition. He is professor of practice, Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, and continues to serve as a global ambassador, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity. Naidoo is a visiting fellow, Oxford University, and honorary fellow, Magdalen College.

“Struggles only move forward when decent men and women step forward and say, 'Enough is enough and no more.’”

—Kumi Naidoo

Summit keynote speaker

Notable Work & Honors:

South African-born human rights and climate activist
Led the process to formally register the African National Congress as a political party
Served as international executive director of Greenpeace International and secretary general of Amnesty International
Serves as a global ambassador, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity
Previous lecturer and current professor and fellow at various institutions, including: Fossil Free University, Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, Oxford University and Magdalen College

Kumi Naidoo is a South African-born human rights and climate activist.

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How a human rights approach to climate change can spark real change

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 19:45:45 +0000

How a human rights approach to climate change can spark real change Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/05/2022 - 13:45

Lisa Marshall

Sheila Watt-Cloutier

James Anaya

Mary Robinson

On Dec. 7, 2005, Canadian-born mother and grandmother Sheila Watt-Cloutier filed a 163-page petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights arguing that the impacts of climate change violated the “fundamental human rights” of Indigenous Inuit people like her across the Arctic.

“It is the responsibility of the United States, as the largest source of greenhouse gases, to take immediate and effective action to protect the human rights of the Inuit,” the petition read. The commission ultimately declined to hear the case.

But Watt-Cloutier’s bold move helped kick-start what many describe as a sea change in how the international community thinks about climate change. Rather than center conversations around the science behind it or the economics and politics of addressing it, as had been the norm for decades, Watt-Cloutier and a new brand of climate justice advocates took a different approach. They framed climate change not as a distant, abstract concern but as a current human rights crisis that disproportionately impacts marginalized communities. Thus, they made the case that government and industry are duty-bound to respect and protect those rights in the face of climate change.

“Before that time, at nearly every meeting I attended, they were talking about polar bears and ice,” said Cloutier, who will present a keynote speech at the upcoming Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit on the CU ��«��Ƶ campus. “To put a human face to the issue was really important.”

Two years later, a small group of island states led by the Maldives joined forces to adopt the Malé Declaration, the first intergovernmental statement that “climate change has clear and immediate implications for the full enjoyment of human rights.” The next year, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the first of what became a series of resolutions linking climate change to human rights.

In February 2020, UN Secretary General António Guterres proclaimed unequivocally: “The climate crisis is the biggest threat to our survival as a species and is already threatening human rights around the world.”

In framing it this way, climate justice advocates say they gain more leverage in both the court of public opinion and the court of law, and better assure that as policymakers set out to craft solutions, those most affected by climate change (but often least responsible for it) have a seat at the table.

“Viewing climate change through a human rights lens brings to the fore the urgency of the problem and helps us to focus on what it is really about—human beings and our survival,” said James Anaya, a university Distinguished Professor and professor of international law at CU ��«��Ƶ, and the lead of three co-chairs for the climate summit.

The toll on human rights

In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees that all human beings are entitled to a social and international order in which their rights and freedoms can be fully realized.

Those rights include the right to health, food, housing, life and culture.

Climate change threatens all of them, and the Indigenous people of the Arctic, which has warmed much faster than any other region of the globe, were among the first to feel it, Watt-Cloutier explained.

In the village of Shishmaref, Alaska, where people have been living, hunting and fishing for 2,000 years, melting sea ice is swallowing homes. Roads built on once-sturdy permafrost are sinking as it thaws. Hunters who have traveled across the ice for centuries now face the danger of breaking through it. Seals and polar bears that depend on the ice are moving farther out, threatening food supplies. Thinning ozone and increased ultraviolet exposure have boosted reports of skin cancer and cataracts.

Erosion next to houses in Shishmaref, Alaska

Aerial view of Shishmaref, Alaska

“We are the most adaptable people in the world. We invented the kayak. We can build a home made of snow that is warm enough for a mother to birth in. We are teachers, not victims. I believe Indigenous wisdom is the medicine the world seeks.”

—Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Inuit culture is also under threat, said Watt-Cloutier, as hunting traditions in the Arctic come with key lessons about resiliency, coping, patience and boldness.

“Our culture is based on the ice, the snow and the cold. That's who we are,” said Watt -Cloutier, author of The Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Fight to Protect the Arctic and Save the Planet from Climate Change.

Elsewhere around the globe, the human toll of climate change became apparent to Mary Robinson, then the UN high commissioner for human rights in the early 2000s. “No matter where I went, I kept hearing variations on the same phrase: ‘But things are so much worse now,’” she wrote in her 2019 bestseller, Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future.

Robinson, the former president of Ireland, who will deliver a keynote speech at the climate summit in ��«��Ƶ, recalls farmers in Africa whose harvests failed to arrive or whose crops and villages were washed away by floods.

“In the past, I had seen images of stranded polar bears and the disappearance of ancient glaciers, but these stories from the frontlines of climate change suddenly began to match the scientific findings I was reading about,” Robinson wrote.

Anaya is quick to note that while the ravages of climate change are now being felt globally—including in ��«��Ƶ, which has been hit by devastating floods and fires in recent years—women, people with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, children and other marginalized groups tend to feel the brunt.

“A human rights approach pays attention to those groups that are particularly in vulnerable situations and makes sure to include their voices in the discussions about solutions,” Anaya said.

Obligations and solutions

Under international human rights law, governments have the primary obligation to protect human rights, Anaya said.

Increasingly, climate justice advocates are seizing upon this legal obligation and taking governments to court for failure to protect human rights.

For instance, in 2013, the Urgenda Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Dutch government demanding that it take steps to address the toll climate change was taking on human rights. In a groundbreaking 2019 decision, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands ordered the government to cut the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25% from 1990 levels.

Since then, hundreds of plaintiffs have filed suit against governments and businesses for failing to protect human rights from the impacts of climate change.

Meanwhile, a human rights approach has given a new voice to vulnerable communities, aiming to ensure that when solutions are discussed, their interests are top of mind.

“These solutions have to be equitable, and certain groups should not bear the cost more than others,” Anaya said.

For instance, if wind power is a solution, how will the construction of those wind farms affect the lives, livelihoods and traditions of people in local communities? When it comes to costly mitigation and adaptation strategies, who will pay?

“The human rights framing emphasizes equity and fairness. Those who are most responsible for climate change have the greatest responsibility to address it,” Anaya said.

Watt-Cloutier is quick to note that those who are most vulnerable to climate change—while often portrayed as victims and left unheard—tend to have unique and valuable perspectives on solutions.

“We are the most adaptable people in the world. We invented the kayak. We can build a home made of snow that is warm enough for a mother to birth in. We are teachers, not victims,” she said of the Inuit. “I believe Indigenous wisdom is the medicine the world seeks.”

As the world increasingly seeks an answer to what is now broadly viewed as an existential threat to human rights and the future of humanity, she said she has renewed hope.

“I believe the campaigns that link climate change to human rights protection efforts, that acknowledge our shared humanity and our shared future, are the most effective way to bring about lasting change.”

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Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 00:15:33 +0000

Sheila Watt-Cloutier Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 07/06/2022 - 18:15

Day 1: Impacts

Keynote Speaker
Friday, December 2, 2022

Recap of Sheila Watt-Cloutier's speech

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, global advocate for indigenous rights and health, and a leader focused on the impact of climate change on human rights, will present a keynote address at the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit.

In 2005, Watt-Cloutier launched the world's first international legal action on climate change: a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging that fossil fuel emissions from the United States—a large contributor to global warming—violated Inuit cultural and environmental human rights.

“Throughout her work as an innovative leader, author and speaker, she has inspired bold new thinking for building solutions to the climate crises that affect us all,” said S. James Anaya, Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado Law School and chair of the Right Here, Right Now summit steering committee.

“Everything is connected. Connectivity is going to be the key to addressing these issues, like contaminants and climate change.”

—Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Summit keynote speaker

Notable Work & Honors:

Creator of the world's first international legal action on climate change
Previous president and international chair of Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) Canada
The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet (2015)–an award-winning memoir unraveling the effects of climate change on Inuit communities
2005 United Nations Champion of the Earth Award and the Sophie prize in Norway
2015 Right Livelihood Award winner

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President Mary Robinson

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 23:59:24 +0000

President Mary Robinson Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 07/06/2022 - 17:59

Former President of Ireland • Chair of The Elders • Former UN Special Envoy on Climate Change

Day 2: Obligations

Keynote Speaker
Saturday, December 3, 2022

Recap of Mary Robinson's speech

One of the world’s most respected advocates for climate justice and Ireland’s first woman President, Mary Robinson leads the Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, a center for thought leadership, education and advocacy for the poor and disempowered in the world that are disproportionately threatened by climate change. President Robinson has moved audiences around the world with her passionate and hopeful call for all nations to work together to fight for a sustainable future. Barack Obama, awarding Robinson the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, praised her as an “advocate for the forgotten and the ignored”, noting that she has “not only shone a light on human suffering, but illuminated a better future for our world.”

Mary Robinson first rose to international prominence as President of Ireland from 1990-97. She is widely regarded as a groundbreaking and transformational leader who elevated the public role of the Irish presidency, helping to shape modern Ireland in a period of rapid and unprecedented economic growth. From 1997-2002, Robinson served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, also transforming that office through highly visible public advocacy. She is a founding member and currently the chair of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders formed by Nelson Mandela to tackle the world’s most pressing problems. President Robinson served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, sounding the alarm as extreme weather events dramatically affected the world’s most vulnerable populations. She served as Vice President of the Club of Madrid, chair and co-founder of the Council of Women World Leaders, serves on numerous boards including the European Climate Foundation and chairs the newly formed Centre for Sport and Human Rights. She was honorary president of Oxfam International from 2002 to 2010 and has chaired numerous bodies, including the GAVI Alliance which vaccinates children worldwide.

She has taught at Trinity College and Columbia University, served in the Irish Senate for twenty years, and co-founded the Irish Centre for European Law at Trinity College. A graduate of Trinity, King’s Inns Dublin and Harvard Law School, she holds honorary doctorates from more than 40 of the world’s most elite universities and is the recipient of the Indira Gandhi and Sydney Peace Prizes.

President Robinson brings the thought leadership of a former head of state, a grandmother’s passionately felt concern for the future and the compelling stories of the thousands she has met traveling the world as a champion for climate justice, human rights, gender equality, and corporate responsibility. Known for touching hearts, expanding mindsets and sparking meaningful conversation, Mary Robinson frames humanity’s most daunting threat in highly solvable terms, leaving audiences hopeful and inspired to change the course of our planet’s future.

“The aim of human rights…is to move beyond the design and drawing-board phase, to move beyond thinking and talking about the foundation stones–to laying those foundation stones, inch by inch, together.”

Mary Robinson

Summit keynote speaker

Notable Work & Honors:

First female president of Ireland
Previous United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice
Founding member and currently the chair of The Elders
Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future–a book sharing stories, hope and an argument for addressing the world’s most pressing issue
U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom award winner

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President Mary Robinson, Keynote Speaker

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 14:01:05 +0000

President Mary Robinson, Keynote Speaker Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/13/2022 - 08:01

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Former President of Ireland, Chair of The Elders & Former UN Special Envoy on Climate Change

One of the world’s most respected advocates for climate justice and Ireland’s first woman President, Mary Robinson leads the Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, a center for thought leadership, education and advocacy for the poor and disempowered in the world that are disproportionately threatened by climate change. A sought-after speaker whose TED Talk received a standing ovation, President Robinson has moved audiences around the world with her passionate and hopeful call for all nations to work together to fight for a sustainable future. Her new book, Climate Justice, has received glowing reviews from former world leaders and the environmental and human rights community. Barack Obama, awarding Robinson the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, praised her as an “advocate for the forgotten and the ignored”, noting that she has “not only shone a light on human suffering, but illuminated a better future for our world.”

Mary Robinson first rose to international prominence as President of Ireland from 1990-97. She is widely regarded as a groundbreaking and transformational leader who elevated the public role of the Irish presidency, helping to shape modern Ireland in a period of rapid and unprecedented economic growth. From 1997-2002, Robinson served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, also transforming that office through highly visible public advocacy. She is a founding member and currently the Chair of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders formed by Nelson Mandela to tackle the world’s most pressing problems and leads The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice. President Robinson served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, sounding the alarm as extreme weather events dramatically affected the world’s most vulnerable populations. She served as Vice President of the Club of Madrid, chair and co-founder of the Council of Women World Leaders, serves on numerous boards including the European Climate Foundation and chairs the newly formed Centre for Sport and Human Rights. She was honorary president of Oxfam International from 2002 to 2010 and has chaired numerous bodies, including the GAVI Alliance which vaccinates children worldwide. Since 1998, Robinson has also served as Chancellor of The University of Dublin (Trinity College). A committed European, she has been active in European Community and Irish parliamentary committees. In her earlier career, Robinson was a crusading lawyer for women’s and human rights, arguing landmark cases in European and Irish courts.

Earning consistent praise as an unforgettable keynote speaker, President Robinson brings the thought leadership of a former head of state, a grandmother’s passionately felt concern for the future and the compelling stories of the thousands she has met traveling the world as a champion for climate justice, human rights, gender equality, and corporate responsibility. Known for touching hearts, expanding mindsets and sparking meaningful conversation, Mary Robinson frames humanity’s most daunting threat in highly solvable terms, leaving audiences hopeful and inspired to change the course of our planet’s future.

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Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Environmental, Cultural and Human Rights Advocate

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 13:56:35 +0000

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Environmental, Cultural and Human Rights Advocate Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/13/2022 - 07:56

“Throughout her work as an innovative leader, author and speaker, she has inspired bold new thinking for building solutions to the climate crises that affect us all,” said S. James Anaya, a Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado Law School and chair of the Right Here, Right Now summit steering committee.

CU ��«��Ƶ Today | June 9, 2022: Indigenous rights leader, Nobel nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier to speak at climate change summit

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