Yeah, so we know that climate change is an urgent environmental crisis, the impacts of which are already being experienced across the globe. While climate change will affect everyone, to some extent, directly or indirectly, the countries of the global south and low income communities and communities of color around the world, as we know will be hit hardest by its impacts. And these are the people and places least responsible for the problem in the first place. Therefore, climate change is fundamentally a social justice issue. So in this talk, I discuss the urgency of the climate crisis, the inadequacy of current strategies, and why I believe climate justice approach is our best hope for solving the climate crisis. The playbook for climate justice advocates for a new paradigm for climate action that addresses the underlying drivers of climate change and aims to restore a healthy, more sustainable relationship between humans and nature for an ecologically resilient and socially just world. The playbook also attempts to lay out a set of concrete strategies aligned with climate justice. According to top scientists, in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, it's important to keep global temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre industrial levels with an aim of 1.5 degrees Celsius limit. And this is also the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement. In 2018, the IPCC or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is an international scientific body, published a report on the impacts of climate change at 1.5 degrees, 2 degrees, and beyond. And in the report, they also lay out strategies for meeting the goal under the Paris Agreement. Key findings from the report are the following. Keeping global temperatures below the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit will require major and immediate action at an unprecedented scale. We have never before witnessed such widespread rapid changes to our climate and massive transformations will need to be made across energy, land, industrial and urban, as well as other systems, and across technologies and geographies. Another one of the findings is that there's a significant difference between warming at 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius as ecosystems are very sensitive to even slight warming. So for example at 2 degrees according to the report, we would essentially lose all coral reefs but 1.5 degrees, we could save about 70% of them. Also several hundred million human lives are at stake and whole species are at risk of extinction given the high levels of deforestation and habitat loss associated with climate change. Even at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming low income communities and vulnerable populations will experience impacts. These communities, particularly in the global south, are more vulnerable to climate change due to loss of livelihoods, food insecurity, population displacement, health effects, and other climate impacts. Importantly, the report provided key timelines for action. It concluded that if we continue business as usual, we will reach 1.5 degrees by the year 2030. Also, emissions must reach net zero by the year 2050. And the sooner emissions peak, the better the chance of keeping global temperatures below 1.5 degrees. The good news, if there is any, is that keeping global temperatures below 1.5 is economically and technically feasible. It requires a massive investment in renewable energy, and shifting our economies from its reliance on fossil fuels toward one based on renewable energy. It also requires protecting and restoring forests as well as other forms of carbon revolt, both natural and technological. The bad news is that the IPCC report found that keeping global temperatures below 1.5 is politically unlikely, given the level of climate denial and inaction in one of the world's largest economies and carbon emitters, the US, as well as the weak international targets that, even if successful, would lead to warming as high as 3.5 degrees Celsius. And this is significantly higher than the 1.5 degree goal of the Paris Agreement. Despite the urgency of climate change. Conventional strategies and actions, particularly at the international level have been weak and mostly voluntary. The Paris Agreement, for example, is not legally binding, which means there's no penalty or sanction for failing to meet these climate targets. Conventional climate strategies are largely based on market mechanisms and technological fixes. Over more equitable solutions that address root causes of climate change. Carbon markets can let polluters off the hook by giving them options to buy their way out of retrofits to their facilities through emissions trading and carbon offsets. We need a different approach. We need a climate justice approach. Climate justice recognizes the disproportionate impacts of climate change on countries of the global south, low income communities, and communities of color around the world. Therefore, climate justice is a discourse and field that addresses the climate crisis as a social justice issue, as well as a social movement made up of activists, youth, bipoc communities, and a growing number of people around the world who seek more systemic solutions to climate change. Therefore, climate action must be based on a justice perspective. It's not just the ethical thing to do. It's our best hope for solving the climate crisis.