Climate justice can’t happen without racial justice | David Lammy

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Why has there been so little mention of saving Black lives from the climate emergency? For too long, racial justice efforts have been distinguished from climate justice work, says David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, England. In a stirring talk about building a new movement to care for the planet, Lammy calls for inclusion and support of Black and minority leadership on climate issues and a global recognition that we can't solve climate change without racial, social and intergenerational justice.

This talk was part of the Countdown Global Launch on 10.10.2020. (Watch the full event here: .) Countdown is TED's global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. The goal: to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, in the race to a zero-carbon world. Get involved at

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56 Comments on Climate justice can’t happen without racial justice | David Lammy

    • Actually, it is, nowadays. It’s just that some people can’t get over that it once used to be really “Ideas worth spreading”.
      Look, TED means “Technology, Entertainment, Design”. I, at least, choose to see this type of video as belonging to the Entertainment section. If nothing else, the comments are hilarious.

    • @indie lover The World goes through warming cycles throughout it’s history, that’s scientific fact.
      I empathize with people everywhere effected by climate change, but to conflate critical race theory into a Frankenstein blend with climate change, is purely just indoctrination.
      Global warming was a false narrative pushed by Al Gore as fear tactics decades ago.

      While the Earth is changing, sometimes dramatically, there is not much, that we can do, or Not do, to really effect the World in the way that the Ideology of Climate Change suggests.

      Yes there is Rainforest destruction, Yes there are Huge amounts of Plastic and Landfills Globally, among many other things, and we can seek to Lesson our footprint, but Facts get mixed with lies and oversimplifications when Climate Change the Political Ideology comes into play.

    • Everything is not a race issue, but most problems within society are a class or power issue. To say everything is a race issue is a simple tactic to divide the poorer classes and take the focus away from the real issues.

    • @Truth is 4 All to hear On your first point: The world goes through warming cycles, yes. We have science backing up where those cycles come from. However, we threw those cycles out of balance by amounts that can’t be correlated to error.
      The warming cycles you speak of occurr over millions of years. But the ones we’re dealing with right now occurred over decades.
      I plead to you, look at the scientific basis behind why people say global temperature rising are manmade. Ignore the political discourse (including the absurdity of this video up here) and go back to the sources of why scientists say we have a problem.

      It’s hard to find a cohesive source on those issues, but for something perhaps a bit lighthearted but fully giving all its sources on why it says what it does, I suggest looking this video up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqwvf6R1_QY

    • Everything is about race. Like for fish everything is about food and reproduction. They don’t know they are swimming in water. It’s a similar context for race

    • Atomicus Aquinas It’s been recognized since the civil war era. Explain to me why I should be punished for something I didn’t do or been a part of? You were never a slave, I never been a slave owner. Any racism falls onto the black community by always maintaining a victim belief. I didn’t stop you from getting your job and making a name for yourself. You did. You who failed to recognize the opportunities you’ve been given or refusal to take them. If you REALLY want to talk about black injustice, then look no further than Africa where they still practice slavery.

    • @FallenAngelHiroko obviously your reaction is strong and I’m curious why you feel like you are being “punished”? What is it in this talk that feels like a punishment?

    • @Someone Else Global temperatures fell between 1940 and 1980, despite CO2 emissions increasing. This proves there is no causal relationship.

    • @Bearly Listening no they weren’t. The headlines were. Even at its peak there were twice or three times as many global warming papers as global cooling.

      You’ve just been lied to about this. By free market think tanks funded by fossil fuel billionaires. Please please please actually look into this. Exxons research started in the 70’s and was broadly accurate compared to actual data recorded since and the scientific consensus back then and today.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExxonMobil_climate_change_controversy

    • @Someone Else Are you disputing that the temperature fell between 1940 and 1980? The earth WAS cooling, which proves there is no direct relationship with CO2. Do you even have any idea how tiny the atmospheric CO2 composition is?

    • @Someone Else If you think we can cool the planet with aerosols, you’re even dumber than I thought… but that should be great news. All we have to do is use more hairspray. Don’t waste my time until you can tell me what percentage of the atmosphere is CO2.

  1. Focusing on one group is not equality. In terms of climate change, or any other political actions to societies problems, we need to look at the affects on ALL members of society with their individual requirements for any policy to work.

  2. So basically trying to solve climate change is racist, and that leaders should be the ones that don’t participate in climate change.
    Great advice, teded.

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