Print"Climate change is happening now and to all of us. No country or community is immune. And, as is always the case, the poor and vulnerable are the first to suffer and the worst hit." UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres (March 2019). See Secretary General Guterres' full remarks.
Climate justice is the idea that responding to climate change isn't simply about reducing our emissions and ensuring we've elevated our beach houses to withstand stronger storm surges. Climate justice represents an opportunity to address deep-seated social inequities that increase vulnerability to climate change among some people and recognizes our collective responsibility to those who are most vulnerable. The Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice organizes this into the following principles:
- Respect and protect human rights
- Support the right to development
- Share benefits and burdens equitably
- Ensure that decisions on climate change are participatory, transparent, and accountable
- Highlight gender equality and equity
- harness the transformative power of education for climate stewardship
- Use effective partnerships to secure climate justice
Basically, let's make the world a better place for everyone who is here now and who will come after us. Think for a moment about the Fridays for Future movement led by Greta Thunberg. Here, we're seeing a demand for intergenerational justice - the kids are demanding the adults work aggressively to fix a problem they've created rather than leaving it to the next generation to figure out. The principles listed above (and I do encourage you to go read more about them on the Foundation's website) tie in quite well with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (which we'll get to in Unit 3 when we turn our attention to responses to climate change).