Author: hiphopcaucus

How do we create a world where sustainability values of social cohesion, environmental consciousness, inter-generational equity, and economic health are the drivers of decision-making and business practices? This is the vision of global citizen Marilyn Waite, who leads the climate and clean energy finance portfolio at the Hewlett Foundation. We caught up with Marilyn to discuss some of the steps to make that vision a reality, which requires course correcting the climate movement to become anti-racist. More at TheCoolestShow.com and @Think100Climate. #BlackLivesMatter #Think100

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Systemic racism and structural inequity is deeply rooted in the history of America. But it’s not history – it’s reality for Indigenous people and people of color in 2020. As an Ingigenous leader and freedom fighter, Tara Houska is on the frontlines, using her skills as a lawyer and organizer against the machines of injustice. We caught up with her to discuss her work to stop the Line 3 Tarsands oil pipeline, COVID-19’s impact on Indigenous people, the intersection of Indigenous rights and the Black lives matter movement.We also learn how she isdoing after being maced and arrested by the Minneapolis police while protesting George Floyd’s murder. More at TheCoolestShow.com and @Think100Climate. #MniWiconi #BlackLivesMatter #Think100

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While we are being killed by police and vigilante violence, we are also dying a death of a thousand cuts by pollution in our lungs. Corporations poison our air and water, violate our rules and laws hundreds of times over. But we are up against a three strikes and you’re out justice system. One out of every three Black boys born today can expect to go to prison in their lifetime, but polluters never end up behind bars. These are the realities of injustice in our country that Jacqui Patterson, Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, has been working to change for decades as a researcher, advocate, and activist. More at TheCoolestShow.com and @Think100Climate. #BlackLivesMatter #Think100

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Advocating for what is right has been a journey, and Dr. Adrienne Hollis sits down with Rev to remind us that now is not the time to fear while facing the challenges ahead. Dr. Hollis is the Senior Climate Justice and Health Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She recounts what influenced her to study law and science and the impact of the youth in the climate justice movement. Rev and Dr. Hollis address the influential green organizations and the lack of diversity in these establishments while suppressing voices of color.

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In a period of powerful uprising for racial justice, we armor ourselves with love.. The living legend Dr. Mildred McClain joins The Coolest Show this week and shares why love is her leading force, how we can draw inspiration from those who came before us, and the necessity of communities of color taking the lead. Dr. Mildred McClain co-founded and is Executive Director of the Harambee House/Citizens For Environmental Justice, a community based organization in Savannah, Georgia, whose mission is to build the capacity of communities to solve their problems and to engage in positive growth and development. Conversations with Dr. McClain are nourishment for the soul, listen in!. #BlackLivesMatter. More at TheCoolestShow.com and @Think100Climate.

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The movement for Black lives and climate justice are about the right to breathe. It is vital to understand that. Once you have listened to Tamika Mallory and Rev Yearwood in the previous episode, listen to this conversation with Emerald Snipes Garner. Her father was Eric Garner, who was choked and killed by NYPD in 2014. His last words, which were recorded on video for the world to see, were “I can’t breathe.” George Floyd cried out with the same words less than two weeks ago in Minneapolis and died shortly after at the hands of police. Emerald  joins Rev Yearwood to discuss everything from police and vigilante violence, to Coronavirus, to air pollution, to health, to her father. They explore why it’s so dangerous to move through the environment while Black, whether birding in central park, sitting in your car at a park, or running down suburban tree-lined streets. #BlackLivesMatter. More at TheCoolestShow.com and @Think100Climate.

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And like that, everything changed. Since last episode, we are in a new paradigm, one that solidifies the fact that the movements to end systemic racism and to stop the climate crisis are one in the same. Climate justice is racial justice. National leader Tamika Mallory, co-founder of the Women’s March and Until Freedom, joins Rev Yearwood to discuss why we must all come together to challenge police violence, racism, and environmental injustice. Rev Yearwood caught up with Tamika as she was on the ground in Minneapolis seeking justice for George Floyd, and right after her trip to Louisville seeking justice for Breonna Taylor. #BlackLivesMatter. More at TheCoolestShow.com and @Think100Climate. 

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This week we go to “communiversity” in the deep south. Dr. Beverly Wright, environmental justice pioneer and movement matriarch, joins The Coolest Show to share her infinite wisdom on how we create equitable climate solutions and her perspective on how COVID-19 has impacted New Orleans worse than Hurricane Katrina. In addition to being a scholar, advocate, author, civic leader, and professor of sociology, she is the founding Executive Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, which addresses environmental and health inequities along the Louisiana Mississippi River Chemical Corridor and the Gulf Coast Region. You may even hear Dr. Wright tell a childhood story or two about Rev Yearwood in this episode! You don’t want to miss this.

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Returning from a brief hiatus due to COVID-19, Season 2 of The Coolest Show on Climate Change is back with weekly episodes. We could not return with a more insightful interview than this week’s conversation with Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director of UPROSE, Brooklyn’s, oldest Latino community-based organization. UPROSE is an intergenerational, multi-racial, nationally recognized community organization, which promotes sustainability and resiliency in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood. Rev Yearwood and Elizabeth discuss the mutual pain and mutual hope in movement building and the work of aligning climate solutions and racial justice as one mission. If you need to feel some love today, listen to this episode.

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Regina Hall, award-winning actress and producer, joins Hip Hop Caucus’ Think 100% Show to discuss her commitment to ‘Mama Earth’, clean energy’s role in addressing the racial wealth gap, and divestment from fossil fuels and investment in just and healthy solutions. Her empowering conversation with Think 100% cohost Antonique Smith also explores the importance of building a more inclusive and diverse climate movement. More at Think100.info.

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