PROPOSING ORGANIZATIONS FOR THIS WORKSHOP:
Friends of the Earth US, ActionAid International USA, Indigenous Environmental Network, Institute for Policy Studies, Jubilee USA Network, Oil Change International

MESSAGES
If you care about social justice and global poverty, it’s time to take action on global climate change.
• Global warming is already seriously affecting our planet and threatens the world with increased storms and flooding, droughts, drops in food production, water scarcity, and disease. Around the globe, the most impoverished people are likely to bear the brunt of the impacts.
• The United States and other rich countries are disproportionately responsible for the greenhouse gas pollution that causes global warming. Responses to climate change must be just and equitable and acknowledge the responsibility of the United States in creating the problems of global warming.

We can begin to build a movement for global climate justice by:
• joining with others around the world who are working on the climate crisis;
• finding ways to push our government to take action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, acknowledging the disproportionate contribution of the U.S. to the problem;
• supporting countries in the global South and affected communities in the U.S. in adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change; and
• ending harmful policy practices like fossil fuel subsidies and instead supporting clean energy solutions

WORKSHOP
This workshop aims to educate participants about the impacts of global warming on people around the world, in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the United States. We will use pictures, videos, and brief presentations on the ways in which communities are being impacted by problems caused by climate change and how they are fighting back. We will also highlight the growing global movement for climate justice, and discuss opportunities for involvement in and strengthening of this global movement.

In interactive sessions, we will discuss possible messaging, policy, and actions to address the problems of climate change. Discussion sessions could include:
• How to incorporate climate justice in the climate change debate, in order to push for an acknowledgment of equity concerns in policy discussions
• How to promote equitable responses to climate change – both inside and outside the United States – including funding and support for communities to adapt to climate change.
• What sort of policies can address climate, energy, and global poverty issues – for example, ending domestic and foreign aid for oil projects, debt forgiveness, and funding for renewable energy

The workshop will be conducted in English, but we hope to provide materials in Spanish.

CHALLENGES
The biggest challenges to building a climate justice movement are misinformation and a lack of understanding about the causes and solutions to global warming. Until very recently in the United States, global warming has been portrayed in the media as creating problems for ice caps and polar bears, but the impacts on human beings have not been highlighted nearly as much. But global warming is already disrupting the lives of people around the world, and climate-related storms, droughts, and disease threatens the lives of millions if we do not take action now. There are feasible actions that can be taken to address this problem, but we need to build popular pressure to take action for climate justice immediately.

CROSS CUTTING THEMES
Neoliberalism, corporations, World Bank, environmental degradation, inequality, privatization, deregulation, imperialism, capitalism, institutional racism, Hurricane Katrina, internationalism, social justice, sustainability, popular education