Calling All Souls: Join us Nov. 1
2024 Transatlantic Forum for Environmental and Climate Justice: Successes and Visions for Environmental and Climate Justice in the United States and Germany
Join us for the 2024 Transatlantic Forum for Environmental and Climate Justice, a day of dialogue and workshops taking place November 1st at Georgetown University’s Mortara Center for International Studies. The event is free and open to the public.
This year’s forum is honored to welcome keynote speakers Sharon Lavigne, founder of Rise St. James, the grassroots organization fighting back against the petrochemical industry in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, Luisa Neubauer, prominent voice of Germany’s youth-powered climate justice movement, and filmmaker and lead organizer for Germany’s Fridays for Future Helena Marschall; workshop facilitators Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos, Tobias März, and Terri Chapman; Head of the German Embassy’s Economic and Finance Department, Jean Froehly; and Karim Marshall, Senior Advisor at the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. Together, these activists, organizers, and policymakers are working to ensure that environmental and climate actions, from the local to the global, lead with justice.
Students, novice or seasoned organizers, subject-matter experts, and members of the community curious about how to take part in advancing environmental and climate justice locally and supporting the movement globally are encouraged to attend. Everyone is welcome and every voice will be heard.
In Dialogue: Intercultural exchange at the grassroots
The most consequential advances for environmental and climate justice in Germany and the United States begin with organizers and activists on the ground. The forum’s opening and closing “In Dialogue” sessions are candid conversations with leaders from each country whose work at the local level has transformed the way we understand environmental and climate justice.
In the morning, we speak with Sharon Lavigne, recipient of the 2022 Laetare Medal and 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize, recently named to the TIME100 list of Most Influential People. Since 2018, she has organized residents of St. James Parish to stop the toxic industrial pollution devastating her community, raising awareness of systemic environmental racism, winning in court, and inspiring advocates across the world to join the fight. Learn more about the work of Rise St. James here.
The afternoon “In Dialogue” session brings together two of Germany’s most prominent voices from the youth-powered climate justice movement, Luisa Neubauer and Helena Marschall. Both Luisa, recognized by Forbes and TIME as an emerging global leader and the named-plaintiff in the landmark “Neubauer v. Germany” case that established the German federal government’s responsibility to undertake substantive climate action, and Helena, film director and veteran organizer of Europe’s largest demonstrations since the fall of the Berlin Wall, became active through the massive Fridays for Future and School Strike for Climate actions. Their work today builds on that legacy, developing democratic coalitions around climate, social justice, and labor movements.
Workshops: Connecting local action to global change
Two interactive workshops complement this year’s Transatlantic Forum for Environmental and Climate Justice dialogues. Jointly-facilitated by Freiburg-based speaker, organizer, and Last Generation activist Tobias März and Extinction Rebellion DC‘s Terri Chapman, the first workshop asks how individual and collective actions at the local level can make a lasting difference. How do we create momentum, build coalitions, and improve on-the-ground conditions for our communities? We will develop accessible action plans and learn how to leverage those actions for systemic change.
The afternoon workshop is led by Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos and focuses on addressing questions of environmental and climate justice as community. Our individual lived experiences bring us into the room. Some are fighting for policy change, some work for food security, and some seek commitments to climate loss and damage. How do we bring those voices and motivations together, uniting them for a shared vision of environmental and climate justice?
Join us November 1st
Doors open at 9am at Georgetown University’s Mortara Center for International Studies, and the program commences at 9:30. Welcome remarks from the German Embassy and EPA’s Office for Environmental Justice. Following our first conversation with Sharon Lavigne and workshop with Tobias März, lunch is provided for participants. The afternoon session begins with Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos’s interactive workshop and concludes with Luisa Neubauer and Helena Marschall sharing their stories of motivating millions to take action for environmental and climate justice. It’s a one-of-a-kind event, free and open to the public.
The Transatlantic Forum for Environmental and Climate Justice is hosted by POCACITO Network in partnership with the BMW Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University and supported by the German Embassy Washington. Additional collaborative support comes from Extinction Rebellion DC and the Heinrich Böll Stiftung in Washington, DC.
