New Youth Track sponsored and organized by the
Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC).
Youth Track Agenda
Achieving Climate Justice: Youth Advocacy Brainstorming Session
Our communities and our Earth are at the tipping point. It is up to us to develop the strategies to save ourselves. We must reframe the climate debate and ensure that it includes the issues that are affecting our people. If you can’t stand the heat and want your voices and ideas heard, come to this session. This session is the second part of a youth track of panels organized by the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC).
Panelists:
Marisol Becerra – Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
Kari Fulton – Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative
Michon Gwen - Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation
Chris Norwood – Tennessee State University
Nia Robinson – Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative
Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009
Time: 1:15 – 2:30
Climate Justice Opportunities: Crafting a Youth Call to Action
Youth will take the ideas and concepts developed in the Thursday youth track sessions to craft a call to action in preparation for the Town Hall Meeting. This session is the third and final part of a youth track of panels organized by the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC).
Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009
Time: 2:45 – 4:00
Fired Up and Ready to Go: Youth Call to Action
Youth will take the ideas and concepts developed in the brainstorming session to craft a call to action in preparation for the Town Hall meeting.
Date: Friday January 30, 2009
Time: 1:15 - 2:30
Panelist Information
Marisol Becerra, an activist with Chicago's Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), launched its youth branch, YAOTL (Youth Activists Organizing as Today's Leaders) to map and inventory the toxins in a two-mile radius of the Fisk and Crawford coal power plants and produce OurMap of Environmental Justice, an interactive online map that includes youth-created videos, toxic sites and gang territory delineations with which to educate her community about environmental injustices. Marisol recently received the Earth Island Institute's 2008 New Leader Initiate Award in recognition of her work mapping and making an inventory of the more than 150 toxins located in her Chicago neighborhood.
Kari Fulton is the National Campus Campaign Coordinator for the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative. Fulton is a graduate of the John H. Johnson School of Communications at Howard University. Fulton is also a 2008 recipient of the Brower Youth Award (Earth Island Institute) and the Damu Smith Power of One Young Professional Award (Deep South Center For Environmental Justice at Dillard University). Currently Fulton acts as a spokesperson for the Energy Action Coalition, is a senior fellow with Young People For the American Way (YP4) and a member of the YP4 Leadership Academy.
Michon Gwen is a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. Her Indian name is Young Owl Woman. Gwen has spent the last three years working with Native students on and Off the Reservation. Gwen received her degree in Business from United Tribes in Bismarck, North Dakota. However, working with the Indigenous Environmental Network led Gwen to change her educational focus from Business Management to Environmental Science.
At 26 years old, Nia Robinson made the transition from former Climate Justice Corps and Steering Committee member to director of the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative. This transition from young concerned citizen to the helm of EJCC speaks truth to the power behind what EJCC sees as its core work, which is to educate and activate a new generation of Climate Justice activists. Robinson continues to move forward from union rallies and picket lines to Capitol Hill with a strong commitment and passion for organizing, as she did with both workers as an SEIU organizer and with community members working for environmental justice in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan.