On Rev. Martin Luther King Day, I went to Busboys and Poets in Washington DC to hear Naomi Klein speak about her new book, The Shock Doctrine. It was standing room only and the line was around the block with people still trying to get in. I was invigorated by Naomi yes, but more so by her fellow speakers on the Climate Debt Panel. Michele Roberts, the Campaign and Policy Coordinator for Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, recited a spoken word poem "Vulnerable Community" that captured the voices of those people that suffer most from Climate Change but are heard from the least. watch it below.
Pablo Solanos, Bolivia's Ambassador to the UN also spoke about his disheartening and unbelievable experience and ultimately, null results of the Coopenhagen "talks", watch it below. (Thank you Farrah Hansen for the video footage).
Solano's discussion on the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth encouraged me to attend. Perhaps, I am an idealist, perhaps I am naive to believe that the diversity within civil society will save us and lead the way on the environmental front, if only because our health and security depends on it.
Regardless, this is my journey, I am going to Cochabamba to lead La Trenza Leadership's Eco-Hermanas group of 12 Intergenerational Indigenous, migrant, Afro-descendant, and Latino women and men leaders. They represent the dignified yet vulnerable voices and communities of the United States. I want you to also be part of this journey, so I will be blogging regularly and sharing resources and links on my Facebook and Twitter pages where you may meet these leaders and share the experience with us as it unfolds in Cochabamba. Pack Lightly!
"When we heal the earth, We heal ourselves." David Orr
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