Ideas + Action 2021 — Opening Keynote with Dr. Robert Bullard: The Quest for Environmental and Climate Justice

Climate change is very real. In 2020, the United State alone faced 22 climate-driven disasters that each caused more than $1 billion in damages. California saw its worst fire season in modern history. The arctic experienced an unprecedented low in total sea ice. And the year capped off the hottest decade on record. Unless the world acts in unison, this new normal will continue to exacerbate, causing incalculable economic and societal ramifications. What hope do we have? Kick off Ideas + Action 2021 with a call to action on climate change with one of the originators of environmental justice about what we can do to create a sustainable and equitable future for future generations.

• Dr. Robert Bullard, often called the “father of environmental justice,” is the former Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University and is an award-winning author of eighteen books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, community reinvestment and resilience, climate justice, natural disasters and regional equity. He was the founding Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University and the co-founder of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium. He has been honored as one of the “13 Environmental Leaders of the Century” by Newsweek, as one of “22 Climate Trailblazers” by the Global Climate Action Summit, one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy” by Apolitical and has received the Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award by the United Nations Environment Program — the UN’s highest environmental honor.