>> we don't take questions but john is happy to sign books i'm

with the aspen institute. i'm especially excited for us to have this conversation this morning to talk about the new book climate justice. we have copies on the table we will be talking about. this is a really critical issue and it is so important that they tell us a little bit about the work she's been doing on those lines. i want to start by recognizing the ambassador thank you for being with us. [applause] and we also have the honorable minister of the environment from coaster rica thank you for joining us. we also have our better half here with us and nick robinson. [applause] i want to start by saying the program for today.

she will talk for about 20 minutes on her back and then we are lucky to have an activist who's alswho is also an aspen vs fellow who will join in conversation for about 20 minutes talking across generations about what they aree both doing for climate justice. she traveled from her home country where they just have a historical election and then we will have time for questions and answers and have 20 minutes at the end for book signings. mary has to leave promptly at 12 and is going to be whisked off to another event so for those of you that would like to have your book signed, we can do that immediately afterwards. let me start by saying how great it is to see you as always. for those of you that don't know, mary robinson was the first presiden president of ired the commission for human rights. so a little point she was a very

strong activist and we created an organization and was about realizing economic and social cultural rights in particular in africa. it was a whirlwind to keep up with her energies that i am so pleased you are here with us today. i want to take a moment yesterday was emotional and moving for all of us. many of us are here because of her leadership for women of the world in which she's done her whole life. do you want to offer some thoughts for those of us that are really in shock about what happened yesterday? >> i used to know my way around aspen but now you've moved.

thank you for your lovely introduction. with all that's going on i watched the testimony yesterday and there was a wonderful moment for survivors of sexual assault of any kind. doctor ford was so insightful and was clear how much she suffered and she explains so much about survival on behalf of survivors. it may be that the senate will do the wrong thing in my view but whatever happens, she deserves a human rights award. >> that is a great idea. >> we will talk a little bit more about women as it relates to this issue but let's first

begin with the book climate justice. we started to try to find entrepreneurs and on the side mary was trying to educate herself about this issue and a lot has happened but maybe let's begin with what does climate justice ian and i want to take a minute to read from tor books use a it is in large part a justice problem our continued existence on the planet demands that we agree to a fair way of sharing the burdens and benefits of life on earth. the injustice is becoming more and more apparent but maybe i should step back a little bit and say quite humbly i served for five years as the commission

and because it is another part of the system with human rights, gender, people with disabilities and under that this is a friendly wor word and on the economic and social rights whether it was realizing i had been traveling a lot in african countries and i would hear this over and over again indicted here i think god is punishing us and now i would have breakfast with them and they would say i knew her before she became president he visited liberia and

she would say when i was growing up, there were two that were predictable. now today i don't know when it will, or for how long so i became aware of this injustice it brought home to me the hearing they were organizing before copenhagen and their would-be tribunals and i had my hat on and we were just listening to the farmers from africa and one of them were women of course and one of them stayed in my mind is the first t story in the book it it's hearig these stories one after the

other i remember as my father a medical doctor are you just complaining as farmers do to say something important. i think it is about 200 years when you think about it because the grandmother would tell the grandchild that is a span of

knowledge. she formed a women's group. it recognizes that climate change affects disproportionately the poorest countries and communities. one of the stories is about sean hanshaw at oxford and after. her father had been a preacher in the civil rights movement a

and. that is one side of this they address thaaddressed that issuef injustice and we must make sure that the benefits of clean energy get through but no one is left behind. most of it is climate weekend i was at the climate summit for the first time in five days johan of the project on planning boundaries became a codirector.

it puts such urgency because i know who's going to be affected first and foremost. there was a time we were realizing that we were trying very hard to make sure family planning and population issues and women's leadership or a part of the climate negotiations and i distinctly remember in south africa one of the climate talks

was there and was a dignified woman from the midst of these discussions. you are on one of them last week but for many of us it almost appears exhausting. they had 25 climate talks it's incredibly inspirational and we also are facing the reality of the paris agreement so tell us a little bit about how some of the people in this book are influencing these policy decisions and what is your own assessment. we are not like anything as we

need to be. in a way it is very good that you have a huge response in the united states is made very visible and states the cities and business and philanthropy and universities. for the climate finance in particular and things have slipped a bit but they are not stepping up to replace.

i would have had to pay to go back to the conference until people your island is not going to survive. then he became part of this high ambition coalition. a woman from australia who had a business in sydney and her husband was involved in environmental issues she decided

to see what she could do in her own household by becoming more energy efficient. she could be up to 20% in this lightbulb moment and she formed 1 billion women and she's done a lot to promote that i now have a podcast. i want to communicate the message. the biannual contest is climate change is a man-made problem and requires a feminist solution and

we make it clear. what i wanted to say in answer to your question we had a great story about that individually they hang up on her. she has tried and i'm trying as well.

they understood but that won't be enough. we need the government policies and >> i'm glad to hear you have a comedian with you on your podcast. we meet for breakfast at stake. remember the necessity is the mother of invention. >> let's talk about what you just said about the feminist approach to climate change, and i think for me and many in this room your life is a testimony to

the power of women and you are a hero to so many women here today. what did women's leadership look like in the climate negotiations right now, and even go so far as to cause but you mean by the feminist approach of these issues and what is needed. >> i would like to pick up on something that you said earlier that i meant to follow up on and that was creating space for the grassroots women to be at the table, and we formed a group of women leaders on the gender and climate change at the conference in copenhagen that you had several conferences before paris and more power to mexico for getting the holding back on track under the system because copenhagen had been a failure. my foundation was kind of a

mixture and we got together on a platform for fre of the three hf the conferences that presided over copenhagen before she became a climate action commissioner and the minister of foreign affairs of mexico and the following year in durban when those three women were up on stage with me i think that it was from the floor the current president of the general assembly said why not form a group of women leaders on the gender climate change which we did and the ministers are in the foreign affairs and gender in some cases and it was a youth

organization that we invented for the gender and climate change and we expanded the group. i managed to persuade the ambassador for women to come to durban despite the fact of telling her what would you do if durban. what i wanted to say was in the following year on gender climate change and propaganda plan we then realized what these women had to do to find places and their delegations. this was very powerful because when you have somebody like constance speaking as she does

and a pastoralist i think you remember her coming to the troika plus she's such a powerful voice and frankly they don't know the grassroots story. they live in these halls and if they don't actually have to fight like this to cope with the terrible unexpected and returning world that they are now facing and it's so important and good to hear them in california. are you saying some of the fundamental decisions a family or community faces about agriculture, about the environment or in the hands of women and the doorstep of a

woman is a place where these things happen because it is quite striking what does women's rights have to do with the environment so the community wasn't very interested in talking about this but it feels to me that you are burgeoning across the divide and you see women at the center. is this purpose the solution because they say people don't care enough about it so as you are burgeoning across the different sectors how is that? >> it's a pretty obvious thing that they change at least with children and then sometimes children educate parents that they are taking the issue much more seriously. i think that there is a difference and it's true the

women's leadership takes climate change extremely seriously when you go to the meeting in africa is at the top of the agenda to. when you go to a meeting here, it's a equal pay and maybe climate change. the connection is unfair and that's why this book and the podcast because i do have a sense of urgency they would be in their 30s and 40s. they share the world with about 9.5 billion people we are told and that's why the issue of family planning is so important. there's already so many stressors on food and water and

we are not a good place at the moment that a certain gentle man that i won't even name. >> let's go back to this notion of justice and begin bridging between the human rights and its mechanisms and climate change and environmental world. i'm curious how that's going and i just want to say for many people it is very radical but when we started realizing the board we put together they said how can i sue by allowing your mozambique but the tools are very often in calling out.

how is the human rights approach more than this theoretical idea. >> it's a very good question. with the last number of years we wanted to bring human rights and gender into the climate world and i must say when i first started i was shocked. just imagine the burden you put so the impacts are different and yet there was no interest until we helped the constituencies but they somehow couldn't get their voices heard and it hoped to have the leaders working with them and so getting the gender and human rights in my foundation wasn't there.

they would've been fight for this and we fought very hard to get all of the language into the paris agreement. at one stage some of the countries wouldn't have it the other work we were doing is getting the human rights council to take climate change more seriously with the idea that climate change having huge negative impacts over the world and this was 2004. somehow for various reasons the ball had been dropped and we were willing to work with

countries that have become champions so this very nitty-gritty focus nobody knew in order to work in both arenas. >> do you think there is still a lot of potential from the international frameworks of government and the trend towards nationalism are you still seeing that there is a lot of? >> bringing her baby into the un for one thing and she made a wonderful speech yesterday about

#wetoo, not #metoo, it's about human solidarity. not just new zealand. she knows they have to be much more helpful, so she's bucking the talk and then talking the talk. we need leaders and nothing has changed with the agenda and the paris climate agreement we have to take it more seriously. i am a bit encouraged i was lucky enough over the weekend were certainly not later than

sunday we had a wonderful conversation at 7:30 in the morning that's what happens between these conferences and the president of the marshall islands they were always on the optimistic side the investment is switching and we now have the technology the clean ai to cleas getting cheaper and cheaper and so that's always good and then talking about not only her own country but she is the chair of the climate of vulnerable countries in bingo , nepal and

ethiopia, etc.. they are going to have a virtual summits and that is the first time in the world that there is a virtual world on climate change. the virtual summit means no emissions and we could all learn over two days or a 24 hour period it goes from one end of the world to another and the heads of state and heads of organizations during the party video and wine and support the countries just in case the men in the room are getting nervous

we have the first male mother of invention and we have to do it separately we do the session before hand and it's the day that he was going into the un on the money they are the peace summit in honor of nelson mandela and they spoke very well and he didn't pull his punches and he was thinking on behalf of the whole contribution to the peace summit. when you've got a platform like

that. i remember him being on the stage for that. he was talking about the impact. this is a wonderful book i think everyone will love it and i just want to name them this young woman from vietnam and her organization is helping indigenous communities to get ownership of the forest plans so that they can manage them in a sustainable way. it's the former ownership and she says he's picke you state ty putting people at the height it must empower people living on the frontlines of climate change

and she said when you work with vulnerable and poor people you must believe them. people have their own technology and systems [inaudible] they actually cover they told me also she volunteered for us to speak and she was saying what's wonderful about this i was so shy i didn't think i could speak about the book until this movement.

you could feel it was really nice. >> i want to invite them to come to speak on the stage. happy to say and ask them new voice of fellow. an incredible person working with human rights and climate change and is a lecturer on sustainability and global warming, deputy ambassador to the united nations minister of state from home affairs from the north province and was a team member being quite a force and

power and i think represent hope for us all so i invited both of them for questions and then we will open up to all of you for question. >> i am all warmed up. i would like to start with when we first met and that was under mohammed who was such a champion in things changed and he mentioned a number of times over the years are you hopeful that there is a new election? >> we just want on sunday and they are waiting for the commission for support they had

a 90% turnout. the current regime is refusing to pay that rate so we hope our international partners can continue with pressure and i also want to say at the time it passed 65 years the new government have drawn back the environmental policies and progress made and at the head of state student and her in a single conference sessions it was pretty depressing and sad for us but now the new is a

climate of champion as well. we are very hopeful. >> we were on a panel together. tell me honestly what you think about the implementation coming from someone who's done a lot. >> if you want me to speak very honestly, it was a long process from copenhagen and cancun and paris and i was a negotiator and many times from the civil society they were looking forward to it but i understood

when it was adopted every one centigrade today and i understood why it was a historical and important event at the same timbut at the same s well because 1.5 is an 1.5 plusd excavation will go so it was heartbreaking for me to see on such an important issue but never to decide the important steps going forward. >> i think it is on the eighth of october the international intergovernmental panel on climate change is going to come out and say what do we have to

do is stay out of the 1.5 and do you think that would help? >> last month i was back and my nephew gave me this. they were on the beach, and it was used as accountancy in many countries around the world. we have a history and the culture. if you don't take urgent action to support that is coming out actually says that we have a small window of opportunity to mobilize the action to the climate change to increase

ambition and i don't want them to interfere. i want to take my time. i'd want my nieces and nephews to be able to live in the silence and people are passionate about what happens to the country and as you saw its not like this laid-back waiting for somebody to save us. people stood in line for 11 hours and traveled long distances. i flew to london to cast my ballot.

what do you think a specific hwnd and how do we mobilize people around the world. in order to make them we need to get people in. >> i absolutely agree and i am encouraged that is a conversation that i have been having in california and very much the younger people o younge nexus investment. they have a big organization. i haven't met them before they

put up a billion dollars to address how the communities are working and we were discussing how to pick up on this point of human rights, gender, indigenous rights, climate change they are all the same now. therefore we have to bring social movements together and put people front and center for the special envoy.

i see the pieces coming together more but i don't see the leadership across the world or in the united states taking this on in a way that we need. i don't see the leadership on climate change or any leadership on the climate change they are always keeping their heads down and that's also pretty hard but i have a great faith in young people, to be honest, and i think they do get it with a sense of urgency. but we only have a short time. >> you wanted to take another question and then i would love to open up to the audience. >> when i read the report on climate migration they put the

estimate around 400,000 people, i'm sorry, 4 million people that would be displaced that is like 30 years or so. we are not able to deal with the tens of millions of people right now as refugees with the migration. i think that this is the biggest humanitarian crisis that we have for the tens of millions of refugees. but how do we deal in a world where there would be 400 million people who become refugees were cross-border migration or internal migration, how do we address that the.

>> there is this global compact on migration the first and the un hathe unhas been prepared tot together at the high the high cr we couldn't get that but now it does into the climate displaced communities that would be those that would have to live there. it's happening already and if we can't manage migration better than we are going to have a huge crisis she's not trying to get

support for the adaptation building up the islands and i know that they've done some of this as well but it is awful pressure so it is a big issue and we are not thinking long term. to have guardians for future generations that confidently state in touch with the scientists and economists and look at what kind of world in 2020 and 2030 and then maybe you will start taking me seriously.

he said he wouldn't recognize or be part of global compact on migration. so what would that mean? it won't be as effective. there is no longer this left since now and the cities and states are stepping up more and interestingly, i am hearing more about the sustainable development goals from business

leaders and the leaders in the city is coming from the government's top levels that don't seem to be taking on the responsibility in the same way and we do need to bring that agenda together. >> raise your hand and please come of this gentlema,this gentt and then the honorable minister. >> you are an inspiration to the women and men in my family and also it is a washer to meet you. i am a sculptor and most recently started the project with my family three years ago at the paris climate.

another thing you mentioned plus powerful is when men are shy and the guiding light and then also i don't know how to say your name but you spoke about civic engagement and how that is a very powerful point. i made problems over and the biggest problem solving event in history what i see now is we have defined a cohesive front to solve this problem. your book is a beautiful example of sharing these stories and basically our project started. shoot for the klamath project which is inspired by the hiv aids event and the quills that were done in the '90s as you mentioned earlier which i think was one of the most powerful

even us of anyone that grew up in washington. and that's what inspired our project is that the artwork was a major communicator of peoples ideapeople'sideas and especiallt are shy and people that are young and don't know how to engage the government or go to the government official and that is what we have been doing and they've reached out to over 30 countries now and 28 u.s. states, six continents and we have hundreds of positions that are going to be on display october 15 in georgetown and we are expanding rapidly. ..

>> yeah, yeah. >> good. >> so i would love to hear your response to that. >> well, i'm very aware of the f the contributions of artists ask culture to this whole issue. we've got to humanize this, we've got to do that. and i'm close to oliver elliotson who is done many projects, and if the paris agreement and the ice melting, all it, so i do very much encourage you to continue with the project because it's a really important link, and it humanizes us and reminds us of the best of us and we have to safeguard our world for our children and grandchildren. >> thank you. so let's take a couple more. manass and then the honorable min bester -- minister, let's take two questions x then we'll have others. i see you. >> mary, i was wondering if you would help us figure out how to

put together the kind of connections and the kind of collaborations that we need so that we could address issues, myriad of issues such as the climate one, one of most important ones. it seems to us, and we talked about it a little bit before, it seems that the infrastructure of governance and the infrastructures of global order are in danger. and in order to do anything about any of these issues on a timely manner and as quickly as possible, with we need to begin to think the way people thought after world war ii, you know? >> yeah. >> we have to rebuild these institutions and connect what is needed this this century -- in this century and what wonderful opportunities are available scientifically, technologically in this time which were never

available before. but how do we learn to govern ourselves in a way that these positive things can be used positively so that we can overcome some of these dreadful issues? how do we begin the conversation that will give us a shared vision that then we can apply to our specific passions? it's just an easy question. how -- [laughter] how do we change the world order. >> thank you. you've been working on that for your lifetime. can i take a second question from the honorable minister from costa rica and then turn to our -- >> yes. and it's clear the science and the politics of climate are on different tracks. and the, unfortunately, you know, i was present at -- [inaudible] with angela merkel as minister many berlin. i was also minister for copenhagen. and unfortunately, the global

agreements -- as necessary as they are -- are insufficient. >> yes. >> and we are, we are not meeting the challenge, you know? i'm here representing an organization called climate transparency that i co-chair with peter agin, and i urge you to look at climatetransparency.org. we have a color-coded charts of the progress of the g20 countries which are responsible for tree-quarters of -- three-quarters of global emissions. and, of course, there's great diversity in their performance with the lagging performers saudi arabia and the united states. but there are, there's a range. now, i'm also the proud grandfather of a less than two-month-old beautiful lady/. [laughter] and there's nothing more that raises your feminist more than to see the world that this beautiful lady is going to have

to live in. and we are bequeathing this future generation a huge carbon debt, you know? or greenhouse gas debt. that can be measured, you know, in parts per million and tons of carbon. and it's the largest negative transfer of wealth in human history. and the ones who will a pay did not create the problems. it's the small islands. and even, you know, rich islands like puerto rico, you see what is happening there. so my question is this: what is the role of litigation, okay, into all? because it's fine to have all the agreements, but we have 90 carbon majors which are responsible for 80% of historic global greenhouse issues.

and people are starting to sue these carbon makers. you have a suit of some children from oregon against the federal government of the united states for not protecting the atmosphere. and the courts are starting to accept jurisdiction, you know? courts in the states like washington, oregon, california. so i think that, you know, and i think it should be the small islands that lead a giant lawsuit or many lawsuits, because there's not one place where you can, you know, do this. but i think that we have to move, you know, from just being a nice guy approach and everybody will do their thing to litigation. and i want to find out what you think about that. >> yep. okay. thank you very much. manass, we did talk about that big issue, that not easy question aha you pose -- that you pose, how do we get a shared

vision. and i think there is a governance program within countries and at the global level. and i think we have to work at it bottom-up and top-down, if i can put it that way. local government has to work for people, and then regional, you know, in a country and further up. and part of problem at the moment is there are certain people who have felt left behind. and there is a dimension of it that is, a part of the population that's had some entitlement sense being left behind. and that's part of brexit, that's part of populism in europe, and it's certainly part of what happened in this country. and they're the hardest, because they're comparing themselves with others who actually are feeling a bit better. you know? so it's kind of difficult. and we have to have much more leadership on addressing these issues and addressing them -- the elders are kind of thinking about how we can make a contribution to reviving mull i laterallism -- can

multilateralism. so we're going to be working top-down. really reviving it. really trying to, you know, use our voice insofar as we can to say we have only that short window of time, and we're facing an existential threat. we did have the framework and do the have the framework of sustainable development goals plus the paris climate agreement goals we're not implementing in a way, and there isn't leadership at the top level. and that's what we'll be trying to do. and just to be short, on the role of litigation, that's one of our mothers of invention, the first one with a wonderful woman called tessa khan who's half from bangladesh and half from australia. and she was working in asia for women, and she heard about this case in the netherlands. and she actually got in touch and said i want to work on this and moved to work on that case. and that was the first successful case. and the court required the

netherlands to increase -- sorry, to have a stricter target about reducing its emissions. it's on appeal, and the appeal, i think, is very soon, and we'll hear the appeal. l be a pity we went backwards, because that was the leadership. as you mentioned, the children's fund case in oregon, there are more than a thousand cases now globally, that's the good news. more than a thousand. and they're either against countries or against fossil fuel companies generally or sometimes against cities. and the philippines, i woulding ya, and -- philippines, india and a lot of cases started all in the last ten years. so i think litigation will be definitely a part. i'm going to the international bar association in rome on the 9th of october, and that's where i will be -- the. [audio difficulty] i've already got them interested in climate justice. i really bullied them. [laughter] they had to have a presidential task force, and they have a big report about achieving justice in a climate-conflicted world

from the iba. and it's full of recommendations, and now they're going to the next stage and what are they going to -- you know, it's important that the legal profession comes of age about climate, which it isn't yet fully. but litigation is very important. >> thank you. yes. >> you want to add? >> amy and this gentleman right here, and so -- and milan. >> yeah. the only thing is i think how to change the world order, the most important thing that we can do is mobilize grassroots movement. >> yeah. >> because we can't change government unless -- [audio difficulty] going to the leaders. we cannot change policies. so that can only come from grassroots movement, so we really need to give momentum and find ways to mobilize grass root movements. >> that's right up your alley. so let's take a couple of

questions because i know there are a few. amy, the gentleman right here, and then the woman in the blue and then this gentleman in the back. oh, please, go ahead. oh, sorry, milan. >> thank you all for a very dynamic, fascinating and important conversation. i wanted to pick up on the piece you just landed on around the grassroots movement and the important of communicating to all -- importance of communicating to all communities. in an environment where facts themselves are increasingly under siege, and we have an increasingly difficult time communicating the importance of the content and the evidence for it as well as the urgency, how do you think about communicating more effectively and persuading communities as you think about these messages? to both of you. >> let's take this question right here from the gentleman whose hand is up there. thank you. >> hi, malcolm odell. i'm a grandfather of four

grandchildren. but as a peace corps volunteer in the 1960s, i started working on climate change. i didn't realize it at the time because i was working on community forestry in nepal. and women -- i witnessed during my career women of nepal and the men joining together forming community organizations, excuse me, i -- forming community forestry groups. and during my career, i've watched the reforestation of the himalayas. they destroyed the forest hand ares in -- lands in the early days with malaria e eradication. but they went to work, and you can actually see on satellite imagery the reforestation of the himalayas. also worked in africa on the

decertification of the kalahari and working with women in tanzania, kenya and beyond who planted millions of trees. only to see that the glaciers of nepal are still retreating, the snow caps of kilimanjaro and mount kenya are gone. so they've done their share, and it's been women doing a lot of it. and the nations, mall devils -- mall daves, are stepping forward, but it's very clear they're up against a tsunami going the other direction. so here we are today in the united states a month before midterm elections, and people that have been working on and they're concerned and they're all around me, we're asking the same question: what the devil do we do during the next 30 days to affect the midterms so that we

will get the women and the youth voices many our congress -- in our congress? how do we organize the grassroots? what's the most important things we can do to get those voices forward? we're looking for suggestions on what we can do right now to start a new tsunami. >> okay. thank you very much for your question. i want to allow ambassador rivera a chance to -- did you have a question? >> i do but -- >> go ahead, and then we'll do the next one. >> i want to go back to mary's -- i don't know if the word is anguish or purposefulness over women's participation or the lack thereof. and it seems to me on the one side we haven't made a significant enough case, although it's changing and you've done more than your part, to demonstrate that women are a huge part of the solution. they're not just victims. and you can see that all over the world, particularly in the

south. and you've gone out of your way with the book and in all of your appearances you showcase and spotlight what women are doing. and there have been some efforts now coming out of cop 22, i'll be interested in what's happening with the gender action planful but what do we do to demonstrate that women just aren't victims? on the other hand, we in the west -- in particular in the north -- don't feel this issue with the urgency and proximation that others clearly do. and it has been frustrating to me personally. i can tell you when i was in government and i wanted to bring the women's groups in on this issue, they basically were nonexistent. there were very few, and women just don't see this organizationally, institutionally as part of women's agenda. and and god knows there are so many issues that we're grappling with today. it's much worse than yesterday in many respects. but what can we do with that

message part or that, you know, what's the most compelling way that we can begin to change this, this situation? because i do agree with you, we have to be a much more powerful portion for change. >> much more. so we have the one more question and then i'm glad you're taking notes, mary. [laughter] keep it up. but the woman in the blue, please. >> thank you so much. thank you, mrs. robinson, and thank you for your leadership on this issue. you have been such an inspiration to me. my name's alice thomas, and i manage the climate displacement program at refugees international. i was glad o'hare you mentioned that -- to hear commitments by states beginning to address this issue that's incredibly important. and i was curious that you didn't mention the task force on displacement that was also called for in the paris agreement. and as you know, the recommendations from the task portion are going to be presented at next cop. but just observing this issue

from the displacement lens, i think the most progress has been made when we have seen this issue implemented in other sectors. and when we get out of our sector -- and i come from an environmental background, but i now work for a refugee organization, and i think that's what's got to happen. it's so intertwined with so many other issues. so could you talk about your expectations for the it is task, either of you, how that could be implemented and then where is there also more opportunity to integrate climate change into other sectors? >> thank you. >> so we've got five minutes to answer those questions, and then we're all going to go to a wonderful book signing and breakfast. [laughter] so, mary, do you want to lead off? and please jump in wherever you'd like. >> okay. well, i think amy and milan, you more or less can asked the same question, so, if i may, i'll combine your questions. how do we communicate, how do we

get women in particular. i think you mentioned lack of trust and false facts. this is partly why i believe stories of what people are doing is very important. and so the book is part of it, and now the podcast -- "mothers of invention" -- is another part of it. i think we need now to communicate many a very significant way in human language, which is why i'm delighted to do it with meg hitchens, she's a bit funny -- [laughter] >> she's ready to go. we're hopeful. [laughter] >> but, and, you know, and i notice that young people listen to podcasts. i wasn't aware of the extent to which they do and the extent to which, you know, that's a trusted source of information. because you know who you're listening to, and you think -- i think, so that would be, for me, a real way. and i'm supposed to be doing a podcast later with you, milan. there you are.

milan's ahead of me on this. [laughter] and i think, you know, the point about getting the vote out, i think you made that point. for citizens of this country, to do whatever can be done. i do agree it's important. and on the task force on displacement, that was an oversight on part. i mean, i should have mentioned that in the context. my foundation's worked very closely with the task force on displacement. it was very technical to begin with, but i think it's beginning now, and it's good the refugees come -- others would be inputting, because what i find on the unfccc task forces, they can becomer by technical. they can become terribly nonhuman. even though they're talking about displacing people, they don't talk about people in that way. so the more that kind of influence could be brought the bear, i agree it's the -- the more cross-sectional we can be, we can get the gender dimension,

the refugee dimension into these processes, the more likely it is we'll create that kind of urgency. but i'm glad that the task force on displacement is doing its work, and we have been following it very closely. okay. >> do you want to -- >> yeah. i think we need to embrace technological and political advances. like in the maldives, this election social media played a very key role. we have the highest per capita twitter users, and we are such a small country. [laughter] essentially, i think we need to find ways to occupy these places and not let certain people hijack these spaces. so i see with my students many college, i teach the in -- [inaudible] so most of the students are not very aware of the gravity of the problem, but when they leave, they're very passionate. so it's also very fulfilling for me at end of the semester to see

that i'm able to influence or at least give this message to young people. i think we need to find ways to get into campuses, more campuses, more high schools so that we can get this younger generation involved and mobilize them. >> maybe you could allow -- the i could actually kind of sum up, my foundation has got climate justice on to the agenda in a certain extent, and we decided -- because you know my habit of not staying if i don't have to stay. and closing, it's closing next may, but essentially winding down on policy at the end of this year and then closing in may. i've made my own commitment, i'm going to be working on women's leadership more top-down, because that's where we need it on climate justice and getting the top-down to find a place at table, grassroots for the bottom-up working on my land trophy -- philanthropy.

the oak foundation has its resilience fund, heather grady, our former colleague, is doing a lot of work on philanthropies for climate justice. and the third one, which is your point, at universities. and i think universities have to be beacons on sustainability, have to divest. i'm very sad that my alma mater in this country, harvard university, has not divested. [audio difficulty] but there are a lot of -- i went to a divest/invest meeting many california. it is amazing how that is taking off now. and a number of universities have centers for climate justice now. we want to encouraging that. so it's all about trying to get a broader messaging about it that has an urgency and a participation and using social media, as you say, to get message out. >> wonderful. so i want to just take a moment to say, you know, both of you it

really is an honor to share the stage with you, and i think each of us is leaving so much more inspired. and i don't know about any of you, but i'm asking myself what can i be doing. and i hope each of you is committing right now to something that you can be -- >> where's your money? >> exactly. [laughter] where's your money? so if you, as you go out to have mary sign your money, you can say i commit to, i commit to, i commit to the x, y, z. i do want to take this chance to say, mary, it was such an honor and joy to work with you. [laughter] it was so much fun. i miss you, but, you know, like the best things in life, they circle back. manass and nick and others, we are with you on your journey. thank you very much, all of you, for coming today. thank you for what you're going to be doing after you leave today. and i'd like to invite everyone to have some breakfast and also to form a line, and mary will be

selling and signing books. please join me, mary and dill, i am beyond honored to have you with us. this has been a lot of fun this morning, so thank you so much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> here's a look at some books being published this week. former white house communications director anthony scaramucci reflects on his relationship with president trump in "trump: the blue collar president." retired four-star general stanley mcchrystal identifies the qualities of great leaders. in "let it bang," r.j. young takes a look at american gun culture. former reuters correspondent joshua hunt reports on the relationship between nike and

the university of oregon and how it's provided a blue print for other corporations and schools to follow their lead. university of nike. and in "beirut rules," co-hours fred burton and samuel katz recount the fatal kidnapping of cia station chief william buckley in lebanon in 1984. our look at this week's new book releases continues with historians david and gene hideler's look at how andrew jackson was elected president in 1828. boston college law professor and former supreme court clerk kent greenfield weighs in on the supreme court's decision to grant corporations with personhood in "corporations are people too." and in "nine pints," rose george shares her research on the science and commodification of blood. look for these titles in bookstores coming week, and watch for many of the authors in the near future on booktv on

c-span2. >> so quite honestly, the reason that i wrote this book had to do with the elections of 2016, the british vote to leave the european union in the brexit vote and donald trump's election in november of 19 -- of 2016. i think that both of these events are connected to a broader series of developments around the world which are often times referred to as the rise of a kind of global populism in this which you have democratic leaders that are legitimately elected, but they pursue policies that are often times economically populist, but more importantly i believe, weaken the institutional basis for modern democracy. democracy is not simply a matter of elections, it is a matter of a rule of law. the checks and balances, the constitutional constraints that limit executive power in a

well-functioning democracy, and in places like hungary and poland and turkey, you've had elected leaders that have gutted their judiciaries, eliminated any kind of hostile opposition press that would hold them accountable, weakened their impersonal bureaucracies and basically cleared away obstacles to their own kind of personal rule. i hate to report that i believe something like that is afoot in the united states as well where we do have a president that seems to not appreciate the importance of some of these check and balance institutions and has been doing a lot, i think, in a similar vein to weaken them. and so this, i think, represents a broader movement and what i've been trying to do over the last couple of years is to really understand sources of this populism and why we are in this current situation. >> you can watch and all other -- this and all other booktv programs from the past

20 years at booktv.org. type the author's name and the word "book" in the search bar at the top of the page. >> c-span launched booktv 20 years ago on c-span2, and since then we've covered thousands of authors and book festivals spanning more than 54,000 hours. in 2008 we interviewed former professional tennis player and gender equality advocate billie jean king. >> well, for me, it changed my life, because every time i go out the door since that moment in time, 35 years ago when i played against bobby riggs, i would think every single day of my life somebody brings it up, what they remember, how it affected them. some people come up to me and they'll be crying and tell me their story. particularly a fathers are come up to me and daughters, and they'll say -- they'll come up with tears in their eyes and say i was 10 years old, for instance, when i watched your match, and now i have a

daughter. and i raise her differently because i watched that match that night. >> you can watch this and all other booktv programs from the past 20 years at booktv.org. type the author's name and the word "book" in the search bar at the top of the page. >> you're watching booktv on c-span2, television for serious readers. here's tonight's prime time lineup. at 7:30 p.m. eastern, former "newsweek" legal affairs correspondent david kaplan examines the judicial power of the supreme court. then on booktv's "after words" program at nine, journalist beth macy reports on the opioid crisis in america. she's interviewed by democratic congressman gerald connolly of virginia. at ten, historian nick bunker recounts the early life of benjamin franklin. and we wrap up our prime time programming at 11 p.m. eastern with mit's deborah rah blum's

report on the science behind and the development of food safety regulations in the united states. that all happens tonight on c-span2's booktv. 48 hours of nonfiction authors and weeks every weekend, television -- books every weekend. a reminder, this weekend's full schedule is available on our web site, booktv.org. and now here's david kaplan on the power of supreme court. [inaudible conversations] >> good evening, everyone. good evening. i'm harold holzer, and i'm the jonathan fanta director of roosevelt house. and on behalf of jennifer rab, the president of hunter college, it's a pleasure to welcome all of you to this historic house and to welcome all of our viewers on c-span as well to this special evening.