for doing it. it is a difficult process. it requires strong consensus and a strong movement to make it happen but it is possible. >> host: what do you teach at the university of pennsylvania? >> guest: the history of the constitution, a course called history of working for a living in america, starting as a labor historian. we all teach us history and anything else they let me teach. >> host: here is the book, a pocket guide to the us constitution. professor andrew arnold is the author. >> keep an eye out for more interviews from the national press club book fair to air in the near future. you can also watch them and any of our programs in their entirety. type the author's name in the search bar at the top of the page. >> my name is peggy clark with the aspen institute. i'm especially excited to have this conversation to talk about

the new book "climate justice: hope, resiliance, and the fight for a sustainable future". we have copies on the table. we will be talking about them. this is a really critical issue and it is so important that we have mary to tell us about the work she has been doing on the front lines. i want to recognize the ambassador for being with us and the honorable minister of the environment of coaster rica, thank you for joining us. we also happen to have my husband michael jenkins in the front. nick robinson is here from ireland with us. [applause] >> i want to start by saying the program for today, mary will talk about her book, then we are lucky to have a

wonderful young activist, thilmeeza hussain, who will join mary in conversation for 20 minutes talking across generations, what they are doing for climate justice right now. thilmeeza hussain traveled from her home country where they had a historic election. then we will have time for questions and answers and 20 minutes for book signings. mary has to leave promptly at 12, she will be whisked to another event. for those who 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. for those who don't know, mary robinson was high commissioner for human rights. there was a little point in mary's life when she was a strong activist and created an

organization called the ethical globalization together. it was about realizing economic, social rights in africa. it was an incredible whirlwind. a lot of energy. i am so pleased you are with us today. thank you for that. i want to take a moment. yesterday was emotional and moving for all of us. many of us are here because of mary's leadership for women all over the world and what she has done her whole life. before we get into the book, offer some thoughts to all of us who are in shock about what happened yesterday. >> thank you to you, peggy and the team in aspen. i need to know my way around aspen. aspen has moved. so many friends, thank you for your lovely introduction.

the goal, anybody -- as i watched the testimony, i thought it was a wonderful moment for survivors of sexual assault of any kind, male or female, so insightful and so clear how much she suffered and she explained so much about survival on behalf of survivors and it may be what should happen, maybe do the wrong thing in my view but whatever happens she deserves a human rights award for what she did yesterday. [applause] >> thank you, mary. we will talk a little more about women as relates to this issue but let's begin with this book, "climate justice: hope, resiliance, and the fight for a sustainable future". i remember being with mary intends any a talking about climate change issues so we

started to try to find particular areas, on the side mary was trying to educate herself about this issue. this was 12 years ago so a lot has happened. let's begin with what does climate justice mean and i want to take a minute to read from your book. if there is a climate change problem it is in large part a justice problem. our continued existence on this shared planet demands lead to a fairway of sharing burdens and benefits of life on earth. what is climate justice? >> it begins with the injustice and the injustice of climate change is becoming more and more apparent. i should step back a little bit and say quite humbly i served for 5 years at the un high commissioner for human rights. never made a significant on climate change because it was dealt with by another part of

the un system. other than my silo, human rights, gender, people with disabilities, indigenous rights, we started work and economic and social rights and whether it was that or not, i had been traveling quite a bit in african countries, and over and over again, so much work and then i asked about is like god is punishing us because everything has changed completely. food to harvest and the physical water, flash flooding destroyed the village in liberia where we worked. i had breakfast with ellen johnson. we visited liberia quite a bit and she would say when i was growing up there were two renee

seasons and they were predictable to the day. now i don't know when the rainy season will come or for how long. i became aware of this injustice and it brought home to me, i am hearing, organizing before copenhagen and there would be tribunals and i had my elders had on, and the chair at the elders at the time. we were listening to five farmers from africa. one stays in my mind, the first full story in the book, from uganda, i could see, becoming very depressed, hearing the stories one after the other and i remember my father in the west of ireland as a doctor, a medical doctor, i was a lonely daughter.

and he would talk about the farmers. the farmer always complained about the weather. i said to these fine farmers, is this just complaining as farmers do? constance always stood up to say something important, she makes a point of that. she stood up and said no, she said, this is outside our experience. when you think about it, in a village, oral tradition, how long is that? about 200 years when you think of it. the grandmother would tell the grandchild and the grandchild would tell her grandchild. that is a span of knowledge, the first story of the book, how the terrible storm, rain of 2007 destroyed her village and

she formed the women's group and fought back. climate justice is multifaceted in a way. recognizes the injustice. climate change effects disproportionately the poorest countries and the poorest communities. even poor communities in countries like this was one of the stories is in biloxi, after katrina, she had a hair salon. a woman of color, her father was a preacher, somehow everything fell apart. she was the one who went around to bring the community together, always surprised by herself and she came to copenhagen and they became climate wide women. and looking forward to our conversation so that is one side of it. the other side is in order in a

development way, the issue of injustice, we must make sure the benefits of clean energy, no one is left behind, we prioritize the furthest behind and link that agenda with the paris climate agreement and those goals are below 2°c and to work for 1.5 °. i finished by saying i have been in california for the california summit. i was in new york for the last weekend most of it was climate week. i was at the one planet summit with president macron and heard for the third time in 5 days un books from of the project on planetary boundaries who has become go director of the institute, listening to him he scares the living daylights out of me. he is so quiet, swedish.

we are not on course to save the world, we are not even trying to get on course for a safe world and it does put such urgency because i know who will be affected first and foremost, all the people in this book and so many more. >> this whole book is about bridging. let's go to constance. there was a time you were working on realizing rights that we were trying very hard to make sure population issues and women's leadership were part of the climate negotiations and i remember being with you in durban, one of the climate talks and constance was in the room and here was this dignified woman from kenya in the midst of

these discussions, from uganda, in the midst of these discussions and that was one of the perks you brought her to. you have always been able to identify leaders like constance and bring them to high-level discussions and you were in most of them last week but for many of us it almost appears exhausting. there have been 25 climate talks. the california summit was incredibly inspirational, but we are faced with the reality of the us pulling out of paris agreement. tell us how some of the people in this book are influencing these policy discussions and what is your own assessment of where we are in the policy framework? >> we are not anything like as far as we need to be. things are not good. when donald trump announced pulling the united states out of the paris agreement which he

can't do until november 4, 2020, and we know when your next presidential election is, in a way it is good that you have huge response to that in the united states. what was reflected in california, states, cities, business, universities, trade unions, the community is different. it may help to meet the standard of emissions because standards set by president obama which was all he could do was not that high. impact on climate finance in particular, the mood that flipped a bit, europe is not stepping up to the plate and all that kind of worry. what people do? there are two stories, one, the

former -- went to copenhagen and came back in despair to tell people they have not agreed to stay at 1.5, we have no future. he decided to buy land in fiji so people could migrate with dignity. i am a former president, to have to go back from a conference until my people there island is not going to survive. he became part of this high ambition coalition which helped to get the paris agreement with this important language in it. another one i like is natalie isaacs. a woman from australia with a cosmetics business in sydney, her husband was involved in environmental issues. she decided to see what she could do in her own household

by becoming more energy efficient and turning off lights and found 10% of the budget and bring it to 20% and she had a lightbulb moment informed 1 million women and i'm a member of 1 million women and everybody else here is. she has done a lot to promote but now a podcast as peggy is aware, doing podcasts with another irish woman based in new york has done a lot of protesting. i didn't know what a podcast was. i wanted to communicate the message. this is about communication. the byline of the podcast is climate change is a man-made problem and requires a feminist solution. man-made includes women. it is generic, mostly men but it is women. we are all contributing to

emissions. a feminist solution includes men. what i wanted to say an answer to the question what can you do, the impact it had on me. withdrawn money from chase bank, has great story about that which brings up the bank. and eventually hang up on her. she has plants in her apartment in dublin, windowsills and things. and we are vegetarians, not there yet. and lands to the west of ireland is hard. she really has understood, everybody has to response to

this but not enough. it is good that people take it seriously, young people take it seriously and are angry and get in touch with our politicians and vote the right way but we need government policies and need a carbon price globally. that will shift things faster than anything else. >> i'm glad you have a comedian on your podcast. because mary is very serious. we meet for breakfast and have 42 policies to address. good to hear that. it is called mothers of invention. >> necessity is the mother of invention. >> let's talk about mothers and what you said about feminists, to climate change and for me and many in this room your life is a testimony to the power of woman and you are a hero to so many women. what did women's leadership

look like in climate negotiations and tell us a little about what you mean by a feminist approach? >> i would like to pick up on what humans to follow up on which is creating space for women, grassroots women to be at the table. we formed a troika on women leaders in gender and climate change in cancun which is the conference after copenhagen. everyone remembers copenhagen. and the first one, more power to mexico forgetting the whole thing back on track under the un system because copenhagen has been a failure. in cancun, my foundation was involved. it is a mixture. our colleague -- we brought together on a platform, three

heads of the conferences presided over copenhagen before the climate commissioner of the eu and the head of the un. and foreign affairs in mexico and the following year as you mentioned and when they were on stage with me. i think it was from the floor, the current president of the general summary, maria espinoza, said why form a troika of women leaders on gender and climate change which we did and mainly female ministers of environment, energy, gender in some cases and we actually invited some men but kept men a minority. gender and climate change.

we expanded the group. i managed to persuade the united states ambassador for women to come to durban despite the fact that her staff, why would you go to durban and it became active and proactive member of the troika of women on gender and climate change and what i wanted to say is after we rallied the following year on gender and climate change is working for the gender action plan we realized these women had to find a place in their delegation for grassroots women, indigenous women and bring them to the table. you have someone like constance speaking as she does, agnes maynard, a naturalist you remember coming to our meeting.

such a powerful voice but this was needed. the delegates don't know the grassroots story. they live in holes with acronyms and they don't actually fight like this to cope with the unexpected and threatening words they are facing and to hear those voices is important. if there were not many of those voices, the women at my foundation taken to conferences, they are confident in that. >> some of the fundamental decisions a family or community faces about agriculture, child-rearing, environment are in the hands of women and the doorstep of a woman is the place that has to be quite striking.

and the environmental community is talking about the population. and bridging across these divides, use the women at the center. is this a part of the solution? my husband who is an environmentalist is always saying people don't care enough about it. does your bridging across different sectors help with that? >> is an obvious thing that women change behavior in the family not least with children and sometimes children educate parents, that is also happening and i'm glad young people are taking this issue and there's a difference. it is true that in africa women's leadership takes climate change extremely seriously. when you go to a meeting of women leaders it is the top of

the agenda. in asia it is top of the agenda. when you go to a women's meeting here it is me too, equal pack, empowerment of women, health, education and maybe climate change. the connection is not there. that is why this book and the podcast, i do have a sense of urgency. you know me as an irish grandmother. we have six grandchildren, the oldest is 14, they will be in their 30s and 40s in 2015 and share the world with 9.5 billion people we are told so that is the issue of family-planning is so important. already so many stresses in so many parts of the world and social cohesion and we are not in a good place, particularly a certain gentleman i won't even

name this evening. >> let's go back to the notion of justice, climate justice. bridging between humans rights and mechanisms and approaches and environmental world and you've been at this for some time. i'm curious how that is going and for many people the human rights approach is a theoretical one about morality and basic rights. when we started realizing rights, jeffrey sachs said how can i sue malawi or mozambique? it is true the tool of human rights very often in international governance and shaming and calling out, how is the human rights approach more than a theoretical idea?

>> very good question, the work of my foundation over the last number of years we wanted to bring human rights and gender into the climate world and when i started in copenhagen i was shocked, despite the female chairs, the lack of the gender dimensions of climate change. if you undermine poverty imagine the burden put on women in the roles of women and men are different. yet there was no real interest in gender. they couldn't get their voices heard and a troika of women leaders and working with them so getting human rights in, my foundation welcomed there, mexico was a champion, european countries were champions.

they would fight for this and we fought very hard to get this language into the paris agreement. as one stage we all had human rights, some of the big countries today wouldn't have it. we had a good preamble, got gender into the text which is good. the other work we are doing, getting the human rights council to take climate change more seriously and those who originally seized the human rights council with the idea that climate change was having a huge negative impact on human rights all over the world and this was in 2004. somehow for various reasons the ball had been dropped. we weren't at the table of the human rights council but the work of countries that had become champions, this

nitty-gritty practical focused -- wording of a number of resolutions, nobody knew about that so in order to work in that arena. >> do you think there's a lot of potential given the world is moving away from international frameworks of governance at a trend towards nationalism? are you still seeing that? >> we have what we are seeing, look at new zealand. bringing her baby to the un. we too, not me too, meaning human solidarity. she was very strong, at the one

planet summit and part of supporting 300 million from new zealand in her vicinity. not just new zealand, she knows new zealand has to be more helpful but she is walking the talk and talking the talk at that level. look at macron. nothing has changed with the 20/30 agenda and the paris climate agreement. there is still the framework we have to work on, the framework for the future of our world basically and we have to take it more seriously. i'm a bit encouraged by california. i was lucky enough yesterday on the podcast. monday, today is saturday, over the weekend, not later than monday, the podcast, wait for the podcast to drop. a wonderful conversation.

at 7:30 in the morning, the president of marshall islands, you can imagine the brilliant conversation. but she was on the optimistic side. the investment is switching. we have technology, clean energy getting cheaper and that is always good and had breakfast at the same hour the day before and talking about the marshall islands, she is the chair of the climate for him, 48 climate vulnerable countries, bangladesh, nepal, vulnerable countries like ethiopia, they are going to have a virtual summit on 22 november.

that is the first time there is a virtual summit on climate change. what does it mean? imagine the summit. to make us all laugh again. a virtual summit means no -- no emissions. very clever. the un can learn, we can all learn, california can learn, we can all learn and over two days, over a 24-hour period from one end of the world to the other. heads of state, head last of organization, to support climate vulnerable countries, a wonderful conversation it in case the men are getting nervous about mothers of invention. i am sure this is unknown to

you, going separately for scheduling reasons and we did a session with him beforehand. the day he was going into the un on monday for the peace summit in honor of nelson mandela. we were very involved in that and on behalf of the elders, very moving and tough and spoke afterwards. he was speaking not on behalf of that but the whole ngo contribution to the summit and when you have a platform like that you mustn't pull your country. >> i remember him being on the stage for that.

during the hiv aids crisis talking about the impact of that. i wanted to say one more thing. everyone will love it and so many beautiful stories here. i wanted to mention this woman from vietnam and her organization is helping indigenous communities to get ownership of forest land so that they can manage in a sustainable way. formal ownership for the forest, she says you say by putting people in local communities at the heart of forest management empowered people for the front lines of climate change and when you

work with vulnerable and poor people you must be leave them. poverty does not equate with stupidity. they have their own knowledge around technology, their own system. these are the people who can protect and save the planet. >> and now no longer subject to logging. and i asked one of the women and she volunteered to speak and what is wonderful about this is until i joined this group based on the right level to enable them and i had one opportunity to answer a question through translation. when your daughter, you should have heard her glowing answer. that was lovely. you could feel an empowered woman with an empowered daughter.

>> talking about people who will save the planet, i want to invite thilmeeza hussain, the cofounder of voice of women. i had the opportunity to work closely with thilmeeza hussain over the past year. it is an organization of women's empowerment, human rights and climate change, lecture on sustainability and global warming in new jersey, she was deputy ambassador to the united nations from the minister of state for home affairs from the north province had a team member of the first democratically elected government in the country. she has been quite a force and power for this issue and the two represent hope for us all. i have invited both of them to

ask each other questions. we have a bit of a conversation between the two and we will open it up for questions. >> i'm all warmed up. >> i would like to start with the deputy under mohammed machine who was a champion, and eventually got to london for medical reasons and i met him a number of times over the years and tried to support but are you hopeful there is a new election? >> yes, we finally won the fight, just won the election and they are waiting for the election commission but one by 58%, we had a 90% turnout. i think there's a lot to learn.

and the current regime to pave the way with more transition. so we hope our national partners can continue the pressure. i also went to say after word, environmental policies that are made. even a single climate conference, single session, it was depressing. the new president as well, to put climate change on the top

of his agenda. everybody who is in exile will be able to return so we are very hopeful. >> we are on a panel with the paris agreement. tell me honestly what you think of the paris agreement and the implementation coming from that? >> to speak very honestly. it was a long process from copenhagen and being a negotiator and a negotiator from civil society, really looking forward to it. when the paris agreement was adopted everyone was

celebrating and i understood why it was an important event. for everyone to celebrate but at the same time i really cried because 1.5 is where we need to be, it was an aspirational goal. the paris agreement was very weak in the framework was very weak so it was heartbreaking to see that on such an important issue but it was an important step forward. >> in a few days time on 8 october the international -- intergovernmental panel on climate change will come out with with paris agreement not to do, what do we have to do to stay below 1.5 and will that help? >> a few months ago, last month i was back in the mall dives.

my nephew gave me this shell. it was used as currency until the 13th century in many countries around the world so we have a history, our culture, really deep connections to the island. it can disappear if we don't take action, the ipcc report coming out, we have a very very very small window of opportunity to mobilize urgent action to increase our ambition.

i don't want my island to disappear. i don't want to take my time. i have a secure maxon. i want my nieces and nephews and my entire family lives there and we want to live in this island. people are passionate about what happens to our country. it is not link back and waiting for somebody to save us. we are doing our part. people stood in line for 11 hours to cast their ballot, people traveled long distance, the nearest was in london. i flew to london to cast my ballot. so many people traveled, we take our responsibilities very seriously. what do you think of the civic engagement and relationship

between the importance of civic engagement and climate change and how to mobilize people around the world especially young people to take part in elections, to make the difference because we cannot just say the greatest threat is climate change, we need policy shifts and to make those policy shifts we need more young people. >> i absolutely agree and i encourage a conversation i have been having in california during the meeting there and that sense with young people of the next investment. these are young who have inherited wealth and they have a big organization. are they nexus? they have put up $1 billion this year to address how communities are working and

they want to do a bottom-up. this could be people discussing how do we make the links across? human rights, gender, indigenous rights, climate change is all the same now. it is all part. we have to bring social movements together, put young people front and center, and from sri lanka. >> the forced migration. >> a powerful vote and the un to have a youth policy. it sounds like a jigsaw puzzle. i don't see the women's leadership taking this on in a

way that we need. that is something milan -- it is something. i don't see women's leadership in congress on climate change. i don't see any leadership in congress, they are always keeping their head down. i have great faith in young people and they do get it and they get the sense of urgency. the trouble is we have only a short window of time. >> to take another question, i would love to open up to the audience. >> when i read the report on climate migration, the world bank report, the estimate of 400,000 people, a quarter million people, that would be

displaced by 2050, that is and 30 years or so. that makes me really anxious. we are not able to deal with tens of millions of people as refugees or victims of migration. this is the biggest humanitarian crisis we have on our hands. how do we deal in a world where there would be 400 million people who become refugees or cross-border migration? how do we address that? that would be like the problem we would be facing in the next 30 years that we would have to address? >> wearing my foundation had and older had, we have been trying to signal this very

strongly. in the context of the fact that there is a global compact on migration now, the un has been prepared to work on migration together and the intergovernmental panel, now we have the global compact and it does recognize climate displaced people and communities, with climate displacement whole communities will have to move. it is happening already. if we can't manage migration better we will have a huge crisis and this, my podcast yesterday morning, i'm told by so many scientists, our island will no longer exist by 2030.

and an awful pressure on so many people and it is a big issue and my foundation, last thing we tried to do is get leadership on future generations, to have guardians for future generations who constantly stay in touch with scientists and economists and look at what kind of world in 2020, in 2030, in 2040, constantly, because then maybe we will start taking it seriously. at the moment the span of politicians is that the most 5 years. >> the general assembly speech, he said he would not recognize or be part of the global compact so what would that

mean? >> it is a bumpy time at the moment but we need both to fight back because the frameworks are still there. and others may follow. edging around as well. that is the difficulty. as i said earlier in the paris climate agreement implementation, there is in the driving there was even the alliance of the us and china pushing each other is no longer there. there is less now and i would say business of cities and states are stepping up more and i am hearing more about the sustainable development goals from business leaders and leaders of cities that i am from government top level, governors are not taking on the responsibility the same way

others are and we need to have the agenda together. >> i want to open up for questions and we have a microphone in the back. and the honorable minister. >> thank you for coming up. you are an inspiration to men in my family and women in my family and it is a pleasure meeting you. i am a sculptor and most recently started the mother earth project with my family three years ago the same year the paris climate agreement and listening to the words today the things the jump out to me as your focus on carbon pricing globally is the main event. the other thing you mentioned which i thought was powerful

was women are shy and are the guiding light of the change in families from a young age and also i don't know how to say your name. >> you can say it. >> you spoke about civic engagement and how that is a powerful point. i'm a problem solver. i was a scientist previously and this is the biggest problem solving event of our history. what i see now is we need to find a cohesive front to solve this problem and your book is a beautiful example of sharing stories. our project started, the parachutes for the planet project inspired by the hiv-aids event done in the 1990s which you mentioned earlier which was one of the most powerful events of anyone who grew up in washington dc. that inspired our project. our work was a major

communicator of people's ideas especially people that are shy, people are young and don't know how to engage a government or go up to a government official and that is what we have been doing. .. we are expanding rapidly. i have been trying to solve this problem, like you have. i find these parachutes have become a cohesive front. a language of expression. people take these parachutes, they make them as a community and they take them to their local government officials and they ask for better climate laws i would love to hear your response to that.

>> i'm very aware of the contribution to this whole issue i am -- doing many projects. all of it, you know. i do very much encourage you to continue with the projects. it humanizes. it reminds us for our children and grandchildren. >> honorable minister. let's take two questions. we will have others. i see you. i was wondering if you would help us out on how to put together the kind of connections

and collaboration so that we could address a myriad of issues it seems to up, and we talked about it a little bit before, it seems like the infrastructure of governance and the infrastructure of global are in danger. as quickly as possible, we need to think. we have to rebuild these institutions and connect what is available. in this time. never available before. how do we learn to govern ourselves in a way that these

can be used positively. how do we begin the conversation we can apply to our specific passion. the mac you have been working on that for your lifetime. can i take a second question from the world minister from coaster rica. >> the science and politics. i was also minister for copenhagen. fortunately, the global agreements, as necessary as they are, are insufficient. we are not meeting the challenge

i urge you to look at this. we have color-coded charts of the progress of the g20 countries which are responsible for three quarters of relations. there is a great diversity in the performance with the legging performers of saudi arabia in the united states. there is a range. now, i am also the proud grandfather of a little lady. there is nothing that raises this more than to see the world that this beautiful lady is going to have to live in. a huge carbon or greenhouse gas.

parts per million. tons of carbon. it is the largest in human history. the ones that will pay, did not not create the problems. it is the small islands. even like puerto rico you see what is happening there. my question is this. what is the role of litigation? ninety carbon majors which are responsible for 80%. people are starting --dash some children from oregon against the

federal government. not protect the the atmosphere. the courts are starting to accept jurisdiction. washington, oregon, california. i think that it should the small island that leads to a lawsuit. there is not one place where you can do this. just being a nice guy. i want to find out what you think of that. that big issue. getting a shared vision. i think that there is a governance problem.

and then further up. part of the problem at the moment is there are certain people that were left behind. hg left behind. it is part of what happened in this country. they are comparing themselves to others. it is kind of difficult. we have to have much more leadership on addressing these issues. kind of thinking about how we can make a contribution. we will be using more top down. use our voice as far as we can.

we are facing a threat. we have the framework of the paris climate agreement. a leadership at the top level. to be short, the real litigation , the first one, a wonderful woman called -- half from bangladesh. she was working in asia for women. she heard about this agenda case i want to work. the first successful case. increasing and reducing

the appeal is very soon. going backward. that is the good news. they are either against countries generally. a lot of cases started. that is all in the last 10 years that is kind of the justice. a time conflict did world.

litigation is very important. >> i think, yeah, how it contains the world order. the most important thing that we can do is grassroots. the canteens governments. who is going to be our leaders. we cannot change policies. that can only come through grassroots movement. >> let's take a couple of questions. amy and the gentleman right here and the woman in blue. then this gentleman in the back.

>> thank you for a dynamic and fascinating and important conversation. the grassroots movement. communicating to all movement. an environment where facts themselves are increasingly under siege. we have been increasingly difficult time communicating the importance of the content and the evidence for it, as well as the urgency. thinking about these messages. >> let's take this question right here from this gentleman whose hand is up. >> malcolm odell. i am a grandfather. four grandchildren. as a peace corps volunteer in the 1960s, i started working on climate change.

community forestry. women i witnessed during my career, and the men joining together forming community organizations, excuse me. during my career, i have watched the reforestation of the himalayas. destroyed -- they weo work and you can actually see on the satellite imagery the reforestation on the himalayas. also the decertification of the kalahari and working in tanzania

planting millions of trees. only to see that the glaciers of nepal are still retreating. this no caps argon. they have done their share. it has been women doing a lot of it. the nations stepping forward and so forth. it is clear they are up against a synonymy going the other direction. months before midterm elections and people that have been concerned on this, we are asking the same question. what do we do during the next 30 days to affect the midterm so the women and the youth basis,

how do we organize the grassroots. how can we get that forward. what we can do right now to start a new nami. >> did you have a question? go ahead. >> i want to go back to mary's anguish or purposefulness over women's participation or the lack thereof. on the one side, we have not made a significant enough case. you have done more than your part to demonstrate women are huge part of the solution. you can see that all over the world. you have gone out of your way with the book. showcasing and spotlighting what

women have been doing. what do we do to demonstrate that women are not just the m's. we don't feel the issue with the urgency and approximation that others clearly do. it has been frustrating to me personally, i wanted to bring the women groups in on this issue. they basically were nonexistent. they do not see this organizationally, institutionally as part of the women's agenda. what can we do with that message part? beginning to change this

situation. i do agree with you we have to be a much more powerful force for change. >> we have one more question. i am glad you are taking note. >> thank you so much. thank you for your leadership on this issue. my name is alice thomas. i was glad to hear you mentioned global compact on migration. beginning to address this issue that is incredibly important. i was curious you did not mention the task force on placement. the recommendation will be presented to the next. i think the most progress was made when we had seen this issue

implemented in other sectors. when we get out of our sector. i now work for refugee organization. it is so intertwined with other issues. talk about how that can be implemented. workers are also more opportunity #. >> we have five minutes to answer those questions. then we will go to the wonderful book signing and breakfast. >> more or less asking the same question. how do we communicate? how do we get women, in particular.

this is partly why i believe stories of what people are doing it's very important. the book is part of this. i think we need now to communicate in a very specific way. [laughter] i noticed that young people, and this is the podcast, the extent of which they do, a source of information. that would be for me the way of doing a podcast. there you are. ahead of me. i think you made that point.

emphasis of this country. do whatever can be done. on the task force, i should have mentioned that in the context. my foundation has worked very closely on placement. it was very technical to begin with. what i find, they can become terribly technical. terribly nonhuman. they do not talk about people in that way. that could be brought to bear. we have the gender dimension. into these process. the more likely we create that kind of urgency.

the mac i think we need to embrace technological advances. this election that happened, social media. i think we need to find ways to not let certain people hijack these spaces. it. most of the students that come in are not very aware of the problem. it is very fulfilling for me at the end of the summer. able to influence or give this message to young people.

more high schools. getting this younger generation. >> my foundation has justice onto the agenda and a certain extent. not saying if i don't have to. essentially winding down at the end of this year. i might be working on women's leadership. getting that top down. grassroots for the bottom-up. now a number of fully and. the former colleague doing a lot of work.

universities. i think universities have to be deacons on sustainability. harvard university. it is a shame. i went to a meeting in california. it amazing how that is taking off now. a number of university -- we want to encourage them. trying to get a broader messaging about it that has an urgency and participation. using social media to get the message out. >> i want to just take a moment to say it is an honor to share this date with you. i think each of us is leaving so much more inspired.

i do not know about any of you, but i'm asked my elf what can i be doing. i am hoping each of you is committing right now -- [laughter] >> you can say i commit to, i commit to, i commit to. mary, it was touch a joy and honor to work with you. it was so much fun. i miss you. going back. we are with you on your journey. thank you very much all of you coming today. thank you for what you will be doing. i would like to invite everyone to have reckless and also to form a line. mary will be selling and signing books. i am beyond honored to have you with us. this has been a lot of fun this

morning. thank you so much. [applause] >> up next. a visit to the annual book fair in washington where the author spoke about the future of the democratic party. >> we want to introduce you to author thomas. what is your background? >> i have been up to my route and politics. i am also a civil right guy. i started off as a journalist. newspaper guy. i am a democrat, but i have

questions about the party. wandering a lot on trend around a lot in the last iteration. i have written a book about the soul of the party. what do they need to do to get it back. it is a cheerful optimistic book about politics. >> what makes you a democrat? >> i think the soul of the party is in its core ideals. not in the details of its policies. these big pillars of the democratic say things like the fight for the out fighter and the individual and respect for ideas and economic security for all of these organizing principles of politics. i think that that is what the democrats need to return to instead of getting all tangled up in that note.

i think they need to show the american public that they are more dependable. when i was a young man getting into politics i used to ask people why they were democrat. people used to say right away, they are for the common man. they are for the little guy. you don't hear that kind of thing as much as you should anymore. i think they have to get act to it. >> can a party have a soul? >> i absolutely think a party can have a soul. the core values. they have seven of them. there is the chapter on each of them in this book. they came into the party originally because of power struggle the democrats had with their opponent over the meeting of the nation.

setting up conversations that they ignore at their peril. i think that they have been ignoring some of those conversations recently. >> one of the common themes is the parties have both moved to the extreme. do you agree with that? >> i think that the country is divided in half. i think the democrats are only tried to find half of the electorate. the democratic party, traditionally, in a way, it is a complete mess. it does not really make sense. i think that the party is wider than it current. i think they have to explore their own route so they can make structural strides back into parts of the electorate that have abandoned. like the white working class.

like maybe some of the evangelical. i think that the party has a good sh to tell these people or to give these people. >> what is your view of tribalism? >> i think that the country is suffering because of tribalism. i think the answer for the democrat's to pick up the mere and look at themselves. to explore their own route in american history and realize they have deep roots in the individual and deep roots in the evangelical community. if they could explore the moderate meanings of those parts of their creed, i think they would do much better and politics these days than what

they've been doing recently. >> how would you identify the soul of a republican? >> i think that they are confused these days. traditionally, a party that has been dominated ia's angle interest. different kinds of people in the republican party now. they have their own political myth. the economic opportunity was a weak invention, originally. a companion book to this for the republican party. they could do some serious thinking about who they are these days. i think for me there's enough trouble about the democrats. we ought to be thinking about hours else. >> thomas reston is the author of this book. the seven core ideals that made our party and our country great. thank you for joining us on book

tv. >> a lot. i appreciate it. been a q could also watch them in any of our other programs in their entirety at book tv.org. type the author's name in the search bar at the top of the page. >> i am pleased to introduce carmen. an attorney in private practice and cofounder of apron and hair. she attended harvard university, lumbee a university and cornell law school. she believes she would be monitoring the behavior in order to avoid another financial crisis. >> recording the life