honor this morning to get to introduce heather mcteer toney to you her keynote address is entitled climate action is the social justice issue of our time. heather is the national organizing director of moms clean air force. people heard of it. it's an organization of over a million moms and dads mobilizing to fight air pollution and climate change in order to protect children's health our communities and- climate justice. from

200-042-2000 twelve heather serves as check this out the first african american the first woman and the youngest mayor of greenville mississippi. she served two terms and after that residents who we all wish were still our president president barack obama. appointed heather to serve as the epa administrator in the fourth region and it's a big region is the most diverse region it's the largest most poppy region of eight. it reaches and that's one of the part of the country she represented and route it herself and it's a part of the country she's from included alabama florida georgia kentucky north carolina mississippi south carolina and tennessee. and that's where transfer of climate justice and equity solutions are emerging and she's been a part of

leading that. that epa region also represented and collaborated with inbuilt power with six federally recognized tribes. so now i see a little bit about the space and why i was asking reduce heather's because i work in a space i represent- parents work with climate parents helps- echo founded that is part of this year could now and there's a whole space of parent family groups you probably heard of there's- there. mothers out. to local group here called mom's. fears parents groups there's a there's a climate dads group now it is. important obviously it kind of hurts as always work with data grandparents. this for quick things about us i want to say is a movement. one is. universally motivated across racial and class lines geography zip codes one political party set times. we want to make that more to protect our kids because we all care about kids and future generations. of moral power we

can translate into political power when we- think. just best is we're looking for bold solutions i never sent. get off of. your and- campaign working on moving school this under percent clean energy as heather tell you my clean air force is working on many fronts of the state and national level to fight 4% clean energy like and more another awareness we have in the perrin family space is prioritizing building equity justice and inclusion and center justice and equity in frontline communities and have also addressed at in intern it's not just. some of the start. maybe ten years we're still. some of. in the of the youth we were a youth movement that's happening now on climate. and we're also wanting to put our parent family energy behind it to support them as they inspired beijing the twen ten million people in. the club students leading us in calling

radical. urgent action shot student. it's our goal to support climate justice leaders in the youth movement and also to raise climate just as leaders in the youth movement. and finally one personal not about heather she's a tri athletes we were talking on the phone before this intro and it's like it's- kind of more personal thing. she and swam and buy. a half. ironman seventy miles of all that and then she was honest and vulnerable in a way that makes leaders strong in our world she said. to get there. i'm sure. the bike rider fell and i'm like what's it mean to say. the part about that you completed it or that it took four attempts and she's like say the part that it took four attempts. because that's too nasty. h. that's what we need right now in our movement and that's the part i said it's too nasty encourages. and when she

shared her favorite quote with me i was like yeah just the story about the traveling underscores why this is our favorite quote. it's by winston churchill and it's when you're going through hell keep going. and to bring things back to some of the realities will be confronting all day there's so much of. to use the word hell it's hard right now and what we're confronting the climate crisis it's hard when our children are watching tv in learning about one more fired why they have a spoke today in the bay area for the first time i grew up here we never smoked. when i was a kid. it's changing. energy what leadership what vision for how we can make things better. and so heather again a- i'm just getting to know heather but this is a- beautiful thing he said on and with this. she said. if i could say one thing about myself. is that a lot. of politics and justice. has taught me how to love. and to laugh. i have far too much to be grateful for.

and we have. far too little time. get things right i'm climbing. me to do. anything differently. so there is about c. sep way there she's about just as she's about beijing she's about power and without further ado let's give a strong sounding pioneers welcome. to heather mcteer toney. thank you thank you lisa. what is an environmentalist think about it for a moment what is an environmental issue i did a little google search before i came out earlier this week. and you put in the words into google what is an environmentalist on the first page under images this is what you're up with. he. basically some images i don't see any

color you see trees you see people hugging trees- you see white yes well let's go to the second page because i'm like surely i can find something else to buy keep scrolling. no no no. when you go down a little further and just asking the question about image of what does an environmentalist look like this is what we- and it's important to know that because we think about what an environmentalist is and what we do each and every day. and i think that we see in the images that we- see them again. general image. lens through which we see environmental engagement. and it's colored in the lives of privilege. in a lens of singularity lack of community. then there's no wonder why it creates dissension when we say words like environmental justice for climate justice it's because the way that we are looking at

it is pictured the run lands where we can see no difference. and why and where we are. in two thousand nine. the washington post ran a story on my city i was mayor of greenville mississippi and they've been working with us for some time and me being young and energetic and ready this of all the world's problems figured i was going to take a water in my case the brown water by community so the rival age of twenty seven. i decided that running for mayor and focusing on this one of many issues in my community would bring some attention is certainly did i got attention of the washington on my morning. well for my city and this is what people saw. they saw. the face of a child in a bathtub full of brown water. and right below that full. you see a picture of me. looking seriously about what can we do to rectify this issue in our

community. it was a visit from lisa jackson. she was at the time the first african american administrator for the u. s. united u. s. epa and she came to my city to say and to talk about community a community visiting and what we're going to be the things that she wanted to work on. and she pulled to the side she's you know you work tomorrow i'll just she's right. she said you know the mission of the epa it's actual mission statement. is to protect human health and the environment that's what the organization is designed and supposed to do. and so after that that actually was my advantage to working for the epa later on down the line it ended up being the result ministry- for the southeast region and it came because we were trying to move to a place where you have community facing work for community problems on

climate and the environment. a lot of the problem. going back to that lands. because of the let. people see the environmental working as colored then it doesn't allow for solutions that people can come to because it's not grounded in things like cultural compasses competency and actual realistic. outcomes if there's anything that being a mayor and being a real- i regional ministry- has taught me is that you had better have an answer for the people. because people find you anywhere. they will stop you in walmart look into your basket and say this toilet paper that they are you lessening your house american annapolis into mine. you learn really quickly what matters to folks. i knew also that you have to have solutions you must be solution minded and there's not a lot of time to sit around and to have meetings and to go back and forth when the people need a

solution. answer okay so what we were going to do. and it's the same thing that we have an issue with right now. so right now everybody in this room i don't have to repeat for you i know you know the results from the i. p. c. c. boarding know what's going to happen. is a global climate. change and crisis emerges. they're all in the it is that out there. but talk about the solution in ways that people. can grapple with and embrace. her example. the ipcc report has said that one of the things we should do to help reduce climate and reduce carbon emissions this is stop eating meat or not eat as much meat. it's very well known. it is a solution that has been touted and a lot of people have gotten behind. let's grow more let's put more food on the ground. i'm a black woman from mississippi southern baptists. i can not going to my church

and say we're not gonna have chicken and bacon. not all work. i'm mississippi you can't tell me how to grow food my ancestors did. you can't tell me about what i should be doing with respect to the soil because i thought you. critically important that we have these conversations through the lens of people who have lived these experiences not that it's a bad thing. yes cut back on my bacon a little bit. for the environment. they're also excellent organizations that are doing things that are just having the same conversation just in the language that people understand privilege keeps us from doing that because it doesn't allow us to listen to one another and that's what we must begin to do we have to begin to listen to

one another i was reading something this morning blacks in green which is a wonderful realization. hello out of green living room yeah i understand that because see in my house everybody comes to living room living room and kitchen. but a great living room the first thing i thought of as an outdoor park in the black community because the set every black neighborhood should have a green living room. i understand that that makes sense to me it makes sense to my folks my people because now that is a gathering place that we can come to in our neighborhoods that's our living. room is where we can hang out it well we can talk about those things we can trade back and forth the things that we need to do in our communities from going greens. to having a conversation about getting star for out of the church picnic this year. about the air pollution is taking place in and around our school. that in the place comfortable to us. this is an experience

that took place in the united states of america on september twentieth all across this country. hey you want to know where this alone. this was at the university of mississippi ole miss. places where people think that there's no engagement on climate. places where people think that we are lost or we are forgotten and we are not engaging places where people think we are not environmentalist. no it was because and is because of our conversations with one another our inclusiveness with one another and beginning to realize the face of environmentalism doesn't look like the google search it looks like the person who is sitting right next to you. i'm beginning to understand and that's any compass it and everything that we do. beginning to wrap all of our issues from all of our

communities in the cloak of climbing. it's one of the things that i love so much about moms clean air force an organization that i've been blessed to now be a part of. it's because mothers do what mamas do. that is we are going to protect our babies to no end. and whether we are protecting them from the impacts of climate or we are protecting them from gun violence or we are protecting them from immigration and being stolen away or we are protecting them like our indigenous mothers are from being taken from our lands we are protecting all of our children and we recognize that climate has something to do with. all of its- it's called bring. the table of your mother you know how to make children play together. you know what's happening when they're fighting if your mother a graphite grandmother play because in. on c. yeah this is not rocket

science we get into this big world of it being so difficult when realizing the natural things that we have wind within ourselves tell us what to do. it is the reason that we all come together and we're here at these events. it's the reason that we are finding that moms are now becoming more engaged on a political level where even if they're running for office are being appointed to office or head i have said repeatedly if you can be the secretary of epa you can be the secretary of. the department of interior. we are realizing that our voices are required at this moment. it's a requirement it's like when you hear the kids in the back room and they make a whole lot of noise you let him keep making noise and making noise and making noises all right but when you hear something break you hear again certainly silent you know you have to get up and go in that room. what we're saying is

mothers is we are now getting up and going in the room. and that's the room that we city. we go in the rooms where the policy makers are where we are testifying before congress where we are saying this is what is happening in our communities this is not enough we shall be on record because we have something to say in. that but then it would be said in shape. and so these are the rooms that we go in. these are the places where we feel strongly that all of our- mothers. and grandmothers and grandfathers and aunties implica. anyone who has an interest in seeing the welfare of our children be protected from the impacts of climate change and air pollution they

must be in these places. and we see an amazing impact. we see our children of all colors and all demographics marching when there is a debate that doesn't talk about climate. and we're there. we see our artist com and make beautiful depictions of what it is that it looks like. why we should be so involved we see sharks mothers. trying to make sure that they're getting the bible studies that we have in the information that's needed to get there unity's because- wait you from what you look like. just needs. to be done in the language that you understand. and we do that. we make sure our children. are given the microphone to say what they need to say. because that's why

this work is important. i do this work because i've been doing it for years and i understand that there are a lot of places that we could be but this is the social justice movement for our time. this is it this is it and it's now. my parents came to mississippi as a part of the voter's rightss movement my father is a retired civil rights attorney my mother is a retired school teacher. was no thought is a different education maps. but what i learned and understood what is that there's always a movements where are you in it. for me climate justice is that movement. and is that movement because of these little people better math pride and joy. the little boy. another girl. and just like these are my reasons

you have your reasons whatever it is. it's what drives us to never give up on doing this work it does not matter what this administration does it does not matter what it looks like. this is what an environmentalist looks like. this is the google images that we must change. these are the photos that must be uploaded all of the ones that you took here today. is what must populated so that people see the lens up our work through our faces. so that they see who we are. so that they understand that you know everybody we love trees we plant trees than me we how can we help them while we

plan on but we do a lot of the stuff to. and going anywhere at all. i. close i will leave you with this and this is a- saying i friend of mine sent me a little while back because of having a rough day. with the administration. they did just a few things eighty five roll backs to be specific. that just rubs me the wrong way. and now because i've done a lot of work in the administration that president obama lead that we were very very proud of. and we work hard. and i saw the faces of the people who were in those rooms changing all of the work that we did in the southeast region eight states of the southeast region one of the

nation's population the mobile device. a landscape you could ever imagine and where we manage half a- billion dollar budget. kept the water clean. kept the land clean as much as we could engage with communities all across the state. from mississippi to the carolinas from florida up to kentucky tennessee hi. working to ensure that if you bring. you drank it or you start on it. it was safe. because that was my job. and so. my friend sent me a photo and she said never forget who did the work. and this was my team of who did the work. that was the leadership team. i need you to

lift my spirits every time i see it as a selfie it was at the end of the ministration you see a very pregnant me. but you also see. the attorneys you see a chief of staff you see the system you see the deputy you see the people who are in charge of state and local government affairs. every woman in that room was in the leadership. of the environmental protection agency for our region and i think we did a hell of a job. all of you. as i say to all of my sisters that are in that photo and every last mother. of moms

clean air force all of our friends. we have work to do you are what environmentalists look like go and find your friends thank you.■ñ■ñ■ñ■ññó■c■■■■■■■■■q

r >> this is "focus on europe." i'm lara babalola. welcome. it's the dawn of a new era in britain. king charles ascended to the throne upon the death of his mother, queen elizabeth ii. britain bid farewell to its longest-reigning monarch in an elaborate state funeral. the new king now faces the momentous task of leading the monarchy and preserving his mother's legacy. but the future of the monarchy is uncertain.