00:00I was asked to talk about hope tonight, but I work on climate change, and 2024 was the hottest year
00:09on earth in human history, and Hurricane Melissa, supercharged by a Caribbean sea that is way hotter
00:17than it should be, just smashed into Jamaica, the island that my family is from, with record
00:25breaking winds. So what I have to say to you tonight is, fuck hope, what's the strategy?
00:31What are we going to do so that we don't need hope? And you can take it from me, I'm a scientist.
00:39Yes, things are dire, and yes, it is because humans have burned fossil fuels and burned forests.
00:46Scientists agree on this. To be clear, most of the blame for the climate crisis goes to the greedy
00:53fossil energy and big agriculture executives, their greenwashing PR firms, and the politicians
00:59in their pockets. But each of us deserve some blame, too, because we are letting it happen.
01:07We are going about our lives while powerful people set the world on fire. However, here's the good
01:16news. And if you remember only one thing I say tonight, let it be this. We already have the solutions
01:25we need. We can transition to clean energy now. Solar panels and wind turbines are already the cheapest
01:32ways to generate electricity. We can protect and restore ecosystems now. We can grow food sustainably,
01:40green our buildings, and improve public transit right now. We can put our money where our mouth is now.
01:49There's no magical technology we need to wait for, and we are making progress, but we need to move much
01:56faster. The longer we delay, the harder and more expensive it will be. And despite co-founding a policy
02:05think tank, urban ocean lab, it took me way too long to realize that cultural change usually comes before
02:14policy change. This was true for civil rights. This was true for gay marriage. And the people in this room
02:22shape culture. You have so much power to accelerate climate action, to inspire your crowds and shift the
02:32status quo. You can write rom-coms and songs about climate solutions, design products for circularity,
02:39support key policies. Come see me at table six if you want to talk about what you specifically can do.
02:45I will personally help you figure out how to make the biggest difference. But what everyone definitely
02:53needs to do is speak up. Because right now, two out of three Americans rarely or never hear about climate
03:01on the news or on social media. And as long as that silence continues, there is no chance we are going
03:09to solve this. And do not let climate deniers scare you. They may be loud, and too many of them are
03:16running our government right now, but they are only 15% of Americans. You may think that climate is not your
03:26issue. But it affects everything. Whether you care about national security and food security, public
03:33health and racial justice, robust infrastructure and low energy bills, outdoor concerts and sporting events,
03:41scuba diving on coral reefs, skiing on real snow, having ice thick enough for ice fishing. Maybe you like
03:49eating chocolate or peaches, drinking wine or coffee, or just your house not getting swallowed by the ocean.
03:57Climate is your issue. And if you're concerned about immigration now, we are poised to see the largest and
04:06fastest migration of people in human history. Hundreds of millions of people will have to relocate as climate
04:14change. Climate change renders their places unlivable. It's all intertwined. And as usual, the people with
04:23the fewest resources will be the ones to get screwed first. But even if you have a bunker in New Zealand,
04:31climate change is coming for you too. And we are not all going to Mars. So if you care about the future
04:40of nature at all, you need to care about nature and act on that care. Use your platforms and your votes,
04:49leverage your networks and your dollars. And where you keep your money is probably the biggest part of
04:57your personal carbon footprint. Actually even bigger than flying. So please divest. Call your money manager in
05:06the morning, first thing, tell them you don't want a single one of your dollars funding oil or gas or coal,
05:12and then move toward a plant-based diet. And remember, we already have the solutions we need.
05:23And it's not all or nothing. Every tenth of a degree of warming we prevent, every inch of sea level rise
05:31we avoid, every increasingly unnatural disaster that we prevent, every species we save, every bit of
05:40nature we protect and restore. It all matters. Addressing the climate crisis is the work of all of our
05:51lifetimes. So I invite you to join me and act as if you love the future and be tenacious on behalf of life on earth. Thank you.
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