CJRF and our partners were in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest (SXSW) in early March. SXSW is an annual conference and festival series that celebrates the convergence of music, tech, film, education, and culture. This year’s conference included a Climate Change track, which covered topics from renewable energy to flood risk to just transition. CJRF was selected through a highly competitive process to host a conference session, which offered us a chance to bring the topic of climate justice to a new audience.
For our conference session, CJRF hosted a candid conversation between international environmental rights lawyer Farhana Yamin and Maria Alejandra Escalante of the FRIDA Fund. Titled “Why We Need to Go All in on Climate Justice, the session made a strong case for a climate justice approach to climate action that addresses structural injustices and honors lived experience. Farhana and Maria Alejandra also called on philanthropy to change how it supports activists and practitioners on the ground.
FRIDA Climate and Environmental Justice Advocacy Officer Maria Alejandra Escalante, CJRF Director Heather McGray, and International Climate Activist and Lawyer Farhana Yamin spoke at the 2022 South By Southwest Event in Austin, Texas.