How to Build an Equitable and Just Climate Future | Peggy Shepard | TED

40,303 views ・ 2022-09-07

TED


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It should be no surprise
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that every community should have a right to a clean environment.
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Yet, some are sacrifice zones.
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Sacrifice zones:
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communities living on the front lines of pollution and environmental hazards.
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But the good news is that we have a unique opportunity
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to address legacy pollution
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as we together build an equitable and just climate future.
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Now, this is a story about communities in crisis.
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Mostly, these are communities of Black and brown and Indigenous peoples.
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It's often a story of low-income communities.
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But race, race is the decisive factor.
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Now, studies show that an average middle-income Black family
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with an 87,500-dollar income
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is likely to live with more pollution
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than a white family making 22,500 dollars a year.
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Now, my organization, WE ACT for Environmental Justice,
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works within a movement of hundreds of environmental justice groups,
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here and abroad,
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to address the disproportionate impact of pollution borne by our communities.
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So I'm talking about environmental justice,
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which is a civil rights and a human rights analysis
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of environmental decision making,
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with a focus on the permitting,
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the permitting process that gives polluters permission to pollute
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within a regulatory standard for air, water and soil.
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Now, these permits,
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they are an allowance that sacrifices the health of community residents.
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The cumulative effect of multiple facilities sited in a community
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that emit high levels of pollution in close proximity to where people live.
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That contributes to glaring health disparities.
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Now, Harvard University studies among Black Americans
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living in areas like Harlem and the South Bronx,
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those are communities which do not need clean air standards
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set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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And those studies that found
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that Black Americans have died of COVID-19
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at higher rates than others
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due to living in air-polluted communities.
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Now, that's not a surprise
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since the majority of people who live in areas
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that do not meet clean air standards
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are Latinos and Black Americans.
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And that's the case in an area called "Cancer Alley."
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Now, there's a song sung by the late Nat King Cole
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called "Unforgettable."
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And that is what "Cancer Alley" is.
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It is unforgettable.
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It's in the worst possible way.
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It's a 75-mile corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
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It's a continuum of petrochemical and plastics manufacturing facilities
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on acres of former plantations.
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Now, these facilities have created
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an intergenerational history of death from cancer,
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with some communities suffering cancer rates
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higher than the national rate.
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Now communities experience environmental hazards
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and pollution exposure in diverse ways.
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In urban areas,
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mobile sources, contaminated sites, they're really the challenge.
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And local governments generally manage the infrastructure of pollution.
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But in smaller cities and rural areas, industrial and oil refineries,
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landfills and incinerators, they're usually the problem.
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And in places like Texas and California,
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there may be no zoning laws
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that separate industrial facilities from residential backyards.
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So environmental racism and injustice
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results from a complex legacy of housing segregation,
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land use and zoning discrimination,
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and from unequal enforcement and policies.
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Now decades ago,
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policies such as redlining
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denied home loans to people of color into certain communities.
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And this government policy reinforced racial segregation in cities
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and diverted investments away from those communities,
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creating large disparities in home ownership
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as well as urban heat environments.
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A few trees and no open space.
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So today we're still living out the legacy of those racist policies.
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Now, I first began organizing around these issues
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as an elected Democratic district leader in my West Harlem neighborhood.
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In 1988, I co-founded West Harlem Environmental Action,
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known as WE ACT for Environmental Justice.
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And, you know, we began organizing,
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educating our neighbors to understand the impact
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of the disproportionate siting
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and permitting of polluting facilities in our communities.
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We started out by pressing New York City
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to fix the North River sewage treatment plant
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in the Hudson River
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that was ruining our quality of life by emitting toxic fumes.
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And we began to ask ourselves a number of questions.
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How could we transform the New York City diesel bus fleet
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to clean fuel buses
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since we housed over 740 of the city diesel bus fleet in uptown depots?
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How could we have a waterfront park
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along the beautiful Hudson River instead of a parking lot?
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And how could we get environmental justice on the agenda of New York City,
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the state and the federal government to invest in sustainability
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in our communities?
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I know that it only takes one person to reimagine what's possible,
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and some policy change takes decades.
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It took us 18 years
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to transform the New York City diesel bus fleet to hybrids.
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However, it took only a few months
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to ensure that all New York schools are tested for lead in drinking water.
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I know that so much is possible when we have the right political moment.
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But to capitalize,
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we must mobilize a critical mass of people to create real change.
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And to monitor that our policies are implemented
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in the way that was intended.
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And environmental justice groups have done just that.
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In a number of ways.
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So we've created working groups and campaigns
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amongst people who have a real stake in the outcome,
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those most affected by harm or new policies.
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And we engage them in environmental decision making.
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Those are the people who have the lived experience,
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who can best advise on climate adaptation and resilience planning.
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Now, if their perspectives had been known and integrated
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into the inter-agency emergency response planning
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in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina,
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then thousands of families would not have been stranded on their roofs,
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waiting for rescue
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or sleeping in a sports stadium,
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because the city would have already known
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that lower-income families living in a flood zone
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did not have a car to evacuate the city
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or a credit card to access a hotel room.
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Another tactic we engage is we engage community in educational workshops
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that help them better articulate the data,
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testify at hearings,
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train residents to become citizen scientists
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who collect their own air and water quality data
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to influence policymakers and elected officials.
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And those officials should resource every community
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to develop a climate action plan
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that addresses neighborhood level response and challenges
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to extreme weather events.
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We've also developed strong, strong policy agendas at the city,
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state and federal levels,
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based on community perspectives, experience
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and the evolving transition from a fossil fuel economy.
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And these are tactics that can be applied within local contexts in any community.
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So as we transition to renewable energy sources,
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we know that energy insecurity will impact millions more households
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as utility bills increase.
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And to decarbonize buildings,
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a pre-investment will be needed to upgrade residential buildings
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in frontline communities
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before electrification of all buildings will be achieved.
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So I challenge you
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to create the change we need
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by incorporating equity and lived experience
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into all public and government policies.
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My vision is to redress the legacy of pollution
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by targeting frontline communities,
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not for pollution, but to become green zones.
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Green zones where we can incentivize community shared solar, electrification,
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green businesses, good jobs and worker cooperatives.
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Because today we are at an inflection point
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with an opportunity to achieve that vision.
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You know, the Biden administration
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has committed to centering environmental justice
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in all government policies
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through an executive order
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that directs at least 40 percent of the benefits
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from federal investments in clean energy
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to go to disadvantaged communities.
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So there is an opportunity
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to implement a transformative and accountable process
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for the fair and just distribution of benefits of Justice40
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to frontline communities of Black,
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brown and Indigenous peoples.
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But we must make certain that the investments and the benefits
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reach the communities intended,
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given the bias and ambivalence of many state and local governments.
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But if done effectively,
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this can be transformative
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and could stop the cycle of exploitation and extraction.
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Every community,
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every community has the right to a clean environment.
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And you do not need to be an environmental champion
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or a climate justice leader to embrace that value.
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So I call on your humanity
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to center the voices and perspectives in all policies
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of those most affected by environmental hazards
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and climate change.
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We can create a legacy of environmental quality
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and climate resilience for all.
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We can do this and we must.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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