Climate Sessions

Climate and Human Mobility 101: Faith Perspective

This session will offer a theological and ethical grounding for our learning track on Climate and Migration. Presenters in this opening session will describe the moral and ethical imperative to address climate and human mobility from faith perspectives. It will offer a frame for reflecting on the experiences of climate-impacted communities in the US and globally, and for incorporating new ideas and perspectives from this learning track into the ways that we live out our faith.

Climate Change Impacts and Community Responses in the U.S.

During this session, we will discuss how communities in the US are experiencing and responding to climate change, including efforts to remain safely in place, and difficult decisions to relocate out of harm’s way. Communities throughout the US are already feeling the impacts of climate change. We will also discuss how too often, BIPOC communities face disproportionate risks from sudden climate events, such as storms or floods, as well as slow-onset climate changes, like sea-level rise.

Following this session, participants will:
Understand how communities in the US are experiencing climate change, and particularly displacement risks posed by climate change.
Identify ways that communities are responding, including efforts to remain safely in place; and approaches to difficult decisions about potential relocation.

Climate Change Impacts and Community Responses Around the World

During this session, we will explore how communities in different parts of the world are responding to climate change, including through adapting livelihoods and preparing for disaster risks where they are; and, for some, through migration. We will discuss how communities around the world, who have contributed the least to climate change are feeling its impacts most acutely. We will also explore how the exchange of ideas to respond to climate change benefits the most from the inclusion of Indigenous communities and other marginalized groups.

Following this session, participants will:
Understand how communities around the world are experiencing climate change, including examples from Central America, the Pacific, and Southeast Asia.
Identify responses to climate impacts, including livelihoods adaptations, disaster risk reduction, and migration.

Shaping Policies that Reflect Dignity and Human Rights

During this session,
we will share ways that we can stand with people displaced by climate change within the US and around the world, through policies that reflect dignity and human rights. Speakers will describe how we can live out our long-held value to welcome the stranger by expanding pathways for safe migration and developing new safeguards for people displaced by climate change – while ensuring the dignity and autonomy of climate-impacted people to make informed decisions for themselves.

Following this session, participants will:
Understand what policies exist to allow people to move safely in response to climate impacts, and where there are policy gaps that need to be addressed.
Identify efforts underway to create or strengthen policies that offer dignity and protection to people at risk of displacement because of climate impacts.

Meeting with Decision Makers in an Impactful Way

During this session, participants will learn how we can meet with elected leaders to advocate effectively for what our communities need. We will provide you with tangible skills that you can use to help educate and advocate with elected leaders in Washington DC or in your home district. We all have the power and the human right to take action alongside people impacted by climate change.

Following this session, participants will:
Understand effective ways to engage in education and advocacy with decision-makers about climate change and its impacts on migration.
Identify opportunities to take action alongside people impacted by climate change, in your local community or at the state or federal level.

Engaging in Climate Action, Collectively and Individually

During this session, we will share ways that we can take action to bring about systemic changes that can avert unnecessary harm and suffering. We will discuss how communities of faith, we stand for climate justice for all people, and for future generations. We will discuss how efforts to stop further human-made climate change, including an urgent shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, are critical to avoiding the most extreme scenarios.

Following this session, participants will:
Understand what kinds of systemic changes are needed to address the climate crisis.
Identify ways that both collective action and individual action can be part of our responses.

Communicating Effectively about Climate and Displacement

During this session, we will explore how we can use both our ears and our voice to communicate effectively about climate and displacement. Conversations about climate change can be challenging for many reasons. Participants will learn how listening with empathy is one way that we can build trust with people who feel climate change most acutely, including in communities where displacement is a risk. Participants will also learn how effective storytelling can help us communicate our local efforts as part of a larger narrative of climate action, dignity, and human rights.

Following this session, participants will:
Understand how listening with empathy and effective storytelling can help us communicate about climate change and displacement.
Identify opportunities for communicating with others about climate and displacement, and how communication itself is an important part of climate action.