Watch: Panel discusses how public lands can help the climate fight
Public lands such as the Desolation Canyon, in Utah, can offer offer refuge to wildlife and communities.
Credit Bob WIck/BLM
American Climate Leadership Summit brings together grassroots activists
We are facing a tough reality: the climate crisis is getting worse, and faster than we thought. Scientists recently warned that people and nature are suffering devastating, often irreversible impacts. But there’s still a window of opportunity to avoid the worst and adapt to the changes already happening – and public lands and waters can help.
At the American Climate Leadership Summit (ACLS), which took place virtually from March 28 to 31, grassroots organizations came together to discuss exactly how public lands and waters can act as a climate solution.
The panel “Public Lands: Local Solution to a Global Climate Crisis,” hosted by The Wilderness Society (TWS), gave an overview of how public lands contribute to this crisis. These lands often host unchecked fossil fuel development when they could be absorbing more climate emissions and offering refuge for wildlife and communities.
Click on the video above to watch the panel led by TWS’ Climate & Energy Fellow Daniella Gonzalez and featuring two members of The People, Public Lands, and Climate Collaborative:
- Olivia Juarez, Latinx Community Organizer at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, an organization that works to protect public lands that have a role in combating climate change.
- Lauren Berutich, Associate Director of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, an organization that educates the public on the connection between public lands and climate change mitigation.
