UT and I’m here to show you all how
powerful we are as consumers and what we
can do to help this is an EPA map
showing current Superfund size in the US
but I’ll come back to that later let’s
focus on us for a moment right here in
Tampa and on a list of the top nine
cities on earth most vulnerable to the
negative effects of accelerated climate
change where do you think Tampa is on
this list but is number seven but let’s
not forget that that doesn’t affect
everyone equally let’s talk about
climate justice climate justice is
distinct and its focus on those abroad
in places like Honduras the Philippines
Haiti and Bangladesh whose residents
deal with things like landslides
increased storms floods among other
awful things but it doesn’t forget those
here in the US who have the least access
to safety and health care climate
justice focuses on those who experience
the worst effects of accelerated climate
climate justice as sorry as core
principles are centered in poor facets
are centered in the home as principles
of which there are six climate advocates
like myself focus on these when
organizing campaigns and pub a climate
justice committee I also Center these
principal in organizing on campus and
organizations like the Environmental
Protection Coalition and Spartans
seeking justice
number one inclusion of all being
defended the movement is necessary
number two that are those first who are
actually affected by a social issue and
form leadership from within while
welcoming new supporters in this
continues number three but those who are
the most affected speak for themselves
and tell us how they want to see their
visions fulfilled
number four understand that as
organizations and social justice
movements how others also can how we can
work together with others publish our
goals number five foster just
relationships amongst ourselves so that
we are functioning in a way that equally
benefits everyone number six a new ously
be committed rushon as organizations and
as individual activists and our
endeavour for justice peace and an
equitable world though all of these are
extremely important let’s take a look at
number four the one about the
interconnected nature of all social
justice now before we begin I think an
important to deconstruct certain
narrative about living a life of
some people think hippies radicals and
often just clean classes and mind you
there are always going to be examples of
every stereotype but unlike a
plant-based lifestyle veganism is a
social justice
against the mistreatment of all species
they are all equally seen as deserving
and on top of which it costs about four
dollars a day to live a plant-based
lifestyle while it costs about ten
dollars days and on top of which
according to a journal on human and
clinical nutrition called the annals of
nutrition and metabolism vegans have
lower rates of obesity hypertension
diabetes and significantly lower cancer
risk Wes needlessly spends four hundred
and fourteen dollars on external animal
welfare environmental and health care
costs according to author of met anomic
now that we’ve discussed the internal
effects of veganism and I’ve shown you
how we healthy and be vegan let’s talk
about the external effects environment
animal agriculture one of the many
issues is forty five percent of Earth’s
globally of all Earth’s land and twenty
to thirty three percent of all Earth’s
fresh water according to the World Bank
just to feed these animals 91% of Amazon
on top of which the manure of these of
non-human animals are stored in these
open-air lagoons they are they they are
the manure is applied to the land as
fertilizer in quantities that the soil
is not able to incorporate it it’s
literally sprayed everywhere untreated
even the USDA admits this and this
creates things for fun sites and
low-income communities Superfund sites
are any land in the United States
contaminated by hazardous waste and
identified by the EPA as a tangible
threat to human health in the
environment now you might be wondering
at this point how exactly do these
Superfund sites work what do we do with
them well once they are documented they
are put on the EPA’s national priority
list where they can be labeled as
proposed withdrawn final or deleted if
proposed that means it’s possible that
they will be cleaned up bran they’re not
even labeled a threat to human health
which is why they were identified in the
final means an hrs screening system been
used to evaluate the situation public
comments have been solicited and it’s
been labeled a tangible threat human
health and the environment
now these Superfund sites are usually
thanks to community surveys done since
nineteen or eighty seven by
organizations like the United Church of
Church of Christ we know that they are
usually put in communities that are
Oh thus far we know animal agricultural
companies choose to pollute the
environment harm Public Health and
charge us more for it and because
they’re in these low-income communities
their residents often are forced to work
in these same factory farms that exploit
them now you might be wondering I’m
sorry work according to The Huffington
Post workers in the meat industry suffer
repetitive motion injury rates 30 times
the national average and often defecate
in their pants to avoid slowing down
County is with slaughterhouses have four
times the national average of violent
arrests with significantly higher rates
of alcoholism domestic abuse child abuse
and suicide and this just doesn’t seem
fair go back 1 we have a sea of evidence
thanks to organizations like the
University of Colorado the US department
of labor statistics the Georgia Journal
of poverty and law among others vegans
and climate justice advocates can and
should work together to combat all of
these issues we can work together to
find solutions that we all can agree on
think about how much of that four
hundred and fourteen billion could be
reallocated for things like green energy
free health care and healthy plant-based
in Germany which has an eighth of our
domestic economy they’ve created over
300,000 new jobs and solar which on
average workers make about $26 per hour
and the field is actually ethnically
diverse which means that we could employ
these workers in solar plants rather
than factory farms rather than targeting
marginalized communities who are already
suffering we can invest in green jobs
that empower them does anyone remember
Armagh by a show of hands I know I do
well this is a house destroyed right
here in Florida this is what happens
when we don’t pay attention to
accelerated climate change it gets
closer and closer until we do now it
doesn’t have to be this way but what can
we do we can go and March in Washington
and we can go vegan going forward in
this battle for the planet let us model
our actions around ideals that benefit
us all and come together to create a more equitable world