In 2016 teenager Hakim Evans was one of a handful of young people to witness the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in New York City. Hakim shares with the Problem Busters how hurricane Sandy inspired his becoming a climate advocate and tells the story of how he came to rub shoulders with world leaders on that auspicious day.
We chart the rise and fall of Trump, the subsequent exit from the Paris Climate Agreement and Hakim describes how this shift in policy away from the environment during from 2016-2020 helped fuel the growth of the youth climate movement globally.
Climate change is one of the defining problems of our age and yet we don’t yet understand as a population what is driving so many young people to take a stand for what they see happening around them.
Hakim’s account is refreshingly honest, raw and logical and via describing why he joined the movement, he shares in simple terms why now is the time and how we all have a part to play in helping solve this global problem.
His approach is inclusive, understanding and seeks to educate the people around him, people from all walks of life, to the need to clean up our act.
About the show:
Problem Busters is a show that explores solutions to the biggest and the smallest of problems. Hosts Jonathan Goodwin and Oliver Happy discuss making the world a better place with guests from far and wide.
About our guest:
Hakim Evans is a Youth Ambassador for climate change and through his involvement in ACE (Alliance for Climate Education), is a member of the Your Advisory Board in New York City. Inspired by President Barack Obama for his leadership on climate change, Hakim decided to pursue his interest in climate leadership by joining the ACE Action Fellowship. Hakim has a deep interest in public health, and the intersections of climate change and environmental justice. Hakim played a role in NYC Climate Week, joining Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other world leaders at UN Headquarters in New York City for the UN Paris Climate Change Agreement Ratification Ceremony.
Show mentions:
- ACE: Alliance for Climate Education
- The climate crisis and how it impacts communities
- Hurricane Sandy in 2012, a highly-politicised climate event
- 04:00 hurricane sandy and the impacts on NYC and far occaway
- the water reservoir crisis in London and a ban on hose pipes
- snow in colorado and wildfires in california at the same time
- 08:20 the climate crisis and specifically, how we get involved <—-
- Lower income communities being affected more heavily by health, pollution and climate change
- 09:30 what climate change actually means – extreme events <—-
- 12:00 the most affected people by climate change are those with no power
- climate racism
- 13:40 civic engagement and how to not just educate, but get people engaged
- holding elected officials accountable and changing who represents them
- Obama and personal experience of the climate crisis as the genesis of getting involved
- 15:00 climate change disrupting your flow and getting educated about how to get involved.
- John Carey and Leonardo Di Caprio
- Jamie Patel, Greta Thunberg and people working to help us reclaim our future
- 17:30 people speaking out, taking back control and getting involved
- 19:00 Trump’s poplulist approach to climate change vs Biden on the left and a more centrist approach to climate action, due to pressure groups
- 20:30 Biden’s route to office being aided by environmental groups applying pressure and being heard
- 22:00 Environmental groups continuing to lobby as the final vote counting continues, ahead of the 1 January final election result
- 25:00 How ACE works, what they do and why. The just and equitable transition to a more renewable world that they seek.
- A just and equitable transition to renewable energy without disparaging anyone else.
- 25:00 there is no climate justice without justice for women, justice for youth, justice for race.
- 26:30 the blame game as a comfortable approach for developed countries to justifying that they are cleaning up, developing countries blaming developed countries. A pointing game that is just convenient for everybody
- New York state’s offshore wind masterplan and initially planning to have 45% generated by offshore wind
- 31:00, 32:30 New York Renews and the climate and community protection act as a means to push towards renewables
- 34:00 being one of two young people in the room during the ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement in NYC and seeing world leaders take action and making commitments
- 35:45 Youth can be a successful pressure group
- 37:00 the end of coal as a step on the path to a just and equitable transition to renewable energy, skills training, jobs training
- Telsa and leading the car industry away from gasoline
- 40:30 Moving out of dirty energy and taking time in order to reduce the shock
- 43:00 – 46:00 the paris agreement to the USA dropping out, to the rise of youth climate justice
- This is zero hour
- Fridays for Future
- The 2018 youth climate summit and feeling disenfranchised by an empty showing
- 45:00 money as a tool to promoting the environmental movement for a noble cause
- Dave Chappelle and money giving you more decisions
- The importance of peers talking to their peers about issues, and how much more that effect that has
- 49:00 leading the way at school, showing that it is possible to bring change
- The march for our lives taking the U.S. by storm
- 50:00 the role parents have in answering their kids’ questions about climate and supporting their desire to learn about it
- Parents having to get educated and stay a step ahead, because the world is changing so fast
- Video: Our climate, our future by ACE: https://ourclimateourfuture.org/
- NASA’s website as a source of education about science
- 58:00 Who will be the first country to move to 100% renewable energy?
- Sub-Saharan Africa as a place developing at such a rate, that if a sustainable route is taken, the infrastructure can be laid into place right now
- Movie: I am greta documentary
- Movie: An inconvenient truth with Al Gore
- Movie: An inconvenient sequel
- Book: Jamie Margollan – Youth to power
- 01:02:00 everyone has a part to play in the environmental movement
Logo and concept by Christy O’Connor
