Militarism & Climate Change: Disaster in Progress

Start: 2021-04-29 19:00:00 UTC Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)

This is a virtual event

Both anti-war and climate movements are fighting for justice and life for all people on a livable planet. It's increasingly clear that we can't have one without the other. No climate justice, no peace, no planet.

Join us on April 29 for a webinar on the intersections between climate justice and anti-war movements.

A just transition requires not only a transition from fossil fuels to renewables, but also demilitarization. Bloated defence and border security budgets not only fund violence and destruction, but absorb resources needed to fund a just transition, build a green economy, secure economic and racial justice, and end poverty. The constant threat of nuclear weapons concerns climate and peace movements alike. Even a limited nuclear exchange, whether accidental or intentional, would initiate a nuclear winter, with dire consequences in the form of drought, starvation and generalized misery. Conversely, climate change, by destroying livelihoods and rendering entire regions uninhabitable, undermines fragile states and exacerbates existing conflicts. This scenario is playing out most destructively in the Sahelian region of sub-Saharan Africa. Peace, justice and climate issues are inextricably linked.

There is growing momentum within the peace movement in Canada to address the outrageous carbon emissions of Canada's military, the devastating extraction of materials for war machines and toxic mine waste produced, and the terrible destruction of human life and ecological systems caused by the past few decades of Canada's war initiatives. We are witnessing and mobilizing to resist the militarized violence that continues colonization across Canada and particularly the ways that those taking a stand at the climate frontlines, especially Indigenous peoples, are regularly attacked and surveilled by the Canadian military.

Addressing the climate crisis is at odds with Canada's current plans to increase military expenditures astronomically, and sign contracts for the purchase of 88 new bomber jets and Canada's first fleet of unmanned armed drones. Not to mention Canada's growing role as a major global arms dealer and weapons manufacturer.

Our speakers will explore these and other intersections between antiwar and climate justice struggles. Featuring:



Clayton Thomas-Müller is a member of the Treaty #6 based Mathias Colomb Cree Nation also knows as Pukatawagan located in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Based in Winnipeg, Clayton is a senior campaign specialist with 350.org. Clayton is a campaigner, film director, media producer, organizer, facilitator, public speaker and author on Indigenous rights and environmental and economic justice.

El Jones is a spoken word poet, an educator, journalist, and a community activist living in African Nova Scotia. She was the fifth Poet Laureate of Halifax and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Burnley “Rocky” Jones human rights award for her community work and work in prison justice, and the Atlantic Journalism Award.
Jaggi Singh is an independent journalist who writes and produces for No Borders Media, as well as a community organizer based in Montreal. He has been actively involved in anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, anti-colonial organizing and projects for two decades, including against poverty, war, police violence, racism and fascism, and in support of Indigenous land defenders and undocumented migrants.
Kasha Sequoia Slavner is a 2019 Diana Award holder, a global changemaker with Yunus & Youth Global Changemakers & We Are Family Foundation, an 11x UN Youth Delegate, first recipient of the Kim Phuc Youth Peace Award & multi-award-winning first-time Gen-Z documentary filmmaker. She comes to the profession as a seasoned photographer, entrepreneur, and social justice advocate for over a decade. The Sunrise Storyteller was the young filmmaker’s first feature-length documentary, which she directed, filmed at 16, scripted and edited before she graduated high school.

Register to attend by clicking the red button.

This event is being hosted by World BEYOND War and Science for Peace. Registration info will be shared with both hosts.

Thank you to the sponsoring organizations: Toronto350.org, Climate Fast, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, Global Sunrise Project, Climate Pledge Collective, and Music for Climate Justice.

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