Join our Trade Justice Alliance Sunday Webinar and get ready for Earth Day and the People's Climate March as we explore the climate cost of free trade with special guest speakers, Ben Lilliston, the Director of Corporate Strategies and Climate Change at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and Anthony Torres, Associate Campaign Representative, for the Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program. We will also hear from Adam Weissman, Director, Global Justice for Animals and the Environment, and other Trade Justice Allies.

While Donald Trump has promised to re-negotiate existing trade deals like NAFTA, and to negotiate bi-lateral trade deals with other countries, his positions on climate change taken with his appointees to regulatory agencies indicate he is no friend of the scientific community when it comes to established doctrine regarding the connection between burning fossil fuels and climate chaos. Trump’s new era of trade negotiations will have direct impacts on greenhouse gas emissions and how we respond to climate change.

Ben Lilliston is the Director of Corporate Strategies and Climate Change at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. He has been working and writing about international trade issues and how they intersect with U.S. agricultural policy since 2000, including through multiple World Trade Organization Ministerials, the passage of CAFTA, several Farm Bills and current trade debates.  Among numerous scholarly works, Ben recently published with Common Dreams on Rex Tillerson’s record on climate change and authored the report, The Climate Cost of Free Trade, and Big Meat Swallows the TPP.  Mr. Lilliston was a contributor to the UN Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Trade and Environmental Review 2013 and to the book Mandate for Change (Lexington).  He co-authored the book Genetically Engineered Foods: A Guide for Consumers (Avalon).

Anthony Torres is Associate campaign Representative for Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program, member of the Climate Justice Working Group, and Advisory Board Member of the California Trade Justice Coalition. Anthony is a systems-level analyst, political ecologist and climate activist whose work focuses on the creation of new narratives that challenge extraction, exploitation and extinction. His work for the past several years has been directed at social, political and environmental issues and direct political action here in the U.S., India and the Ecuadorian Amazon. Anthony Torres’ work centers around collaboration with frontline communities and like-minded organizations as they build a vision for a more just, equitable, and sustainable future.   He's recently been featured as one of Grist.org's Top 50 Fixers for 2017 for his cross-movement building for a united, multiracial front.

Recent Article by Ben Lilliston:  http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/01/23/tillersons-damaging-record-extraction-and-opposing-climate-action

Article by Anthony Torres: http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2016/08/new-shared-vision-for-trade-justice

Join us as we explore how the Trump Administration views trade’s relationship to climate change and outline key upcoming moments for advocacy.