How Public and Private Sector Leaders Are Tackling Climate Equity

Sharon Lavigne knows first-hand the effects of climate change. At the inaugural TIME100 Climate Leadership Forum in New York City on Monday, the founder, director, and CEO of the faith-based grassroots environmental justice nonprofit RISE St. James Louisiana named her friends, family members, and neighbors who had been diagnosed with or died from cancer in a community that has a high concentration of industrial plants.

“We are dying so fast,” Lavigne said, emotion evident in her voice, on a panel moderated by TIME senior correspondent Justin Worland. “The water is polluted; the river that we drink our water from is brown.”

Lavigne was joined on stage by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan and Apple’s Vice President of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson. Regan discussed his mission to incorporate equity into the work of the EPA, emphasizing that equity, justice, and inclusion is a “central pillar” of President Joe Biden’s agenda.

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[DanH-uf]

Climate equity? What gas guzzling vehicles did they arrive in?

[cgbarrick]

What a sham and disgrace. Think of all the trees you could plant with their salaries. And what a better use of money that would be.