Department of Philosophy presents the Graham Kennedy Memorial Lecture

DR. OLUFEMI TAIWO
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Topic :- Climate Apartheid Is the Coming Police Violence Crisis

Abstract :- In a 2019 report, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights warned about the possibility of climate apartheid:
a world in which only elites are able to access basic forms of social protection while everyone else faces the devastating effects of climate
crises. Such crises are already here—and they are hitting us with increasing frequency. Researchers say that we can expect more climate
change–related wildfires, heat waves, and floods before the end of the year, all of which will compound the economic damage done by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Yet how all this destruction will affect us has less to do with the wind, rain, or sea levels and more to do with our
institutions, a simple question of whom and what the political system chooses to protect. In this talk, I'll lay out the case that the politics
of prisons and police will be key to climate justice - or its opposite.