The Hollywood Climate Summit, going on this week in Los Angeles, brings together filmmakers, artists, climate organizations, scientists and other experts to exchange ideas and inspire each other’s work when it comes to fighting climate change.
The summit began in 2020 as an all-virtual event during COVID. This year will be completely in person for the first time, although it can be watched on line from anywhere in the world, including here in South Florida.
"What we're sort of trying to grow this summit into is a South By Southwest model that really infuses climate and media as well as other types of industries like music and technology and advertising, because everything is so cross-sector at this point,” summit co-founder Allison Begalman said. “What we're trying to do is create a safe and inclusive space for both people who are entering the climate movement, but as well as celebrities who feel like they want to say things but don't know what to say. What we're working to is to start training folks so that they feel like they can come out, they can post, they can go to climate protests or they can just educate their fans about climate justice and what they can be doing in their communities to make an impact.”
One of the summit’s featured speakers is Isaias Hernandez, a climate media creator also known as the “Queer Brown Vegan.” He is a young expert on the connection between climate change and our food supply.
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“As the climate crisis continues to worsen, we'll see more crop failures, more pests that will not be able to be regulated with our crop traditional systems and we'll be seeing more severities in food access,” he said, “The global food system we've designed here in the United States is a bit unsustainable and there needs to be more technologies and policies and regulations that ensure the safety of our biosecurity of our food system.”
Isaias also understands that being queer and brown and a vegan give him a unique and powerful perspective.
"As a climate media creator, I chose ‘Queer Brown Vegan’ to really showcase the diversity of the environmental movement. Historically, the environmental movement has often not really highlighted black, indigenous, people of color in these spaces," he said. "And it is important to showcase to younger generations that caring about the planet, caring about the environment isn't a white thing.”
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Friday is the final day of the summit. People can watch the entire program for free by registering on-line at this link. The action begins at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time or noon on the east coast.
