Speakers

Everywhere, newsletters and podcasts are discussing the "pivot" climate tech is facing — a pivot to national security/defense, reliability/resilience, AI/grid infrastructure, to later stage companies with revenue, etc. — as if it is just a practicality of the times. Kara Rodby discusses why these reframings are not inherently climate tech and, in fact, are quite dangerous to the climate movement.

Faced with rising seas and global inaction, Tuvalu is becoming the world's first digital nation — a brilliant, defiant, and deeply troubling act of fighting for sovereignty against a system that has failed to protect it. This talk explores what's gained and lost when vulnerable nations are forced to reimagine statehood itself, and why the Global South's fight for physical survival deserves a far louder place in climate conversations.

Extreme wealth isn’t just unfair - it’s a climate problem. From carbon-intensive lifestyles to investments in carbon-intensive industry, the hoarding and pursuit of wealth is driving the climate crisis. Such wealth is fueling anti-climate politicians and the perpetuation of the petrostate while depriving those most impacted from the funds needed for mitigation and adaptation. At the same time, there is enormous potential in the pocketbooks of everyday Americans to interrupt this cycle. In this presentation, policy, climate, and finance researcher Danielle Levy will explore the insidious ways wealth and inequality hold us back from achieving a better future and highlight opportunities to leverage the world's economic power for climate justice.