Pre-recorded discussion featuring Christi Cooper (Director), Rev. Lennox Yearwood (President & Founder, Hip Hop Caucus), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (U.S. Senator, Rhode Island), and Julia Olson (Lead Counsel, Juliana v. the United States), moderated by Vic Barrett (Plaintiff, Juliana v. the United States).

Christi Cooper is an Emmy-award winning cinematographer with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and an MS in Microbiology, Christi communicates complex issues through storytelling and visual narrative to create human connection and impact around the most pressing issues of our time. She left a successful academic and research career in Europe to obtain an MFA in Science & Natural History Filmmaking (graduate thesis: Contemporary Advocacy Filmmaking: Campaigns for Change). In 2011, Christi co-created Stories of TRUST: Calling for Climate Recovery, a 10-part documentary series featuring youth plaintiffs suing their state governments over climate change, with WITNESS, a social justice/human rights organization focused on using film for social change. The campaign was used to reach decision-makers and judges who were ruling on climate litigation brought to the courts by young people.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is the President & Founder of Hip Hop Caucus, a minister, community activist, U.S. Air Force veteran, and one of the most influential people in Hip Hop political life. Rev Yearwood entered the world of Hip Hop Politics as the Political and Grassroots Director for the Hip Hop Summit Action Network in 2003 and 2004, and as a key architect of P. Diddy’s “Vote Or Die!” campaign in a run up to the 2004 Presidential Election. To carry the energy of the efforts beyond election day, he founded Hip Hop Caucus in September of 2004. The goal of Hip Hop Caucus is to build a powerful and sustainable organization for the culture’s role in the civic process and empowerment of communities impacted first and worst by injustice. As a non-profit, non-partisan, multi-issue organization, Hip Hop Caucus focuses on addressing core issues impacting underserved and vulnerable communities, with programs and campaigns that support solution-driven community organizing led by today’s young leaders. Through a collaborative network, Hip Hop Caucus holds elected officials accountable, shapes policy, and builds more diverse and powerful movements to ignite positive change.

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is fighting to reduce carbon pollution, protect our air and water, and position America as a leader in the clean energy economy. As a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) and Finance Committees, he plays a key role in crafting policies to address climate change and strengthen environmental protections. Sen. Whitehouse is a leading voice for urgent action on climate change. For nearly nine years, he took to the Senate floor each week the Senate was in session to call on Congress to wake up to the threat of climate change. Whitehouse co-founded the Senate Climate Action Task Force to build support for action to address carbon pollution, and sits on Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis. He has introduced numerous pieces of climate legislation, including a bill to establish a fee on carbon—a strong market incentive to cut emissions while generating substantial revenue to be returned from polluters to the American people.  

Julia Olson is the founder, Executive Director, and Chief Legal Counsel of Our Children’s Trust (OCT), a non-profit public interest law firm that provides strategic, campaign-based legal services to youth from diverse backgrounds to secure their legal rights to a safe climate. Julia graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1997, and founded OCT in 2010 when, as a young mother, she realized that the greatest threat to her children and children everywhere was climate change. Julia is lead counsel in Juliana v. United States, the constitutional climate change case brought by 21 youth against the U.S. government for violating their Fifth Amendment rights to life, liberty, property, and public trust resources. Julia and OCT are recipients of the Rose-Walters Prize for Global Environmental Activism. She received the Kerry Rydberg Award for Environmental Activism in 2017, is a member of Rachel's Network Circle of Advisors, and was named as one of Bloomberg’s “Green 30 for 2020.”

Vic Barrett is a Democracy Organizer for Alliance for Climate Education in the state of Wisconsin. Based in Madison, he is proud to get the opportunity to encourage young people to exercise their right to vote and educate them on the reality of climate change. Barrett witnessed the reality of climate change firsthand, as he was among the many impacted by the climate change fueled superstorm, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which left his family and school without power. Barrett became involved in activism in high school by becoming a member of Global Kids, an organization that focuses on developing leadership skills for youth. Barrett then became a Fellow with the Alliance for Climate Education and spoke at the COP21 UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris in 2015, at the age of 15.