BOULDER, CO, January 3, 2022 -- The United Nations Human Rights-supported Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, an international initiative to promote climate change as a human rights crisis, extends its deepest sympathies to the victims of the historic Boulder, Colorado fires that were fueled by record dryness and 100+ mph winds.

In light of over 35,000 evacuations and destruction of 1,000 homes, the alliance applauds first responders, as well as the local, state, and federal response, while calling upon civic leaders and organizations to address widespread human rights implications from this and other catastrophic climate change-related events rapidly increasing around the world. 

As global warming accelerates climate change, expert scientists and meteorologists suggest the Boulder fires are yet more evidence of the climate emergency intensifying natural disasters and their impact on people’s human rights. The alliance is launching a worldwide initiative to focus on climate change as a human rights crisis, since it disproportionately affects the poor and marginalized, and vulnerable populations including people of color, women, children, the elderly, indigenous peoples, minorities, migrants, rural workers, and persons with disabilities, among others.

“Our heart goes out to victims of the Boulder fires and the innocent people suffering from this crisis. It’s critical that we view climate change through a human rights lens and address obligations of society to respect, protect, fulfill and promote human rights for all persons without discrimination, especially communities on the frontline of climate change,” said David Clark, Founder of Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance. 

With generous support from Global Partner United Nations Human Rights, the alliance is working with academic institutions, policymakers, NGOs, corporations, scientists, technologists, and the art and entertainment communities on initiatives that address limiting greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring equal access to housing and resources, innovation in early-warning systems, adaptation and mitigation planning, and much more. United Nations Human Rights represents the world’s commitment to the promotion and protection of the full range of human rights and freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Under the leadership of the High Commissioner, and with a staff of 1,500 working in more than 90 countries, United Nations Human Rights aims to make human rights a reality in the lives of people everywhere.

United Nations Human Rights and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) will also host the inaugural Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit in Boulder on December 1 – 4, 2022. The summit is being designed to engage human rights, scientific, political, educational, cultural and industry leaders to commit to specific goals that will help to slow climate change and address its adverse effects on human rights. As media around the world reported on these historic Boulder, Colorado fires that razed entire communities to the ground, the setting of Boulder as the destination for this summit is more poignant than ever. 

Ranked #1 in the world in earth science and atmospheric science, CU was selected by the alliance to host the global summit. For more than half a century, CU Boulder has been a leader in climate and energy research, interdisciplinary environmental studies and human rights programs, and has engaged in sustainability practices on campus and beyond. CU Boulder is co-hosting the event as part of its comprehensive public research mission and global leadership in research related to the environment, behavioral sciences and issues related to human rights.

In November 2021 major celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Cher, Quincy Jones, Billy Porter, Camila Cabello, Pitbull, Cyndi Lauper, and Ellen DeGeneres teamed up in a social media blitz to help launch the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance and support United Nations Human Rights with an urgent plea for leaders assembled at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow to view climate change as a human rights crisis. Leonardo DiCaprio, an Academy Award®-winning actor and advocate for environmental issues, tweeted, “Homes, lands, health, and lives of those most affected by climate change are at risk. Join the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance and global partner @unhumanrights in calling for the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow @cop26uk to treat #ClimateChange as the #HumanRights crisis it is. By working together and supporting inclusive rights-based climate action for people and the planet, we can realize a better, more sustainable future for all.”

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Contact:

Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance

Rebekah Alperin

reb@gostoryboard.com

+1.310.770.1045