CHAPTER CO-CHAIR FEATURED IN LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT

CLIMATE CHAMPION TERON MCGREW AND THE QUEST FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE

Excerpted from the Climate Reality Project’s Reality Hub blog post posted by Jessica Hamilton on June 30, 2020.

The San Francisco Bay Area, CA chapter of Climate Reality recently elected its first-ever co-chairs of climate justice, Teron McGrew and Alma Soongi Beck.

Teron, who lives in Oakland, California, understands why climate activists need to center climate justice in their work, and believes there’s no better time than now, while mass protests against racial injustice are helping many see that racial justice is climate justice. 

But she isn’t just here to preach – she’s also leading by example. For Teron, this role is the next natural step in a journey she has been on for a decade and a half.

Teron first started to really think about the connections between climate change and justice in 2005, while watching the news as Hurricane Katrina devastated communities along the US Gulf Coast. 

She recalls one image in particular and its impact on her: “The heartbreaking picture of a bare back African American man, holding a t-shirt in hand, on top of a van, and holding on for his life against the flood water current, made me realize that African Americans, in the urban core in particular, [like in] my hometown of Oakland, California, were not protected.”

… for the rest of the article, please go to the national blog - if you are not yet a member, register for a free Climate Reality account. There are two levels of membership - one for those who have completed leadership training and the other for members of chapters or the public who are interested in climate action.