The Lab

Global temperature increase beyond 1.5 degrees will result in catastrophic climate fall out. Cities are unprepared for the ways rising temperature levels,  extreme weather, economic instability, and food insecurity will follow the  fault lines of urban racial inequity and injustice, putting historically  disenfranchised communities at greater risk.

Climate solutions that ignore the intersections between structural racism and climate  vulnerability will cement this reality. Without concerted and intentional  action, communities and peoples experiencing the intersections of climate  crisis and structural racism will be hardest hit.

The Lab responds to the need for evidence-informed climate resilience action, policymaking, and research, driven by a commitment  to racial justice and a desire to reimagine our cities in more just ways. We  believe that the most impactful strategies and solutions will come from the  places, spaces, and people that contributed the least to climate change but are affected the most.

We  understand climate resilience as the capacity to prepare, respond, recover and transform in the face of climate  crisis. Through these lenses our work endeavours to redefine and reclaim what  it means to be climate resilient, through integrated community action, research,  and policy engagement.

Our values

Emergent

Grounded in the idea that simple interactions committed to justice and liberation can instigate systems-change and transformation.

Collaborative

Driven by the power of partnership and collective creativity to birth just futures.

Rigorous

Committed to deep analysis and deep listening as the foundation for holistic and sustainable change.

Evolving

Open to being dramatically changed and reshaped by the work we advance and the lessons we learn.

The Mission

The Community Climate Resilience Lab catalyzes community-centered resilience through research, action, policy and story-telling initiatives that are embedded in intersectional racial justice and societal transformation.

The Vision

The Freedom Dreams of peoples and communities committed to racial justice and most affected by climate change are the foundations for just climate resilient cities. These are the spaces, places, and peoples from which policy transformation, community action and organizing, and transformative climate resilience strategies will spring.