The law's role in defending the planet | Melissa Fourie | TEDxJohannesburg

Melissa Fourie, a passionate climate justice advocate and environmental lawyer, captivates the audience as she delves into the imperatives of holding fossil fuel companies responsible for their contribution to climate change. She navigates through the legal pathways that address this urgent issue, emphasising the significance of individual and corporate accountability. Drawing from her wealth of experience, she sheds light on the transformative potential of the law in shaping a future that is both sustainable and just.
Melissa Fourie is a climate justice advocate and environmental lawyer. She has spent more than 20 years working on environmental rights, enforcement, air pollution and climate change. She has been at the forefront of environmental and climate litigation, legal advocacy and defending the rights of environmental activists in South Africa as the executive director of the Centre for Environmental Rights, a non-profit environmental public interest law organisation. As a commissioner on the Presidential Climate Commission, she advises the South African government on climate action and the just transition. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@watercolourartincapetown2919]

Fascinating perspectives shared by Melissa Fourie, I had the honour of working with Melissa back in 2015. Melissa took a chance on a young little mind like me, back when I was bursting with energy and ideas on how we could change the world, and she took the time to mentor me. Taught me the rules, taught me how to how to cross my t’s and dot my i’s (literally Melissa is an A type lawyer and I’m a B type artist, so I learned the importance of good grammar in emails and contracts). I had all the Aries energy back then, but no idea how to channel it in a way that I would not burn out. Melissa as a leader is both pragmatic and energetic, she’s a warrior for the environment. When she told me how she developed her love for nature from her baby carrier days on hikes around the Cape mountains with her dad. And how she raises her boys in the same way. To respect It makes me wonder if we are raising a new generation who are going to learn from our generation’s past mistakes and make better choices than we did. Instead of arguing statistics, lets take a breather and meet each other halfway. Sure it’s a messy topic to talk about corporate investments and environmental degradation, but if we can find a balance of energy transfer. Where we feed off the energy that this earth abundantly feeds us and we also put back into Mother Earth, by being a lion 🦁 loyal leaders who inspire others through actions of unconditional love. Picking up litter at the beach, even though it wasn’t our mess. Instead of judging one another let’s start loving and respecting the earth around us. That could be small acts of kindness like not littering, or opting for a compost heap in your backyard. Together each and every one of us can make small changes in our day to day lives. And that’s when the corporates will stand up and take notice, because they will know that it profits them to consider Mother Earth. Force them to consider the effects on nature when they sign mergers and when they present to investors. We can achieve great things on our earth with love and forgiveness in our hearts 🙏 Beautiful discussion, I hope your next TedX talk gets a million views. Because if you speak from your heart instead of from speech cards, your audience will truly be invested in your views. And they will becomes ambassadors of what you say, in the same way that this little Cape Town girl was inspired 💚☘️🌍

[@watercolourartincapetown2919]

You’re doing great things Melissa Fourie 🌞

[@robertkant23]

You talk kak! Deaths and death rates from droughts, which were responsible for approximately 60% of cumulative deaths due to extreme weather events from 1900-2010, are more than 99.9% lower than in the 1920s. Deaths and death rates for floods, responsible for over 30% of cumulative extreme weather deaths, have declined by over 98% since the 1930s. Deaths and death rates for storms (i.e. hurricanes, cyclones, tornados, typhoons), responsible for around 7% of extreme weather deaths from 1900-2008, declined by more than 55% since the 1970s.