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.
Dalla Lana
The University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health hosts and sponsors the Community Climate Resilience Lab. The Dalla Lana School of Public Health provides the lab with an institutional home and core support to ensure the lab achieves its full vision and mission.
