A price will be paid for carbon emissions regardless of whether or not one believes in the climate crisis. In fact, many are already paying this price in the form of ailing health, polluted communities, and exacerbated natural disasters. However, private industry has gotten off scot-free and turned a blind eye as the Earth and our communities suffer under unsustainable consumption. Shouldn’t the fossil fuel industry, one of the wealthiest industries to ever exist, be held financially accountable for the global pollution, displacement, and loss they have fueled?

We are honored to be able to speak with Camila Thorndike and take an opportunity to contemplate what our lives would look like if we were to use less and be free of this polluting addiction, not only through taxing but through a true paradigm shift. In Camila’s own words: “The cultural change and the political-economic change we need cannot be separate, they are one and the same.”

Camila Thorndike, a lifelong climate campaigner, was born and raised in rural southern Oregon and today lives in Washington, DC. Most recently she worked with Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) to lead a campaign uniting 100 organizations and businesses to pass fair and effective local climate policy. After graduating from Whitman College, Camila worked for the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, led outreach for an Arizonan urban planning campaign, and spearheaded engagement for Firerock, a musical theater project on fossil fuels. In 2009 she worked with DC youth on energy efficiency in low-income households with the Mayor’s Green Summer Jobs Program. She later co-founded Our Climate, a grassroots national nonprofit that empowers the next generation of climate leaders to pass strong, fair carbon pricing laws. Camila is a Fellow of the Center for Diversity and the Environment, Sitka Fellow, Udall Scholar, Mic50 awardee, member of the Young Climate Leaders Network, a Grist 50 "Fixer," and recipient of the 2018 DC Environmental Network award.

Join Ayana this week in conversation with Camila Thorndike as we learn how the tax code can address societal ills, the difference between cap and trade and carbon tax, how policy arrangements reflect our values, and how we can create a price on carbon that is inclusive, progressive, and benefit communities that are often exploited by the so-called green market.

♫ Music is "Darifu" by SK Kakraba .