Previously published on BillMoyers.com
On Moyers & Company, the charismatic Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo discussed the politics of global warming and the urgency of environmental activism.
Naidoo tells us, "If there's injustice in the world, those of us that have the ability to witness it and to record it, document it and tell the world what is happening have a moral responsibility to do that. Then, of course, it's left up to those that are receiving that knowledge to make the moral choice about whether they want to stand up against the injustice or observe it."
From his teenage years in South Africa, Naidoo was a vocal and powerful opponent of apartheid, incarcerated and beaten so often he finally fled to Britain, where he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford. When apartheid ended, Naidoo went back to South Africa and became a prominent human rights activist with a growing concern for the impact of climate change on impoverished people of color. In 2009, he brought his negotiating and advocacy skills to the leadership of Greenpeace International, now a worldwide organization of three million members.
Moyers & Company airs weekly on public television. Explore more at BillMoyers.com.