Environmental Justice Advocate Mustafa Santiago Ali joins Yahoo Finance's A Time For Change to discuss how he is part of the fight for environmental justice and addressing climate change.

Video Transcript

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Good afternoon, and welcome to "A Time for Change." I'm Anjalee Khemlani here with Marquise Francis. Today's the first day of Black History Month, and we're going to kick it off speaking about the jump in Black medical student enrollment in a moment. But first, climate change.

It's top of mind right now as storms continue to rage around the planet and as the world prepares for the start of the Winter Olympics, which will take place for the first time entirely on man-made snow this year. Opening ceremonies are on Friday, and people are asking-- with global temperatures rising, will we hit the point when there just isn't enough winter for Winter Olympics?

MARQUISE FRANCIS: Right, and I put that question--

LINDSEY VONN: Well, I mean, we talk about it all the time-- it's in decision making for races, for just skiing in general. I mean, you can't deny that global warming exists, and that the world is changing, and that we have to make the change in a huge way. But I mean, skiing is not going to exist.

Winter sports are not going to exist if we continue down this path. And we see it firsthand. I grew up skiing on glaciers in Austria since I was nine, and they are-- literally, they don't exist anymore. And so for us, again, it's right in front of our faces. But to many, it's not quite as apparent.

So I'm not sure how we can make a change substantial enough to fix what's happening. But I know that sports can have a big role in it, because I think that we can shed light onto people that maybe don't believe in it or aren't convinced.

MARQUISE FRANCIS: And that was Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn who won three Olympic medals and is now an NBC Olympic correspondent. She was talking about the effects of climate change to the Winter Olympics. And our first guest today does not need any convincing that not only is climate change a real thing, but it's also catastrophic.

In fact, he's working to inform others that it's really now or never. Let's bring in Mustafa Santiago Ali, an environmental justice activist and policymaker-- someone whose perspective is necessary to the conversation, but especially this month. Mustafa, thank you so much for joining us today. I simply want to start-- are we at risk of losing winter?

MUSTAFA SANTIAGO ALI: Well, you know, every aspect of society is going to be impacted by climate change. And, of course, winter and our seasons are connected to these changes that we see happening all across our planet. So the answer is, yes.

The answer is that, you know, winters will become less cold in many places across our planet. And as we move throughout this century, as temperatures continue to increase, we'll see many difficulties for folks who actually survive on winter-related types of activities, and food sources, and a number of other things. But the good point is that we can actually make change happen and begin to mitigate many of those impacts.

MARQUISE FRANCIS: Right. Mustafa, you've worked at the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Hip Hop Caucus in addition to many more. And oftentimes with working with people, I think you understand, probably more than most, that folks don't really change unless they're personally affected. So when will people kind of wake up to that idea? And how much is climate change actually costing Americans?

MUSTAFA SANTIAGO ALI: Well, you know, a lot of folks are finally starting to wake up. We actually need some politicians to catch up with folks. But when you look at many of the surveys, especially of younger people-- folks who are 30 and under, you know, climate change they know is not only real, but they expect real actions on that.

In many instances, they vote on that issue along with a number of other issues. They also understand that if we don't move forward very quickly and with a very set of comprehensive actions, that it is going to impact their lives more than some of the older folks who are in our society. And the economic costs are huge.

We know that over the last 30 years, we've spent over $2 trillion on climate-related crises. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars just in our country related to storms, related to floods, heat events, and a number of other items. So all of this comes together for a lot of folks in saying that we have to make change happen. Because if we don't, there will be huge economic cost, both in our country but across the planet.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Mustafa, Anjalee here. Going to your experience at the EPA, we know that we've seen the EPA really have to shift its strength and its strategy as per the whims of various administrations over the years. I wonder, how do you feel that's affected us as a country and our ability to actually tackle climate change now?

MUSTAFA SANTIAGO ALI: Well, we have a president now in this moment who not only says that climate change is real, is willing to actually lean in and put some actions behind it. So you see a number of really positive steps that are happening at the Environmental Protection Agency to address a number of the air pollution-- air pollution is one of the drivers in the warming up of the planet.

And we know we've got over 100,000 people who died prematurely from air pollution. And that same air pollution that is taking lives is also playing a role in warming up our oceans and our planet. We also have a president right now who says we have to have an all of government approach, which is incredibly important as well.

Because we know that the Environmental Protection Agency can't do it by itself. We need to have a number of other agencies and departments that are also building the criteria into their decision making, making sure that resources are making it to the spaces and places that need them to most, and then to also move forward on the technology-- that's also going to be a part of it. And of course, centering the work around our most vulnerable communities-- those environmental justice communities that have been on the front lines for decades fighting to address pollution and now the climate crisis.

MARQUISE FRANCIS: Mustafa, you've been doing this work for decades-- as I laid out earlier all those organizations you've been working with. But I'm curious-- are there folks that look like you and I on the front lines of this climate justice activism, but also the policy? And I'm curious-- from when you started to now, how have things changed over time?

MUSTAFA SANTIAGO ALI: Wow. When I first started-- you know, I started as a student. And I remember going to one of my first meetings at the Environmental Protection Agency and there were two older gentlemen walking in front of me and they said, I don't know why we're going to this meeting because what the folks are sharing can't possibly be true. Now we fast forward a number of decades.

And you do see a number of folks in the policy space-- although we need more-- who are folks of color, who are actually bringing their sets of experiences, their innovation, their ingenuity into helping to make sure that policy is more reflective of the needs that are out there.

We also see that there's some real change that's happening across the federal family-- the Interagency Working Group, the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council-- a number of these different pieces are bringing forward front line voices and making sure that their sets of requests, their solutions and recommendations are being integrated. But we have a lot of work to do, and time is ticking.

And that's probably the biggest challenge is that we really have to get the majority of folks coming together to make sure that we have comprehensive sets of actions, making sure that we have a just transition, knowing that no one gets left behind, and that we are investing in the clean economy, which is so critically important, especially for vulnerable communities who have often been locked out of many positions, but also in making sure those workers who have been in the fossil fuel industries know that they are still valued, and honored, and needed as we move toward that clean economy. All of these things are happening in this moment, but we've got to keep pushing and demanding that change happens at an even faster rate.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: I'm so glad you brought that up, because speaking of vulnerable communities, we've seen how this pandemic has shown the fractures not only in our society, but also in our information systems. And so I wonder, even though we've seen companies maybe take a lead in small efforts or small policies being put in place, we clearly as a country cannot handle mandates. And so I wonder, how do we get out there, how do we start to push for this greater change-- to your point of more is needed, what more can we do?

MUSTAFA SANTIAGO ALI: Well, we have our own sets of personal responsibilities as individuals. You know, where are we investing our dollars? That's a question I always pose to folks. Are we supporting those who are trying to move forward on a 21st century set of actions?

Are we supporting those who are being an impediment to the changes that are necessary? Are we utilizing our vote, getting engaged in the civic process? I never tell anyone who to vote for, but I do say, vote for someone who cares about your community-- somebody who is forward-focused and forward-thinking, not only just about the sets of challenges we have in front of us, but also the sets of opportunities that are there as well.

So we have so much more power. My mom says, you have power unless you give it away. We've got to realize that power. We also have the power to actually reach across and to connect with folks who might not necessarily see things the same way that we do. But after we actually connect with each other in our own humanity, then we have an opportunity to build collaborative partnerships.

And we have an opportunity also to have organizations-- trusted organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists-- to be able to make some connections with folks, to make sure that folks understand that science is real science-- it's not biased, but that science is also helping us to have a blueprint for moving forward, and that our policy and our politics needs to line up so that everyone can be in a stronger, and healthier, and more sustainable position as we move forward.

MARQUISE FRANCIS: Yeah, Mustafa, you talked about a clean economy, and I just can't get over your clean pink turtleneck and pink pocket tie. So I appreciate that on the first day of Black History Month. Mustafa Santiago Ali, environmental justice activist, thank you so much for joining us today.

MUSTAFA SANTIAGO ALI: Thank you.