About 200 people gathered at 8 p.m. Monday to listen to Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and current United Nations special envoy for climate change, speak about redefining global security and instigating “climate justice.”

Robinson focused on several building blocks to climate security that occurred in 2015: focusing on the management of natural disasters, the importance of sustainable development for all countries and the Paris climate agreement.

“The Paris agreement includes the importance of keeping the global rise in temperature well below industrial levels to ensure the safety of the world’s countries and people,” Robinson said.

Keeping global temperatures below industrial levels could save many people — even countries. Robinson said indigenous people have been forced to move from their homes because of rising global temperatures that left their homes uninhabitable.

Robinson said there is no difference between climate change and energy.

“1.3 billion people are living in energy poverty,” Robinson said. “Very poor people pay what little money they have for kerosene and candles, both of which are dangerous.”

Robinson said it is important that everyone has access to clean, sustainable energy; however, development requires energy. Robinson said if developing countries don’t have access to clean energy, they will turn to the traditional means of fossil fuels, which could result in global catastrophe.

Many attendees of the lecture were students, including Ben Brown, graduate student in biochemistry.

“I thought there were some interesting points she had and a few perspectives I hadn’t thought about,” Brown said. “The extra credit for my class is a bonus.”

Kyle Tacoronte, sophomore in industrial design, said he enjoyed attending the lecture and listening to Robinson speak.

“I thought it was really good,” Tacoronte said. “It’s nice to know people are trying to work to fix these problems.”

Throughout the lecture, Robinson stressed the importance of coming together as a global community to provide clean energy for all, which ultimately affects the safety of billions of people.

“We don’t talk so much about climate change as climate justice,” Robinson said. “Human-induced activity can cause whole countries to go out of existence unless we take a different course.”