Today’s #opttoact is a long one, but 100% worth it. We have not posted #opttoact videos these past few weeks, but now we want to discuss three things:
(1) how climate change is a social justice issue,
(2) the need for us to decolonize natural spaces, and
(3) how learning about nature IS an active form of resistance.
Transcript: Today’s #opttoact Weeks 23, 24, and 25! We have not posted #opttoact videos these past few weeks. We want to combine them into one edition discussing (1) how climate change is a social justice issue, (2) the need for us to decolonize natural spaces, and (3) how learning about nature IS an active form of the fight for justice. Climate change is real. It’s real, and it’s happening right now. When most of us think of climate change, we probably picture polar bears and melting ice. While a warming planet will have serious, often catastrophic consequences for all of us, the truth is that the frontline communities will feel the full force of climate change. These frontline communities are communities of color, Indigenous communities, and low-income communities that are already dealing with a legacy of deep-seated environmental injustice. Like climate change, that legacy is human made. It’s not an accident or a coincidence. We will share some examples of how climate change is a social justice issue. Nearly 26% of Black people experience food insecurity, while the national average is 14.6%. As climate change increasingly impacts agricultural yields and crop diversity, access to nutritious meals may become even more limited for many people of color. Moreover, Turkana County in northwestern Kenya is home to a growing population that lives in crushing poverty. Data shows that over the past few decades, changing precipitation patterns have left the rural region with less rainfall, a critical resource for the community. That, coupled with higher temperatures, means the grazing lands are drying up, and there’s less water to drink, for people and livestock. The result is greater poverty and widespread hunger. POC, Indigenous, and low-income communities are more likely to live in coastal areas that are vulnerable to rising ocean levels. For example, the Solomon Islands are a chain of islands in the Pacific. Five of its islands, all uninhabited, disappeared recently. The six other islands lost huge areas of land to the sea, with entire villages wiped out and people forced to move. Nuatambu island has lost half its inhabitable area since 2011. Not much help is available for nations like the Solomons that had no part in creating climate change, yet are suffering some of its worst impacts. Water is becoming increasingly scarce, and prices for clean water are predicted to increase. Cities have shut off water to households who are late on paying bills, putting low-income families and families of color at risk for disease and dehydration. Low-income families are often more likely to live in floodplains with little financial means to relocate or rebuild. In Dickson County, Tennessee — after trichloroethylene, a harmful chemical, was discovered in groundwater in 1980s, white families were warned of the dangerous well water and connected to municipal water. In contrast, Black families were left to drink contaminated water for years. The Black community in Dickson is still suffering from widespread cancers and birth defects. Does this feel eerily familiar? This very issue has happened again in 2014 in Flint, Michigan where water quality was not monitored and treated leading to increased lead consumption and contamination. And, who were the victims once again? The Black and non-Black people of color. Inner cities, about ten degrees warmer than non-urban areas, have higher Black populations. Comparing with white people, 150-200% more Black people are currently dying from heat-related deaths. Climate change is predicted to increase these heat-related deaths by at least 90%. Also, remember Hurricane Sandy? In 2012, this hurricane hit the Atlantic coast, devastating communities from New Hampshire to Virginia. But nowhere was hit harder than New York and New Jersey. And there, nobody felt the impact as acutely as low-income people and minorities. For those living in the storm surge area, 33% of residents lived in government-assisted housing, and for them, recovery was a long, painful process. Streets were flooded, residents were without power for three weeks. Even today, almost eight years later, many low-income neighborhoods are still in need of repairs. As you can see, climate change causes suffering that disproportionately affects people with less power, and climate change is CAUSED by the people who are least affected by it (usually white people with money and power). Human activity has not been eco-conscious. Governments and large corporations put the Earth’s environment on the back-burner to cut costs and cut corners for profits. And these wealthier countries are generally better equipped with the laws and infrastructure to handle weather emergencies, epidemic outbreaks, and climate-related loss of livelihoods that make poorer countries so vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This lack of eco-conscious mindset preserves inequality, de-prioritizes climate change for short-term gains, and causes nonhuman and human suffering. In the wake of so much destruction left behind by white people, we need to decolonize natural spaces, find ways to be in harmony with the nature, and work with vulnerable communities to ensure they have equal access to resources, and honor their culture and heritage with the nature. Climate change isn’t just a distant or separate problem affecting only future generations (who we also have a social responsibility to care about). It is also an issue that directly contributes to current injustice in most facets of human life. The climate justice movement doesn’t ignore the cost climate change has on the natural world— but the movement does demand that we think about the effect it is already having on some of the most vulnerable people across the globe. By watching videos like this discussing environmental conservation and implementing eco-conscious changes, you are actively resisting the colonization and exploitation of human communities and natural resources by the white people. Every. Action. Counts. Your action counts. Let’s keep making eco-conscious changes and actively dismantle the systemic climate injustice!
