Kawaii Riot 101: Climate Justice
Climate change is likely a familiar word to many of us. To put it shortly, it includes the rapid changes in global weather patterns that are caused by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide being trapped in Earth’s atmosphere. The overproduction of carbon dioxide mostly comes from burning fossil fuels for manufacturing, transportation, and energy.
So far, we’ve heard many possible solutions to this problem. For example, countries are working on laws that cut down on fossil fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions. Companies are developing technologies that use more eco-friendly sources of energy, such as solar power.
While these solutions sound effective at first, they don’t answer the more immediate problem. Vulnerable BIPOC and low-income communities around the world are already facing the full effects of climate change due to unfair social conditions brought by systemic oppression. Technologies that will be developed in ten years won’t do anything for them now. That’s why climate justice is necessary to enact more timely solutions.
What Is Climate Justice?
Climate justice recognizes that marginalized communities are more negatively impacted by climate change due to unfair social conditions. The movement aims to center these communities in an effort to develop immediate solutions against climate change. In addition, climate justice aims to hold corporations and governments accountable for environmental destruction and irresponsible carbon emissions.
Why Is Climate Justice Important?
Since the 1970s, and perhaps even earlier, BIPOC and low-income communities have been experiencing the effects of climate change. Let’s go through a few examples to understand the severity of these situations, as well as learn about the long legacy of environmental activism in BIPOC communities.
1970s: Inuit activists began a fight to protect the Arctic from pollutants, melting ice, and snow. Companies polluted persistent organic pollutants (POPs) into the environment via pesticides, industrial chemicals, and other industrial processes. These toxic chemicals contaminated fish and water, threatening the health of Inuit communities. Glaciers around the world are melting due to greenhouse gas emissions that have raised Arctic temperatures, threatening Inuit safety.
1980s: Benjamin Chavis coined the term “environmental racism”. He led protests against the North Carolina state government’s plan to dump 60,000 tons of toxic waste in Warren County, a predominantly Black neighborhood. Unfortunately, the protestors lost the battle. Today, Black Americans are 75% more likely to live in areas situated near hazardous-waste facilities due to hundreds of years of racial oppression.
1989: The Kayapó—a tribe of ingenious Amazonian people—successfully protested against the construction of hydroelectric dams that would cause rainforest destruction and threaten their homes. Their demonstrations received international attention, leading the World Bank to cancel its loan to the Brazilian government to fund the building of a dam. Unfortunately in 2020, Amazon rainforest destruction surged to a 12-year high due to Brazilian president Bolsonaro’s destructive agenda.
2001: The U.N. signed a treaty called the Stockholm Convention that banned 12 POPs, thanks to Inuit activism.
2005: Due to climate change, hurricanes are increasing in strength, and BIPOC and poorer communities are among the first affected. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused disproportionate damage to Black communities due to the government’s racial discrimination. Due to racist policies and the government’s perpetuation of the wealth gap between white groups and Black communities, Black people were more likely to live in areas more vulnerable to flooding.
2007: Climate change is causing an increase in flooding due to reasons such as more rainfall and glacial melting. The 2007 South Asian floods were especially destructive towards Dalit communities in India due to the discrimination caused by the caste social system. The system placed them at the bottom of an oppressive social hierarchy, which resulted in poor living conditions that are more vulnerable to flooding, and excludes them from relief efforts.
How Can We Support Climate Justice?
Recognize that climate change is a political issue and not just a scientific one.
Acknowledge that climate change affects marginalized communities much more due to the systemic oppression they have faced.
Hold corporations accountable for environmental destruction and carbon emissions.
Center marginalized communities in conversations and plans for combating climate change.
Learn from marginalized communities that pioneered the first models of climate justice.
Call on politicians to take a more intersectional approach towards fighting climate change.
Take action to fight climate change today.
Organizations That Support Climate Justice
Indigenous Environmental Network: A non-profit organization formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples in 1990. The organization played a key role in negotiations for the Stockholm Convention that banned POPs, and is involved in protests against the Keystone XL Pipeline and Dakota Access Pipeline.
Climate Justice Alliance: A non-governmental collective that organizes frontline communities against environmental destruction, effectively exposing climate change solutions that worsen social inequality.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): The NAACP created its Environmental and Climate Justice Program to support community leadership in addressing climate change’s disproportionate impact on communities of color and low income.
Earthjustice: Earthjustice is a nonprofit environmental law organization that provides free legal representation for Indigenous and Black Americans suffering from environmental racism.
Works Cited:
Aftermath of Katrina: A Time of Environmental Racism. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=2106693b39454f0eb0abc5c2ddf9ce40
Bhaduri, A. (2012, September 21). Caste discrimination in disaster situations in India - Reports by National Dalit Watch. Retrieved from https://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/caste-discrimination-disaster-situations-india-reports-national-dalit-watch
Cho, R. (2020, September 16). Why Climate Change is an Environmental Justice Issue. Retrieved from https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/09/22/climate-change-environmental-justice/
Denchak, M. (2020, November 04). Flooding and Climate Change: Everything You Need to Know. Retrieved from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/flooding-and-climate-change-everything-you-need-know
Fisher, W. H. (1994). Megadevelopment, Environmentalism, and Resistance: The Institutional Context of Kayapó Indigenous Politics in Central Brazil. Human Organization, 53(3), fall 1994, 220-232. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44127176
Fumes Across the Fence-Line: The Health Impacts of Air Pollution from Oil & Gas Facilities on African American Communities (Rep.). (2017, November). Retrieved https://www.naacp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Fumes-Across-the-Fence-Line_NAACP-and-CATF-Study.pdf
Hancock, L. (n.d.). Why are glaciers and sea ice melting? Retrieved from https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/why-are-glaciers-and-sea-ice-melting
Hurricanes and Climate Change. (2008, July 16). Retrieved from https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/hurricanes-and-climate-change
Lazarus, R. J. (2000). “Environmental Racism! That’s What It Is.”. Retrieved from https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/160/
Morin, V. (2018, April 06). The Rise of Inuit Activism in a Changing Arctic. Retrieved from https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/arctic/articles/2016/06/16/the-rise-of-inuit-activism-in-a-changing-arctic
Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. (2020, December 04). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
Understanding POPs. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://echa.europa.eu/understanding-pops