I don't mean to start off on such a gruesome note, but what with all the global climate action movements, it's been clear for a while now that while individual actions like, say, reducing household waste, are important (they still are!!), it is the actions of those in power such as the government that will determine how much of the needed CO2 emission reductions get achieved. Layers of complexity build on this. To start off, this video by Grace explains how fossil fuel corporations have known all along for decades what their industry would do to climate, and worked to hide this from the public. Then there's the critical issue of Climate Justice - how it's unfair that it is developing countries that are the most vulnerable to climate change effects as they lack the developed infrastructure or means to cope or adapt whenever these effects hit them, while in history they have played the smallest role as contributors to crazy CO2 emissions in the first place, compared to richer, more developed countries, who DO have better chances of adaptation. (I could go into how people who lose their homes to floods or hurricanes are then forced to become migrants and so struggle even MORE, sucked into this positive feedback cycle of poverty sinking into even more poverty, but I'll restrain myself). That's on a global scale. But even within a single country the injustice pervades, including in the form of environmental racism. Marginalized communities are most affected when it comes to profit-making by giant industries and corporations, be it oil pipeline, agricultural, or clothing; to name just a FEW examples in extreme summary; each of these instances could be books on their own:
- Indigenous communities in North America, despite their tireless self-defense, are continuously violated by the construction of giant oil pipelines imposed by the government onto their sacred land which also destroys rich ecosystems (in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, it's not a pipeline, but a Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) )
- Sadly, colored and low-income communities in the States suffer most from the health risks that the animal agriculture industry brings - which, as a reminder, is the second-highest source of greenhouse gas emissions, greater than transportation, and also the leading cause of deforestation and water pollution.
- People particularly women in places like Bangladesh and Myanmar die, are abused, and severely underpaid at the hands of the clothing industry (that disastrously impacts the environment through water pollution and insane fabric waste) just to ensure we in the more well-off parts of the world have a greater variety of clothes to shop, at prices that drop lower and lower over decades. Please watch this documentary, The True Cost, that has opened many eyes to the impacts of how we so comfortably and casually consume.
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| An artist's rendition of the proposed TMT |
Is it coincidental that these issues seem to overlap with themes of exploitation of people and the earth? With the effects of colonization? And of....capitalism? It is not. Have you ever watched Avatar (the blue one, not the cartoon)? That happens in our world every day. Climate change, climate justice and social justice all go hand in hand. At least to me it is hard and even sometimes wrong to tackle one without considering the others. If you'd like to be more familiar, this article probably explains better than I do how the climate crisis has its roots in colonialism and capitalism. And sometimes colonialism doesn't even have to be the problem - all it takes is a little apathy to step over the more vulnerable ones - such as in the case of my country Malaysia, where the governments allow more and more excessive logging in lands belonging to the orang asli (Malay term for 'indigenous people') without their consent, 'rendering them as one of the most vulnerable communities in Malaysia'.
Putting that aside for now, I return to the fossil fuel industry. While major transitions to renewable energies need to happen worldwide, they need to be JUST transitions, that is, no one being left behind. While many provinces in Canada are of large communities whose livelihoods depend on the fossil fuel industry, there are places - among many others - like Jharia, India whose people face direct health and safety risks from their coal mining jobs, yet they prefer to keep these jobs because when it comes to family survival they have literally no other choice (for more info give Sandeep Pai's book a read). Some fantasize the complete destruction of all fossil fuel corporations (flashback to the meme at the start of this post). But how would these people with jobs lost then earn income to feed themselves? Many respond that that is exactly how and why the government needs to step in, to ensure sustainable jobs are provided for all. But, how often are governments not corrupt enough to do the right thing? Same thing with the horrendous clothing industry - some argue such huge companies that are so content with the exploitation their profit comes from do not deserve to even exist or continue functioning, while others argue that the laborers in developing countries would still need their jobs, and that all they would need are better working conditions and fair pay.
But even current fossil fuel executives actually believe they are doing their best for the planet. A friend who was invited at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York in September to attend a youth engagement session with CEOs from fossil fuel corporations like BP and Royal Dutch Shell, related to me that the CEOs there looked 'hurt' hearing all the youths' direct questions that sounded like accusations. The CEOs genuinely seem to believe that whatever their corporations are doing in their renewable energy sectors are remarkable efforts. They also believe that they must do this while ensuring the world's demands for fossil fuel energy continue to be met. In a way, they are right. These demands will not disappear overnight, and this topic lacks a lot of attention in the many conversations held nowadays surrounding the climate crisis.
The complexity builds, so here I'll slide in some good news: UBC joined several other universities last month in committing to full fossil fuel divestment! A big win for us students and particularly for UBCC350, the university's student-led political climate action group who has poured in 4 years+ of hard work, research, presentations to the UBC Board of Governors, and advocacy to make this happen. All my gratitude goes out to them. Breaking ties with the fossil fuel industry is meant to be a political statement by the university. If you're interested in institution divestment, here's a transcript of Michelle's moving and extremely informative presentation to the Board of Governors, that led to their ultimate decisions.
Now I dig out capitalism and colonialism once again. The big daddies. While Marx and many of us have pointed out all the flaws of capitalism, we are not left with a solution or alternative. Some believe that it would take the dismantling of capitalism over several more decades to reveal alternatives that could replace it; some believe in a human-centered kind of capitalism where there is as little exploitation as possible (or none), and others believe in looking to Indigenous ways of living for inspiration - how people used to live before colonizers entered their countries and imposed their own systems upon natives i.e. in a sustainable way where people only take from the earth and from one another what they need, and everyone lives as a collective, taking care of one another instead of being isolated by personal 'ladders to success'. Indeed Indigenous people with all their knowledge about nature and physical, traditional healing methods have always been at the forefront when fighting in defense of their land and Mother Earth, even if it means being persecuted, arrested or being killed (again, flashback to Avatar). This doesn't just happen in the Americas - North AND South; for all I know it is rampant in Brazil, Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, and so many others. Proper climate justice then, would be handing sovereignty back to these people who have been doing their best to take care of the land since the time their ancestors began walking it. Yet, (I have trouble finding articles online (media censorship possibly) that use the actual word 'detain' because that is indeed what many eyewitnesses saw) peaceful indigenous and youth protesters were roughly detained by police at this month's UN COP25 (2019 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Madrid for the first time in COP history, on the same day that Greta Thunberg was named TIME magazine's 'Person of the Year'. This is Coast Salish Indigenous land defender Ta'Kaiya sharing their story:
While we're on this note, let's take a little turn: it is often argued that veganism equals colonialism, because some see it as mostly a 'white' privilege i.e. for example many Indigenous communities traditionally consume meat, and meat is a big part of many cultures in Asia. But (shoutout to Shakti and Laura because I only came to know these through them), there are initiatives such as Black Vegans Rock - a platform for black vegans wanting to 'dismantle the stereotype that veganism was a "white person's" thing' - and then there's the fact that cattle was INTRODUCED to the States and Canada by settlers from Europe. Does this mean instead that it's animal agriculture that is colonial? Animal agriculture also intensely drives deforestation, destroying aboriginal homes. And, as mentioned earlier, colored communities are the ones who suffer most from the industry's health risks. Furthermore, it was to my most pleasant surprise to learn from friends who attended this year's COP25 that there were elderly, ASIAN (in caps because I am Asian myself and it makes me excited to see vegan initiatives or meals by Asians as I don't find them very common, except in maybe South Asian cuisine like Indian food) people - from Vietnam, Korea, China - giving out FREE, ASIAN vegan meals to all participants and observers at COP! I later found out some of these elderly people were from an association (they apparently were not making a clear fuss about this at COP, much less trumpeting about it) under the Vietnamese Supreme Master Ching Hai, who some months ago wrote a letter to COP leaders advocating for veganism. Understanding that different people may have their different reasons for reducing animal product consumption (mine being first and foremost that animals go through a lot of pain, suffering and fear (sometimes for years from the moment of their birth) before and during their deaths just to satisfy our palates), and that others have their (valid) reasons for NOT doing so, these are simply my new lessons about veganism. And to be honest I still can't help wondering all the time what on EARTH the person who discovered edible cow milk thought they were doing I mean we don't see any other meat-eating animal doing that to another species do we.
I end all this with thoughts and prayers as well to all the societal unrest going on in the world - the violence in Hong Kong, the Muslim concentration camps in China, the burning of the Amazon and murders of the Indigenous in Brazil, the uprisings in India, the migrant detainment camps in the States, the protests in Chile and Bolivia.. What a privilege it is to even have the opportunity to step back and detach oneself from these news at will when those in the midst of these turmoils have no choice but to fight for everything they've ever lived for. How crazy it is to see Nazi situations still repeating themselves in this day and age. With all our disappointment in adult leaders, some of whom seem inhumane, I've always wondered if youth and our generation would be the hope, and always looked forward to the time when we would finally 'take the reigns'. A friend once shared her belief that as youth step out into the working world, their paths - once so clear with generous and maybe selfless ambition - get clouded by other influences, namely money and power. I have always tried to be optimistic that our generation has more capacity for empathy and to think beyond the needs/wants of our individual selves, and I want to hold on to that. That story is for another time however.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!
P/S. All thoughts - for and against - are welcome; slide into my DMs. :)
P/S/S. Thought I'd share an excerpt from an interview with Rita Wong a water, land and people protector who once got arrested as an activist:
