The Climate Crisis vs Environmental-Indigenous-Migrant Solidarities - Thomas Batzel

Explanation: This dual photo series serves as a juxtaposition to represent different emotions related to the movement. The red gradient background of the top series represents the scorching earth as climate change worsens, a truly global crisis. These images evoke emotions of sadness and anger, showing the displacement of peoples around the world due to this crisis, with indigenous peoples usually at the forefront. The green gradient background of the bottom photo series represents the green, interconnectedness of the Earth. These images evoke emotions of hope and belonging, showing the indigenous solidarities that empower people to rise up while also capturing their humanity.

Climate Justice is Indigenous and Migrant Justice

“We have always been here, and we were never discovered.” – Eriel Deranger

Climate disaster is fueling the movement of people as the world becomes more inhospitable due to frequent droughts, food shortages, and dwindling water supplies along with a plethora of other reasons. The legacies of capitalism and colonialism have exacerbated the divide in who experiences climate change the worst. The climate/environmental justice movement arising in the late 1980s set the tone for the more recent indigenous-led climate justice movement that engages with immigrant communities across the globe. The huge disparities in the burden of environmental degradation and pollution on minority and low-income communities was exposed in a 1987 study entitled, Toxic Waste and Race (“History of Environmental Justice,” n.d.). This report espoused research on the socio-economic characteristics of communities with hazardous waste sites, and the health burden born by these minority communities. There is no exact origin of the indigenous led climate justice movement. Rather, this movement has always existed, everlastingly omnipresent in a world shrouded by white-dominated, apocalyptic literatures. It is now finally getting the attention it deserves thanks to indigenous women spearheading the movement to amplify the voices often left out of the climate discussion.

The indigenous-climate justice movement is led by a variety of organizations and brilliant individuals and cohorts, all contributing to indigenous activism and literatures while furthering the goals of the larger movement. Some of the organizations born out of this movement include Bioneers, Indigenous Climate Action (ICA), and the Indigenous Environmental Network. Bioneers is committed to “revolution from the heart of nature” and leads an Indigeneity program that promotes indigenous approaches to solving the Earth’s most pressing environmental and social issues with their traditional ecological knowledge (“What is the Indigeneity Program,” n.d.). Their primary goal is to bring indigenous perspective to global conversations through the Indigenous Forum, media, and educational curricula while creating networks and partnerships among native and non-native allies. ICA is an indigenous led organization formed in 2015 to inspire action for climate justice while also building power in indigenous communities to drive adaptive climate solutions. Their mission is to center indigenous people’s rights and knowledge in the climate discussion while upholding indigenous sovereignty (Indigenous Climate Action, n.d.). The IEN was established early in 1990 by grassroots indigenous peoples to address environmental and economic justice issues. Their primary goals are to educate and empower indigenous people to forge strategies for the environment and all life, re-affirm their traditional knowledge of natural laws, recognize healthy sustaining indigenous communities, and commit to influence policies that affect/protect the indigenous locally and globally (Indigenous Environmental Network, n.d.). All of these organizations and their goals highlight the larger movements efforts to employ collective organizing and intellectual activism as forms of activism that engender solidarities among climate, BIPOC, migrant, and feminist identities.

This movement largely arose not only from the environmental justice movement getting traction, but also because of the growing recognition of the white-dominated climate literature needing to incorporate BIPOC futurisms and better center race, identity, and indigeneity in climate responses. This epistemic whiteness is apparent as climate scholars seem to only cite mostly-white literature, creating this “politics of citation” that only recognizes “some intersectionalities as relevant” (Mitchell and Chaudhury, 2020).  For example, the Australia government could have curtailed climate-caused bushfires months earlier if they had listened to 50,000-year-old Aboriginal fire-management practices (Gathii, 2020). This overlook of indigenous knowledge into their environmental decision-making showcases the lack of representation of indigenous adaptive solutions. Audra Mitchell’s work helps to bring to light a series of problematic assumptions created by white apocalyptic narratives, showing us how current climate scholars are motived in securing white futures instead of everyone’s future. For example, BIPOC are often seen as manifestations of ecological collapse, allowing white scholars to “frame BIPOC territories as ‘wasteland’ … or as dumping grounds for the externalities of capitalism” (Mitchell and Chaudhury, 2020). The white narratives of the ‘end of the world’ employ an ‘all lives matter’ logic that construes responsibility for ecological threats to the human race as a whole, instead of properly assigning culpability to the polluting western industries that benefit the white elite (Mitchell and Chaudhury, 2020). This is a problem because responsibility is important in dismantling the systems of oppression where harm is felt more by minority and low-income communities.

This is why centering BIPOC futurisms is important to diversify accounts of climate change and bring to light the agency, knowledge, and experiences of these BIPOC communities. Much work is needed to be done in addressing this in mainstream media as well. Wildfires in Australia and California receive so much media attention, whereas the more extreme consequences of climate change like drought, water scarcity, and food insecurity faced by the rest of the world are left out of the discussion (Gathii, 2020). There needs to be a climate justice approach that centers the voices of the most vulnerable by highlighting race, identity, and indigeneity issues rather than economic and scientific issues raised by climate change. This will help coalesce a movement that ends the “cognitive annihilation of indigenous heritages” while helping to address climate change (Gathii, 2020). This climate justice approach must also be careful to include not just indigenous voices, but also migrant voices as well.

This movement also arose because of the growing number of migrants and refugees fleeing their homelands due to the intensified climate crisis, truly making this movement political by centering borders and colonization in conversation with global migration. A UNHCR report revealed that 65.6 million displaced people had fled their homelands because of violence, human rights violations, and environmental disasters intensified by the climate crisis as of 2016. And since 2008, 26.4 million people on average are displaced by extreme weather disasters every year (Wikler, 2019). These statistics begin to paint a picture of how climate justice is not only indigenous justice, but migrant justice as well. It simply does not make sense to separate these justice movements that are caused by the same systems of oppression, as each one “necessitates that each work in solidarity with the other” (Fukuchi, 2021). Over 85% of immigrants are considered ‘people of color’ in the U.S., representing how people supporting environmental justice goals to alleviate impact on communities of color also need to advocate for immigrant rights, abolishment of ICE, and invest in immigrant communities also experiencing the same environmental racism (Fukuchi, 2021). This vital intersection of migrant rights and climate action is about more than curbing emissions and metrics, but about fighting for a just world for everyone (Wikler, 2019). We must move beyond the simplicity of recycling or buying local and embrace solidarity with complex indigenous-migrant groups in order to unlock the potential of climate justice.

This movement is positioned as a form of resistance to the oppressive systems of capitalism and colonization. Maya Menezes, organizer of No One Is Illegal and podcast host of Change Everything, builds on this conversation in Wikler’s article as she describes the biggest battle of the climate crisis being decisions to close borders since goods can flow across borders but humans cannot under a privileged capitalistic system. Capitalism in this sense creates a “culture of disposability,” drawing comparisons with Earth and migrant workers as just a resource to be used and discarded (Wikler, 2019). Menezes goes on to say how imagining a borderless world is critical in dismantling the legacy of colonialism as “challenging capitalism and colonization fundamentally challenges borders” (Wikler, 2019). Putting ourselves in solidarity with indigenous sovereignty means joining collective movements that reject colonization while critiquing capitalism and the individualized suffering that comes with it. One systemic approach the U.S. must take is recognizing that climate impacts are worthy of refugee status, which immigration policy currently does not account for despite it being central to driving migration from Central America. Recognizing climate justice as human rights is vital for moving forwards with solutions.

There is also a gendered perspective within the movement when it comes to indigenous vulnerability and resilience, empowering many indigenous women to lead the fight for change. Colonization has created a global economy that catalyzes anthropogenic climate change, while also uprooting indigenous communities and creating conditions that challenge their existence (Vinyeta, Whyte, and Lynn, 2015). Indigenous women face gendered oppression due to environmental change increasing rates of domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking, making women particularly more vulnerable (Vinyeta, Whyte, and Lynn, 2015). The intersectional layers of oppression women face based on race and gender have resulted in many women leading organizations (like ICA) that forge a unique social movement across borders and create spaces for assertion of their own valuable knowledge. There needs to be a consideration of gender in climate change initiatives in order to alleviate gender-based oppression. Indigenous communities also face higher risks from climate change due to it affecting the range and distribution of culturally critical plants, animals, and landscapes. Many indigenous cultures have reciprocal relationships with the local ecosystems; relationships with local plants and animals are associated with gendered responsibilities in many indigenous cultures (Vinyeta, Whyte, and Lynn, 2015). But climate change has also instilled resilience, fostered by gendered knowledge and gender-based activism when there is a greater emphasis on gender in climate initiatives. For example, women’s traditional relationship and knowledge as ‘keepers of the water’ translates to a higher degree of their activism and community resilience when it comes to protecting water sources (Vinyeta, Whyte, and Lynn, 2015). In this regard, the movement has particularly empowered women to take charge.

Women have actively been involved with empowering one another in this movement to affect change in their indigenous communities and raise consciousness around the globe. Eriel Deranger, current director of Indigenous Climate Action, has an amazing speech that discusses some of the successes of this gendered empowerment for indigenous communities. As many indigenous people feel, she does not consider herself an environmentalist but as Chipewyan First Nation residing in a Canadian Delta since time immemorial. Now her people and her land are threatened by the tar sands that seep contaminants into indigenous river systems and create as much greenhouse gases as all of the vehicles in Canada combined (“Eriel Deranger,” n.d.). With individuals like Deranger, a new path forward is emerging that successfully pushes back against projects like the tar sands – with indigenous peoples leading the way. The indigenous are becoming the face of the environmental movement, from the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick sparking an anti-fracking movement in Canada by fighting the fracking of shale oil on their sacred lands, to the Inupiat communities getting Shell to pull their application to drill after challenging off-shore drilling in the Arctic (“Eriel Deranger,” n.d.). Many women-led resistance movements are effectively stopping environmental destruction threatening our entire planet and we must acknowledge and stand with them.

References

“Eriel Deranger: Indigenous Communities Are Leading the Environmental Justice Movement.” Bioneers, accessed May 2, 2021, https://bioneers.org/eriel-deranger-indigenous-communities-leading-environmental-justice-movement-ztvz1709/

 Fukuchi, Aiko. “No Borders: There is no Environmental Justice without Immigrant Justice.” Gaia, accessed May 4, 2021. https://www.no-burn.org/no-borders-there-is-no-environmental-justice-without-immigrant-justice/

 Gathii, James T. “Without Centering Race, Identity, and Indigeneity, Climate Responses Miss the Mark.” Wilson Center, September 30, 2020. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/without-centering-race-identity-and-indigeneity-climate-responses-miss-mark#footnote6

“History of Environmental Justice.” Sierra Club, accessed May 1, 2021. https://www.sierraclub.org/environmental-justice/history-environmental-justice

Mitchell, Audra, and Aadita Chaudhury. “Worlding beyond ‘the’ ‘End’ of ‘the World’: White Apocalyptic Visions and BIPOC Futurisms.” International Relations 34, no. 3 (September 2020): 309–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117820948936.

 “Our History.” Indigenous Environmental Network, accessed May 1, 2021. https://www.ienearth.org/about/

 “Our Story.” Indigenous Climate Action, accessed May 2, 2021. https://www.indigenousclimateaction.com/our-story

 Vinyeta, Kirsten, Kyle Powys Whyte, and Kathy Lynn. “Climate Change Through an Intersectional Lens: Gendered Vulnerability and Resilience in Indigenous Communities in the United States.” United States Department of Agriculture, December 2015. https://permanent.fdlp.gov/gpo110489/pnw_gtr923.pdf

 “What is the Indigeneity Program?” Bioneers, accessed May 4, 2021. https://bioneers.org/indigeneity-program/

 Wikler, Maia. “4 Activists Explain Why Migrant Justice Is Climate Justice.” Teen Vogue, June 11, 2019, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/activists-explain-why-migrant-justice-is-climate-justice

Picture sources:

 Tar sands in Canada: https://friendsoftheearth.eu/news/tar-sands-would-be-game-over-for-climate-leading-scientist-tells-eu/

 Climate refugee in Pacific: https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/climate-refugees-borders/

 Climate immigration in SE Asia: https://www.occupy.com/article/first-signs-global-climate-change-immigration-crisis-are-here#sthash.K0DDExeY.dpbs

 Syria war, started by climate crisis at refugee camp: https://geographical.co.uk/people/the-refugee-crisis/item/3930-are-predictions-of-mass-climate-migrations-really-accurate

 Somalia refugees due to low rainfall and food insecurity: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/08/1043591

 Mama Aleta: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/indigenous-women-are-championing-climate-justice

 Standing Rock Sioux Tribe marches march to a burial ground sacred site that was disturbed by bulldozers building the Dakota Access Pipeline: https://www.vox.com/2016/9/9/12862958/dakota-access-pipeline-fight

 Indigenous women of the Amazon march for climate justice: https://dgrnewsservice.org/resistance/indirect/symbolic/indigenous-women-amazon-international-womens-day/

 Respect indigenous climate rights, women in solidarity. Indegnous sovereignty = climate action: https://www.indigenousclimateaction.com/entries/healing-is-justice-eriels-sabbatical-and-the-work-of-healing-in-climate-action

 Eagle and condor: https://medium.com/@charlottewenner/the-flight-of-the-eagle-and-the-condor-c3890f8a9dbc