ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE WORKSHOP

Risingtide gathering October 2001: Manchester

The workshop was aimed at discussing the relationship between social and environmental issues, what this means for campaigning, relationships between activists and diversity in movements for change. One way to unite these things is with the approach of ‘environmental justice’, which connects environmental and social issues from a grassroots perspective. The concept originated in the US and the ‘south’ from local campaigning activities in communities. What became clear was that poverty and environmental problems went hand in hand. This seems an obvious conclusion but the activist movement in Europe and the west has been largely unsuccessful at incorporating this reality into their work, thus preventing true solidarity leading the way.

The main topic of discussion in the workshop was how this reality could influence the work of activists within the UK specifically. The answer was to take on, talk to, research, read and learn the realities first of the communities that activists would like to reach out to, then approach them on their own terms. Find out what climate change means to people in their lives. One concrete way to do this, after a little bit of brainstorming, was the idea of campaigning for the end to fuel poverty.

On the international level, and in terms of solidarity with people in the ‘south’ (the first and most severely affected by climate change) we must take account of other issues that these communities are also affected by. Many progressive southern NGOs and communities link climate change with economic and social inequality caused by international economic institutions such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation. In order to work effectively together, activists in the west should be aware of these connections and take on this analysis when viewing the problem of climate change. This is why aspects of the Kyoto Protocol such as the Flexible Mechanisms can be seen as undesirable ‘solutions’ to climate change. They may have an effect on reducing CO2 emissions (although this is also scientifically unproven) but they have negative social and economic implications inequalities in the world. Climate change can be seen as a catalyst for those inequalities but also an opportunity to prevent them worsening or even to reverse them. This is the most important aspect of approaching climate change from an ‘environmental justice’ perspective.

For more info email: heidi@risingtide.nl