BaCCC/Module 3/Lesson 2/Part 1

Module 3, Lesson 2, Part 1: The Importance of Climate Justice

Introduction

“	Inuit are facing the beginning of a possible end of a way of life that has allowed us to thrive for millennia because of the climate changes caused by global warming. . . . What will be left of our culture if this comes to pass?	”
—Sheila Watt-Cloutier, International Chair for Inuit Circumpolar Council

We sometimes forget that Indigenous peoples live in nearly every corner of the world (with Antarctica being the exception). The above quotation from Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a proud spokesperson for those who have lived in Canada’s Arctic for a thousand years, is a reminder that climate change can kill not just individual people, other animals and the rest of the environment, but whole cultures too. Imagine a snow- and ice-based culture surviving climate breakdown in the Arctic, where global warming is happening up to four times faster than the global average.

The rapid Arctic warming is due to a phenomenon known as “Arctic amplification,” and it serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need for global action to mitigate climate change (see Module 4) and to support adaptation measures (see Module 6). Without these, the Inuit and other Indigenous communities around the world will continue to face the threat of losing their way of life, their culture and their very identity. The loss of such a rich and unique cultural heritage would be a tragedy, not just for these communities but for all of humanity, as we would be losing a part of our shared history and diversity. It is crucial, especially from a climate justice perspective, that we prioritise the protection of these cultures and work together to reduce our global carbon footprint as we mitigate and try to adapt to the impacts of climate change before it is too late.

This is just one reason why climate justice is important.

Lesson Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

• outline the importance of climate justice
• explain the importance of climate justice to others by creating an arts-based social media “meme” to post.

Terminology

The following terms are important in understanding the science behind climate change. If you want to remember them, write their meanings in your learning journal as you encounter them in the course content.

• emissions
• Global North
• Global South
• meme
• social media

So, why is climate justice important?

“	Those developed economies most responsible for past and present emissions must take the lead.	”
—Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General

Climate change is not going to stop worsening until climate injustice stops. It is that simple. Developed nations must rapidly and drastically lower their carbon emissions. But emissions will continue to soar if the “haves” (people and nations who do not struggle in life) pad their share of carbon emissions with those of the “have nots” (people and nations who do struggle in life). Meanwhile, climate change makes all socio-economic deprivations worse.

And we are not even talking about future generations yet!

So, while nations such as India and China feel they have the right to catch up to the carbon-intensive wealth and lifestyles of the Western developed nations (leading to more carbon emissions from those who have barely contributed historically), the Global North keeps refusing to burn less.

There is an old joke that automobile drivers in Rome, Italy, take their half of the road out of the middle. (Get it?) Whether or not that is true, it is a good metaphor for the voracious appetite for burning carbon that characterises the Global North, which is taking more than its share of carbon emissions from countries, cultures and marginalised peoples here, there and everywhere.

Yet it is the job – and moral duty – of privileged, developed nations and the privileged people in all nations (see Module 5) to get their own emissions into decline and heading for virtually zero, while also providing support and financial aid (while they still can – climate disasters are becoming more and more expensive, even for countries built with concrete and steel) to those who, due to historical oppression and resource theft, are drowning in debt and cannot afford the necessary changes themselves.

Does this sound like an editorial? If you have not already lived through a record-breaking heatwave, a drought that killed tens of thousands of cattle, a cyclone or typhoon that destroyed your home or a wildfire that burned down a whole community and poisoned the air for hundreds of kilometres in every direction with acrid, toxic smoke, this might sound like an opinion piece in a radical newspaper. But the climate emergency is an existential threat to our species and most life on Earth – and increasingly, it is the lived experience of people around the world.

It is going to take more than a little editorialising for the governments and corporations of wealthy nations to finally see the light and do the right thing . . . the only thing that will protect the future of our planet.

The quotations below prove that the Global North knows we are in a climate emergency – and ignores what they know to the peril of everyone, but especially those in the Global South.

Quotations that prove what the Global North knows – and ignores

We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator. We can sign a climate solidarity pact, or a collective suicide pact. — António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General For the first time in human history, human activities are jeopardizing water at its very source. Climate change and deforestation are reshaping the monsoon, causing ice on the Tibetan plateau to melt, affecting freshwater supplies for more than 1 billion people. — Johan Rockstrom, Joint Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research It simply is not possible at this point to “protect the planet” without a reduction in consumption by countries of the Global North. It’s like running a business and refusing to cut your [expenses] when your income is rapidly decreasing. It’s a dumb management system. — Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion UK We are sleepwalking to an apocalypse. — Chris Packham, English naturalist and nature photographer At this point, we should all be protesting, striking, and even risking arrest to break through our governments’ criminal inaction on climate. We risk losing everything. — Peter Kalmus, NASA data scientist, United States Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5ºC or even 2ºC will be beyond reach. — IPCC AR6 WG1 report (2021) Every moment we allow climate change to ravage our planet, we will see more human suffering. If we do not act today, we will risk leaving an ever more desperate inheritance for our children tomorrow. —Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2023) More absolutely horrendous news on the global heating front. Our climate is falling apart in front of our eyes. — Bill McGuire, emeritus professor of Geophysical and Climate Hazards at University College London If you think climate protesters are inconvenient, just wait until you see what unmitigated climate change will do to our lives moving forward. There is no time to wait. — Mike Hudema, Greenpeace Canada History shows that although access to clean drinking water and sanitation services cannot guarantee the survival of a civilization, civilizations most certainly cannot prosper without them. — Peter Gleick, environmental scientist, United States This number is not just mind boggling, but terrifying. Entire nations could be in turmoil. Hunger, deprivation, war. So it can’t be true, right? There must be some mistake. This is perhaps the main challenge communicating the climate and ecological crisis. It’s too enormous to be real. — James Dyke, associate professor in Earth System Science, University of Exeter, United Kingdom We are living in a world locked into a suicide pact, with deeply entrenched ways of thinking about energy and security which are designed, unwittingly, to keep us on course for disaster. — Dr Jeremy Leggett, social entrepreneur and writer, United Kingdom Adapting to Earth breakdown is important, but we will only be able to adapt up to a point and we are already starting to surpass that point. A much more important call to action is to quickly end the dishonest and deadly fossil fuel industry – stop the damage and save all we can. Another HUGE problem with the false rallying cry of “we will adapt” (which I am seeing all over the place) is that what it really means is “protect the rich and $#!@ the poor.” — Peter Kalmus, NASA data scientist, United States

Activity

Read the following newspaper articles (they are not long), and then just sit for a little while. These articles will answer the question “So, why is climate justice important?” If you want or need to, reflect on your thoughts and feelings about these articles in your learning journal, or talk them over with a friend or family member.

Suffering From Climate Crisis They Did Nothing to Create, U.N. Chief Says

Here is a quotation:

"Somalia is suffering from the impact of a climate crisis it has done almost nothing to create,” United Nations chief António Guterres said, as a full-blown famine threatens to follow a drought that killed 43,000 people last year. Some 8.3 million Somalis, almost half the population, require urgent humanitarian assistance, Guterres said, adding that only 15% of the country’s $2.6 billion aid requirement for this year has been met. After five consecutive failed rainy seasons, the drought has displaced 1.4 million Somalis, with women and children making up 80% of them." — Reuters (2023)

Fatima Bhutto, “There’s No Greater Feminist Cause Than the Climate Fight – and Saving Each Other” (26 March 2023):

No Greater Feminist Cause Than the Climate Fight – and Saving Each Other

Here is another quotation:

"The climate emergency will affect the rich, the poor, the educated, the illiterate, the urban, the rural, the beautiful, the brave, the lonely, but it will be women and girls across the Global South who will bear the biggest burden. Women and children are 14 times more likely to die during a disaster, according to at least one study. One reason is that they are often the group with the most limited resources at hand during an emergency." — Fatima Bhutto

Climate Justice Concept Explained (3:17)

\Watch the video Climate Justice Concept Explained (3:17) to understand more about the importance of climate justice. Have a look at the questions below in the Activity before you watch the video.

Climate Justice Concept Explained (3:17)

You can adjust the playback speed and/or turn on subtitles/captions.)

Synopsis of the video: Large economies, such as China and the United States, should pay for the cost of mitigating climate change (e.g., by implementing policies to fund the use of renewable energy projects or carbon dioxide removal, which, by the way, is an unproven technology once scaled up), both for their own emissions reduction and for that of other, less wealthy, countries. The argument is that wealthy nations built their economies by burning millions of tonnes of fossil fuels (and emitting billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases). So, the idea is that the big nations should try to achieve carbon-negative status to allow the smaller nations to utilise the available “space” in the atmosphere to develop their countries too. Climate justice supporters further argue that poor nations are hit harder by climate change and already suffer from the effects of climate change, such as cyclones, hurricanes, floods and droughts that lead to food insecurity in those countries. Wealthy nations, on the other hand, have strong infrastructure and insurance programmes to mitigate damages and recover much more quickly than poor nations.

Activity

After watching the video, respond to the following questions in your learning journal. Do so in a way that will help you remember these concepts.

From the video:

1. What is a common pool resource?

2. What is climate debt?

3. What are climate reparations?

4. What is the difference between CO₂ in = CO₂ out AND CO₂ in > CO₂ out? (CO₂ put into the atmosphere versus CO₂ taken out of the atmosphere)?

5. What does the statement “wealthy nations have a stronger infrastructure to mitigate damages and recover much faster” mean?

From your brain:

6. Why should you, as a young person, care about these new concepts?

7. What does the statement “rich countries would not be rich without carbon emissions” mean?

8. Why are rich countries so dependent on fossil fuel energy?