Housekeeping and participation

Tech:
- Zoom: Toolbar at bottom screen, chat box, mute button, participants
- Recording - but just for internal purposes
- Google slides - pls type responses straight onto slides (when instructed)
Participation:
- We’re all learning and on this journey together
- Come with open, inquisitive and collaborative minds
- Be aware of power dynamics in the breakout rooms and make sure everyone
gets a chance to participate - any issues, come back to the main room
What to expect
We’ll take a look at:
- Foundations of climate justice - history, impact, responsibility and interlinked
injustices
- What climate justice looks like in our communities here in the UK, particularly in
relation to racism - access to nature, air pollution
- How can we campaign for climate justice in our
own communities?
- How can we help to increase inclusion and
diversity in the environment movement?
Word cloud
Getting Justice for
Food
everyone against
poverty
Climate change
fixing the
problems
fairly

desperation What words come to

mind when you think of
‘Climate Justice?’
Green
Inequality jobs

hope
How familiar do you feel with climate justice?

Pretty new
to climate
justice

Know loads
about
climate
justice
Historical context “The exploitation of our planet’s
natural resources has always been tied
to the exploitation of people of colour.
The logic of colonisation was to extract
valuable resources from our planet
through force, paying no attention
to its secondary effects.

The climate crisis is, in a way,

colonialism’s natural conclusion.”

David Lammy MP
Unequal
responsibility
 “We’re not saying that climate
Disproportionate impacts change affects only Black people.
However, it is communities in the
Global South that bear the brunt of
the consequences of climate change,
whether physical – floods,
desertification, increased water
scarcity and tornadoes – or political:
conflict and racist borders.”

Alexandra Wanjiku Kelbert,

Black Lives Matter UK
Interconnected injustices
“Climate change takes any problem you
already had, any threat you were already
under, and multiplies it. Climate change is
not the great equaliser, it is the great
multiplier.” Mary Annaise Heglar
What does international Climate Justice
action look like?

● Recognising that climate change doesn't exist within an economic,

political or social vacuum
● International Solidarity
● Real emissions reductions rather than Net Zero or offsets
● Community resource management inc Indigenous People’s Rights
● Fair Shares of climate action & Climate Finance
What does climate justice mean for UK communities,
particularly in the context of anti-racism?
Black & brown teens living in areas affected by
#AirPollution. Let’s clean up our clean air laws by
enshrining our right to #CleanAir.
How can we campaign for climate justice in our communities?
How can we campaign for climate justice in our communities?

- Narrative in local press

- Low traffic neighbourhoods
- Climate Action Plans
- Air pollution
- Retro fitting homes
- Covid Justice
- Transport
- Green Jobs
- International Solidarity
England's green space gap -
Friends of the Earth report, Sep 2020

This report exposes how

widespread green space
deprivation is, how it is
an issue of racial
injustice as well as
concern from a public The stand-out finding is that if you are a
health perspective, and person of black, Asian or minority
what needs to be done ethnic (BAME) origin you are more than
to fix the problem. It also
twice as likely as a white person to live
showcases great
examples of community in areas in England that are most
led initiatives. deprived of green space.
Founded in 2019, Black
Girls Hike provides a safe
space for Black women to
explore the outdoors.
Challenging the status quo,
and encouraging Black
women to reconnect with
nature, they host nationwide
group hikes, outdoor activity
days and training events.
How can we as environmental campaigners respond
to the twin challenges of climate and racial injustice?
1. Educate ourselves about historical and global systemic injustices
2. Be a good ally: show solidarity with other justice movements
3. Educate ourselves about systemic injustices in the UK and in our
communities - social, racial, intergenerational - and how these fit
with environmental issues eg. air pollution, access to nature.
4. Help to increase inclusion and diversity in the environmental
movement by welcoming and supporting people of colour and
other under-represented groups, and ensuring their voices and
concerns are heard and embraced.
Wrap Up
Dates for the diary - lunchtime talks
Why strengthening UK air pollution limits is vital (7 July, 13:00-14:00)
In 2013, 9-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah died of asthma, partly due to exposure
to air pollution. Find out from Ella’s mum and campaigner Rosamund, and air
pollution expert Dr Gary Fuller, why the UK government must toughen limits on air
pollution.
Communications and anti-racism (14 July, 13:00-14:00)
Rachel Allison from Axe and Saw explores the link between climate change and
racism through a brief exploration into history.
Take Climate Action website for explainers, resources and further reading.
https://takeclimateaction.uk/resources/what-climate-justice
Resources https://takeclimateaction.uk/resources/reading-and-resources-climate-justice
Explainer