Climate justice is about social justice
October 01, 2019 by Extinction Rebellion
In September millions of people all over the globe marched for Climate Justice. When we chant that we want climate justice and we want it now, when we stand united with people worldwide, we must consider climate justice globally.
We often talk about saving our futures and the futures of our children, and it is true that the worst impacts of climate breakdown are yet to come. But by talking about our futures, there is a danger of neglecting the present and framing the climate and ecological crisis as something that hasn’t arrived. For many people on the frontline, the problem is already here and now.
This crisis is intimately tied to social justice and civil rights. Marginalised communities are far more exposed to its impacts. Locally, nationally, globally, our societies are not fair. Climate breakdown exacerbates existing inequalities: inequalities between rich and poor, men and women, white
populations and people of colour, residents and refugees.
Confronted with water crises and searing temperatures, it is women in the Global South who are responsible for farming and sourcing food, water and fuel for their family. Yet prevailing social and political barriers obstruct their capacity to cope with these challenges. They are not given the opportunity to advocate for themselves and make their voices heard, despite their strengths and experience.
That these communities suffer most during a crisis should not be accepted as inevitable. Campaigning for climate justice must mean being a feminist, an anti-racist, an advocate of class equality and migrant rights.