French Activists
Once we stop listening to the lullabies of elected and unelected leaders and face reality, our course becomes clearer. At the foundation of our strategy must be the recognition that the lives of those in developed countries are not worth more than those in the undeveloped world. The billions who live on less than $2 per day are as valuable as those who spend $100 for lunch. Recognizing this reality creates the global solidarity to move forward.
Also at the foundation of our next steps must be human rights. Climate change will violate the human rights of billions as rights to life, water, food, health, housing and security among others are all undone by climate injustice. Already, 157.8 million people were forced from their homes in the past seven years as a result of extreme weather. These numbers will multiply rapidly. Tens of thousands of people are dying from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress; between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year. We cannot pick whose human rights will be protected, all must be protected.
COP21 Climate Justice Peace from the sky over Paris 12-12-15To move forward strategically it is also important to see something that was highlighted at COP21 but many did not see: the relationship between war, terrorism and climate. The neo-colonialism of western powers, led by the United States, going to war for the oil and resources needed for big agriculture, transit and the computer era is at the root of terrorism and closely connected to climate change. Not only does the war machine produce climate gases at immense levels but it leads to protecting the current fossil fuel- based economy.
Steve Breyman, discussing next steps after COP21, highlights that “the angry and energized climate justice movement is primed to pressure the big polluters like never before.” We have had some victories, have grown our strength and see the connections between issues. We know elected officials and dirty energy corporations “must be hounded and harangued to do what’s needed.” We must demand our country treat the voluntary goals as mandatory and make them stricter, move up the timetables and rapidly transition to a clean energy economy.
Breyman points out there is impressive “climate justice work being done at city, county and state levels” and with a dysfunctional federal government that work is important. Successful campaigns to build on include fossil fuel divestment, pipeline and infrastructure resistance, opposition to fracking and extreme extraction, protests of the fake energy regulator FERC, zero waste campaigns and more. He sees the “prospects for climate justice advocates to more firmly join forces with other movements, especially labor, peace, women’s, and indigenous rights are better than ever.”
1sfclimateThe evidence is increasingly on our side so as we stop the carbon-nuclear energy industries we must also be building the alternative. That begins by changing our lifestyles, but also getting government at all levels to make transitions to clean energy. We should highlight the “numerous convincing studies of the economic, ecosystem, and human health benefits of a full transition to a fully clean energy economy” and how it is “far cheaper to take action now than later, that the longer we wait the greater the costs of all sorts.”
This is the path forward not only to saving the Earth and putting in place climate justice but also to building solidarity with people throughout the world and undermining the corruption of corporate power and militarism that currently dominates it. In short, the fight for climate justice is about building a better world for all.