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Climate injustices and environmental racism are shaped in that ableism matrix. <ref>Ali U., E. (n.d.). ECO-ABLEISM IN SOCIETY AND THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT. Fridays for Future. https://fridaysforfuture.org/newsletter/edition-no-3-ecoableism/</ref> Climate change affects the world's poorest and most vulnerable people. Some estimates have suggested that 20% of those most susceptible to climate change are persons with disabilities. <ref>Watts B., J. (2020). Change, and Environmental Violence: The Politics of Invisibility and the Horizon of Hope. Disability, Climate Studies Quarterly,40 (4). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v40i4.6959 </ref>
Climate injustices and environmental racism are shaped in that ableism matrix. <ref>Ali U., E. (n.d.). ECO-ABLEISM IN SOCIETY AND THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT. Fridays for Future. https://fridaysforfuture.org/newsletter/edition-no-3-ecoableism/</ref> Climate change affects the world's poorest and most vulnerable people. Some estimates have suggested that 20% of those most susceptible to climate change are persons with disabilities. <ref>Watts B., J. (2020). Change, and Environmental Violence: The Politics of Invisibility and the Horizon of Hope. Disability, Climate Studies Quarterly,40 (4). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v40i4.6959 </ref>
<p>Eco-ableism is "the marginalization of disabled people through environmental design; the exclusion of disabled people in environmental decision-making; and the discrimination against disabled people through environmental discourses, beliefs, and attitudes." <ref>Pineda S., V. & Corburn, J. (2020). Disability, Urban Health Equity, and the Coronavirus Pandemic: Promoting Cities for All. Journal of Urban Health, 97 (3), 336–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-020-00437-7</ref> </p>
<p>Most (but not all) cases of eco-ableism are environmental activism that focuses on individual action. Although, when it comes to a particular activity, it can always be discriminatory because not all people have the privileges or capacities to make sustainable choices. For some people, adopting these environmental changes would actually put their lives at risk. For example...</p>
Metal alternatives can cause serious to disabled people (consider the possibility of impairment, or the challenge to sanitize). Alternatives may cause allergies, be unpositionable, or dissolve in hot liquids.
Some people cannot prepare food or cook for themselves. Some people rely on internet shopping, and while many companies aren’t doing their part to reduce package waste, this isn’t the fault of disabled people that rely on this for their needs. Other people rely on wet wipes to clean themselves because of a limited ability to shower.
For many disabled people, they rely on a restricted diet due to food intolerances or challenges with swallowing, for example. This means following a vegan diet is not possible.
| style="width: 1334.17px; height: 65px;" | <p>Disabled people are often ignored or not considered in public decision boards and (emergency) planning. For example, when designing flood protections or flood evacuations. While disabled people are mentioned in sustainability-focused policies, these policies often address a universalized (non-disabled) individual. <ref>Fenney S., D. (2016). Sustainable lifestyles for all? Disability equality, sustainability, and the limitations of current UK policy. Disability & Society, 31 (4), 447-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1182011</ref> </p>
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| style="width: 317.828px; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217); height: 28px;" | '''Exclusion in green urban planning'''
| style="width: 1334.17px; height: 28px;" | Urban planning that doesn't consult with disabled people may remove parking bays to make way for cycle lanes, promote active travel without realizing that some disabled people cannot walk, wheel, or cycle. Problems can also grow around recycling initiatives that do not adequately support disabled people who struggle to obtain information about recycling in accessible formats (i.e., in the braille language). <ref>Fenney S., D. (2016). Sustainable lifestyles for all? Disability equality, sustainability, and the limitations of current UK policy. Disability & Society, 31 (4), 447-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1182011</ref>
|}
<p>Fighting eco-ableism requires including the needs of disabled people in these conversations, and recognizing that meeting their needs to survive is not the cause of climate destruction.</p>
=== The COVID-19 Pandemic ===
=== The COVID-19 Pandemic ===
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Individuals have been encouraged to make 'personal' choices on vaccines (without legitimate health restrictions), masks and gatherings.
Individuals have been encouraged to make 'personal' choices on vaccines (without legitimate health restrictions), masks and gatherings.
"''There is no individual safety without collective safety and collective safety requires that no one is safe unless everyone is safe." - Mia Mingus <ref>https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2022/01/16/you-are-not-entitled-to-our-deaths-covid-abled-supremacy-interdependence/ ''
*I worked with fishing communities facing water pollution. Fish were dying from factories dumping industrial waste in the water, and farmers were suffering pesticide poisoning. In the 80s, we were trying to address some of these basic problems in food, water and fish. We were only looking at the environmental issues causing local impacts.
*But when we looked further, we saw this was connected to International trade. Our economy was connected to Global North economies. Industrialism was about mass production and consumption for the North. So it goes beyond regulation at the National level. It's about who is driving the investments. Everything is about protecting the 'big guys' (big oil, big pharma etc.); they don't care about people in the environment. We suffer at the hands of their investments.
*The Global South are commodity producers, selling at very low prices which are determined by New York and other stock exchanges. When prices go down, we go into a debt crisis, and the IMF and World Banks offer more loans to increase our debt.
<p>Meena also pointed out that marginalized communities in rich and powerful countries, such as Indigenous communities in North America, also suffer from these systems. See MAPA (most affected people and areas) for more.</p>
Israel‘s occupation and apartheid, which denies Palestinians the right to manage their land and resources, makes them more vulnerable to climate-related events.
*Water: Gaza’s acute shortage of potable water from climate change was worsened by Israel’s restrictions on the entry of materials and fuel needed for wastewater treatment. Sewage infiltrated Gaza’s aquifer and flows untreated into Gaza’s coastal waters, damaging marine life and health. <ref>https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR2500/RR2515/RAND_RR2515.pdf <span> </span>97% of Gaza’s water is unhealthy for human consumption and contaminated water causes 1/4 of all illness in Gaza. <ref>https://www.ochaopt.org/content/study-warns-water-sanitation-crisis-gaza-may-cause-disease-outbreak-and-possible-epidemic <span style="font-size: 14.4px;"></span>While Palestinian villages struggle to adapt to water scarcity, Israeli settlements enjoy unlimited access to water for drinking, to irrigate crops and lawns, and for swimming pools. 640,000 settlers in the West Bank consume 6x the water of 2.9 million Palestinians. <ref>https://www.maan-ctr.org/old/pdfs/FSReport/Settlement/content.pdf
*<p>Food: Israel’s military prevents Palestinians from using the 20% of Gaza's arable land next to Israel’s militarized fence, and targets Gaza’s farmland with herbicides. <ref>https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/herbicidal-warfare-in-gaza <sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"></sup>A study by Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network explained in 2014 when Israel dropped 21,000 tonnes of explosives on the Gaza strip, it resulted in extensive soil damage and reduced agricultural productivity. <ref>https://www.palestine-studies.org/ Israel has uprooted 800,000 olive trees since 1967. Olive trees represent peace and Palestinians connection to the land. <ref>https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/olive-harvest <span></span><sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"></sup></ref></ref></ref></p><p><sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"></sup></p>Moreover, Israel's removal of olive trees to weaken Palestinians’ connection to the land and economic self-sufficiency is greenwashed by Israel's planting of trees. <ref>https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/11/14/opinion/true-peace-and-justice-possible-if-world-transitions-clean-energy <sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"></sup>
*Energy: 98% of Israel’s electricity production comes from fossil fuels <ref>https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.FOSL.ZS , and Palestinians are given an average of 12 hours per day to use it. Israelis are given unlimited access. Palestinians have turned to solar panels to create their own electricity. <ref>https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/10/04/energy-crisis-renewables-tired-of-power-cuts-blockaded-gaza-turns-to-solar-panels Panels have been targeted by Israel's bombing. <ref>https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/6/israeli-forces-target-solar-panels-at-gazas-al-shifa-hospital Moreover, the Israeli military seizes solar panels sent by humanitarian aid groups for Palestinian communities, even while it has passed progressive laws requiring the installation of solar panels on all new buildings. <ref>https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/11/14/opinion/true-peace-and-justice-possible-if-world-transitions-clean-energy <sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"></sup>
*<span class="mwt-noneditable=" speechify-initial-font-family="sans-serif" speechify-initial-font-size="14px">Waste: Israel routinely dumps its waste in occupied Palestine. Palestinians<span speechify-initial-font-family="sans-serif" speechify-initial-font-size="14px"> burn plastic waste for income</span>, contributing to the increasing levels of cancer among Palestinians. <ref>https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-deadly-trash-trade-is-poisoning-palestinians-in-the-west-bank/ <sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"></sup><sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"></sup></ref></span>
*Funding from the West: Countries in the West support Israel's occupation by purchasing weapons and other goods from Israel, and selling weapons to Israel. Between 2018-2022, Canada imported $132 million dollars worth of weapons from Israel. <ref>https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/11/how-big-is-israels-military-and-how-much-funding-does-it-get-from-the-us#:~:text=US%20military%20funding%20to%20Israel,of%20military%20and%20defence%20aid Canadian companies such as Canada's big banks fund technology used by the Israeli military. For example, Scotia bank holds the largest foreign share of an Israeli weapons manufacturer. <ref>https://theintercept.com/2023/04/06/israel-arms-scotiabank-elbit-david-fingold/
'''Evelyn Acham in Uganda on the 'Dash for Gas' <ref>https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/11/02/dash-for-gas-europes-cost-of-living-crisis-shouldnt-cause-an-environmental-disaster-in-afr '''
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*To deal with rising inflation and energy costs caused by fossil fuel companies (see our page on [https://en.wiki.lehub.ca/index.php/Class_issues/labour_and_the_climate_movement Class issues/labour and the climate movement] for more on this), European government's are promoting new oil and gas extraction and export infrastructure.
*European leaders have announced deals to increase gas production and exports with Egypt, Senegal, Angola and Republic of Congo.
*Oil and gas extraction and export undermines existing commitments to keep temperatures to 1.5°C and to phase out international finance for oil and gas, which was promised in Glasgow at COP26.
*"It also risks undermining African development, saddling countries with debts for export-oriented gas production for which there will be fewer and fewer customers as demand drops, leaving African people on the hook to cover the costs of these stranded assets." -Evelyn Acham <ref>https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/11/02/dash-for-gas-europes-cost-of-living-crisis-shouldnt-cause-an-environmental-disaster-in-afr This would put African countries in further debt; a debt caused by the Global North.
'''Amara Possain on Armenia <ref>https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/11/14/opinion/true-peace-and-justice-possible-if-world-transitions-clean-energy '''
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*"In Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan initially cut off Armenians’ gas supply and then their electricity. Throughout the harsh winter, Armenians could only sporadically access hot water thanks to solar water heaters. These renewable sources threaten the power of those who profit from wars and oil, thereby weakening the economic foundations of authoritarian regimes and reducing their incentives for military aggression." -Amara Possain <ref>https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/11/14/opinion/true-peace-and-justice-possible-if-world-transitions-clean-energy <sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"></sup>
*Western nations wage wars to secure access to fossil fuels, targeting governments that nationalize oil companies. The Middle East, which holds over half of the world’s oil reserves, has been a point of conflicts driven by imperialism and greed. <sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"></sup>
'''Friends of the Congo <ref>https://friendsofthecongo.org/climate-change/#:~:text=For%20centuries%20now%2C%20Congo%20has%20endured%20environmental%20racism.&text=With%20the%20recent%20discovery%20of,the%20oppressive%20and%20extractive%20systems and Victoria Audu on Congo <ref>https://republic.com.ng/october-november-2023/congo-cobalt-genocide/ '''
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*The Congo Basin sequesters more carbon than the Amazon or any other rainforest.
*"The infrastructure of Congo has been intentionally designed for mass extraction since colonial rule began in the 1800s, leaving the majority of the Congolese people without access to their own land nor the ability to alter or end the extractive processes which governments and corporations profit from. This very design is why one of the most mineral-rich countries in the world has one of the highest poverty rates on the planet." -Friends of the Congo <ref> https://friendsofthecongo.org/climate-change/#:~:text=For%20centuries%20now%2C%20Congo%20has%20endured%20environmental%20racism.&text=With%20the%20recent%20discovery%20of,the%20oppressive%20and%20extractive%20systems.
*Congo has cobalt, gold, copper and coltan, which fuels batteries for our cell phones, electric vehicles, and wind turbines. Extreme exploitation is present in these mines, including the use of child miners, and the deadly pollution impacting the communities.
*As of October 2023, 6.9 million Congolese people have been displaced due to violence and rebel attacks, fuelled by profits possible due to Western influence. <ref>https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/conflict-uproots-record-69-million-people-congo-iom-2023-10-30/ For example, Rwanda have also been accused of funding rebel groups such as M23 to invade Congo for cobalt extraction. Rwanda has a close relationship with the West, who are eager to access cobalt.)
*255,000 Congolese citizens mine cobalt, and at least 40,000 of them are children. Much of the work is small-scale mining where labourers primarily use their hands, and earn less than $2 per day.
*Mined minerals are often hazardous and exposure to some can have profound health effects. There is also a constant risk of falling into open mine shafts, being trapped, or injured by collapsing tunnels, or drowning while mining underwater. In a survey, World Vision also found that 19 per cent of miners have witnessed a child die at a mining site, 67 per cent reported frequent or persistent coughing, and several girls had genital infections after working waist-deep in acidic water. In addition, up to 2,000 people die from cobalt mining accidents in the DRC every year. Miners also face sexual assault and forced evictions." -Victoria Audu <ref>https://republic.com.ng/october-november-2023/congo-cobalt-genocide/ <br>
*The extraction of mineral resources requires cutting down trees and causes the contamination of water bodies. Fish are contaminated with high levels of cobalt.
<p>Eco-ableism is "the marginalization of disabled people through environmental design; the exclusion of disabled people in environmental decision-making; and the discrimination against disabled people through environmental discourses, beliefs, and attitudes." <ref>Pineda S., V. & Corburn, J. (2020). Disability, Urban Health Equity, and the Coronavirus Pandemic: Promoting Cities for All. Journal of Urban Health, 97 (3), 336–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-020-00437-7</ref> </p>
<p>Most (but not all) cases of eco-ableism are environmental activism that focuses on individual action. Although, when it comes to a particular activity, it can always be discriminatory because not all people have the privileges or capacities to make sustainable choices. For some people, adopting these environmental changes would actually put their lives at risk. For example...</p>
Metal alternatives can cause serious to disabled people (consider the possibility of impairment, or the challenge to sanitize). Alternatives may cause allergies, be unpositionable, or dissolve in hot liquids.
Some people cannot prepare food or cook for themselves. Some people rely on internet shopping, and while many companies aren’t doing their part to reduce package waste, this isn’t the fault of disabled people that rely on this for their needs. Other people rely on wet wipes to clean themselves because of a limited ability to shower.
For many disabled people, they rely on a restricted diet due to food intolerances or challenges with swallowing, for example. This means following a vegan diet is not possible.
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 65px;" | <p>Disabled people are often ignored or not considered in public decision boards and (emergency) planning. For example, when designing flood protections or flood evacuations. While disabled people are mentioned in sustainability-focused policies, these policies often address a universalized (non-disabled) individual. <ref>Fenney S., D. (2016). Sustainable lifestyles for all? Disability equality, sustainability, and the limitations of current UK policy. Disability & Society, 31 (4), 447-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1182011</ref> </p>
|- style="height: 28px;"
| style="width: 19.6976%; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217); height: 28px;" | '''Exclusion in green urban planning'''
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 28px;" | Urban planning that doesn't consult with disabled people may remove parking bays to make way for cycle lanes, promote active travel without realizing that some disabled people cannot walk, wheel, or cycle. Problems can also grow around recycling initiatives that do not adequately support disabled people who struggle to obtain information about recycling in accessible formats (i.e., in the braille language). <ref>Fenney S., D. (2016). Sustainable lifestyles for all? Disability equality, sustainability, and the limitations of current UK policy. Disability & Society, 31 (4), 447-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1182011</ref>
|}
<p>Fighting eco-ableism requires including the needs of disabled people in these conversations, and recognizing that meeting their needs to survive is not the cause of climate destruction.</p>
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Latest revision as of 19:58, 22 November 2023
Ableism is a form of discrimination against disabled and chronically ill people. It is "a system that places value on people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, intelligence, excellence and productivity." It determines who is valuable and worthy based on their appearance and/or ability to fulfill what society expects of them. - Talia A. Lewis [1]
Ableism includes prejudices, discriminations, stereotypes, and social oppressions directed at people with disabilities. [2] Ableism can be assumptions, ideas, attitudes, stereotypes, practices and physical environmental barriers. It can also be larger oppressions that promote an unfair approach toward disabled people. [3] Whether it is conscious or not, ableism benefits non-disabled and able-minded people. Its impact and form change with national, local, and historical contexts. Ableism also names norms of able-bodied life and able-minded people. This is maintained and structured by cultural values, policies, and laws. [4]
Ableism determines who is valuable and worthy based on their appearance and ability to fulfill what society expects of them. You do not necessarily have to be disabled to experience ableism. Ableism is deeply rooted in capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy. The social construct of ableism in our society pushes the bodies and minds of people toward extraction and productivity. It commodifies these instances and entities as an instrument for labor and building wealth.
Climate injustices and environmental racism are shaped in that ableism matrix. [5] Climate change affects the world's poorest and most vulnerable people. Some estimates have suggested that 20% of those most susceptible to climate change are persons with disabilities. [6]
Eco-ableism is "the marginalization of disabled people through environmental design; the exclusion of disabled people in environmental decision-making; and the discrimination against disabled people through environmental discourses, beliefs, and attitudes." [8]
Most (but not all) cases of eco-ableism are environmental activism that focuses on individual action. Although, when it comes to a particular activity, it can always be discriminatory because not all people have the privileges or capacities to make sustainable choices. For some people, adopting these environmental changes would actually put their lives at risk. For example...
Disposable straws
Metal alternatives can cause serious to disabled people (consider the possibility of impairment, or the challenge to sanitize). Alternatives may cause allergies, be unpositionable, or dissolve in hot liquids.
Convenience
Some people cannot prepare food or cook for themselves. Some people rely on internet shopping, and while many companies aren’t doing their part to reduce package waste, this isn’t the fault of disabled people that rely on this for their needs. Other people rely on wet wipes to clean themselves because of a limited ability to shower.
Veganism for all
For many disabled people, they rely on a restricted diet due to food intolerances or challenges with swallowing, for example. This means following a vegan diet is not possible.
Exclusion in environmental policy
Disabled people are often ignored or not considered in public decision boards and (emergency) planning. For example, when designing flood protections or flood evacuations. While disabled people are mentioned in sustainability-focused policies, these policies often address a universalized (non-disabled) individual. [9]
Exclusion in green urban planning
Urban planning that doesn't consult with disabled people may remove parking bays to make way for cycle lanes, promote active travel without realizing that some disabled people cannot walk, wheel, or cycle. Problems can also grow around recycling initiatives that do not adequately support disabled people who struggle to obtain information about recycling in accessible formats (i.e., in the braille language). [10]
Fighting eco-ableism requires including the needs of disabled people in these conversations, and recognizing that meeting their needs to survive is not the cause of climate destruction.
The COVID-19 Pandemic
Government and individual responses to the covid-19 pandemic, especially in Western Nations that value capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy, showed how ableism can manifest and be a serious threat to disabled and chronically ill people. For example...
Disposability discourse
Much discussion around the severity of COVID was lessened by expressing how it mainly sickens and kills elderly, chronically ill, and disabled people. This discourse suggests these groups are seen disposable.
Loosened restrictions too early
When governments loosened COVID restrictions in response to business demands, political pressure, and public impatience, rather than scientific evidence, high risk populations (the chronically ill, disabled and elderly) were subsequently told they are disposable yet again.
Working through illness
Regulations around how many sick days should be required when someone falls ill with COVID also demonstrated ableism. In relation to these regulations, and in favour of profit above health, many politicians including US President Joe Biden, praised themselves for working through COVID, instead of encouraging people to rest and recover if they'd fallen ill.
↑Cram, E., Law. P., M., Pezzullo., C. P. (2022). Cripping Environmental Communication: A Review of Eco-Ableism, Eco-Normativity, and Climate Justice Futurities. Environmental Communication, 16 (7), 851-863, https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2022.2126869
↑Watts B., J. (2020). Change, and Environmental Violence: The Politics of Invisibility and the Horizon of Hope. Disability, Climate Studies Quarterly,40 (4). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v40i4.6959
↑Pineda S., V. & Corburn, J. (2020). Disability, Urban Health Equity, and the Coronavirus Pandemic: Promoting Cities for All. Journal of Urban Health, 97 (3), 336–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-020-00437-7
↑Fenney S., D. (2016). Sustainable lifestyles for all? Disability equality, sustainability, and the limitations of current UK policy. Disability & Society, 31 (4), 447-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1182011
↑Fenney S., D. (2016). Sustainable lifestyles for all? Disability equality, sustainability, and the limitations of current UK policy. Disability & Society, 31 (4), 447-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1182011
