Climate justice
Climate justice is a movement that recognizes that climate change is unequally affecting people in the Global South, Indigenous Peoples and the most marginalized communities in the Global North. These unequal impacts are the result of our governing systems; systems that exploit land and bodies, which are capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, extractivism, racism etc. These are systems of oppression that interact, feed and build upon each other, and thus perpetuate each other. Climate justice puts forward the need to understand the climate crisis as an intersectional issue where the structures that cause and sustain it must be addressed simultaneously.
Because those who have contributed the least to climate change are the most affected, the climate justice movement calls for centring those who are most marginalized. This means following their leadership, centring their realities, concerns and demands. It requires the liberation and emancipation of all from systems of oppression. These systems are the source of ongoing ecocide. They produce and perpetuate structural social inequalities that are amplified in the face of the climate crisis. The climate crisis is more than an environmental crisis. It amplifies existing crises and creates new ones. - The HUB [1]
The climate crisis is an intersectional issue
The following pages are meant to encourage climate activists to create intersectional campaigns and coalitions that draw links between, and encourage collaboration beyond, climate change as a siloed issue. They contain content on the intersections of climate and other social issues.
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Disability justice and climate justice |
See our definitions page for disability justice, which includes examples to help understand/describe why disability justice is climate justice. |
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LGBTQIAS+ justice and climate justice |
See our page on LGBTQIA2S+ issues and climate justice, which includes examples to help understand/describe why LGBTQIA2S+ justice is climate justice. |
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Migrant justice and climate justice |
See our definitions page for migrant justice, which includes examples to help understand/describe why migrant justice is climate justice. |
| The Global South and climate justice | See our definitions page for Global South, which includes examples to help understand/describe why justice for the Global South is climate justice. |
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Indigenous sovereignty and climate justice |
See our definitions page on Indigenous sovereignty, plus our related pages on decolonization, land back and anti-colonialism. **Examples to help understand why Indigenous sovereignty is climate justice to come.** |
| Anti-racism and climate justice | See our definitions page on anti-racism, plus our related pages on the carceral state, prison industrial complex and environmental racism. **Examples to help understand why addressing racism is climate justice to come.** |
| Labour, poverty and climate justice | See our page on class issues/labour and the climate movement, which includes examples to help understand/describe why labour, poverty and economic justice are climate issues. Also see our definitions pages on poverty and anti-capitalism.
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| Food justice and climate justice | See our definitions page on food sovereignty. **Examples to help understand why food justice is climate justice to come.** |
| Abolition and climate justice | See our definitions page on abolition. **Examples to help understand why abolition is climate justice to come.** |
Working together to address issues of oppression
To address intersectional issues of oppression simultaneously, people experiencing and targeting various forms of oppression must work together. This is needed to build the collective power necessary to win transformative change. The following pages include content on how we take our knowledge on climate change as an intersectional issue, and apply it in practice.
- Building coalitions
- **Page on broad-based organizing to come**
- How we Win! Summary of findings on successful climate justice campaigns in North America
If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.
- ↑ www.lehub.ca