By Kira Donegan, Photo by Mahdi Bafande on Pexels.com

With constant headlines of melting glaciers, raging wildfires, and plastic found in our bodies and the deepest parts of our oceans, many of us feel climate despair, the feeling that climate change is inescapable. But ignoring climate change is a privilege that we don’t have. 

Richer countries have historically benefited from modern luxuries that drive climate change, like cars and industrial agriculture, which often comes at the expense of poorer countries in the Global South. Systems of oppression like racism, colonialism and capitalism drive further inequities. Marginalized groups like women and Indigenous peoples are often the most affected.

Climate justice is one approach to solve these issues.

The big picture: What is environmental justice?

Climate justice is part of a larger concept and movement called environmental justice. The American Public Health Association defines environmental justice as the idea every person has the right to exist in healthy, safe environments. In these environments, there is equal environmental protection and ability to be involved in action. 

“[The term] comes out of work in American southern cities in the 70s and 80s, when Dr. Bob [Robert] Bullard and others looked at how Black and brown communities were disproportionately sited near sources of pollution and environmental degradation,” said Jamie Shinn, a professor of environmental studies at SUNY-ESF. As the “father of environmental justice”, Dr. Bullard’s award-winning books and research highlights the prevalence of environmental racism, sustainable development, and other environmental justice topics throughout the U.S., focusing on rural areas.

A modern example is Flint, Michigan, where bottled water has become the norm as a decade-long fight for clean water rages on. The city’s decision to pull drinking water from the Flint River to save money decimated residents’ health and endangered thousands of children through lead poisoning when the polluted water corroded old pipes. The filthy water is thought to be behind the deadly outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in the city from 2014 to 2015 as well, according to NRDC. 

The unequal impacts of this decision on minority communities led to many citing racial injustice, as the area is predominantly Black or African American. While the city has replaced its lead pipes, health issues continue to ripple through the community. 

Examples of climate injustice

Climate justice is the acknowledgement that climate change impacts disadvantaged and vulnerable populations more than others, according to Yale Climate Connections. In short, different groups are affected differently by climate change. 

The once booming timber town of Rainelle, West Virginia, is a tragic example. In 2012, FEMA redrew the floodplain map indicating the town was no longer a flood hazard zone. Already struggling economically after the extraction industry left town, people dropped the flood insurance they were no longer legally required to carry. But in 2016, the town was devastated by floods and left without any access to recovery funding, said Shinn. 

Those with multiple identities are at even greater risk. Women shoulder the brunt of environmental impacts, yet are less likely than men to survive natural disasters. Women in the Global South suffer the most, due to a combination of climate vulnerable communities and enforced gender roles. Women and girls are often charged with finding dwindling resources, with Indigenous women in the eastern Bolivian Chiquitanía region traveling as far as the nearest city in search of water. Tensions from climate change have also increased gender-based violence, with a 28% increase in femicide during heat waves, according to UNWomen.org.

Types of justice in climate justice

Procedural, distributive, and restorative justice are other elements of climate justice. Who makes decisions, the distribution of burdens and benefits on members of society and the duty to restore a situation to before the injustice occurred. The issue is figuring out which dimension(s) should be used. According to a case study in Austria, resistance to ambitious procedural and distributive climate policies include denying responsibility, lack of inclusion, and feasibility constraints.

For Shinn, restorative justice is the ultimate goal, but can’t be achieved without considering other forms of justice. “I think it’s often a long-term goal, and we need to think about incremental progress to that point. So, I don’t think it can also be fully restorative or nothing,” said Shinn.

Is climate justice complicated? Sure. But is it necessary? Absolutely.

The next steps

In our pursuit of climate justice, we should be accomplices, not “allies,” according to IndigenousAction.org. Allyship can promote the idea of being a savior, and continue the victimization of the oppressed. “It’s not just an issue of impact with climate justice, it’s also an issue of power responding to climate change,” said Shinn. Accomplices stand on their own against injustice, side by side with those impacted (as opposed to “having their backs”). Action is taken without those impacted needing to hand hold, or guide. 

There’s also the issue of climate migration. As islands sink and wildfires rage, more people will move from inhabitable places. There need to be places for these climate refugees to go.