ENGLISH 23
(A.K.A. CLIMATE CRISIS 101)
Deep Dive
Social justice, environmental justice, climate justice, and the injustice of it all.
After reading the Green New Deal as well as listening to Ken’s lecture regarding justice, it is quite obvious that change must occur sooner than later. In his lecture, Ken compares the United States to the lesser developed country of Bangladesh. Ken mentions some specific statistics that were absolutely mind boggling to me. First, the average American in the United States eats an estimated 6,600% more meat than those living in Bangladesh. As we’ve learned in past weeks, the meat industry is an enormous part of the harmful emissions that are released into the atmosphere adding to the warming of the globe. Additionally, the per capita air travel within the United States is roughly 14,000% higher than Bangladesh. With staggering differences such as these, it is no surprise that the United States is one of the biggest global polluters. In order to have any possible chance at combating climate change, the United States must go through an era of “degrowth.” A time where Americans must learn how to live in a more sustainable way, rather than continuing their environmentally detrimental daily activities.
Ken posed various questions of whether the United States has a responsibility to help countries such as Bangladesh mitigate the social, economic, and environmental disasters our country has caused. I believe that the United States absolutely has a responsibility to aid Bangladesh, other developing nations, and the rest of the world in moving towards a cleaner future. Over the past few years especially, I have felt that the sense of nationalism and patriotism in the United States has outweighed the compassion and empathy we should have for other human beings on our planet. While people’s feeling of pride for their country is great, I don’t believe that it should be placed ahead of caring for other people and other countries. While America is focused on maintaining our strong economy and making revolutionary technological, medical, and scientific advancements, we fail to realize the impact that our actions are having on the rest of the world. I believe that the Green New Deal needs to include specific ways in which America can aid the countries which we have harmed, such as a plan similar to the Global Marshall Plan created by Al Gore [published in 1992!].
While America inevitably adopts more climate-focused goals and policies in order to address the impending crisis, we need to ensure that countries around the world that have suffered due to our actions are at the center of our efforts. Ensuring economic security for Americans during this process of growth is extremely important, but cannot be placed above the health and wellbeing of people in other parts of the world as well. I strongly believe that we need to work together with, not dominate, the leaders of developing countries to establish goals that serve the interests of the planet as a whole, as the climate crisis is a global, not national, issue.
As we have seen in the most recent days in the U.S., Texas is experiencing an unusual and devastating snowstorm in which most of its occupants were not prepared. 13 million people are still without clean, running water, and millions are still without electricity. It is so heartbreaking to know that the majority of these people without resources are of low-income families and electricity companies are prioritizing the lives of the richest. This is the epitome of environmental racism that should not exist in a country that preaches equality and freedom. I find the Green New Deal fundamental in holding the U.S. accountable for its passive and detrimental economic values, such that Americans and every other life form benefits. As said in the resolution, it is the duty of the Federal Government to practice what they preach and ensure that the national threat, that is the climate crisis, is under control.
The statistic you mention regarding the loss of life and homes in Bangladesh is astonishing. I was truly struck by it. I paused the video and rewound it several times to make sure that I heard you right. 5000 lives lost per year, six million homes, and even more in some cases. How could this be allowed to happen? My gut reaction was “Why am I here learning about this when I could be there, on the ground actually helping those impacted by the flooding?” 5000 people every year. 9/11 happened twenty years ago, 2000 people were lost, and in response, the US has committed unimaginable crimes under the pretense of “maintaining the peace” how can a country that attempts to hold itself above others. One that claims to be the best country on Earth and one that is the richest country on Earth stands idly by in the face of such loss of life. In fact, we are not just watching and doing nothing, we are getting a couple kicks in and throwing some kerosene on the fire that is this flooding. Instead of caring about what these people face every day, we create false realities that benefit a wealthy few and call it good. Our un- and under-educated minority continue to elect charlatans that act as if they care about them when they really care about the corporate interests that make their Cancun getaway a possibility. I am truly fuming and I worry this is a jumble of unconnected thoughts. Really my takeaway is that the US has no right to be considered a world leader (and in fact in the wake of the Trump era is not a world leader) when we allow such events to happen and do nothing to avoid them.
While I am happy that the Green New Deal is a step in the right direction, it is so hard to imagine how we are going to get to net-zero emissions in 30 years. The things that the green new deal is calling for like equal access to water as well as housing is hard to see. America is so successful because of the stark contrast between the rich and the poor and has made it seem normal. The profound cultural changes that will need to happen in order to achieve these goals are scary because I feel like there is no way those who benefit from our government the most will let it happen. I honestly feel like such sweeping changes will not be able to be made peacefully.
In reading the Green New Deal and watching Ken’s lecture, I am reminded of the intersectionality of environmentalism and the fight against injustices across the globe. Being that poorer communities are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, I think it is important to be reminded that in taking steps to battle climate change, we are also taking steps to battle systemic racism and socioeconomic inequalities. As we have seen in the most recent days in the U.S., Texas is experiencing an unusual and devastating snowstorm in which most of its occupants were not prepared. 13 million people are still without clean, running water, and millions are still without electricity. It is so heartbreaking to know that the majority of these people without resources are of low-income families and electricity companies are prioritizing the lives of the richest. This is the epitome of environmental racism that should not exist in a country that preaches equality and freedom. I find the Green New Deal fundamental in holding the U.S. accountable for its passive and detrimental economic values, such that americans and every other life form benefits. As said in the resolution, it is the duty of the Federal Government to practice what they preach and ensure that the national threat, that is the climate crisis, is under control.
After hearing the differences between the United States and Bangladesh in terms of meat consumption, hunger, air travel, and cars, I was absolutely appalled. It’s disheartening that Americans live such luxurious and extravagant lifestyles at the expense of places like Bangladesh that have to bear the consequences of our actions. I think Ken’s proposal of social, environmental, and climate justice is absolutely necessary in order to make up for the injustices we have caused. However, when I found out that the previous administration had cut funding to Bangladesh by 2/3, I was extremely upset. I feel as if we as Americans have a moral duty to support developing nations especially since we use them to our advantage to produce our goods and allow us to live such extravagant lifestyles. This is why degrowth is necessary for developing countries such as the United States as we are fully capable of doing without our wasteful lifestyles, while a majority of individuals in developing countries don’t even have basic needs such as electricity and shelter.
[Y]our comment is really interesting. Now, you have mentioned climate injustice and Bangladesh, and in Ken’s lecture, he has said that the Green New Deal is mainly a U.S. related document. However, one short line in the resolution captures my attention. It says that one of the Green New Deal goals require ‘promoting the international exchange of technology, expertise, products, funding, and services, with the aim of making the United States the international leader on climate action, and to help other countries achieve a Green New Deal’. This is the only place where international cooperation is referred to in the entire resolution, and it’s quite easy to miss. But this being here means that the drafters of this resolution, mainly Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is trying to put out an important proposal. AOC herself was a child of Puerto Rican immigrants, as mentioned in her video for this week’s film assignment. I believe that she is concerned about the people in her hometown of Puerto Rico, and thus she believe the US should try and help other parts of the world. And it’s actually a great proposal to the US itself. What’s bad about being a world leader in such a great thing? As far as I am concerned, that’s what the US was always trying to do in the past century. Helping other countries to develop sustainably would certainly help the US gain a good reputation globally. Now this is actually what my home country, China, has been doing in the recent years, at least that’s what I have heard and read about. The ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative proposed by the Chinese government is focusing on helping developing countries in Asia and Africa grow sustainably, and the Chinese government encourages Chinese corporations in the field of renewable energy to invest in overseas projects. For example, in Pakistan, a Chinese corporation has invested in and help constructed a utility scale photovoltaic plant, with loans offered by Chinese banks. The plant is estimated to cover the basic daily needs for electricity for 200 thousand households. It’s an incredibly small portion of the entire population, but it’s definitely critical in the development of Pakistan. As for Bangladesh, China has also invested in many infrastructure and energy projects that has allowed the Bangladeshi economy to grow more rapidly, transforming from an underdeveloped country into a developing country. This is clearly a win-win solution, the planet would be better off, the people across the world would be better off, and the US can earn a great reputation. As I have stated in another comment a few weeks ago, to really cope with the issue of climate change, one must also have to deal with poverty. The US should, and is totally capable of offering help, and it would make a huge difference.
I think your views on America’s moral duty to support developing countries, especially given the generally greater privilege Americans have comparatively, make absolute sense. From what I have been learning in this course, climate change is a human issue that requires a human effort in order to effectively reach solutions that could mitigate this crisis. Even if the United States somehow successfully mitigates climate change, that does not mean the entire problem is suddenly eliminated worldwide. Many of our actions affected countries with significantly less resources than us, and as such they may be unable to fix the issues the same way a country like the U.S. would be able to. It feels very unfair to those countries if we just left them to clean up the mess that we contributed to making. As such, I do agree that we should play a role in making sure developing countries have strong environmental laws and help them when they are suffering the consequences because such actions may be the only means such countries would have to alleviate themselves of the problem. It would even directly benefit the rest of the world to make laws that prevent the production of stuff so as to not destroy the environment, as reducing production would reduce demand and eliminate temptations to stay trapped in a cycle where progress is undermined.
A lot of the time we Americans don’t recognize how climate change isn’t just an environmental issue but a social issue as well. The Green New Deal does an amazing job at acknowledging the social issues that have arisen as a result of climate change. Americans are going to third-world countries in the Middle East and fighting these wars in order to secure oil. While there fighting these wars they’re ruining the conditions of innocent people who live in war zones. It’s disheartening to see the measures Americans are willing to go in order to secure oil. This is why just as Ken said important to vote for candidates that are willing to put or climate first since if this issue isn’t solved soon we won’t see a future on earth. If candidates see how important the general population views the climate they will begin to support pro-climate legislation such as the Green New deal.
Climate injustice is not a new topic to me nor is it something I am surprised by. The one thing that truly perplexes me about climate injustice is how to address it. There will certainly always be injustice and unfair systems, that is completely unavoidable. It is the work we can do to make the injustice more even and less devastating that we must put energy into. I think this course may be a foundational aspect of this work because so many comments under this video highlights student’s past ignorance and blindness to this issue. Being informed it a start, but not all of it. As Ken states, we must act on this information. But how? we cannot simply be happy with knowing this, we must find ways to combat this. I think the main barrier to action on a thing like climate injustice is that it feels so massive and universal that little can be done to make a dent in it. I hope that the great works to fight injustice and inequality in the past can inspire movements today. It is not a common saying for no reason, but voting is so very powerful and I hope everyone can look to history to see that. There were so many demons in the past that looked insurmountable and unavoidable, but through persistent, political action, these challenges were taken down. Today, these forms of activism and action should seem easier to achieve through technology and online groups. There is hope and that is what needs to be cherished. We have to learn from the actions of the pas, both good and bad, to learn today, and act for the future.
It is no coincidence that the reason that countries with the vast majority of its population being POC are the ones faced with the harshest consequences of climate change that is mostly caused by the United States, despite these countries not contributing even half of what the U.S. emits of CO2 into the atmosphere. We are no strangers to environmental racism as it is something that also occurs in our BIPOC communities. While it is mostly the responsibility of the United States to protect those countries who are directly affected by the climate change that has been most brought about the United States, I highly doubt this country would take on that responsibility. Especially if it fails to protect its own BIPOC communities from environmental injustice. While our policy makers will not take the initiative to protect those who need it the most, the citizens of this country could make the smallest but significant changes in their everyday lifestyles to protect not those in “third world” countries but also ourselves.
I like this thread because it brings to light the stark inequalities climate change is exacerbating. The US is really internally two separate countries, the wealthy and privileged, and poorer, primarily BIPOC communities. We live two different experiences, with the former oppressing the latter. Although the US has outlawed segregation, and although we’ve relinquished many of our imperial territorial possessions, it’s clear that these power hierarchies are still in place. The histories are impossible to ignore, both in developing nations like Bangladesh, and in minority communities right in our cities. It’s disgusting. The environmental movement has to be intersectional. Solutions offered like electric cars are only for the privileged global elite, when as Ken mentions only 0.4% of Bangladeshis own a car. I want to scream, it’s all so unfair. This is why I like the Green New Deal. It’s authors acknowledge these inequalities, and focus on addressing them. Different communities will have different solutions to climate change, and we kind of rely on those in power to understand this reality and work to simultaneously fix climate change and fix the systemic issues with how this country treats the poor.
Ken said it best: developed countries need degrowth and the developing countries need sustainable, yet responsible growth. We have been told for a while now that third-world countries would only benefit from continual development; but, what is holding these countries back from developing further? Countries like the United States. With that said, a country like ours could benefit from taking a step back from our exponential development to reflect on what we are doing to our environment (and other countries) day in and day out. I think more often than not, people nowadays only want more… for whatever reason, having more demonstrates success and a feeling of accomplishment. When in reality, we genuinely do not need anything else – for a very long time. Our overbuying has led to the constant production of “stuff” within factories like those in Bangladesh, where people endure unhealthy working conditions just to provide for their families – working in order to have food on the table. On the topic of food, it is so concerning that 40% of the US is involved in an obesity epidemic while “1 in 10 people across the globe experience chronic hunger daily.” We have so much more than everyone around us and still continue to abuse what we have… if that does not define privilege then I’m not sure what will.