Photo by Rosemary Geib ’23
by Meryl Phair ’21
Environmental Editor
As the world contends with a global pandemic, economic crises and racial injustice, the interconnected nature of the environmental movement to wider concerns has become more openly discussed.
Protests currently embroiling cities across the U.S. were ignited in resistance to current structures and systems of oppression that have been locked into social, political and economic landscapes for centuries. Instances of racial injustice aren't the result of a few bad apples, but rather a product of a system designed to produce discrimination. Similarly, climate change isn’t an issue of a few people not recycling, but is rooted in a systemic neglect of human rights considerations. The depth of both of these issues connects at their roots, making the push for civil rights also a push for environmental justice.
An article from the Earth Institute at Columbia University published earlier this month explains that racism, classism, sexism and other oppressions are interlinked with climate and environmental problems as “environmental intersectionality.”
“To be effective at combating climate change and countless other social and environmental injustices, we must acknowledge the links between the abuse of nature and people and devise strategies to protect the planet, to resist its demise — even when doing so is frightening,” Cayte Bosler stated in the article.
Environmental intersectionality is of particular interest in connection to recent protests against racism and police brutality. Independent news outlet Grist published an article on June 4 which explored the connection between the response to environmental protests and to protests against police violence.
The article revealed that there has been an increase in bills in the U.S. to limit protesting by increasing fines for civil disobedience. A report by Pen America, a nonprofit that does advocacy work for First Amendment rights, found that 116 bills to criminalize protesting have been proposed in state legislatures between 2015 and 2020. Out of these proposed bills, 23 have since become laws in 15 states.
Minnesota, which has been rocked by protests after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, has seen an introduction of 10 bills from state lawmakers from 2016 through 2019 which would put legislative restrictions on the right to protest.
Although these bills have not yet become laws, they were introduced as direct responses to actions taken by both racial justice and environmental advocators. Following the 2016 police killing of Philando Castile in a St. Paul suburb, protesters shut down a major highway. Afterward, a bill was proposed to make obstructing traffic on highways a misdemeanor. After environmental activists protested plans for an oil pipeline running from Alberta to Wisconsin, a bill was proposed to increase penalties for protesting near oil and gas facilities. This particular bill proposed changing trespassing on property that had an oil and gas facility to an offense of up to three years in prison and a monetary fine of $5,000.
“I think we have the start of good conversations for climate justice, but of course these conversations can always be improved,” Amanda Kearney ’22 said. “Climate justice should not be a branch of environmental change; it should be the center of it.”
Kearney has attended protests for climate change and divestment in western Massachusetts held at Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges. Kearney noticed that in these demonstrations climate justice was highlighted as a necessity to environmental conversations.
She notes that leaders of these protests are knowledgeable of human rights and justice issues attached to environmental advocacy. They also hold themselves particularly accountable to the greater student body in acknowledging the differentiated harm of climate justice. “I really hope that this is also the case in other environmental demonstrations, but I also know that we’re in a bubble (at the colleges) so it’s likely not the case everywhere,” Kearney said.
Kearney has been active in recent Black Lives Matter protests in her hometown of Teaneck, New Jersey. At one of the protests she attended, climate justice was brought up, which left her grateful, as it was an eye-opener for many in attendance. However, Kearney also found herself somewhat ashamed, as it was a connection she had not made herself.
“I think it’s incredibly easy to separate the two issues, but BLM and climate justice are intricately intertwined,” Kearney said. “One of the many ways that Black communities are harmed is the subjugation of unhealthy environments, and then not having access to healthcare to treat those environmental health impacts. We need to center BIPOC ([Black, Indigenous and People of Color) communities in the call for climate change in order to achieve real justice.”
Along with intersectional advocacy like Kearney experienced, many community organizations protesting racial justice have been joined in support by prominent climate change activist groups in the past few weeks. For example, in New York, groups like Sierra Club, 350.org, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion have taken to the streets in support.
Sunrise South Hadley, Mount Holyoke’s chapter of the Sunrise Movement, has been involved in supporting the BLM movement by actively sharing resources and attending Zoom conferences hosted by Sunrise National.
“We are throwing ourselves in 100 percent because climate injustices have everything to do with racism,” Emma Sullivan ’22, a Sunrise South Hadley organizer, said. “We will not win a Green New Deal or a just future for all with police brutality and systemic racism raging throughout our country and the world.”
Sunrise National has held multiple training sessions via Zoom on how they can stand with the BLM movement. Sullivan has attended two of these, one on how to protest safely and the most recent on how defunding the police relates to the Green New Deal.
Sullivan said that defunding the police connects to the GND because the GND defends the dignity of all people. Sullivan said the GND ensures for all people a job with a family-sustaining wage; workers rights, high-quality health care; affordable, safe and adequate housing; economic security; clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, climate and community resiliency, a sustainable environment and access to nature. “These things can’t happen when Black people are disproportionately targeted, killed and harmed by police officers,” said Sullivan.
The environmental movement is a human rights and justice movement. Developments in our global conversation about human rights and dignity have opened up space for more interconnective advocacy and support.