Meeting Anxiety With Action ✊🏾Land Justice, Decolonisation and Our Right To Nature 🌱 Prototyping AI Ethics Futures 📱
Your monthly journey, discovering the intersection of climate science and social justice.
Hello lovelies,
How is everyone holding up? Understandably, many of us in the movement are feeling frustrated, angry, sad and maybe even helpless; the news has been relentless. We learned about the evasion and opposition tactics from the lobbyists of Exxon, America's biggest oil despite their outwards greenwashing. We shared New Yorker's anxiety in receiving emergency alerts warning of blackouts as extreme heat strained the grid. We watched in horror, the devastating fires that swept through so-called Canada causing unimaginable death and destruction. We despaired at the literal vortex of fire that blazed for hours in the Gulf of Mexico.
To know not only that these events will become more frequent but that there are thousands of other stories of destruction every day and be debilitating and overwhelming. It might make you feel like I do, that you are not doing enough. Or it may make you feel like there's nothing more you can do.
It is important to give space to these feelings, to grieve. Resting and making sure you know your boundaries and limits of consuming disheartening information. But with that rest, we can re-energise. Climate action is a lifelong commitment, it requires dedication, motivation, love and reflection. It is not linear, and at times it will feel like we are moving in every direction but forwards. In these moments, it is important to remember that we ALL have a role to play in the climate emergency and that action is one of the best antidotes to anxiety. Whether you're a scientist, a cleaner, a healer, a teacher, an artist, a musician, an activist or a lawyer, you have a role to play and the people in power, the fossil fuel companies, our governments, corporations, they are counting on us quite succumbing to a future of oppression and destruction. So wherever you are and in whatever way you can, use your voice, stand up and commit to action, each and every day! Let's heal, fight, cry and laugh together, all in the name of creating a better world for all.✊🏾
Here are some ideas to get you started if you're feeling lost and want to take some action.
#StopCambo
The UK government is preparing to approve the new Cambo oil & gas project months before the UN #COP26 climate talks. This ignores the @IEA's warning that to stay below 1.5°C we can have no new oil & gas investments. Four ways you can help:
✏️Sign the petition
📸Share a #StopCambo selfie
📧Email your MP asking them to #StopCambo
📱Follow @StopCambo for more actions
Here is a link with all the details: https://linktr.ee/StopCambo.
Apply to be a Climate Justice Volunteer at COP26 with the COP26 Coalition
SCCS and the COP26 Coalition are looking for people to volunteer at COP26 between 31st Oct – 14th Nov 2021. To make sure climate justice is front and centre at the COP26 negotiations, with your help they are organising the People’s Summit, Civil Society Hubs and Mobilisations.
There are a number of roles and shifts available so that anyone interested can get involved:
Build and break
Welcome volunteer
March steward
Tech support
Welfare
Virtual People’s Summit Support
They will provide you with training and support so that you can fulfil your role with confidence. Click here to apply online or find out more in our info pack!
Divest from fossil fuels; change your bank, energy and pension
SwitchIt are a team of concerned professionals working together to stop the funding of fossil fuels. They believe that people everywhere are tired of waiting for government and corporate action on climate change and want to take concrete action to protect our shared future. With their website, you can find out if your bank or energy provider is funding fossil fuels using and switch your money to a recommended provider.
Check it out here: https://switchit.money/#individuals
Here are some additional articles, posts and opportunities to help you out:
✨ What's My Role In The Climate Movement-
https://www.instagram.com/p/CK1gJpLrsTr/
✨ We Need Everyone To Do Anything -
https://www.instagram.com/p/CRpQSQ1okgW/
✨ The Climate Crisis Is a Call to Action. These 5 Steps Helped Me Figure Out How to Be of Use - https://time.com/6071765/what-can-i-do-to-fight-climate-change/
✨ COP 26 Coalition Local Hubs - https://cop26coalition.org/resource/local-hub-assemblies/
✨ Volunteer at COP26 - https://climatefringe.org/cop26-volunteering/
✨ Assemble and Organise for Climate Justice this July - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-assemble-and-organise-for-climate-justice-tickets-162267330955
✨ Open call for COP26 Coalition People’s Summit for Climate Justice - https://cop26coalition.org/resource/open-call-for-cop26-coalition-peoples-summit-for-climate-justice/
✨ Join the Green New Deal Movement - https://www.greennewdealuk.org/get-involved/
On The Bright Side 🌞
Activists Are Sharing Land In Vermont With People Escaping Climate Disaster [Vice]
Five years after moving to Mississippi, Kali Akuno collaborated with the organisation Cooperation Jackson, to acquire about 50 vacant properties and turn them into collectively-owned housing, urban farms, and cooperative businesses, which operate through collective decision making without an owner or bosses.
In conjunction with local indigenous populations, the centre will legally operate as a “commons” through a land trust, where members can share resources collaboratively and participate in regenerative agriculture—farming practices meant to reverse environmental degradation.
Citizen Scientists Digitised Centuries of Handwritten Rain Data [Wired]
Last year, as the United Kingdom went into pandemic lockdown, climate scientist Ed Hawkins put out a call to people with time on their hands: He needed help turning nearly 350 years’ worth of archival rainfall reports into digital documents that modern researchers could easily use. To his surprise, 16,000 people volunteered. Now, his group has released their work, a massive data set of upwards of 5 million observations extracted from the UK Meteorological Office’s paper records—the oldest dating to 1677. Now, the Meteorological Office, also known as the Met Office, has usable records for the entire country starting around 1830—and for some localities starting around 1800.
Small majority believe there is still time to avert climate disaster [The Guardian]
Despite the gloom of climate news recently, a small majority of people believe there is still time to make a difference and slow global heating, a survey of consumer attitudes in 16 countries reveals. The survey took place in Brazil, India, China, Japan, the UK, the US, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, Canada, Ireland, France, Poland and Germany. On average, 54% of those who were surveyed agreed that there was time to save the planet, and 51% believed their behaviour could make a positive difference to the environment. It also found that consumers wanted companies to be clear about the environmental impact of their products so they could make an informed choice about whether to buy them or not.
Land Justice, Decolonisation and Our Right To Nature @ Brainchild Festival 🌱
I am so excited to announce that I am going to be part of this year’s Brainchild Festival!
Within the frame of climate justice, that centres liberation and flourishing for all, land is a key metric that exposes economic, social, environmental and racial injustices. In this talk we want to explore broadly what land justice is and means in practice, from the perspective of the UK. We're interested in exploring this from a range of angles; from looking at the privatisation of seemingly “public” space, with 92% of land not accessible to the public, and how this form of ownership is entangled in our colonial history and racial injustice. How new laws that criminalise trespass threaten our right to roam nature, and reveal the exclusionary logic of land ownership. And from the perspective of climate resilience; how Black people and people of colour are enacting a process of repair through grassroots projects for land access and food sovereignty, linking land to racial justice.
Ultimately access to public space and nature is something we should fervently defend; a right that is fundamental to social, economic and racial justice, and mental and physical health. As we reflect on how access to land became a key part of people's daily experience to mitigate the isolating effects of lockdown, how can we centre land justice in both our cities and rural spaces?
I am looking forward to speaking more about this topic alongside some other wonderful and inspiring individuals:
Josina Calliste , the founder of Land In Our Names (LION), an organisation that aims to disrupt oppressive land dynamics relating to BPOC communities in Britain.
Yali Banton-Heath, a freelance writer, and works on the campaigns team at the Landworkers’ Alliance – a grassroots union of land-based workers in the UK.
Farah Ahmed is Climate Justice Lead and Events Coordinator at Julie’s Bicycle, a charity working at the intersection of art and sustainability. Her interests lie in exploring how we can reshape narratives on climate action to centre perspectives and solutions from the frontlines of injustice.
Find us under the talk and workshops filter!
Prototyping AI ethics futures: Data, AI and environment 💻
I know I don't share a lot about what I am doing at university but this is because it is so hard to share something you're right in the middle of and are still getting accustomed to (and honestly, my work sounds exciting but the day to day is very mundane ahah) however, I am really excited to share this recorded event with you that will give you a bit of an insight into the academic spaces I am moving in and to add some context to the work I will be doing! Prototyping AI ethics futures: Data, AI and Environment was a conversation between Jaya Chakrabarti (Vana Project) and Jennifer Gabrys (Cambridge; Smart Forest project + also my amazing PhD co-supervisor 🤩) where they described the paradoxical relationships of data and AI technologies to climate and the environment. Jennifer is an amazing academic at Cambridge and has done lots of work, theoretically and practically, in environmental racism, climate justice and technology spaces from a sociological perspective.
A super interesting watch regardless of my degree but yeah, hope you enjoy it!
Solve For Tomorrow 📱
I've done a lot of youth work recently, which is some of my favourite work to do ever! On Saturday I lead a workshop with lovely youth ambassadors from Duke of Edinburgh, helping them to identify and explore their role in the climate movement and how to use their voices for change.
Another project I've been super excited to be working on is Samsung Solve For Tomorrow project for 16-25-year-olds. Last Thursday I visited the Samsung KX space and presented a talk all about just technology, imagining and dreaming of better futures and regenerative design. The talk was live-streamed to thousands of young people around the world and will form part of a full online course supporting them in creating their own sustainable solutions. My course content focused on being critical about technological solutions to the climate crisis and developing solutions that are beneficial for all! You can access the course here.
I've also been working on their Solve For Tomorrow: Next Gen project which is for a younger audience, 13-15. We created a whole host of content and resources to give them something fun and creative to work on during the summer in response to the amount of school time missed this year! You can see part of the course below and find out more about the projects here if you know any young people that would enjoy a creative challenge this summer!
#CreateCOP26 💚
#CreateCOP26 raises awareness of COP26, the United Nations’ climate summit. This year, they're asking creatives aged 14-30 of all nationalities, races, genders and faiths to submit work that creates conversations around the urgent need for climate action.
Eight finalists will receive cash prizes of $10k, $5k, or $2k, and an additional 20 creatives will receive honourable mentions by a globally recognised jury of industry experts. These include Lidia Brito, Regional Director of Science Latin America and the Caribbean UNESCO; Han Feng, Artist; Candice Marks, Senior Global Agent Art Partner; Tyler Mitchell, Photographer; Marina Testino, Advocate for Sustainable Fashion; Ferdinando Verderi, Creative Director of Vogue Italia; Matt Williams, Curator at Camden Art Centre; and Shaway Yeh, Founder of Yehyehyeh and Group Style Editorial Director of Modern Media.
All finalists and honourable mentions will have their work exhibited in a virtual exhibition hosted by artpartner.com and featured on the @artpartner Instagram (340k followers). They will also have the chance to feature in international press and media supporting #CreateCOP26.
Applicants can apply with any medium, including – but not limited to – photography projects, docu-style and experimental film, performance art, spoken word, musical compositions, fashion design, new media, and social media projects.
Applications are now open and will close on September 20. Hit the link in our bio for more information and to apply. We can’t wait to see your submissions.
End Note 📝
It’s not goodbye forever (I’ll see you again next week)!
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Have a lovely month,
Joycelyn 💚