✨NEW COURSE✨ JUST FOOD: SECURITY vs SOVEREIGNTY

Your weekly journey, discovering the intersection of climate science and social justice.

Hello lovely people,

How are we all doing? Despite the collective fear and anxiety being felt today in the climate space, I am also feeling extremely excited and energised (see below), but before I go into what I’ve been up to and an exciting new ClimateInColour launch, let’s get into the elephant in the room - the 2021 IPCC report.

The report addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations.

You can read the full report here or watch the recording of this morning’s press conference here.

There are some great resources that have already been shared that give a breakdown of the key messages of the report. Below is a slide from a great post by @earthbyhelena:

Atmos also put together a great newsletter discussing the key findings of the report and what it means in the context of policymaking - you can read it here.

The report launched in tandem with the celebration International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples and I was so pleased to hear, so early on in the webinar, the panellists acknowledge the importance of indigenous knowledge systems in the fight against climate - there will be another report next year diving into the human impacts of the climate crisis!

In general, none of the key takeaways are new - scientists have been sounding the alarm for years. We have known for a long time that the inaction of governments, especially those in the Global North, the increasing consumption and environmental degradation are all catapulting us to a bleak future and that if we don’t take radical action, the outcome is inevitable.

These reports are incredibly important for policymakers as they give them more evidence and ammunition with which to persuade the government to take critical action but for many of us, the results of the report confirm what we are already seeing with extreme weather events, drought, deforestation and food scarcity.

The IPCC report is a crucial part of climate action, but you don’t need to feel the pressure to read it or succumb to the doomism that is being touted by the media and activists alike. In reality, for each of us, it should change nothing albeit further ignite the fire in our bellies to throw ourselves further into action. To fight harder for justice and to imagine, dream and build better futures. The world may be on track to reach 2.7˚C by the end of the century but inaction will only push this number higher!

If you are looking for some motivation and hope, refer to one of my previous newsletters which has a huge number of resources and action points - you can access it here.

Otherwise, let me know how you’re feeling in the comments or in a private reply. Let’s keep talking to and supporting each other and more importantly, let’s keep pushing ourselves whether through action, education or creativity!

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[NEW COURSE] JUST FOOD: SECURITY vs SOVEREIGNTY ✊🏾🌽

On the subject of education, I am so excited to share that our next course is finally out!! AFTER 7 MONTHS OF HARD WORK IT IS HERE! 🙌🏾

Just Food: Security vs Sovereignty is an online, interactive learning experience exploring the complex yet vital intersections between Food, Climate and Justice.

Those who have contributed the least to climate change are on the frontlines of the worst of its impacts; from farmers' and workers' in agricultural communities in low-income countries who continue to earn less than £1 a day, those exposed to the volatile weather events we are seeing at an increasing rate, and the millions of citizens around the world who experience severe food insecurity.

Led by Joycelyn Longdon, Founder of Climate In Colour and accompanied by Expert Lecturers Loren Cardelli (@agrowingculture), Sinead Fenton (@awesidefarm) and Gaelle Le Gelard (@ellenmacarthurfoundation), this course dives into the causes behind food insecurity and utilises a decolonial lens with which to analyse and understand the solutions that stand before us.

Positioned as a deep introduction, created from a wealth of sources, the content dives into:

✨ What food scarcity and insecurity are

✨ The link between food production, food consumption and the climate emergency

✨ The disproportionate impact of food injustice on BIPOC communities

✨ Capitalism as a driver for food scarcity

✨ The solutions to food scarcity (comparing the philosophies and practices of food justice and food sovereignty)

✨ A look to the future of just food

The material is split up into modules broken up with interactive prompts, questions, and reflections to allow students to push the boundaries of their perception, scepticism and understanding of our oppressive history and how some of those behaviours persist in our climate crisis today.

In addition to the pre-recorded course video material and prompts, all enrolled students will receive a resource pack with definitions of specialist terms and links to further reading, resources and our sources.

Massive thanks to my wonderful team, Rosa (research), @marina.fw (design) and @tomaolivar (video/design) for their incredible work on this! 👏🏾

NOTE: CIC courses are always free for our low-income community, just get in touch at courses@climateincolour.com ✨

p.s. you know there is a discount for you lovely subscribers! Use CIC20 for 20% off the course price!

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Land Justice and Decolonisation @ Brainchild Festival 🧑🏾‍🌾

In other news, this weekend I had an amazing, albeit extremely muddy time at Brainchild Festival, speaking on a panel with the incredible Josina (Land In Our Names), Yali (Land Worker’s Alliance) and Farah (Julie’s Bicycle). It was an amazing space and was so cool to connect with so many of you in person! Everyone was so engaged and felt so fired up after the talk and I am so excited for more in-person events where we can all come together and mobilising around climate topics! See below for evidence of the mud and some snaps from the talk!

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This newsletter is getting a bit long so I’ll just include a couple more resources to point you in the direction of and communities/projects to platform!

🌱 If you are interested in anything to do with the Land and building your own skills within it, the Landworker’s Alliance is hosting a Land Skills Festival this and next week! You can find tickets here.

🌱 If you are a young person and are looking for a way to get involved with climate action, The Green New Deal Rising has launched - sign up here to receive updates about organised actions and ways in which you can support the movement specifically for the Green New Deal.

🌱 In these times, where the media finally pokes its head out to talk about Climate Change, the voices of those most impacted are silenced. The Climate Reframe is a project that is working to highlight some of the best Black, Brown, Asian, People of Colour and UK based Indigenous Peoples who are climate experts, campaigners and advocates living and working in the UK - you can check out their work here.

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End Note 📝

It’s not goodbye forever (I’ll see you again next week)!

If you've enjoyed this week’s newsletter, I'd love it if you shared this platform with a friend or two. I’m working hard to make it one of the best emails you get each week, and I hope you're enjoying it.

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Have a lovely week,
Joycelyn 💚