[Music]
good afternoon everyone I am Emma
Simpson and I’m delighted to be here
with you this afternoon to talk about
one of the biggest issues of our time
climate change I’m sure that when you
heard those words many of your reactions
would have been to grown over the past
several years you will have been
inundated with data opinions pictures
policies about climate change its
overwhelmed us it’s been the basis for
films jokes TV shows and most recently
some very controversial policy for one
of the most volatile us administration’s
in history
I’m not going to gratify mr. Trump by
conceding to discuss the reality of
climate change it is happening and it’s
happening now
what I will talk about is who that
change is happening to and what we must
do to create a climate future that truly
is for everyone the graph I’ve just
brought up behind me is the global land
ocean temperature index produced by NASA
this graph charts the land surface
temperature relative to average year
means it’s considered one of our Earth’s
vital signs and one of the measures most
frequently used to convince people of
climate change in the past 17 years
since 2000 it’s contained the 10 hottest
years on record this is from the basis
of the narrative in which we understand
and talk about climate change and it has
done for last 200 years data-driven
scientific it’s vitally important and
it’s also simply not enough
there’s an idea in how we talk about
climate change that humans are the bad
guys and the earth is a fragile entity
that will never recover from the
wrongdoings of our race so of all the
things to be affected by climate change
the seas the polar bear biodiversity the
forests we are simply not one of those
things
have a look at this advertisement from
the Devon Wildlife Trust a conservation
charity in the southwest of England the
tagline reads we can adapt
can they I’m not going to suggest that a
hedgehog is going to buy scuba diving
gear or turn into a fish any time soon
but what I would challenge is the
confidence of that statement we can
adapt
the human ability to adapt is no longer
an evolutionary process some scientists
would argue that human evolution is
simply no longer happening or at least
not in a way that we understand
instead human adaptability is driven by
material wealth but access to money with
access to commercial goods you can have
private healthcare when public sectors
are down you can afford the best flood
defences for your home you can afford
quick and efficient transport you can
afford to live sustainably essentially
you can pay to anticipate and to avoid
the worst outcomes of climate change
this affordable anticipation is a very
uniquely human trait but it is not
available to everyone have you ever
watched a disaster movie or a horror
movie and thought why do you not just
move house if you live in a town that is
so badly plagued by demons like clowns
or if you live in a beach area that you
know is prone to storm surges why do you
not just move
the reality is that as much we want to
believe that human adaptability is based
on creativity or determination or
ingenuity it what it is based on is your
access to wealth if you live in poverty
if you’re underprivileged is much harder
to simply move if you don’t have the
promise of a safe home elsewhere of a
community that will look out for you or
any job prospects so what is the
solution to this problem do we just make
it so that everyone has enough money to
buy sustainable goods and if necessary
to flee the area we just make sure
everyone has a lot of cash maybe it’s
very alluring as an idea if we simply
work hardener we will earn enough money
to survive and that means avoiding
threats like drought desertification
fuel poverty disastrous climate events
but that economic narrative suggests
that people are poor because they don’t
work hard enough that the people with
the most money work the hardest under
the most important it’s because of this
economic model we’ve ended up with a
climate narrative that says I will be
fine we have access to money in
technology these polar bears won’t be
though
it’s not good enough and we know that it
leaves people behind how about another
idea a second solution how about we give
everyone the same amount of money
redistrict the wealth or you make sure
that everyone has enough to give them
that safety from climate danger we might
be getting somewhere with that that
certainly addresses the issue of a wage
disparity but looking at economic
solutions does not get to the
fundamental heart of the problem we must
ask ourselves not just who is poor and
who is not but why some people are poor
where others are not and what other
vulnerabilities there are the mean that
we might be at risk of a catastrophic
climate event this leads us on to the
third solution and I would argue the
best intersectionality intersectionality
is a term coined by civil rights
advocate kimberlé crenshaw
who’s just behind me and it was coined
to describe the experiences of anyone
individuals different identities that
overlap and interact and the related
systems of oppression power
discrimination and domination that
relates those identities any one of us
is made up of several parts and the
interact I’m a white person I’m feminine
presenting I come from a real largely
middle-class family I’m also queer my
queerness is likely to put me at risk in
certain societies in certain locations
but my whiteness my lack of any visible
disability and my class all mean that
other forms of discrimination are
non-existent for me or that other forms
of discrimination are softened I have a
huge amount of social privilege and
power if you were to compare me to say a
queer person of color who is living with
a visible disability they had to put up
with multiple different systems of
oppression all happening at the same
time at a comparatively in a much
scarier position of risk when you look
at it against mine but what does that
have soothed climate change what does it
have to do with events like this
Hurricane Katrina surely if the climate
is going to change that will affect
everyone all people and show you that’s
regardless of race faith disability
gender or sexuality the sad truth is
that climate change does discriminate on
the basis of identity and
intersectionality helps us frame those
issues in a different way Hurricane
Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 the news
stories that ran at the time spoke not
just of the bad weather but of looting
pillaging murder and rape committed by
the explicitly named two-thirds
african-american majority of the city
CNN spokesperson Paula Zahn spoke of
bans of rapists going from block to
block this image of the cities are hell
dominated by violent African and
American women was so pervasive that the
then governor of Louisiana Kathleen
Blanco coordinated the city mayor to
stop rescue efforts in black residential
areas instead she moved those efforts to
private commercial property she sent the
National Guard into the city saying I
have one message these hoodlums these
troops know how to shoot and kill and
they are more than willing to do so and
I expect they will she was right
a large number of black people were shot
and killed by the National Guard by the
New Orleans Police Department and by
vigilante gangs of white men who would
later go on to say they were just
defending property
this is racism racism produced a series
of rumors about a predominantly
working-class low-income black community
and use it to justify violence what is
true about New Orleans and Hurricane
Katrina is that the Bush administration
abandoned the city aid did not come at
all in some areas or where it did come
it did not come quickly enough people
were left without access to sanitation
water food or shelter what is absolutely
not true is those rumors of violence a
rate of crisis it is extremely hard to
imagine that in a largely white middle
or upper class area that those rumors
would ever have come to be seen on the
news it is also hard to imagine the
inner white upper-class area aid would
have not reached them in time that they
would have been left without adequate
support to help the refugees of a
climate crisis
so what does it absolute with you that
rather depressing story of institutional
racism in sexuality gives us a window
through which to look to address this
idea of a trickle-down social justice
system that says because it affects all
of us the people with the most resources
at the top they’ll look after us they’ll
invent they’ll innovate and we’ll all
see the benefit of their wealth their
social power that’s simply not true
what intersectionality does is help us
stop people from falling through the
gaps it helps us identify who’s most at
risk we know that that is largely poor
people largely disabled people of color
people of color within the LGBT
community and those living at high risk
areas in the global South all those
different social and cultural identities
come together to produce big risk not
just because of things like
institutional racism because how they
interact with having no money being
oppressed or disowned because we’re
sexuality that produces an excess of
risk in danger so I’m gonna ask you to
do four things to take all that
information and then apply it to your
own lives the first is to listen you’re
on a university campus interact with a
disabled action Society go to an LGBT
societies meeting ask it’s okay to sit
in the back and simply listen understand
what other people are going through and
understand how it relates to either your
own struggles or to the wider struggle
of a changing climate don’t talk in
those spaces simply listen
the second thing is to talk about people
for a long time we’ve spoken about polar
bears and melting ice caps we’ve not
talked about human impact that graph I
showed you way back the global land
ocean temperature index shows nothing of
the human impact of climate change so if
you’re running a campaign on your
University campus and your workplace in
your community rather than talking about
polar bears talk about people talk about
migration food crisis fuel poverty and
talk about who it’s most likely to
affect the third step is to be critical
let’s take the example of someone’s
built a big new community renewable
energy program ask who exactly is it
owned by who is it run by who has access
to it a renewable energy program is a
great thing but not if it’s not
accessible to everyone and not
accessible to the poor
be critical of yourself as well we are
all going through a continuous process
of learning and unlearning there will
likely last the rest of our lives be
aware of the discrimination or prejudice
you may carry even if it’s unconscious
and make the effort to educate yourself
without asking vulnerable people to do
it for you finally show up go to the
struggles with the people be a good Ally
and show solidarity if you’re a climate
campaigner if your big thing is that you
care about the environment you’re
passionate about recycling go to a black
lives matter protest to offer support go
to an LGBT Pride rally those issues are
deeply related to the climate and you
should know that go to those struggles
and form this community links those four
ways are just the beginning of how we
can build a climate future that really
does accommodate the world’s many voices
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
good afternoon everyone I am Emma
Simpson and I’m delighted to be here
with you this afternoon to talk about
one of the biggest issues of our time
climate change I’m sure that when you
heard those words many of your reactions
would have been to grown over the past
several years you will have been
inundated with data opinions pictures
policies about climate change its
overwhelmed us it’s been the basis for
films jokes TV shows and most recently
some very controversial policy for one
of the most volatile us administration’s
in history
I’m not going to gratify mr. Trump by
conceding to discuss the reality of
climate change it is happening and it’s
happening now
what I will talk about is who that
change is happening to and what we must
do to create a climate future that truly
is for everyone the graph I’ve just
brought up behind me is the global land
ocean temperature index produced by NASA
this graph charts the land surface
temperature relative to average year
means it’s considered one of our Earth’s
vital signs and one of the measures most
frequently used to convince people of
climate change in the past 17 years
since 2000 it’s contained the 10 hottest
years on record this is from the basis
of the narrative in which we understand
and talk about climate change and it has
done for last 200 years data-driven
scientific it’s vitally important and
it’s also simply not enough
there’s an idea in how we talk about
climate change that humans are the bad
guys and the earth is a fragile entity
that will never recover from the
wrongdoings of our race so of all the
things to be affected by climate change
the seas the polar bear biodiversity the
forests we are simply not one of those
things
have a look at this advertisement from
the Devon Wildlife Trust a conservation
charity in the southwest of England the
tagline reads we can adapt
can they I’m not going to suggest that a
hedgehog is going to buy scuba diving
gear or turn into a fish any time soon
but what I would challenge is the
confidence of that statement we can
adapt
the human ability to adapt is no longer
an evolutionary process some scientists
would argue that human evolution is
simply no longer happening or at least
not in a way that we understand
instead human adaptability is driven by
material wealth but access to money with
access to commercial goods you can have
private healthcare when public sectors
are down you can afford the best flood
defences for your home you can afford
quick and efficient transport you can
afford to live sustainably essentially
you can pay to anticipate and to avoid
the worst outcomes of climate change
this affordable anticipation is a very
uniquely human trait but it is not
available to everyone have you ever
watched a disaster movie or a horror
movie and thought why do you not just
move house if you live in a town that is
so badly plagued by demons like clowns
or if you live in a beach area that you
know is prone to storm surges why do you
not just move
the reality is that as much we want to
believe that human adaptability is based
on creativity or determination or
ingenuity it what it is based on is your
access to wealth if you live in poverty
if you’re underprivileged is much harder
to simply move if you don’t have the
promise of a safe home elsewhere of a
community that will look out for you or
any job prospects so what is the
solution to this problem do we just make
it so that everyone has enough money to
buy sustainable goods and if necessary
to flee the area we just make sure
everyone has a lot of cash maybe it’s
very alluring as an idea if we simply
work hardener we will earn enough money
to survive and that means avoiding
threats like drought desertification
fuel poverty disastrous climate events
but that economic narrative suggests
that people are poor because they don’t
work hard enough that the people with
the most money work the hardest under
the most important it’s because of this
economic model we’ve ended up with a
climate narrative that says I will be
fine we have access to money in
technology these polar bears won’t be
though
it’s not good enough and we know that it
leaves people behind how about another
idea a second solution how about we give
everyone the same amount of money
redistrict the wealth or you make sure
that everyone has enough to give them
that safety from climate danger we might
be getting somewhere with that that
certainly addresses the issue of a wage
disparity but looking at economic
solutions does not get to the
fundamental heart of the problem we must
ask ourselves not just who is poor and
who is not but why some people are poor
where others are not and what other
vulnerabilities there are the mean that
we might be at risk of a catastrophic
climate event this leads us on to the
third solution and I would argue the
best intersectionality intersectionality
is a term coined by civil rights
advocate kimberlé crenshaw
who’s just behind me and it was coined
to describe the experiences of anyone
individuals different identities that
overlap and interact and the related
systems of oppression power
discrimination and domination that
relates those identities any one of us
is made up of several parts and the
interact I’m a white person I’m feminine
presenting I come from a real largely
middle-class family I’m also queer my
queerness is likely to put me at risk in
certain societies in certain locations
but my whiteness my lack of any visible
disability and my class all mean that
other forms of discrimination are
non-existent for me or that other forms
of discrimination are softened I have a
huge amount of social privilege and
power if you were to compare me to say a
queer person of color who is living with
a visible disability they had to put up
with multiple different systems of
oppression all happening at the same
time at a comparatively in a much
scarier position of risk when you look
at it against mine but what does that
have soothed climate change what does it
have to do with events like this
Hurricane Katrina surely if the climate
is going to change that will affect
everyone all people and show you that’s
regardless of race faith disability
gender or sexuality the sad truth is
that climate change does discriminate on
the basis of identity and
intersectionality helps us frame those
issues in a different way Hurricane
Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 the news
stories that ran at the time spoke not
just of the bad weather but of looting
pillaging murder and rape committed by
the explicitly named two-thirds
african-american majority of the city
CNN spokesperson Paula Zahn spoke of
bans of rapists going from block to
block this image of the cities are hell
dominated by violent African and
American women was so pervasive that the
then governor of Louisiana Kathleen
Blanco coordinated the city mayor to
stop rescue efforts in black residential
areas instead she moved those efforts to
private commercial property she sent the
National Guard into the city saying I
have one message these hoodlums these
troops know how to shoot and kill and
they are more than willing to do so and
I expect they will she was right
a large number of black people were shot
and killed by the National Guard by the
New Orleans Police Department and by
vigilante gangs of white men who would
later go on to say they were just
defending property
this is racism racism produced a series
of rumors about a predominantly
working-class low-income black community
and use it to justify violence what is
true about New Orleans and Hurricane
Katrina is that the Bush administration
abandoned the city aid did not come at
all in some areas or where it did come
it did not come quickly enough people
were left without access to sanitation
water food or shelter what is absolutely
not true is those rumors of violence a
rate of crisis it is extremely hard to
imagine that in a largely white middle
or upper class area that those rumors
would ever have come to be seen on the
news it is also hard to imagine the
inner white upper-class area aid would
have not reached them in time that they
would have been left without adequate
support to help the refugees of a
climate crisis
so what does it absolute with you that
rather depressing story of institutional
racism in sexuality gives us a window
through which to look to address this
idea of a trickle-down social justice
system that says because it affects all
of us the people with the most resources
at the top they’ll look after us they’ll
invent they’ll innovate and we’ll all
see the benefit of their wealth their
social power that’s simply not true
what intersectionality does is help us
stop people from falling through the
gaps it helps us identify who’s most at
risk we know that that is largely poor
people largely disabled people of color
people of color within the LGBT
community and those living at high risk
areas in the global South all those
different social and cultural identities
come together to produce big risk not
just because of things like
institutional racism because how they
interact with having no money being
oppressed or disowned because we’re
sexuality that produces an excess of
risk in danger so I’m gonna ask you to
do four things to take all that
information and then apply it to your
own lives the first is to listen you’re
on a university campus interact with a
disabled action Society go to an LGBT
societies meeting ask it’s okay to sit
in the back and simply listen understand
what other people are going through and
understand how it relates to either your
own struggles or to the wider struggle
of a changing climate don’t talk in
those spaces simply listen
the second thing is to talk about people
for a long time we’ve spoken about polar
bears and melting ice caps we’ve not
talked about human impact that graph I
showed you way back the global land
ocean temperature index shows nothing of
the human impact of climate change so if
you’re running a campaign on your
University campus and your workplace in
your community rather than talking about
polar bears talk about people talk about
migration food crisis fuel poverty and
talk about who it’s most likely to
affect the third step is to be critical
let’s take the example of someone’s
built a big new community renewable
energy program ask who exactly is it
owned by who is it run by who has access
to it a renewable energy program is a
great thing but not if it’s not
accessible to everyone and not
accessible to the poor
be critical of yourself as well we are
all going through a continuous process
of learning and unlearning there will
likely last the rest of our lives be
aware of the discrimination or prejudice
you may carry even if it’s unconscious
and make the effort to educate yourself
without asking vulnerable people to do
it for you finally show up go to the
struggles with the people be a good Ally
and show solidarity if you’re a climate
campaigner if your big thing is that you
care about the environment you’re
passionate about recycling go to a black
lives matter protest to offer support go
to an LGBT Pride rally those issues are
deeply related to the climate and you
should know that go to those struggles
and form this community links those four
ways are just the beginning of how we
can build a climate future that really
does accommodate the world’s many voices
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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