Not just a choice that we can make.
It seems like a clickbait title. But it’s true. Being sustainable
and environmentally aware is a privilege only afforded to those who can afford
to be so. Why am I writing about this? I guess that you could say that it’s a
growing collection of thoughts banging around inside the rusty old brain of
mine, that has arisen to the fore in the past few weeks with the discourse that
has come out in the aftermath of the Auckland flooding, Cyclone Gabrielle, and,
not so ironically, today is the Schools Action for Climate Change protests here
in Aotearoa NZ. We have also had a lot of struggles with access to medication,
some food items, and other things across the board, with the pandemic, the
Ukraine-Russia war, among other events, over the past three years.
Here is the thing. You can compost everything you want, hell,
even used toilet paper, you can drive an e-vehicle, recycle the best you can,
buy second hand, grow and tend a vegetable garden, cut down on fast consumerism,
and other things such as decreasing your own carbon footprint. But all this? It
isn’t action towards climate change. Not even one bit.
What is true action towards climate change is ensuring that
those in nations, such as our Pacific neighbours, whom we have a responsibility
for, can sustain access to food, clean water, and other basic needs, and
overcome the already serious issue of food insecurity. Our Pacific nations, out
of all the countries on this globe, are at a much higher risk of the catastrophic
consequences that climate change brings. Not just in relation to severe weather
events, but they are also at risk of losing even their own human rights and
their own citizenships. Extending also to those in our own country of Aotearoa,
with tāngata whenua still fighting for rights to be kaitiakitanga of our water,
sea and land, in order to best preserve them as their whakapapa did before them.
As each year passes, the gap between our rich and our poor is ever widening,
impacting on the families who are in that bracket with no way out or up. And
yet, as capitalism does, it literally banks on the lower income bracket to
struggle more with food insecurity by providing instant foods and fast access
to them (despite the prices) which, in turn, contributes to our ever-growing
rubbish pile and carbon footprint. But they aren’t at fault. Not at all.
Income inequality is very much a major issue of sustainability
and climate change. This is exhibited every day in our faces, but we choose to
ignore it, thinking that we are safe in the perceived knowledge that we are “doing
our bit for the environment anyway.” No, Steve. That flash e-car isn’t doing it.
No, Becky, your cool shirt from the Sallies isn’t doing it either. But, the
topic is complicated and convoluted.
And Greenpeace, PETA, etc, can go fuck themselves too.
Still don’t think it’s a privilege? Or want better sources?
Well, I always provide them. So, here is a list of articles for you.
First, this is about food insecurity in developing countries
by World Bank:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/food-security-update
The following are a couple of links that were in my Zotero
reference library, from when I did an essay on the Sustainable Development
Goals (2030) and how they related to Māori fisheries and the stake that they
have in them:
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/
I thought this was an interesting personal blog post, it
clearly outlines why sustainability is a privilege and the steps we need to
take to acknowledge them:
https://thelittlewhim.com/en/2019/12/20/is-sustainability-a-privilege-2/
Old article, but even back then, we knew:
And our own Chloe Swarbrick on this very subject recently:
Dall
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