The next Global Climate Strike will be held on Friday, November 29th, at 11:30 am in Queen’s Park. This strike, like the previous one on September 27th, is organized by Fridays for Future, an international climate action organization spearheaded by Greta Thunberg. This time around, Fridays for Future has the honor and privilege of hosting three speakers: Sarain Fox, Anishinaabekwe activist, artist, and host of RISE on VICELAND; Rebecca Keetch of Green Jobs Oshawa; and Abonti Ahmed, a high school student and activist with Fridays for Future. The anthropogenic nature of climate change and the catastrophic effects it will have on human and non-human life are well documented and accepted by the international scientific community. For more information on the science of climate change please visit the IPCC or NASA websites. In an attempt to combat this existential threat, we are striking to demand that the Canadian government act to ensure net zero emissions by 2040.
But climate change is not merely an issue for polar bears and Teva-wearers. The effects of climate change are disproportionately felt by those who bear the least responsibility for causing it. In Canada, much of this burden falls on Indigenous communities, particularly the impacts of oil production and transportation (see: the Trans Mountain pipeline). Take for instance the Alberta Tar Sands region, territory to multiple First Nations communities in which 66 percent has been leased to oil companies for development. With development comes pollution and contamination, particularly from tailing ponds. Environmental Defence Canada found that up to “2.9 million gallons of water leak from tar sands tailing ponds into the environment every day.” The consequences of this are not abstract atmospheric changes, but very real human suffering. The northern Alberta town of Fort Chipewyan, where residents are predominantly First Nation, experience cancer rates that are 30 percent higher than average.2 Fort Chipewyan is just one of innumerable examples of the devastating effects of environmental destruction on First Nations communities. This is why, on November 29th, we are demanding that our representatives take action not only against carbon emissions but for Indigenous rights and sovereignty. Additionally, it is worth noting the results of a study comparing biodiversity and species richness between Indigenous managed lands, provincially/federally protected areas, and non-protected areas in Australia, Brazil, and Canada. In a recent study, it was found that “in all three countries, Indigenous lands have the highest species richness,” even when compared to protected areas, and that threatened species richness was also higher on Indigenous lands than in protected areas in Brazil and Canada. Not only are we fighting for Indigenous sovereignty in accordance with the international right to self-determination as stated in the UN charter, but it is also ecologically beneficial to do so.
In Canada, Indigenous women often bear the brunt of the health detriments caused by environmental degradation and extractive industries. Unsurprisingly, this pattern of gender inequality extends to the global scale, most starkly seen in the wake of natural disasters, in which its increased frequency and intensity are attributable to anthropogenic climate change. A PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine published a study that found that “women suffer disproportionate mortality” during natural disasters, and those who survive “experience decreased life expectancy” as compared to male survivors. For example, the sex ratio of the survivors of the 2004 tsunami that hit India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka was 3:1 men to women. The reporters stated that “women lost precious evacuation time trying to look after children and other relatives.” Furthermore, according to UN calculations, “80% of people displaced by climate change are women.”
This is why we are protesting, to demand justice for migrants and refugees.
Climate justice is social justice. In order to keep global warming under 2° Celsius, in order to keep the earth habitable for humanity, we need more than the mechanistic, industrial “solutions” proposed by neoliberal governments (*cough*Justin Trudeau*cough*) and billionaires who are most interested in maintaining the hegemonic status quo (special shout out to Elon Musk). We need a radical and revolutionary change to our global system of production. We demand $15/hour and the right to unionize as a start. We need to topple the hierarchy of power built on mass suffering. We demand a zero-carbon economy and the separation of oil and state. We are striking on Friday, November 29th, to defend land, water, and life.
