Critical response:
Way beyond the lifeboat, an allegory of climate justice by
Kyle Whyte
Kyle Whyte organized the whole article around two epigraphs. They tried to explain climate
justice from an indigenous perspective. They do this by showing their concerns about the
challenge of climate change, and how it impacts their lifestyle. The author uses the testimony of
Sheila Watt-Cloutier and the allegory given by James to show how the Inuit; an indigenous
community in the Arctic regions of Greenland suffer from a political world driven by economic
growth, capitalism, and industrialization.
Climate change is a global challenge, it affects people all over the world. However, the concept
of climate justice implies that the effect of the latter would be heavier for certain communities. In
this case, we're focusing on indigenous communities. When for example global warming occurs,
then their right to culture, their right to educate and share knowledge with the next generation
and their right to safety is impacted. Some argue that indigenous communities are too
conservative to adapt to the changes and that's why they are facing such issues. The stakeholders
blame it on the speed by which the change occurs. From a Potawatomi perspective, this change
is due to two major issues, colonization and capitalism. The author is not afraid of speaking
about the sensitive topic of colonization. They express that communities that are still being
affected by colonization are more susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change as their
economy, society and politics are usually weaker due to the oppression that they have faced and
they are still facing because of big powers. Fossil fuels industries will keep on displacing those
communities from their homeland to profit from the natural ressources of their land. The
example of the Dakota pipeline which is a $3.7bn project that would transport crude oil from the
Bakken oil field in North Dakota to a refinery to Patoka, near Chicago, traverse Indigenous
territories without genuine consent. The impact of this kind of project on the indigenous
communities is really big. The t hreat of an oil spill can poison water sources and this could
impact the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe ( a local tribe ), whose reservation is immediately
downstream of the point where the pipeline will cross the Missouri River, one of their major
source of drinkable water. Here we can see that the environmental impact assessment which is ''
the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other
relevant effects of development projects prior to implementation'' is not respected when it comes
to minorities. Even though it is part of the laws and rules of many countries including in this case
study, both Canada and the US.
What is also problematic, is that even in the adaptation part; when we try to find solutions to the
problems, like lowering carbon footprints pose risks to Indigenous peoples and may violate their
human rights. Major actors, who try to respond to problems such as the World Bank or the UN,
they propose alternatives that still involve the displacement of Indigenous peoples. The use of
renewable energy like hydrological power, wind power, or geoengineering may be a good
solution for a lot of environmental issues in many parts of the world but not necessarily within
indigenous communities as it would not help them but impact them negatively.
I think that it is essential to review the way legislations and policies are made. In this case, it is
fundamental and essential to include indigenous communities in the decision making part and
make sure that their voices are being heard. Additionally, I think that education is one of the best
solutions that can be used to learn how to share in a harmonious way ressources with different
kinds of communities. Raising awareness through environmental education can help influence
the way leaders of tomorrow act when it comes to socio-environmental challenges. I think it is
also important to overcome our fear to talk about history, more precisely about colonialism as it
may help avoid doing the same mistakes. We need, as inhabitants of this planet to take actions
and to refuse the kind of system that is being imposed on us. It is possible for us to refuse
capitalism or on a more moderate approach to find a balance that can help reduce the harm that
we cause to nature and to humans.
Bibliography :
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/tribes-standing-rock-dakota-acce
ss-pipeline-advancement/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/03/north-dakota-access-oil-pi
peline-protests-explainer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJZ1-LAFOTo
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/23/us/dakota-access-pipeline-pr
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