Insight: A Conversation on Climate Science, Policy & Justice

This is an insight written by Sara Rissanen on the recent Bahá’í Chair for World Peace Annual Lecture, a Conversation on Climate Science, Policy & Justice with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson held on September 17, 2020

As our annual lecture approached, I was excited to hear from Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson for her take on how to combat climate change. Dr. Johnson is an expert in her field, not just in marine biology but also in climate policy. She is the founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities, and founder and CEO of Ocean Collectiv, a consulting firm for conservation solutions. Knowing her work with policy, my excitement for the lecture was a bit overridden with this worry that environmentalism, especially policy, is too big for me to understand and contribute to. But, throughout the conversation, I found myself incredibly impressed with Dr. Johnson and her ability to express climate change and climate justice as both a complex problem and one in which the voice and actions of individuals can make a difference. 

Climate justice isn’t a term I have heard often or have fully understood in the past. Climate justice addresses the question of whether climate change impacts some communities more than others. The answer is a resounding yes. Climate justice works to create equal opportunities for everyone to have access to clean air, water, etc. 

During this conversation on climate justice, Dr. Johnson was asked about the link between climate justice and racial justice and the role of people of color in the climate movement. The climate movement is seen as a majority white male movement, as it has been for a long time, but we are now seeing many other voices come into this conversation and it is so powerful because these voices have the ability to change the conversation. 

Dr. Johnson spoke of how climate change is a complex and interrelated problem, one that directly interacts with our current public health crisis and our racial injustice crisis. Climate change is a threat multiplier. That being said, much of the time people of color are more affected by climate change. But, in being closer to the problem, these individuals are also key to creating a solution. 

Dr. Johnson quoted Toni Morrison: “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.” In this way, racism derails our efforts to save the planet. Quoting studies by Yale and George Mason University Dr. Johnson shared a telling statistic that essentially people of color are more concerned about climate change than white people. But people of color also have so many other things to worry about. The problem of climate change therefore cannot be fully solved without addressing our racial injustice problem. 

In speaking of the role of people of color in the climate movement, Dr. Johnson also spoke of the role of women in the climate crisis. I will quote Dr. Johnson directly as she speaks on what feminine energy has to offer the climate movement: “All of the elements that are considered feminine have so much to offer in this moment – this spirit of nurturing, this spirit of collaboration, this spirit of selflessness over ego and the collective over the individual, and the strength that is found in these elegant solutions. We need that. We need that sort of feminine energy that has clearly been out of balance in the climate movement.” This is not only true for our climate movement but for so many aspects of our society right now.  

This conversation framed climate change and climate justice as a complex problem, one that not only relates to all other crises we are facing in our world today, but that takes everyone. Not everyone just doing small things to save the planet, but everyone doing as much as they can within their realm. We as individuals have tools. We have our vote, our dollars, our voice, and our spheres of influence. We need to be able to use all of these to bring about the change we want to see in the world. 

When asked what we as individuals can do for climate change, Dr. Johnson asked a question in return: What are you good at? And then bring that to the climate movement. Through this everyone can bring their own “magic” to the climate movement. This really considers the power of individuals. Many times in the climate movement the power of individuals gets minimized. Our individual voice gets minimized to voting with our dollar. Actions we can take get minimized to simply avoiding plastic straws. I think it’s up to us to turn around this thinking and begin to see the possibility that we can all individually be climate heroes. With thinking about what we as individuals can do, building a community around climate solutions is so important too. Individualism, when it comes to climate change, will kill us. We can’t focus too much on ourselves or else we forget to focus on the larger systems change and policy change needed. 

Dr. Johnson encouraged college students to find what brings us joy and lets us feel the most useful because those are the things in the long run that will keep us going and bring out the best of our contribution. 

I would like to thank Dr. Johnson for taking the time to share her work with us. 

You can watch the full video of the lecture on our YouTube page here.

About the Author

Sara Rissanen is a senior studying Marketing at the University of Maryland. She is currently the Marketing Specialist at the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace. Sara hopes to create a better future by opening the conversation of peace-building among her peers.