The Climate Crisis is Fueling Othering
The climate crisis is a multiplier that exacerbates unjust conditions and suffering. For example, people who already are living without housing are more exposed to smoke from wildfires. The costs of recovering from hurricanes and super storms are much easier to afford for people with higher incomes and savings. Agricultural workers – who have few workplace protections and benefits – are increasingly exposed to extreme temperatures. Frontline communities hit hardest by climate catastrophes are most frequently those dealing with legacies of racism, patriarchy, colonialism, ableism and extractivism. The climate crisis is gasoline on a fire. It is salt on a wound. It makes existing problems of othering more severe.
To survive and thrive, we must first name the underlying ways that othering got us here, articulate the worldview rooted in belonging that can get us out, practice radical repair, and collectively imagine and co-create new resilient structures. The climate crisis exposes the need for transformation. In this way, it is a profound opportunity to create a better world. We have a choice: we can approach this moment as if preparing for a funeral or we can approach this moment as doulas and midwives working to birth a new world and new ways of being.