Climate Justice is Social Justice

An increasing number of activists, including many members of XR, are becoming aware of how inextricably linked the climate emergency is to racism and other forms of oppression. Were it not for the systems which have allowed us to exploit others, deeming certain places and people less worthy of protection and fair treatment, we would not face the twin crises of ecological and climatic collapse.

Although we all care desperately about our futures, we must also pay attention to how unequally people are affected by these issues. People in the Global South have already been experiencing the fallout of climate change for decades, and will continue to suffer first and worst as climate breakdown progresses. Simultaneously, poorer communities, people of colour and other minorities within countries (including the UK) are much more exposed to the very real consequences of climate and ecological breakdown, be it extreme weather events, health crises or societal insecurity.

In Bath XR, we’re committed to facilitating a greater and much needed understanding of these linked problems. Our Social Justice Working Group (whose mandate you can find HERE), will be organising workshops and talks, working with other working groups in order to make sure that justice is centred in all our actions.

Although many climate movements in the Global North have been historically slow to identify environmental breakdown, racism and economic injustice as part of one larger problem, Indigenous communities and a great number of campaign groups in the Global South have been working within this essential framework for many years. We must work in solidarity with these groups.

What follows is a list of material to read and watch which we have found useful and inspiring. We hope you will too. We are constantly building on it, with an aim to make it as diverse as possible.