scholarly journals Moving at the Speed of Trust: Radical and Progressive Change through Climate Justice Movements in Aotearoa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Yvonne Simons

<p>Human-induced climate change is already having an acute impact on many lives and livelihoods. This is expected to escalate, especially for “disadvantaged people and communities in countries at all levels of development” (Pachauri et al., 2014, p. 13). This thesis is situated within post- and critical development, enabling critique of mainstream development alongside the exploration of alternative, bottom-up forms of development, such as social movements. Following a social constructionist epistemology, it utilises qualitative methodologies (in-person and virtual in-depth interviews) to navigate the complex, fluid, and subjective field of climate justice. This research situates the emerging climate justice movements in Aotearoa as key to understanding how radical, progressive societal change is articulated in the contemporary era to mitigate and adapt to anthropogenic climate change. Several core themes emerge as part of the research, including how various actors (organisations, sub-movements, and individuals) relate to each other and the world around them. This research asks and addresses not only what climate justice is in Aotearoa and who is involved, but also which theories of change operate within these emerging social movements? The data in this research outlines that climate justice movements in Aotearoa are accessible, inclusive, relational, accountable and frontline community-led, the antithesis of the current dominant structures and systems of society. These movements build upon other rights and justice movements, notably: Indigenous justice, disability justice, intersectional feminism, workers’ rights, and intergenerational justice. The development and negotiation of a collective climate justice identity is shaped by several interconnected tensions: partisanship versus non-partisanship, internal conformity versus diversity, and ecosystem versus ‘egosystem’. These tensions can also impede connection and understanding, at times leading to substantial harm to individuals, communities, and climate justice more broadly. This thesis outlines multiple forces shaping the actualisation of justice in an Aotearoa experiencing climate change. Fundamentally, this thesis highlights that climate justice is an ongoing journey of relationships and negotiations that “move at the speed of trust”.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Yvonne Simons

<p>Human-induced climate change is already having an acute impact on many lives and livelihoods. This is expected to escalate, especially for “disadvantaged people and communities in countries at all levels of development” (Pachauri et al., 2014, p. 13). This thesis is situated within post- and critical development, enabling critique of mainstream development alongside the exploration of alternative, bottom-up forms of development, such as social movements. Following a social constructionist epistemology, it utilises qualitative methodologies (in-person and virtual in-depth interviews) to navigate the complex, fluid, and subjective field of climate justice. This research situates the emerging climate justice movements in Aotearoa as key to understanding how radical, progressive societal change is articulated in the contemporary era to mitigate and adapt to anthropogenic climate change. Several core themes emerge as part of the research, including how various actors (organisations, sub-movements, and individuals) relate to each other and the world around them. This research asks and addresses not only what climate justice is in Aotearoa and who is involved, but also which theories of change operate within these emerging social movements? The data in this research outlines that climate justice movements in Aotearoa are accessible, inclusive, relational, accountable and frontline community-led, the antithesis of the current dominant structures and systems of society. These movements build upon other rights and justice movements, notably: Indigenous justice, disability justice, intersectional feminism, workers’ rights, and intergenerational justice. The development and negotiation of a collective climate justice identity is shaped by several interconnected tensions: partisanship versus non-partisanship, internal conformity versus diversity, and ecosystem versus ‘egosystem’. These tensions can also impede connection and understanding, at times leading to substantial harm to individuals, communities, and climate justice more broadly. This thesis outlines multiple forces shaping the actualisation of justice in an Aotearoa experiencing climate change. Fundamentally, this thesis highlights that climate justice is an ongoing journey of relationships and negotiations that “move at the speed of trust”.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrislain Eric Kenfack

In the current context of climate change and its accompanying adverse effects on natural, human and social systems, the imperative of transitioning to low- and preferably post-carbon societies has become a non-negotiable reality if we want to avoid reaching the point of no return in terms of environmental and climate catastrophe. Such a transition requires that the interests and needs of workers and their communities be taken into consideration to make sure they do not bear the heaviest part of the burden in terms of loss of jobs and means of survival, and that they are prepared to face the new, post-carbon labour environment. The concept of Just Transition was coined to describe both the socio-political project put forward by trade unions in response to climate change, and the recognition by climate activists that the livelihoods and security of workers and their communities must be ensured during the transition to a post-carbon society. However, just transition movements are divided between two quite different orientations, which are labelled “affirmative” and “transformative.” On the one hand, affirmative just transition advocates envisage a transition within the current political-economic system. Transformative just transition activists, on the other hand, envisage a post-capitalist transition. This article, drawing upon an extensive case study of the Portuguese climate jobs campaign, goes beyond showing how these orientations shape the positions taken by union and climate activists. The article also analyses how the conflicts and cooperation between these key actors can shed light on the possibilities and/or limitations of just transition as a framework for the collective action needed to achieve rapid, deep decarbonisation of economies in the Global North context. KEY WORDS: climate change; just transition; labour environmentalism; climate jobs; climate justice; climate activism


1969 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Dehm

This article provides a TWAIL critique of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] in the aftermath of the 21st Conference of the Parties in Paris in December 2015. It engages with criticisms from the social and climate justice movement that the UNFCCC is promoting forms of “carbon colonialism” or “CO2lonialism” through its support for and establishment of international carbon trading and offsetting strategies. It proposes that using a jurisdictional approach to examine how the authority of the UNFCCC is authorized can provide key analytical tools to understand the regime. The article examines the way in which the regime is authorized by an invocation of “common concern” even as it promotes policies that marginalize the interests of those already most vulnerable to climate change. It concludes by suggesting that climate justice movements already are building different forms of commonality and that these alternative commonalties represent important new ways of thinking about global action on climate change. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 226
Author(s):  
Ferth Vandensteen Manaysay

This article seeks to analyse how conceptions of global climate change norms have contributed to the framing strategies and tactics of local indigenous people’s rights movements using the cases of Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) from the Philippines and the Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) from Indonesia. Drawing on the combined theoretical frameworks of the world society approach and the social movement framing theory, this article argues that global climate change norms have provided indigenous people’s rights movements in Indonesia and the Philippines with new sources of vocabularies towards collective action. In theoretical and empirical terms, it contends that the exposure of the local indigenous social movements to global normative mechanisms have shifted local activism, as the world society approach envisages, while framing theory elucidates the manner in which movement-actors are able to interpret and transform the ideas they receive. A paired comparison, based on data collected from the CPA and AMAN’s public pronouncements as well as in-depth interviews with local indigenous movement leaders and members, shows material ideas and instruments that social movements receive from global institutional sources (such as the United Nations climate change agreements, global indigenous declarations, and international climate justice coalitions) have enabled them to produce novel frames for collective action at the local level. Contrastingly, it demonstrates how indigenous climate justice activists have also been able to frame their contentions against the prevailing global norms and ideas about climate change.


Global Jurist ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Saab

AbstractThis paper seeks to examine the concept of climate justice and how it is employed by different actors and for different ends. This will be done through an exploration of invocations of climate justice in discussions about a proposed adaptation strategy, namely ‘climate-ready seeds’. The impacts of climate change are often perceived as a form of injustice, because the most vulnerable regions and people suffer disproportionately while having contributed least to causing climate change. Adaptation strategies intended to alleviate this suffering can be viewed as a pursuit of climate justice. At the same time, some argue that certain adaptation strategies cause more injustice than they alleviate. Climate justice movements thus also aim to correct the injustices caused by adaptation strategies. Critics of climate-ready seeds contend that this proposed adaptation strategy is a profitable business for seed corporations, but does not benefit poor farmers. Even though different actors use the concept of climate justice for different purposes, they often invoke similar notions of ‘rights’. I argue in this paper that reliance on rights in all accounts of climate justice in discourses about climate-ready seeds plays a hand in obscuring the distinct aims and ends contained in the idea of climate justice.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (184) ◽  
pp. 403-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Sander

This article argues that social movement research must be renewed by a historical-materialist perspective to be able to understand the emergence and effects of the relatively new climate justice movement in Germany. The previous research on NGOs and social movements in climate politics is presented and the recent development of the climate justice movement in Germany is illustrated. In a final step two cases of climate movement campaigns are explained by means of the historical-materialist movement analysis proposed by the author.


Author(s):  
Naomi HERTZ

Intensive manual labor enterprises in the developed world face challenges competing with products imported from countries where manufacturing costs are low. This reduces the volume of domestic production and leads to rapid loss of knowledge and experience in production processes. This study focuses on the Israeli footwear industry as a case study. Qualitative methodologies were applied, including in-depth interviews and field observations. A literature review on previous research, and contemporary trends was conducted. The field research examines challenges along the value chain in small factories. It finds that mass production paradigms impose a decentralized process between designers and manufacturers and therefore do not leverage local potential into a sustainable competitive advantage for small factories. The proposed solution is a digital and technological platform for small manufacturing plants. The platform mediates and designs the connections between production, technology, and design and enables the creation of a joint R&D system.


1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanang Susanto

Penelitian ini menguji teori Marx yang mengatakan bahwa dalam proses kapitalisasi, petani lahan kecil akan tergusur oleh petani lahan besar. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan metode Participatory Action Research (PAR). Menggunakan teknik observasi partisipasi di lapangan, studi ini melakukan wawancara mendalam terhadap petani. Analisis data yang digunakan bersifat induktif. Penelitian ini menghasilkan kesimpulan, bahwa teori Marx tidak terjadi di malar Aman. Adapun penyebab menurunnya pertanian disebabkan menurunnya unsur hara tanah, mahalnya biaya produksi, alih fungsi lahan dan perubahan cuaca. Sedangkan strategi petani lahan kecil untuk mempertahankan kehidupan yaitu melakukan pola tanam tumpang sari, melakukan pekerjaan tambahan, dan mengatur keuangan.This study examines Marx's theory which says that in the process of capitalization, small land farmers will be displaced by large land farmers. This study uses a qualitative approach with the method of Participatory Action Research (PAR). Using the techniques of participatory observation in the field, the study conducted in-depth interviews on farmers. Analysis of the data used is inductive. This study led to the conclusion that Marx's theory does not happen in Aman malar. The cause of the decline of agriculture due to declining soil nutrients, the high cost of production, land use and climate change. While the strategies of small land farmers to sustain life is to do the planting patterns of intercropping, do extra work, and manage finances.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document