Tag Archives: climate change

Sharing systems thinking in our ongoing advocacy

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As our world grieves in the aftermath of the horrific murder of George Floyd, I have become extremely grateful for the knowledge about systematic racism my education at UW has afforded me. My greatest takeaway from this class was learning to think systematically about the world food system, which allowed me to realize how everything from climate change to land grabs to severe income inequality in the food distribution chain levies a disproportionate impact on people of color in their struggle to access affordable and healthy food. Through course content such as Lester R. Brown’s “Full Planet Empty Plates” we have learned that there is an abundance of food in America, yet the reason so many of our citizens go hungry is because of a lack of income, and ultimately, a lack of privilege in our capitalist system leading to the harshest impacts of food insecurity to be felt by POC and BIPOC communities.

Systematic impact of the Pandemic on our food system.

                         

Examples of the disproportionate impact felt by communities of color.

 

Much of my undergraduate education has been focused on race relations in the America, and I was able to incorporate this knowledge into my group work with Our Climate this quarter. We were given the opportunity to meet with Representative Tina Orwall, who has been a champion for racial equity throughout her career. We were able to advocate for bold, equitable climate change policy with a focus on the disparate impact of climate change on poor people of color. Representative Orwall was extremely receptive to our goals and told us that we had taught her new things about racism in the ecological system. From this, I became cognizant of my power of advocacy and sharing information, as Representative Orwall was able to get us in contact with other relevant politicians and added that she would further research and incorporate our findings into her agenda. Now as we are in the midst of a widespread Black Lives Matter movement, I find myself again as an advocate, and I have similarly been able to share useful information about the systematic racism in the world food system as part of the widespread sharing of resources against racism we are seeing. Just as we have achieved recent policy changes by educating our fellow advocates and putting pressure on our politicians, we are slowly dismantling systematic racism, and I am confident that if we can keep pressure on, we can one day create a just and equitable ecological system for all.

Climate Change and Everything Else

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Throughout my experience participating in the Our Climate Action group, I have acquired new skills that enhanced my learning. My project members and I participated in multiple listening sessions run by other fellows from the Our Climate activists explaining the Evergreen New Deal:  a comprehensive climate change reform policy that will introduce greener solutions to current predicaments. All of this exposure to the bits and bolts of how our state and country runs in regards to introducing laws and regulations has added to my sense of citizenship and provided me with a clearer path to contribution. Before this experience, I felt like I was staring at the system from a distance, and it was too entangled in itself for me to get involved.

One interactive portion of our activism involved spreading a survey to Washingtonians under the age of 30 focused on collecting opinions on what prominent complications must immediately be addressed in our direct environment here in the state. During role in lobbying to Tina Orwall, spreading the voices of concerned residents, I especially made an emphasis on how COVID-19 should not get in the way of climate change policy because the underprivileged community is affected negatively by both COVID and climate change, and these two issues interacting creates an even bigger obstacle.

Climate change is obviously a complicated interconnected system woven through everything from our bodies interaction to the weather, to how our climate changes drastically in the atmosphere. There’s an undeniable chain of consequences between our climate and food. For example, “As reserves are depleted, changes in production would have a bigger impact on the price of food….Scientists have warned hotter temperatures and more erratic rainfall could increase the frequency and intensity of droughts (Reuters).” Droughts will affect how much food is yielded and therefore affect how people will be able to sustain themselves globally. Learning about connections between climate change and the food system, as well as climate change and COVID-19, it was easy for me to realize that underprivileged communities are not only affected by certain disadvantages individually, but also how all those disadvantages come together and create increased adverse challenges. This is why climate change needs to be addressed among the other issues, taking out one factor of damage out at a time, we can salvage what, and who, we are hurting and destroying.

Please watch this short animation on how climate change interacts with the causes and consequences of other global dilemmas:

Fixing the Climate is NOT a One Person Job

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For a lot of my life, I thought the idea of voting with your dollars was brilliant, especially when it came to the climate. Whether it was buying organic every now and then or carpooling, I lived by that idea as much as I could. Over time, I learned this method is not the best at fixing the climate, but how effective it could be was something I still wondered.

After reading Michael Maniates’ piece on individualization, I was primed to understand that working alone at the individual level is futile against the power of private corporations. These companies work under the radar and through the consumer subconscious to gain profit under the guise of going green. In doing this, they seek to pin the blame and responsibility of climate change on the people who have the least power to create lasting change (Maniates 43).

Targeting transportation and electricity were of the biggest parts of Our Climate’s Evergreen New Deal. Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/washington-state-carbon-emissions-spiked-6-percent-in-most-recent-tally/

And when I worked with Our Climate for this course’s action project, I gained crucial, direct knowledge on the capability and power of collective action while going directly to policy. On one hand, you have corporations selling you easy activism and pocketing the same money they would have made before green movements. On the other, you have NGOs pushing for policy to the people who the most power. The former has never permeated culture to the point where it makes large or lasting change, but looking at what Our Climate has done in just the last legislative session by updating old carbon laws, impacts will affect this and future generations. Furthermore, we could use votes on previous climate policies to garner even more support for future policies like the Evergreen New Deal.

When we lobbied to Representative Tina Orwall as the final task for Our Climate, I saw how receptive she was to new ideas and policies like the Evergreen New Deal, and it emboldened me. Other fellows told us their experiences were lukewarm. Their representatives were not very approachable and rejected the climate policies. While Representative Orwall wanted to know more about the Evergreen New Deal, beyond that it was broadly for transportation and to hold corporate polluters accountable, she was very interested in learning more when the policy was more solidified, and even connected us to more people who would also want to hear what we had to say. Coming from that, I felt like coming together was more powerful than fractured efforts that end up making the same big corporations richer, confirming what Maniates taught me.

Works Cited

Maniates, Michael F. “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the World?” Global Environmental Politics, vol. 1, no. 3, Aug. 2001, pp. 31–52.

Reflection on Climate Change and the World Food System

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My group had the opportunity to work with the Citizens Climate Lobby, the CCL is a grassroot, non-profit and nonpartisan environmental group primarily focused on the passage of the Energy, Innovation, and Carbon Dividend Act. The act aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels and encouraging industries, companies and people within the United States to reduce their carbon footprint and find alternative methods that are cleaner for the environment and cheaper for both the companies and the American people. With climate change becoming more impactful and disruptive in our lives and the world food system that we live in, it is now, more imperative as ever, to address the problem of climate change before it truly does irreparable damage to our world food system and our livelihoods. 

The Energy, Innovation, and Carbon Dividend Act aims to drive down American carbon pollution and fossil fuel usage in order to bring climate change under control.

Climate change has already caused direct damage to the world food system and to how some people can live their lives. This experience is documented by Kirk Semple in his article “Central American Farmers Head to the U.S., Fleeing Climate Change.”. Within that article, Semple notes that climate change in Central America has led to large amounts of crop failures, especially in coffee plants, the economic lifeblood for many in these Central American farming cooperatives. With these failures, many farmers and workers in these coffee plantations fear that with nothing to sell, they cannot pay for food leading to hunger among families. This has led to many to migrate to the United States hoping to escape hunger and find better economic opportunity. 

Graph showing immigration change from Central American nations to the United States. Coincides with the increase in climate change that has occured in Central America causing harm to farming cooperatives.

These Central American farmers are not the only ones affected by climate change, as noted by Dr. Litfin in the 2nd Contemplative Practice on Systems Thinking, our food systems has developed from what was once a local endeavor, into one that is international and large in its scale and effects. We see this interconnectivity in an article by Thin Lei Win called “Climate Shocks in Just One Country Could Disrupt Global Food Supply.”. Within the article, Win notes that researchers found that if American wheat production and supply underwent a four-year drought, then the 174 countries in which America exports wheat to, would see their reserves decrease, despite not suffering from failed harvests themselves. 

How Climate Change such as global warming can effect production of agriculture and lead to food shortages, in this case: Corn.

With the interconnectivity of our world food system and with the dangers climate change poses for our future. It is time to take action whether that be joining the CCL in their June 13th virtual conference “A Community Stronger than CONVID” where you can talk to your local congressional representative about actions that need to be taken on climate change or simply reusing bags when grocery shopping. It is important to take action for the sake of ourselves and the world food system.

Alternative Milk, Our Earth, and Systems Theory

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I really valued what I took away from this course, as it presented new and challenging topics that I had never considered before. It also gave me the opportunity to conduct research on a topic I took a great interest in: the sustainability of alternative milk products. I was inspired by a previous blog post I wrote, about a climate change food calculator that calculates the ghg emissions, water usage, and land usage of 40 different foods.

With the massive changes in the dairy and alternative milk market, I decided to use this as a jumping point to look into three milk products: milk from dairy cows, almond milk, and oat milk. I researched and compared all three products with reference to water usage and GHG emissions. I was mostly interested in determining if alternative milks were actually more sustainable, and if so which was the most sustainable milk?

I looked closely at the sections about food systems and the effect of climate change. I determined that the ecological system and the food production system are incredibly intertwined and interdependent. The ecological and biological systems greatly affect how food is grown and produced, and the food production system has had very adverse effects on the environment.

My research only scratched the surface of sustainable food production practices, but it is a critical piece in the future of food production. This course gave me a deeper understanding of systems theory that allowed me to analyze a topic in a more meaningful way.

Works Cited:

Guibourg, C., & Briggs, H. (2019, August 09). Climate change food calculator: What’s your diet’s carbon footprint? Retrieved June 09, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46459714

Image:

Lucas, A. (2019, November 13). 5 charts that show how milk sales changed and made it tough for Dean Foods to avert bankruptcy. Retrieved June 09, 2020, from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/13/5-charts-that-show-how-milk-sales-have-changed.html

Reforming Climate Change Policies

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During the pandemic, besides the growing public concern over the rapid spread of the disease, news about the sharply falling greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand in China because of the mandatory stay-at-home order drew my attention and raised my interest to join the Citizens’ Climate Lobby action group.

The fundamental purpose of the CCL is to work toward the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change policies, and the piece we have been working on is the Energy, Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act, which aims to put a fee on fossil fuels and use that money as a dividend and allocate to every American. My group’s objective is to participate in lobbying for the passage of the Energy Innovation Act. I have never known something about lobbying, let alone have the chance to participate in a real Lobby Day Event at a conference. Surprisingly, we will have a precious opportunity to join a lobby team preparing for and attending the conference. This experience also taught me how to interact with members of congress and government representatives.

As the project proceeded, I found that it is closely related to our course material and what we are doing now really matters in real life. The Act is trying to take political action to influence legislators and major oil companies to reduce carbon footprint through a top-down approach. At the same time, it uses individualized actions as a supplement to the policy change. Thinking systematically, citizens are core elements of the Act, and we will make a difference through a bottom-up approach in a way that individuals unite as teams to lobby for a real systematic change in climate policy. Meanwhile, the taxes collected will be allocated back to individuals, helping them live a more sustainable life. It works as a reinforcing feedback loop that accelerates our progress in fighting climate change.

Also, I learned to cooperate with group members. Teamwork is an essential element of the success of a project. Instead of doing all the weekly training on our own, we decided to each take one training and summarize for the group. Therefore, we were able to grasp the main ideas in the most efficient way. I’m really impressed by my members, they are confident, knowledgeable, and brave. Rachel is a really good leader; she takes notes and organizes every meeting for us. Dakota integrates course materials with the project very well, Tebow and Alan always give us thoughtful ideas. Thanks to Karen, Ryan, my group members, and other classmates for a great and meaningful quarter.

Turning Individual Action into Systemic Change

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During this course I had the opportunity to work with Citizens’ Climate Lobby on HR 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend act. CCL is a national, bipartisan, grassroots lobbying organization that supports volunteers through online trainings and connects them to groups in their area. We started social media campaigns on Facebook and Twitter and learned how to lobby.

HR 763 would put a price on carbon that would reduce US emissions by 40% in the first 12 years. Economists agree that this is the most effective and cost-efficient way to reduce emissions which is why it has drawn support from Republicans and Democrats. Additionally, the Act is revenue-neutral which means that the government doesn’t keep the tax collected. Instead, it gets sent back to low- and middle-income American taxpayers who will be most affected by the higher prices of a green economy.

Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. Effective, good for people, good for the economy, revenue neutral.

In working with CCL, I found that the politics of food and the politics of climate change are similar in many ways. People tend to be very opinionated on both sides, both issues are complex and affect everyone differently, and both require a combination of personal choices and systemic government change to be solved.

It is key that the Act is bipartisan because the only way that we can fight climate change is together. A resolution such as this is only the first of many legislation actions we will need to take, so it is important that everyone is behind it.

Systems theory shows us that everything is connected, and climate change is no different. A lifecycle analysis of any product shows the ecological impacts along the entire commodity chain. Ecological impacts are usually higher during the production/processing stages, so the externalities are often placed on low income communities. This is just one example of the Triple Inequality of climate change.

Scene of the Oncler's factory from the Lorax by Dr. Seuss.

Stories like the Lorax teach us that it’s okay to replace traditional citizenship duties with purposeful individual consumption, and it shifts the blame from producers to human nature (Maniates). When people are made aware of a dangerous product, they can make the individual choice not to buy it (Szasz). This protects them from the product but does nothing to address the problem for others. We need more than individual choices to combat climate change. HR 763 is one way of collective change, but people still have to make the individual choice to be politically active.

This is a picture from Environmental Lobby Day in Olympia, WA in 2019 that I went to with WashPIRG.

In Response to “A Plague Overlooked: The locust crisis lurking in the shadow of COVID-19”

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In response to this blog post.

I chose to respond to Cameron’s blog post because it uncovers a serious crisis currently in the shadow of COVID-19 news. Their post describes the large swarms of locusts overtaking farmland throughout the Horn of Africa. As of May 13th the locusts continue to spread rapidly; officials warn they may migrate east as far as the Indo-Pakistan border and even to West Africa.   

Map showing possible Desert Locust Spread, fao.org

How international organizations are addressing this crisis closely relates our study of the global food economy. Developing countries (like those on the Horn of Africa) face comparatively more severe repercussions from an agricultural crisis like this than in developed countries. Agriculture comprises a much higher portion of their GDP and they lack sufficient resources to respond to such a disaster. The locust swarms are also infesting extremely food insecure nations like South Sudan. Then why has funding been slow and insufficient? Historically (and still today) international trade institutions are manipulated so that the world food system works in favor of developed nations. As discussed by Clapp,  developed countries dump their subsidized food in global markets while developing countries struggle to compete with the cheap costs. There seems to be little international movement towards helping the region during this crisis. Developing countries continue to lack influence in intergovernmental organizations like the U.N yet are facing increasingly devastating environmental crises like this one.

Locusts swarm through East Africa

This issue therefore clearly connects to the idea of “triple inequality” discussed in class. As Cameron mentions, climate change has been linked to the locust swarms. The affected countries have had little historical influence on global warming, yet pay the brunt of the climate costs while having little capacity to adapt and respond to this disaster. The “triple inequality” theory, in combination with the structuring of international organizations and the world food system overall, elucidates how the system is stacked against these developing countries. Sufficient funding should be provided in response to this crisis, but we must also think of larger reforms that reshape these global systems by putting power into the hands of climate change threatened countries. How can we reform these systems so that they are fair, just, and work for all, not just the most powerful?

Is This Hunger?

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Sitting in the last bits of daylight, eyes closed, I calmly take deep breaths. Slowly inhaling through my nose, exhaling through my mouth. I’m concentrating on the emptiness inside of me, I’ve been fasting for almost 24 hours. Is this hunger I think to myself? No, it is not, being hungry means more than just missing a meal. It’s a debilitating crisis that has more than 820 million people in its grip.

Hunger is a perilous cycle that passes from one generation to the next. Families who struggle with chronic hunger and malnutrition consistently go without the nutrients their minds and bodies need, which then prevents them from being able to perform their best at work, school, or to improve their lives.

So why are people hungry? This is a complex question, but hunger is a byproduct of food insecurity, which is defined as being “unable to consistently access or afford adequate food.” A number of factors such as poverty, climate change, price fluctuations, distribution networks, and food waste all play a role in food insecurity. There is no silver-bullet solution and each region or community needs its own tailored fix. Though many agree that closing the yield gap, using fertilizers more efficiently, raising low water productivity, and reducing food waste would all go a long way in helping to reduce food insecurity.

Suddenly my mind begins spinning, my breathing hastens. This problem seems so overwhelming, what am I a poor student suppose do about this? I slow my breathing and say to myself “you don’t have to be responsible for solving the world’s problems but taking a moment to contemplate and be mindful is at least a step in the right direction.” Contemplative practices can be helpful in metaphorically dipping your toe into complex problems. They allow you to examine your place within a living system while not overly internalizing it.

Climate Change Triple Inequalities: A Worldwide Crisis

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Cameron McElmurry’s blog post describes the locust swarms currently ravaging farms in the Horn of Africa. While reading, I recognized the injustice that many face as they experience crises caused by climate change and are forgotten while the world focuses on COVID-19. Worldwide, millions will face food insecurity and depleted agricultural incomes because of disasters such as this.

Cameron’s post reminded me of the “triple inequality” topic discussed in class. In terms of the current climate crises that are affecting the world, developing countries most often take the brunt of the short term effects. The triple inequality concept includes asymmetric impacts (follow the link for examples), responsibility (those who are most affected by climate change often have the least to do with it), and less capacity to adapt (less infrastructure and ability to rebuild or respond to disasters). 

Climate change is known to increase inequality, so, as developing countries experience more agricultural failure (droughts, pests, etc.) due to new climate disasters, they will have even less money and resources to make further changes, continuing the cycle of this triple inequality. 

Another topic we have discussed in class is the racial disparities present in the food system. A recent article describes the increased inequality of minority Americans during the COVID-19 crisis. It discusses how industrial regions of the country have high populations of minority workers and are disproportionately hit by hurricanes, fossil fuel pollution, cancer and other diseases as result of chemical and pollutant exposure, and now, coronavirus cases. This reveals the reality of triple inequality in America, where particular people groups are systematically affected by the means of production and climate changes that occur as a result of the environmental degradation supported by big business.

It is evident that at home and abroad, we must advocate for those affected by climate change and forgotten during the COVID-19 crisis.