#climatemarch

“The earth is telling us something about our conduct of living, as well as about our abuse of this covenant we live upon. Not one of us can believe himself or herself untouched by these messages, no matter where she or he lives, no matter under what illusion of safety or uninvolvement we may pretend to hide. Each one of us has some power that can be used, somewhere, somehow, to help save our Earth.”

– Audre Lorde – Of Generators & Survival – Hugo Letter, December 17, 1989

As an organizing center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans, and Gender Non-Conforming (LGBTSTGNC) people of color in New York City, the Audre Lorde Project stands in solidarity with communities working and taking actions towards climate justice. We also want to acknowledge and honor the many movements; especially the People of Color led Environmental Justice Movement that has laid the groundwork for the Climate Justice Movement.

We recognize that our current climate crisis and the violence experienced by our communities share the same roots: a system that values money over our life—all species and the earth. Colonialism created a legacy of oppression that targeted and silenced our communities and violated our relationship with the earth. In this system, the planet’s worth and our communities’ worth are defined by production and labor, which ultimately lead to the exploitation and devaluing of us all.

Existing social and economic inequalities that are based on class, race and gender oppression will be magnified by climate change. Our LGBTSTGNC people of color communities, in particular two spirit, trans, and gender non-conforming people of color, live on the front lines. We have and will continue to bear the burdens of climate change. 

* Climate change increases the frequency and severity of storms. In anticipation of the coming storms, we think back to hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. During Hurricane Katrina, black lesbians and Trans women of color were disparately affected. In Katrina’s aftermath, the suffering of these same communities was invisibilized as New Orleans prioritized reviving its gay tourism industry. We remember Hurricane Sandy, which displaced and worsened the NYC housing crisis for thousands of homeless people including many LGBTSGNC People of Color. Currently in NYC, 54,000 homeless people sleep in shelters, and countless others remain unsheltered. Nationally, it is estimated that 40% of all homeless people identify as LGBT. We are fully aware that future storms can deeply impact our communities.

* Climate change will negatively impact our community’s health and wellbeing. In NYC, it will result in extreme heat and intensified urban air pollution. These changes will severely impact many low-income LGBTSTGNC people of color who suffer from asthma, and both trans and gender non-conforming people of color, who already face several barriers to health care.

* Climate change will also negatively impact food systems, making food even more costly and difficult to access for our community. This has already been demonstrated with extreme inflation and rising food prices.

* The global impact of water shortages and the privatization of water has demonstrated an extreme circumstance of valuing the cost of water over the lives of those who need it. The global water war (currently, over 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water; over the next 10-50 years, climate change will increase water scarcity, leaving governments to control and manage groundwater sources) and then locally, Detroit’s Water War, have shown us the impact of the complete removal of safety and access to water for low income communities, especially Black and communities of color. These incidents are a reminder that our current system considers us expendable for capital gain, and warn us of the potential threats water scarcity will inflict on our communities.

Globally, climate change will most greatly impact those communities that are least responsible for causing it. Whole countries, who have negligible emissions, will be displaced. We know that these communities, like ours, will bear the burden of climate change. Decades of colonialism, globalization, and capitalism have targeted and policed our communities, and exploited the lands we call home. Once again, we will have to prove our resilience and legacies of survival traditions. And once again, we know that those in power will try to control us and the sustenance we receive from the earth, which ensures our survival and wellbeing. We call out these injustices and stand in solidarity with communities on the front line of climate change around the earth, and those who seek to center and resource the survival and livelihood of indigenous and people of color communities. 

As a political organizing center in the so-called “United States,” we recognize the historical responsibility of the U.S. in perpetuating climate change. The United States, which holds only 4% of the world’s population, emits 25% of the world’s greenhouse gases that cause climate change. We hold those with systemic power accountable, for like many oppressions, we never gave our consent to this deathly and unsustainable system, but are silenced to support it. 

We call for communities who will be impacted by climate change at home and globally to be recognized as decision makers around any proposal affecting climate change (i.e. any decision that may further climate change, as well as the various proposals for solutions). We recognize the inherent ageism, ableism, racism, sexism, colonialism, and xenophobia of climate change, and call our communities to voice our lived experiences.

We stand against false systemic solutions that do not address the root causes of climate change. This includes climate adaptation proposals that recommend increased police presence in our communities and increased militarization globally. These proposals target us as taking resources and both blame and shame our communities for resource inequities, when a history of colonization and imperialism shows war as one of the largest destructions of natural resources. We reject these false solutions and remember through our community experiences that heightened policing only leads to our further oppression.

Given the deep roots of climate change, we acknowledge that facing climate change is deeper than adapting to survive severe storms. It is necessary to fundamentally challenge the systems of oppression that continue to exploit the earth and our communities. We call for an end of capitalism and imperialism’s systematic desecration, including the exploitative fossil fuel era. We will build our collective resistance and resilience in solidarity with indigenous and people of color communities locally, nationally, and globally. We call for a return to communities and the earth; for valuing one another, fellow species, and the earth, so we can all live and thrive.

In Solidarity,
The Audre Lorde Project
www.alp.org