Climate Change Crash Course at the G-20

I won’t begin to claim I know all that I should about the G-20 Summit happening in Pittsburgh this week. I haven’t even been here 24 hours and I have homework already…like, finding out what raise reserve requirements are? And what would reparations justice look like for the countries that the U.S. owes a climate debt to?

Today at one of the many “non-official” G-20 events happening in Pittsburgh I heard Jihan Gearon, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, and WOCU’s Jacqueline Patterson speak on a panel at the First Annual International Peace, Justice & Empowerment Summit.

Jacqui had a lot of heads nodding when she pointed out that women of color in the U.S. and abroad are deeply impacted by climate change, yet, virtually invisible in the G-20 Summit conversations. The rise of climate change is displacing communities of color globally and putting women at greater risks for violence.

Jihan simply said indigenous people are being affected by climate change in two typical ways:

1. Things/practices that cause climate change (like coal-fired energy plants)

2. All those “false solutions” out there (like “clean coal” or nuclear energy plants; consumption-oriented offers, for example, to plant a tree if you buy a certain product)

Jihan gave a sobering wake-up call when she said we can’t continue the way we’re living and reduce pollution and that, “You cannot buy your way of climate change.” So, another thing to learn more about are these false solutions.

The journey to being GREEN is much more complicated than I realized. I’ll let you know more of what I find out soon!

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