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What is intersectional climate justice?

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An intersectional approach to climate justice goes beyond identifying power patterns to recognize which social categories of identity are  promoted and serve as grounds for political action, and which identities become invisible. *

 

An intersectional analysis of climate change illuminates how different individuals and groups relate differently to climate change, due to their situatedness in power structures based on context-specific and dynamic social categories of identity.*

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Intersectional environmentalism is an inclusive version of environmentalism that advocates for both the protection of people and the planet. It identifies the ways in which injustices happening to marginalized communities and the earth are interconnected. It brings injustices done to the most vulnerable communities, and the earth, to the forefront and does not minimize or silence social inequality.*

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the ss4s approach to intersectional climate justice

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At its core, Surf Sisters for Science is a climate justice organization practicing an intersectional approach to climate justice rooted in feminist understandings of knowledge. We make these concepts actionable in the way that we structure power dynamics between epistemologies when telling stories, the way that we manage our organization, and in the way that we engage with communities - always foregrounding BIPOC voices and ways of knowing. 

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Our goal is to build bridges, connections, and actionable partnerships between different forms of environmental knowledge that represent a variety of perspectives - especially those which are underrepresented in colonial power structures. 

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*Note: these are contested concepts. These definitions evolve, because the concepts evolve. We invite dialogue about the strengths and limitations of these terms in the hopes that we as a society will continue to demand better from our words and ideas, circling ever closer to a just society. 

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*Source: Anna Kaijser & Annica Kronsell (2014) Climate change through the lens of intersectionality, Environmental Politics, 23:3, 417-433.

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