Stand up for Climate Justice – International Day of Action on COP26

As the COP26 UN climate talks are happening in Glasgow, people across the world stood up to call for climate justice on Saturday 6^th October. In Leicester, we worked with Climate Action Leicester and Leicestershire, Green Guardians, The Race Equality Centre and the City Retreat to run an afternoon of action. 

We started at the Clock Tower at 2:30 pm, where 170 people joined a silent vigil for climate justice. We wore black or white and held placards highlighting how the climate crisis is already affecting people around the world. Passers-by stopped to read the placards and take photos or film us. 

At 3:30 pm, we walked together down High Street, holding up banners and placards, and congregated in Jubilee Square. There, we formed ourselves into the shape of an eye and a photographer took an aerial photo of us from the balcony of the Villare Hotel. This was sent to Boris Johnson with the message: ‘Leicester is watching you. We want real action for climate justice at COP26. 

We then moved onto the City Retreat on Churchgate to share plant-based food, swap pre-loved clothes and write postcards to our MPs asking them to act on climate change. 

Here are some quotes from the organisers about why we need climate justice: 

“The richest countries in the world today are not those with the most valuable natural resources, but those that ruthlessly plundered the resources of others. Too often, it is Black and brown communities who have contributed least to the climate breakdown and yet end up suffering most. For either the climate action or racial justice movement to fully succeed, they must be treated as inextricably linked. This is why The Race Equality Centre, as the only Race Equality specific organisation in Leicester, must draw attention to the issue that Climate Justice is Racial Justice and bring together the voices of our communities to support the fight for the preservation of our planet.”

Anamaria Garcia, The Race Equality Centre 

“Climate justice means requiring that the countries and companies which have contributed the most to climate change now contribute the most to dealing with it. The wealthy UK has been a key carbon emitter and has profited in the process. Fossil fuel companies have known they are causing climate change for decades but have deliberately blocked action to reduce carbon emissions. The UK must pay a fair share to help the countries, communities and people worst affected to cope with the climate crisis and develop sustainably – and work to ensure that fossil fuel companies and other major carbon polluters are required to do the same.”

Zina Zelter, Climate Action Leicester and Leicestershire 

“Our actions, habits, and lifestyles are devastating the planet we all share and everyday bringing us closer to a global catastrophe. Already, numerous species, natural habitats, and millions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations are at a crisis point.

The City Retreat is committed to this important cause and believe the International Day of Action for Climate Justice is an important way of holding governments and multinational corporations to account for meaningful action, while also highlighting what individuals and communities can and must do to make a difference. This is a responsibility on all of us and one we cannot afford to ignore, especially in the world’s wealthiest countries where we exert the greatest carbon footprint while the poorest pay the price for our lifestyles with their lives.”

Shaykh Shafi Chowdhury, City Retreat 

“The Global North has a duty to bring clean renewable energy to the countries, people and communities which have provided our raw materials for so long. The switch to renewable energy must include the Global South, not increase human rights abuses, exploitation and environmental destruction. This means stopping human rights abuses in energy supply chains, setting legally binding targets on reducing resource use, ending the wasteful use of energy and ensuring that everyone in every country has access to clean energy.”

Hannah Wakley, Leicester Friends of the Earth

Community Responses to Climate Change at the City Retreat

On Sunday 26^th September, to mark the end of Great Big Green Week, we attended ‘Community Responses to Climate Change’ at the City Retreat on Churchgate. The event was a collaboration between The Race Equality Centre, the City Retreat, Leicester Friends of the Earth and Green Guardians. The aim was to bring together people from different communities in Leicester, to share faith perspectives on looking after the natural world and to start talking about how we can work together. The talks were recorded and you can watch them on Facebook. 

Anamaria Garcia from The Race Equality Centre, who had the idea to bring together the four organisations for the event, welcomed everyone before introducing the speakers. She explained that The Race Equality Centre want to be involved in conversations about climate change because they work with newly arrived people in the city, many of whom are now refugees because of the devastating impacts of climate change in their home countries. 

Sheikh Shafi Chowdhury, the imam based at the City Retreat, spoke first from the Muslim perspective. He explained that Muslims believe the Earth was given to us as a gift from Allah so it should be treated with sanctity. The Koran says that even on the last day of the world, when the angels are sounding their trumpets, if you have a seed in your hand you should plant it, because God loves creation. He also said that faith has many branches but the lowest branch, or the very least of faith, is to do no harm. If there is broken glass or plastic waste on the pavement, we should remove it. Faith starts with caring for our environment. He finished by saying that we may all be different but the one thing we share is the planet and we have a duty to our children’s children, and those who are already dealing with the worst impacts of climate change, to act on this issue. 

The second speaker was George Ballentyne, a member of the Baha’i community. He explained that he grew up in Glasgow, where the international climate talks will be taking place in November, and he carries the shame of his home city’s past links to slavery. He shared some quotes from Baha’i writings, including:

           The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.

And he said that we cannot talk about climate change without talking about justice. Those who are suffering the most are those who have the least and are the least able to cope. Racism is at the heart of the climate crisis. He recommended that we all read The Good Ally by Nova Reid, for more information about tackling racism. 

Chris Morley spoke from the Quaker perspective. She explained that her faith has Christian roots, with an emphasis on peace, justice, equality and sustainability. Quakers believe there is that of God in everyone, which drives them to take action to address injustice and many become activists on environmental issues, or in championing the rights of refugees. 

Raj Purohit from Hindu Climate Action pointed out that, whether people pray in a mosque, a mandir or a church, they all pray on the floor, in contact with the Earth. He described the Hindu concept of ahimsa, which means not causing harm to any species. This leads many Hindus to adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet. He said that greed has led to us taking without giving back and we should all start to ask ourselves, ‘What will I give back to Mother Earth?’ The conversation has to start in ourselves and at home.

Uri Gordon, a Hebrew educator and member of the Jewish community, began by saying that it was clear how much all the faiths have in common: they all have an ethical imperative to protect life and pursue justice. No religion puts humans in a position of mastery over nature. He urged that, at this stage in the climate crisis, faith communities should dedicate the same resource to addressing climate change as they do to solving world hunger. We need to accept that the economy will have to shrink and the military be reduced. We need to work collectively, rather than as individual consumers. Uri finished by urging everyone to ensure that the event becomes a launch pad for a continuing conversation. 

Anne Scott from Christian organisation, Greenlight, was the final faith speaker. She explained that the bible says that God created the world and was pleased with his creation. He made humans in his image to care for creation and for a while, in the Garden of Eden, humans lived in complete relationship with God and with creation. However, after the fall, the relationship between humans, God and creation was broken and part of the work of Christians in restoring their relationship to God must also be in restoring their relationship with creation. 

There followed some speakers from environmental groups in Leicester. Hannah and Bruce Wakley from Leicester Friends of the Earth presented on the causes and consequences of climate change and some of the work that we have been doing. (If you’re reading this blog, you probably already know a lot about this so I won’t repeat the details here! We used photos from the Climate Visuals library in our presentation, which I highly recommend as a useful resource for all climate activists.) 

Erfana Bora spoke about Green Guardians, a Muslim environmental group that was formed during lockdown last year. They aim to add their voices to the clamour calling for change in our homes and lives and holding corporations and governments to account. They have been making use of social media to spread their message, with campaigns like the 30-day green challenge during Ramadan. They have also organised some litter picks in Spinney Hills Park, which inspired gratitude and a positive response from local people. 

Alison Skinner from Global Justice Leicester was the final speaker. She explained the organisation’s current campaign, which aims to stop corporate courts blocking action on climate change. Mechanisms in trade deals currently enable corporations to block climate action. You can sign the campaign’s petition on their website.   

Before we all went downstairs to share food and look at the stalls, Sheikh Shafi closed by saying that this event will serve as the beginning of a conversation that is long overdue. 

Altogether, it was an informative and inspiring afternoon! We were very grateful to be a part of it. We are already starting to talk about how we can continue to work together, so watch this space…

  

New partnership with The Race Equality Centre

Today marks the launch of our new partnership with The Race Equality Centre in Leicester! We're so excited to be working with them.

Here's the press release:

Leicester groups link up to fight racism and the climate emergency 

•       Race and climate justice must go hand-in-hand, say groups

•       Two Leicester sites in desperate need of reviving with some creative planting to be transformed into wildlife-friendly spaces

 Race equality and environmental groups in Leicester are teaming up to fight racism and the climate emergency. 

The Race Equality Centre (TREC) is joining forces with Leicester Friends of the Earth and Climate Action Leicester and Leicestershire to jointly campaign for a cleaner, fairer future. 

This is a crucial year for combatting the climate emergency, with the UK government hosting the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow later this year. 

The historical bulk of pollution over centuries has come from industrialised nations in Europe and North America, but it’s poorer countries, that have done the least to cause climate breakdown, that are now paying the highest price. Many of the people and organisations TREC works with come from climate-threatened nations, such as Sudan, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. 

At a national level the groups are calling for richer countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster and provide financial aid to less wealthy nations to help them cope with the sharp end of the climate crisis.

On a local level, to mark this positive and creative partnership, the organisations will be transforming two derelict local spaces into wildlife-friendly gardens projects. The sites at the Highfields Centre where TREC is based, and the Caribbean Court Day Centre, will also promote the well-being of service users. 

Iris Lightfoote, CEO of TREC, said: 

“We are delighted to launch this partnership with Friends of the Earth. We have much in common – both organisations are passionate about tackling racism and the climate crisis. Ending racial injustice has to be part of facing up to climate change.

“The home nations of many of our service users are already on the sharp end of climate change. They are already suffering from severe drought and flooding that has devastated crop yields causing economic devastation and forcing communities to flee into unknown territories for a better life. It’s vital that communities join together to stop the climate crisis getting any worse.” 

Albert Blake, Chair of Trustees, Caribbean Court Day Centre, said:

“We are pleased to be working with Leicester Friends of the Earth to build new green space in the city. Friends of the Earth’s start up grant will help our service users get involved in creating an eco-friendly space within our local environment, and it will be great for their wellbeing too!”

Hannah Wakley, Co-ordinator of Leicester Friends of the Earth, said: 

“We are delighted to have formed this partnership with TREC and to have found so much in common. The two garden projects are exciting, and we are looking forward to working with them on our campaign to raise awareness around the vital COP26 international climate talks in Glasgow in November.” 

Richard Dyer, East Midlands Campaign Organiser, Friends of the Earth’s head office, said: 

“If we are to win against climate change, we also have to win on racism. Climate change is already impacting on all of us. We must work together for a fairer, greener world. Our new partnership with TREC is a vital development in building links between environmental and racial justice.”

It was covered in the Leicester Mercury.

March Against Racism

On Saturday 18th March, members of Leicester Friends of the Earth went to London to take part in the March Against Racism. An estimated 30,000 people joined the march to protest against the wave of populism that led to Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. We joined the Climate Bloc, which highlighted how climate change is affecting those who have contributed least to the problem. We are now planning a local event as part of Refugee Week in June, to raise awareness of the way that climate change is forcing people to leave their homes.