For this entry, I chose the readings “Women” by Reid, as well as “DAPL, Environmental Justice, and U.S Colonialism” by Whyte, as I did find his paper “Way Beyond the Lifeboat” to be very insightful.
Of these readings, I did not, unfortunately, learn anything new. At least, not in the abstract. I know very well that the experiences of women are the last perspective to be considered in many cases, even outside of the climate change conversation. In the climate crisis, these two groups–women and indigenous people–are the first casualties of climate change-caused natural disasters, and their hardships are the ones not considered worth rectifying in the grand scheme of things.
For instance, in Reid’s chapter, she explains how in catastrophes, women make up the majority of the fatalities, and their input is never taken into consideration, despite their valuable nature; such as the newly constructed well in Tanzania that dried up because its construction was decided by a committee made entirely of men, despite women being the ones responsible for collecting water.
In Whyte’s essay, the disregard for indigenous land, health, safety, and culture is rampant while considering those very things for settler communities. This is seen with DAPL’s original location being changed due to the risk it posed to the water source of the settler city of Bismarck, North Dakota…and yet, contractors, fossil fuel companies, and critics of #NoDAPL claimed repeatedly that the pipeline was perfectly safe and of no risk to indigenous water supply, where it had been moved to.
Now, while there have been some victories, such as the scrapping of the Keystone XL Pipeline in 2021, indigenous voices are being taken into consideration more often now, and advancements of women are finally being made, these successes are slow and rare; with the climate crisis already here, that needs to change, and faster than it currently is.
Readings:
Reid, H. (2014). Chapter 9: Women. In Climate Change and Human Development. Bloomsbury. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350219212
Whyte, K. P. (2017). THE DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE, ENVIRON- MENTAL INJUSTICE, AND U.S. COLONIALISM. RED INK: International Journal of Indigenous Literature, Arts, & Humanites, 19.1, ISSN 1534-7095.
ma guarda quante stelle nel cielo 