When it comes to the climate crisis, one of the climate movement’s dominant narratives is that it will affect “future generations”. Yet, marginalised communities, including Black, indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) in Europe, are already being affected. In addition to experiencing the impacts of the crisis, BIPOC communities are faced with resisting other forms of injustice.
Our speaker series, “Reframing climate justice”, will endeavour to explore how and why these harms connect. Over six instalments, we will delve into the root causes of climate breakdown and uncover the links between the climate crisis and other systemic harms to understand the unique impacts on BIPOC communities in Europe, the community-driven action being taken to address the emergency, and how we as a climate movement can ensure that no one is left behind in the pursuit of truly intersectional climate justice.
Introducing our moderator for the series
Samie Blasingame is the Creative Director of Food in my Kiez, sits on the board of Greenbuzz Berlin with whom she runs the #FeedingBerlin series, and organises with the Berlin-based climate and environmental justice collective, Black Earth. Her work and political ethos revolve around community building and collective imaginations toward a just and resilient future.
Is the climate crisis inherently racist? And what does housing have to do with it?
In our second episode, we explore the intrinsic link between climate breakdown and racial capitalism in the urban context of social housing and eco-gentrification across Europe.
🗓️ TBD
📍 Online on Zoom
Stay tuned for more details soon!
In our first episode, we uncover the transformative potential of climate justice and intersectionality approaches to the climate crisis. As we look back on the history of climate justice and its roots in Black liberation movements, we begin to explore the relevance that these approaches have in today’s fight for a just world, and how BIPOC communities in Europe are developing real solutions to respond to the disproportionate impacts of climate breakdown. From here, we can begin to make the necessary shift from ‘climate change’ towards an intersectional climate justice perspective.
Speakers
Samia Dumbuya (she/they) is a freelance consultant, facilitator and community organiser focusing on community and movement building for climate justice. They are also currently a Master’s student at UCL studying MSc Sustainable Resources: Economics, Policy and Transitions observing the flow and availability of global natural resources using tools from multiple disciplines, such as economics, political science, environmental science, engineering and more. Samia’s background is centring community care and empowerment in their professional experience. They co-authored Towards Climate Justice: Rethinking the European Green Deal from a Racial Justice Perspective, a project led by Equinox: Initiative for Racial Justice. Samia has the drive to weave different approaches led by communities and green organisations to eliminate silos, as working in silos brings us further away from climate justice.
Winta Berhe (they/them) is a climate justice organizer with a background organising with the climate movement in Germany. Currently, they are actively involved with an anti-fascist and anti-racist group in Frankfurt, Germany. Their work prioritises climate justice education and the establishment of accessible community spaces led by and for BIPOC activists. Their work is driven by an abolitionist and system-change perspective that prioritises fostering global collaboration between Black, indigenous, and communities of colour in both the Global North and South to mobilise around climate justice.
Nani Jansen Reventlow (she/her) is an internationally recognised human rights lawyer specialised in strategic litigation at the intersection of human rights, social justice, and technology. She is the founder of Systemic Justice, a new organisation that seeks to radically transform how the law works for communities fighting for racial, social, and economic justice. Previously, Nani founded and built the Digital Freedom Fund, where she initiated a decolonising process for the digital rights field. She is Adjunct Professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, an Associate Tenant at Doughty Street Chambers, and has been an Ashoka Fellow since 2021.
Live video recording of Episode 1
We launched our inaugural episode at the Othering & Belonging conference held in Berlin on 27 October 2023. You can watch the live video recording of the episode on our YouTube channel or below.
We will be covering the following topics in our series:
Episode 3: Climate and place
Episode 4: Climate and migration
Episode 5: Climate and disability
Episode 6: Climate and youth activism
We are also launching a podcast soon to continue having these conversations, so stay tuned!
Introducing our moderator for the series
Samie Blasingame is the Creative Director of Food in my Kiez, sits on the board of Greenbuzz Berlin with whom she runs the #FeedingBerlin series, and organises with the Berlin-based climate and environmental justice collective, Black Earth. Her work and political ethos revolve around community building and collective imaginations toward a just and resilient future.
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