As a teenage climate activist of colour, I'm tired of being ignored by the world

Too often in social justice campaigns, it is the minorities – workers, people of colour, young people– who are often forgotten, despite them being the backbone of our society

On Friday 20 September, 350,000 people – myself included – took to the streets to protest the government’s inaction on the climate crisis in the UK, joined by millions more as part of the global climate strike. A week later, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets again in Montreal. But the aftermath of the demonstrations revealed an ugly side of the movement: indigenous demonstrators were subjected to racial discrimination, including verbal and physical abuse.

Clearly, the climate action movement is not immune to whitewashing. Such oppression should be at odds with the targets we're working towards. But as an activist who has encountered political and social opinions from across the spectrum, it's apparent that the absence of true climate justice is often missing in people’s perceptions of a solution to the climate crisis.

You see, we can’t solve this issue without acknowledging some of the biggest factors that have driven the acceleration of climate change. Colonisation, wherein western nations invaded countries prominently in the global south, did not just ruin countless people’s lives and homes all in the facade of "helping" them. It facilitated mass oppression, exploitation and abuse, using land, resources and labourers to the advantage of colonisers. In the name of power and wealth, places were emaciated, rivers destroyed, while rainforests, mangroves and more were ruined to make way for roads and railways.

And now, although these countries contribute the least to carbon emissions – the whole continent of Africa is only responsible for a mere 3 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions – they will be disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change.

The historic oppression of countries in the global south was largely caused by countries in the west, and for people in those countries to continue this oppression by silencing the voices of minority activists beggars belief. Have we not learnt from our disastrous history? Whole countries have had their development stunted for what seems like an eternity because of such actions and yet the same patterns of silencing are deployed.

People in the global south have been warning us about this for centuries. They have been taking as much action as they can, yet we have stalked on with our superiority complex, refusing to take heed of their words.

Now it’s recognised, at least in part, that we’re running out of time. The UK has legislated that we are to reach carbon net zero by 2050, showing that the climate crisis has forced the government to pay attention. But this is not enough.

We need climate justice. We have already stripped entire nations of their assets and therefore we have a historic debt to protect these countries, for we may have stunted their means to deal with it, but we as the world’s fifth largest economy have the capacity to put in place measures to save us all.

The UK government needs to implement a Green New Deal, a rapid 10-year government-led mobilisation to rapidly phase out fossil fuels, while also solving the massive issue of inequality. It will involve protecting and restoring vital threatened habitats in the UK and across the world, educating our public through reforming the curriculum and making information about the climate crisis accessible to all through initiatives like government information schemes, creating millions of well-paid, secure jobs and making sure that both we and the global south are equipped to deal with the already inevitable effects of climate change, and to shield us all from the consequences we can still prevent.

This needn't serve as "white saviourism", or the "Empire 2.0". If we make sure that the autonomy of countries is respected, we can ensure that we do not silence or force our ideals on countries without their approval. A repeat of Montreal cannot occur. The damages of forced aid through colonisation have been documented. With that in mind, I cannot stress enough the need to highlight the voices of underrepresented communities. Activists from ethnic minority backgrounds will not be silenced, for we will never have a universal solution to climate change without everyone’s input.

Too often in social justice campaigns, it is the minorities – workers, people of colour, young people– who are often forgotten, despite them being the backbone of our society. We must ensure that the same does not apply to the climate action movement in the UK and all over the world, so that everyone can see themselves reflected in this fight for our futures. We may be able to discriminate against each other as human beings, but the impending threat of climate change will not. Therefore, it is imperative that we put aside our prejudices to unite for climate justice.