At-Risk Communities and Climate Justice

Whereas it is critical to dismantle theoretical claims about long-term anthropogenic climate change damaging everyone without discrimination that discount the realities about short-term global warming, there are a number of very real and tangible avenues that communities of color, such as that of Gulfport, Mississippi, and small developing countries, including the Maldives, can pursue to effect substantial change and curb the treacherous effects of climate change in their areas. These go beyond emphasizing to other communities and national leaders the sociocultural significance of maintaining their lands—such as by detailing the religious rites and rituals that have taken place in the waters of Turkey Creek, as Derrick Evans chooses to do in many interviews and publications, and by Mohamed Nasheed’s explanations that climate change, in the business-as-usual scenario, will wipe out his nation, leaving its residents climate refugees and speakers of a soon-to-be lost language.


Instead, Evans demonstrates that finding impactful allies can be crucial in bringing in communal and monetary support for issues at hand. Effective allies, however, may be both powerful individuals and media outlets that will reach a wide array of people. For example, Evans regularly interviews with news sources, such as the Atlantic and the Daily Show, to galvanize the wide-reaching audiences of each media outlet. Additionally, Nasheed wisely allows documentarians and news crews to join him in his daily work regimens for the same purpose. This works both to assist Turkey Creek and the Maldives in continuing to survive and thrive, as well as to encourage viewers to take action in their own regions, where anthropogenic climate change may be also bringing in real damage. Evans and Nasheed make the problem relevant to everyone through their stories, and serve to encourage other fighters, along the way.
This is critical, because Nasheed often mentions that the Maldives face a global problem: The perpetrators of climate change are widespread and diverse, but the victims are concentrated in particular regions. Thus, even if his publicity work and activism only encourage people to take the coal-fired power plants out of their own neighborhoods, they still can dramatically better the situation of people across the world. The above is a rather optimistic view of the somber reality facing Nasheed, that people often won’t care when they don’t face the negative repercussions of their actions, and when the perpetrators are literally everyone alive. Unlike Turkey Creek, which faces more localized problems, such as chemical dumps and hazardous materials strewn about even their golf courses, and where a fight for climate justice can pick very particular enemies to start, the Maldives face the entire world of carbon emitters against them.
Overall, the lessons that Evans and Nasheed ultimately bring to the proverbial table of climate justice activists are centered around a single key: finding allies. Be those allies the Audubon Society, which are similarly stakeholders in the safety of Turkey Creek, even if for very different reasons (e.g. the wildlife community, rather than that of people of color), or news sources which appreciate important stories and will share them across the nation and the world, they are of such great help to galvanize a wide array of people in support of such communities. Nasheed emphasizes that working with other nations and communities, even when they face dramatically different economic and social repercussions from climate change, is still almost always a great help for his own cause. This is because the fight against climate change is universal. Even though different communities face unique disadvantages from climate change, everyone can help in the process, nonetheless. Finding allies brings in many new fiscal and organizational resources, and loads of excited people to help in the process, whether they’re located in the Maldives, Mississippi, or even Denmark. In a fight for our world, Evans and Nasheed make clear that we need everyone to roll their sleeves up and get to work—and they’ll participate in whatever political dinners, academic panels, or TV specials necessary to make that happen.

Works Cited

Goodman, Amy, and Mohamed Nasheed. "Climate Hero & Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed Gets U.K. Asylum After Ouster & Jailing." Democracy Now! New York, New York, 3 June 2016. Radio. Transcript.
The Island President. Dir. Jon Shenk. Samuel Goldwyn Films, 2011. DVD.
Kornhaber, Spencer. "The Apolitical Politics of the Celebrity Hurricane Telethon." The Atlantic. The Atlantic, 13 Sept. 2017. Web.
Zaitchik, Alexander. “After the Deluge: Building Climate Justice from the Wreckage of Hurricane Katrina.” New Republic, 25 June 2015, newrepublic.com/article/122131/after-deluge-building-climate-justice-wreckage -katrina.