I grew up in a close community around organizers and I spent a lot of time at community centres. I was always interested in environmentalism but mainstream, colonial, environmentalism is super white and classist. But, in the process of decolonizing my understanding of environmentalism, I learned that I’ve known climate justice advocates my entire life.

A lot of BIPOC, recent migrants, low-income people practice low and local consumption, reuse and repurpose, advocate for food, land, and racial justice, advocate for better public transit and other public services; this comes out of survival rather than trendiness.

Those most affected by the climate crisis contribute the least and even the most environmentally aware folks in an industrialized nation still contribute a disproportionate amount because of the way our society is built. This is because the biggest indicator of individual ecological impact is income and wealth, which is related to systemic oppressions like racism, settler-colonialism, capitalism, cis-hetero-patriarchy, ableism. These major systemic issues cannot be solved on an individual level and that is what motivated me to get involved with community action.

For me, the challenge at the beginning with COVID-19 was navigating space for crisis, panic, despair, burnout and grief in the community. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve integrated more regular conversations about addressing and preventing burnout and how systems of oppression block access for some to healthcare and other services, not only during the pandemic but historically. That’s really shifted my view on how I show-up and contribute towards sustaining a community that can support each other through these experiences.

Despite the challenges, I’ve found a lot of comfort during this time in community organizing and working together in a way that can be healing. I’ve also learned more about mutual aid; including that “mutual aid projects are distinguished from philanthropic-driven charity and simple generosity by four main principles: self-organization, egalitarianism, direct action, and the desire for social transformation.”

COVID-19 has also impacted the logistical side of our organizing. For example, we’ve completely transitioned to digital or remote meetings. For those with transportation barriers, our meetings are now more accessible, however, for those with digital access barriers, our meetings are now less accessible.

There isn’t a moment or an individual we have to wait for to create the society we want to live in. If we want to build a better future for ourselves we can do that right now starting with building community accountability.

I learned a lot about mutual aid from our collaboration with Scarborough Mutual Aid and they have a really wonderful breakdown in their Linktree about the principles of mutual aid. I also learnt about addressing burnout with a justice lens in an organizational space and community-led grassroots food justice.

At Climate Justice Toronto and Climate Justice Scarborough, this looked like our Black and Indigenous solidarity and care fundraiser. Initially this started off as our members setting up care packages for our Black and/or Indigenous members. But after re-assessing the situation, we found that we should expand our fundraising efforts to support things like rent, food, therapy, and culturally-appropriate support. The fact that we started with a goal of collecting $1,500 and have now passed $25,000 shows that people are interested in mutual aid and climate justice.

Climate Justice Scarborough is grassroots, and we’re not a charity or registered non-profit. We’ve had small-scale successful fundraisers, but that alone could never be enough to undo the systemic oppressions causing the climate crisis and social inequities. To have enough support to aid our major goal of ‘climate justice for all’, we need more folks with privilege committed to organizing for dismantling and disrupting the systems of oppression that they benefit from.

To support our work the public/organizations/governments could listen to BIPOC climate justice organizers. Right now, the Canadian government is not addressing the climate crisis in a meaningful way. For example, during the pandemic, Canada committed ten times the G20 average of additional support for fossil fuels. What the public can do is join a grassroots organization and hold the government accountable for a just recovery from the climate crisis and the global pandemic.

1. Climate Justice Scarborough Linktree + Climate Justice Toronto Linktree links to meetings, actions, fundraisers and how to get involved.
2. Fundraiser by 1492 Land Back Lane : 1492 Land Back Lane – Legal Fund
3. Today Divest Canada Collision released a letter calling on Canadians universities to:

• • Divest from the past
  • Reject false solutions
  • Invest in the future.

If you are interested in getting involved with Climate Justice organizing or learning more about it, please join us now! We’re up against powerful forces and we need everyone who wants “justice for all” to get involved.