Social Justice

Here is a map of the world.  Without being told, you could probably guess what the map represents, because we have seen this pattern so many times.   The actual title is “Countries of the World, based on GDP per capita 2018”.  You don’t need a legend to determine the significance of each colour on the map.  This configuration of colours, this economic reality has existed for hundreds of years.  Given that we all know this to be the essential map of global inequalities, can we imagine a world where this situation remains the same and yet we solve the environmental crisis?  What would it take to begin to address this global inequality?

Climate change is a symptom of a much greater problem.  And the problem is evident in the daily lives of most of the population of this planet.  There is a disparity in the quality of life between the Global North and the Global South, between individuals of the same societies and countries.  This disparity continues to grow despite our awareness that this situation is untenable.  At this point in time, it feels like the entire continent of South America is under siege…Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Argentina.  Citizens are constantly in the streets protesting living conditions and government abuses of power.  We are witness to the greatest human migration in our history, a phenomenon which is destructive on every level imaginable.  On close inspection, the vast majority of these conflicts are a result of outside powers intervening in their affairs seeking to overthrow governments that are not open to their requests.  This battle for land and ideologies has been going on for a long, long time.  And if left to continue, will not end well.  Once again, there are many of us who know why this is happening.  Any solutions will need to address this long term pattern and provide a way for us to disentangle from this aspect of our history. 

            So, climate change, social justice.  Unrelated?  Absolutely not.  Any solution has to address these two aspects of the same problem.

Next up, tales of the past, for how can we know where we are going if we don’t know where we’ve been?