I’ve spent six years writing about environmental justice. The uncomfortable truth is that we’re not all in it together – but people power is reshaping the fight
It’s been another year of climate chaos and inadequate political action. And it’s hard not to feel despondent and powerless.
I joined the Guardian full time in 2019, as the paper’s first environmental justice correspondent, and have reported from across the US and the region over the past six years. It’s been painful to see so many families – and entire communities – devastated by fires, floods, extreme heat, sea level rise and food shortages. But what’s given me hope during these six years of reporting as both an environmental and climate justice reporter are the people fighting to save our planet from catastrophe – in their communities, on the streets and in courtrooms across the world.
I have always tried to use a justice and equity lens in my journalism on the causes, impacts and solutions relating to the climate crisis. For me, that has meant telling the stories of people who are often ignored or sidelined despite their lived experience and expertise – especially Indigenous people, protesters, activists and local communities fighting back. I have also tried to examine how the climate crisis intersects with – and often exacerbates – other forms of inequity, such as economic inequality, racism, misogyny, land struggles and unequal access to housing and healthcare. The uncomfortable truth is that we are not all in this together. We didn’t all contribute to the climate crisis equally, we’re not all feeling its impacts equally and we don’t all have equal access to resources that might help us cope with or even solve it.
