Working on Racism and the Climate Crisis
Over the past few years, I’ve been listening to and asking questions of my friends in Peru about what the climate crisis has been like for them. The whole ecosystem there has been changing. Traditional modes of irrigation are not working due to excessive melting of glaciers. Periodic torrential rains have caused serious flooding. The climate in the Andes Mountains has become increasingly cold, and people don’t have central heating. In 2016 a sudden drop in temperature killed tens of thousands of alpacas. I don’t understand it all, but I listen and express concern. I have collected warm coats and blankets that I will bring on my next trip there. I have also invited several friends to take RC fundamentals classes (in Spanish), and one has continued in the RC Community.
I went to Puerto Rico with a friend after the 2020 earthquakes to support the many people in her community whose homes had been damaged or destroyed, in part by the effects of climate change. We brought some material aid, but my main role was as a concerned listener from outside.
Locally, in my hometown of Chicago (Illinois, USA), I have been trying to figure out how to add working on the climate crisis to what I already do. I have recently become an open-water swimmer and swim regularly in Lake Michigan, the second largest of the Great Lakes. I met a Chinese woman who is trying to make open-water swimming an inclusive activity for all Chicagoans, especially those in the Black community, which has a low rate of swimming proficiency due to racism. She also hopes to organize open-water swimmers as an advocacy group for their interests, similar to how runners are organized. As the work progresses, I hope to include in it environmental issues, given that the Great Lakes hold twenty percent of the drinkable water in the world.
My main struggle is that everything I’ve done feels insignificant in addressing such huge problems. Writing this is a first step, and I hope to work more in Co-Counseling sessions on being pleased with myself and continuing forward.
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for white allies ending racism
(Present Time 205, October 2021)