Note from our organizer

By Lauren Ballesteros-Watanabe, Oʻahu Group Program Manager

Living in the surreal context of a global pandemic, mass uprisings and militarized police, a contemptuous national election, gross wealth inequality, while the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing its hottest year on record; it is more clear than ever that each of these are intimately connected. Structural violence and environmental collapse are a part of the same system. But rather than start with gloom and doom, I will choose truth and solutions. When we recognize that the systems were built this way, reform is not enough, the only answer is radical transformation—it is what is needed. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reset. Thank you, 2020. 

Lifting the Veils

If you don’t already consider the climate crisis one of the greatest crimes against humanity, you should. All individual humans cause climate change. But our flights, our cars, our plastic straws, did not cause the climate crisis. The climate crisis, where we only have a few years left to urgently decarbonize society before we reach irreversible catastrophic warming, was caused by a few rich and powerful humans who made the conscious decision to engage in a coordinated campaign of deceit instead of owning up to the inconvenient truths of scientists. Their profits and shareholders mattered more. They knew, they lied, and they continue; so instead of 41 years to halve society’s carbon emissions, we only have eleven.

Like climate change, some say that COVID-19 was predicted. And the cover up may be just as insidious. Official guidelines for pandemic preparedness and response from the World Health Organization, highlights disease experts issuing warnings for years. One lab in Wuhan even warned of the very viruses that spawned COVID-19. No one did anything. In the US, which has far more cases and deaths than any other country, the Obama administration notably left a 69-page pandemic playbook. The morning after Trump’s inauguration, it was taken down from the White House website. The epic failure to act on COVID-19 that has taken place nationwide is having devastating consequences on every facet of our lives. Not surprisingly, data shows that the brunt of this burden is being born disproportionately by Black, Indigenous, and communities of color; women in particular. 

The Dark Underbelly 

The twin crises of COVID-19 and climate share evil parents: colonialism and capitalism. They are the result of centuries of pillage and plunder for profits by the hands of white supremacy. Our systems are built this way. Sierra Club has made bold statements about the inextricable link between racism, colonization, and dehumanization in our social and planetary degradation. The Club has also been frank about its own history of white supremacy that cost indigenous peoples their land and way of life in its foundation ideologies. 

Systemic racism persists as the backbone of corporate power and industrialized systems. You cannot ignore or separate the two because they touch every facet of our lives—from where we live, how we live, and what we eat. 

What about us?  

Fortunately, Hawaiʻi has not seen as high cases as the rest of the U.S. However, like elsewhere, the disproportionate impact on frontline communities of color; it just looks a little different. Nevertheless, the pandemic has highlighted the fundamental difference in how society and government protects life; from unequal access to services and medical attention, the legislature's “rainy day” fund of federal relief money, and our equally dysfunctional criminal justice system. The solution to addressing disproportionate impacts cannot be about equity alone, our demand is liberation. Hawaiʻi’s historical and present relationship with extractive capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy is boiling beneath the surface of our institutions and systems just like the rest of the world.  

The source of the pandemic is the result of a much larger, global phenomenon of environmental degradation. Epidemiologists focused on planetary health - the examination of the relationship between human health with conditions and exposures originating outside the body - are clear about what needs to be done. An emerging body of research suggests that land use change is the “most significant driver of wildlife, domestic animal, and human emerging infectious disease. More specifically, the “increasing demand for meat and meat products by human populations has made human contact with animals unprecedented.” Part of the solution must be to “conserve areas rich in wildlife diversity by reducing anthropogenic activity.”

Fixating can only get us so far, especially when you realize everything needs to change. One leap we must take is to put the politics of food production and land use at the very heart of our recovery to limit the impact of future pandemics, while also staving off mass extinction and mitigating climate change. We should fight to restructure our food systems and get serious about moving away from excessive consumption of carbon intensive foods.

Radical shifts are not made through individual actions alone, we must work towards dismantling and rebuilding. The Sierra Club has shared that “how we farm and what we eat can make a real difference for our climate future, and that knowledge should inform not only our personal choices but also our public policies.” It’s time to get out of our comfort food zone—dramatically increase our consumption of vegetables, fruit, healthy grains and plant protein while reducing our meat and dairy—and take an honest look at mainstream agricultural industries and its tie to the same toxic economic forces behind COVID-19 and climate. 

Everyday Resistance

Meeting the challenge of our lifetimes is not for the faint of heart. But certainly the futures of our loved ones, our children, and grandchildren are a good motivation. And if COVID-19 taught us one thing, it’s when humanity unites behind a cause anything is possible. First, we need to integrate humanity back into our systems. We make a series of choices everyday that have power and influence. Making conscious, moral, and ethical decisions in what you do and say moving forward is absolutely essential. Deep reflection, active listening and a commitment to anti-racist practices in all you do. As a woman of color, trust me—I don’t feel I have a pass on this; we were raised in racist systems and it takes time to decolonize your mind. We are what we repeatedly do, so start new habits. 

Courageous actions are born from our willingness to sacrifice comfort and stability for the sake of a cause that is greater than themselves. I learned of a quote recently by Mahatma Gandhi, that serendipitously entered my consciousness.  “Silence becomes cowardice when the occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”

Capitalism, systemic racism, and colonialism infiltrates every fiber of our being. I invite you to ask yourself about the ways you have internalized them. Follow it up with, what does everyday resistance look like for me? What role will I play? 

This moment requires imagination and meaningful commitments to bold transformation. Every voice speaking whole truths and not wavering from our discomfort. The real truth is that we inherited a system that does not serve us, where decision-making is led by businesses, government, and corporations that gain from this exclusion. Let’s use this moment as our once-in-a-century opportunity to be heard, to evolve, and reclaim our humanity. 

As an organizer, third generation working class woman of color, with a biracial daughter, I feel this transformation deep in my bones. It’s what I’ve been waiting for. If you are feeling extra generous, read some of my poetry for more.