I often find myself thinking about the disconnect that exists between social justice and environmental justice in Kenya. I notice it everywhere. On News outlets, when African leaders in the climate space are speaking and in climate conversations. Not many of us bring in regular folks, and I find myself having to interject conversations with: “How is this environmental issue affecting the people who live around this area? Let’s also think of the workers and how going green in this organization is going to affect them”. 

The formula of these conversations is the same.

Identify Environmental Issue + Present a Greener Solution = Climate Action

I’d like to clarify that this is not because people don’t care or I’m the only one who does. Rather, many people in this space have been taught to approach the climate crisis this way. The problem with framing climate action solely as 'going green,' in my opinion, is that it often reflects the safest, most privileged, and, perhaps, least impactful approach, dare I say - lazy route.

It is safe. It doesn’t ruffle feathers. It is immoral at this point and borderline crazy to say you like plastic or synthetic fabric because everyone is on board with the idea of saving the planet. Even the largest oil producers—like the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—have committed to going green and promised to completely switch their operations to renewable and nuclear energy by a certain year, whilst ironically still exporting their oil to oil-dependent countries. Coca-Cola, for example, is still lying about its recycling efforts, which disproportionately harm marginalized communities. When we make the end goal of “going green,” we enable climate delayers and may never get the job done.

It is a privilege. There’s a reason why regular folks in Kenya don't bother with climate change. It is a nonissue because the discussions are centered around using less plastic when everything they buy comes wrapped in colorful –overly branded–plastic. The less disposable income you have, the more companies market the most minuscule products to cash in on low-income markets, leaving people with no other choice but to use these products for survival. It is a nonissue because our government dumps all of the city’s waste right at the doorstep of low-income communities’ homes without proper waste disposal measures yet ironically prioritizes cleaning the Nairobi River as a climate initiative. It is a nonissue because the discussion panel on the News is about the cooling industry going green by using refrigerators and air conditioning as if a majority of Kenyans aren’t struggling to put food on the table.

A guy named Luke once commented on a piece of my content: “Climate change measures are a luxury for wealthy people and gentrified Africans like yourself. Why should I care about climate change when billionaires like Bezos are flying jets and I only use a jiko (portable charcoal burning stove)?”. As the kids say, Luke ate me up. We climate change “warriors” have managed to alienate the person who’ll be first and most affected by the climate crisis from the conversation, and it’s shameful.

It is lazy. Addressing climate change from a climate justice perspective begs us to dig up old bones. Climate justice recognizes the abstract violence of climate change. It forces everyone to do actual hard work for a just transition. For corporations, it means addressing low wages, employee safety, and rights. Why would they change those things if they disrupt profit margins? For the government, it means addressing housing and food systems. Why would the government fully engage in these programs if it means less money for corruption? And for the world, it means actually addressing the unequal, exploitive relationship between the Global North and the Global South all the way back to the dawn of colonization. Why would they do this if it means not getting minerals for next to nothing and taking accountability for the position the Global South is in? 

Climate justice also warrants in-depth research and endlessly keeping up with current events and pattern recognition. It challenges the capitalist culture we’ve been duped to partake in whilst millions have their rights violated. 

Congo, Tech, and the Climate Crisis

I’m grateful I stumbled upon the climate world by accident from a climate justice perspective in the late months of 2023. 

So I was doom scrolling on TikTok, frying my attention span, and the algorithm gods brought Sage Lenier, a Climate Justice thought leader to my for you page. She was speaking at the largest tech summit about the exploitation of minerals in Congo and Child Labour. With the hashtag #FREECONGO. I was following the Congo situation at the time, and with all the devastating news, I felt hopeless, and all I could do was repost videos. It didn’t feel like the world was listening. It felt like the world wasn’t listening. It still does, to be honest. Then here came Sage–offering a solution that directly pointed at the people and corporations intentionally causing the destruction and in Congo for cheap materials and labor – giving me the agency to make changes in my personal life that wouldn't be harmful to others, like buying second-hand and not glamourizing overconsumption. Beyond personal responsibility, which to me comes second to exploitative corporations’ responsibility, she talked about the concept of a circular economy.

Through climate justice, Sage connected a real and pressing issue that people in my community are going through with the violent reality of the climate crisis. This is how you make regular folks who think matters of climate change are a “privileged African thing” care about the climate crisis. 

The situation in Congo is getting worse by the day. While tech companies are still creating more electronic devices than needed, more Congolese people are dying and displaced by the day. As I write this, Rwandan-backed rebels, M23, are occupying more towns in Congo so that electric vehicle corporations acquiring child-labor blood minerals can receive pats on their backs for “championing climate change.” In the process, forest lands are being cleared, and water sources that the locals depend on are being poisoned.

We demand a greener world but for who and at what cost? Surely, this can’t be how we “save” the world, is it?

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