The inequalities of climate change
The ongoing climate crisis affects all lives on this planet, but everyone isn’t equally affected. In 2020, for the first time since 1988, we’ve seen an increase in extreme poverty by 115 million people and towards the end of this year, the number of people suffering from food shortages is expected to have increased by 82%. This year has not only made us accept ‘the new normal’ but has also given us a good example of who will take the hardest hit in a global crisis - whether it’s a Corona pandemic or a climate crisis.
Food shortages, floods, droughts, and wars stemming from climate-related conflicts and the lack of resources, are expected to force millions of people to leave their homes in the coming decade.
Meanwhile, in another part of the world, American billionaires are investing in villas with extra protection from hurricanes and wildfires, and taxpayers' money is used to subsidize oil companies and coal mines. We live in a world with very obvious injustices; the tiny group of people who have built enormous wealth at the expense of the planet, the climate, and healthy and prosperous communities, are also the ones who will find it easiest to manage the effects of an unpredictable and changeable climate.
Climate change and socioeconomic background
But despite the fact that the climate crisis is very much an issue related to social class and background, it is rarely treated as such. Individuals on all social levels have a distorted perception of which social groups that are the main contributors to climate change. In my native Sweden, we like to pat ourselves on the back, and loud and often brag about being environmentalists as we are ‘the best in the world’ at recycling, spending time in nature, and thereby being environmentally friendly. At the same time, Swedes are expected to spend SEK 81.7 billion during this year's Christmas shopping, i.e., around SEK 7,894 per person (approx. 800€). How does this behavior correlate with our self-perception?
Environmentalist or skewed self-perception?
A discourse study of the residents in two Stockholm suburbs with different socio-economic backgrounds conducted by the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, shows that people with a lower socioeconomic background perceive their own lifestyle as less sustainable compared to people with a higher socioeconomic and Swedish background much due to the fact that the Swedes enjoy spending time in nature and are meticulously sorting and recycling their waste.
However, the reality is really quite the opposite. In contrast to individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, individuals from higher socioeconomic backgrounds consume more, have larger homes and fewer people per household, renovate more often, travel more often and longer distances — by both car and plane, and eat more meat and imported food. This behavior can obviously not be motivated nor compensated by recycling or spending time in nature.
This pattern can also be found on a global level. Western countries, led by the United States, often blame and shame nations such as China and India for their large emissions. Ironically, these countries’ emissions can, in fact, be largely attributed to production that is exported and consumed in the United States and Europe whom consequently should be attributed the responsibility of these emissions.
As a matter of fact, the working class in countries like China, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam, is working to produce things that no one really needs. But American and European consumers are brainwashed and manipulated by marketing and media into believing that shopping will make them happier — and especially if it’s a bargain! With continued growth and increased GDP as the modern world’s main goal, we continue to push prices at the expense of; local working conditions, land-grabbing, chemicals poisoning drinking water, dams put up for production advantages which displaced or dry out freshwater sources which affect and change local ecosystems and biological balances. These are only some of the consequences which above all, hit those who are already at the bottom of society’s pyramid hardest.
Inequalities based on gender
Women are the hardest hit, especially in unequal societies where they have the main responsibility for the home. Unlike men who primarily have paid employment — it is mainly women who grow crops and work as farmers. Women are consequently more dependent on natural resources and land for cultivation. But as land property usually is inherited from father to son, women are often left with less financial and natural resources. As a result, it is more difficult for women to influence and adapt to sudden changes in the climate when drought, floods, and extreme weather destroy or change the landscape of cultivated areas.
Furthermore, it’s mainly women who fetch firewood and water for the household. This becomes increasingly difficult and time-consuming when periods of drought are extended and as a consequence, young girls are taken out of school to help out at home. When they fall behind in their education, it also impairs their future opportunities to influence or change their future living situation. Women make up the majority of the world’s poor population, which makes them extra vulnerable.
Despite the fact that women around the world are taking the hardest hit in the ongoing climate crisis, women are generally living more sustainably compared to men. Women use fewer resources and live more frugally, they eat less meat than men, they grow more crops and use public transport more often than men. Frankly speaking, women compensate for men’s emission surplus.
Global power distribution
These gender injustices can also be identified in the global power system. There is still an extremely unfair distribution of power between the sexes in almost every nation in the world today. In 2020, it is still white men from a higher socioeconomic background who occupy most decision-making positions in power. Consequently, it is also men who have the choice and mandate to take a stand for inequalities, climate, global injustices and create change.
