Elizabeth Wright shares an eye opening and hard hitting excerpt regarding accessibility in the climate movement, and questions how climate adaptation can be more inclusive to disabled people (Wright, 2020). She raises important points that as an able bodied person I had not considered before. I think about the sustainable behaviours I am able to do and feel good about, I took up cycling this summer and tracked over 1300 km before putting my bike away for the winter. I primarily eat a plant based diet. My group of friends and I regularly walk to one of three nearby farmers markets on the weekends. My kitchen drawers are nearly overflowing with metal straws, reusable bags, and other “eco goods” that I often receive as gifts because my friends and family know I value sustainability. And still I feel guilty about the many other things I don’t do, recognizing that I am lucky to have the ability and access to live a more sustainable lifestyle. I cant imagine the emotional and mental toil it would take if you were wanting to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle and were simply unable to. Further, recognizing that the climate change movement can be inaccessible, and that natural disasters that come with a changing climate leave disabled individuals at a much higher risk, climate adaptation should be much more inclusive. 

Reflecting from my sit spot, and thinking back to the CALS 501 Design Thinking Challenge and how it is just as important to think about who is in the room versus who is not. Understanding that in many ways the ability to participate in climate action is a privilege, and that finding ways to remove barriers to include those who want to participate could likely provide otherwise missing insight to the conversation. Rallo (2019) shares that “accessible design increases peoples quality of life” which makes me think about the things we take for granted day to day, and how pivotal well thought out design can potentially be to encourage those who can to adapt behaviours to increase sustainability, and to include those who have been excluded previously.

My balcony is no longer full of flowers and life, instead a thin layer of frost is detectable from the night before and my bike is hibernating under a tarp. Theres still a few dried up stalks of bee balm sticking out of one flower pot that I planted it to try to attract ruby throated hummingbirds but never ended up seeing any visit. My mind wanders to another type of hummingbird that is so specialized in its tropical niche that it only feeds from one type of flower- which in turn also relies on it solely for its pollination. This trait matching behaviour can be risky ecologically speaking, if one species goes the other is sure to follow. However each species is so perfectly adapted and physically designed to be compatible with the other they live harmoniously. So in terms of climate action, and accessibility is there a way to engineer or tailor accessible environmentalism towards people with disabilities who may not be able to participate in conventional ways? 

Dr Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson often shares a strategy in the podcast “How to Save a Planet” that she co created which involves creating a three way Venn diagram to determine your individual best course of climate action for those who ask how to make a difference (Johnson & Blumberg, 2020-present) . The three sections are What are you good at? What brings you joy? What work is there that needs doing? This approach allows the individual to narrow down their individual potential and a starting point for how to be involved in the climate movement.

References

Johnson, A. E., & Blumberg, A. (Hosts). (2020- Present). Gimlet [Audio Podcast]. How to save a planet. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet

Rallo, A., Forest, E., Kuo, J., Boutilier, R., and Li, E. (2019). Access Ability 2: A practical handbook on accessible graphic design. Revised + Supersized Second Edition. The Association of Registered Graphic Designers. https://www.rgd.ca/database/files/library/RGD_AccessAbility2_Handbook_2019_06_01(1).pdf

Wright, E. (2020). Climate Change, Disability, and Eco-Ableism: Why we need to be inclusive to save the planet. UX Collective. https://uxdesign.cc/climate-change-disability-and-eco-ableism-why-we-need-to-be-inclusive-when-trying-to-save-the-88bb61e82e4e