{"id":254,"date":"2021-06-05T16:08:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-05T23:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/?p=254"},"modified":"2021-06-05T16:08:10","modified_gmt":"2021-06-05T23:08:10","slug":"system-change-not-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/system-change-not-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSystem Change, not Climate Change\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anthropogenic climate change is an \u201cintensification of colonially-induced environmental change\u201d (Whyte, 2017, as cited in Gram-Hanssen et al., 2021, p.2). As is illustrated by&nbsp; the preceding quote, Gram-Hanssen et al. (2021) argued that climate change can be viewed as a function of colonialism. They asserted that to address the continuing oppression of Indigenous people under colonialism <em>and <\/em>to address climate change, society needs to undergo a transformation. Those who do not look at climate change as a problem stemming from colonialism are apt to come up with superficial &#8211; rather than transformational &#8211;&nbsp; solutions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think that framing climate change as a symptom of colonialism is the right way to look at the problem and will bring society to better solutions. In <em>Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System<\/em>, Matthews (1999) introduced the idea of leverage points, which, as the title suggests, are places interventions can be made to effect changes in a system; the bigger the leverage point, the greater the effect. Matthews listed a hierarchy of leverage points. The second-most effective leverage point listed was \u201cthe mindset or paradigm out of which the system arises\u201d (Matthews, 1999, p.17). In striving to make change, a highly-effective leverage point to exploit is a paradigm shift or, in other words, a<em> transformation<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was excited to see Matthews\u2019 (1999) ideas come to life in Gram-Hanssen et al.\u2019s (2021) work, whether intentional or not. The confluence of these ideas can be summed up with a popular slogan on signs at climate protests: \u201cSystem Change, not Climate Change\u201d. We need to make a huge societal change \u2013 a transformation away from colonialism \u2013 to effectively deal with climate change. We need this decolonial transformation not just because it is a good thing in its own right, but because it is also a high-leverage point through which we can effect great change and steer ourselves towards a safer climate. Reading the two pieces, I could almost feel Matthews, Gram-Hanssen et al., and climate protestors around the world nodding their heads in agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gram-Hanssen, I., Schafenacker, N., &amp; Bentz, J. (2021). Decolonizing transformations through \u2018right relations.\u2019 <em>Sustainability Science<\/em>, <em>(20210507)<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11625-021-00960-9\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11625-021-00960-9<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meadows, D. (1999). Leverage points: places to intervene in a system. <em>The Sustainability Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anthropogenic climate change is an \u201cintensification of colonially-induced environmental change\u201d (Whyte, 2017, as cited in Gram-Hanssen et al., 2021, p.2). As is illustrated by&nbsp; the preceding quote, Gram-Hanssen et al. (2021) argued that climate change can be viewed as a function of colonialism. They asserted that to address the continuing oppression of Indigenous people under [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":959,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cals501"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/hsandergreen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}