Category: CALS 501

Developing Climate Hawks

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“Red-tailed Hawk Eyas at Nest” by TheBirdersReport.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

If you, like me, are early in your journey as a climate advocate, then you may be, what I consider myself to be, a ‘climate eyas’. A fledgling climate advocate, excited and energetic but also fearful of the unknown, lacking the necessary skills and knowledge to spread your wings and fly. If so, then I invite you to come along with me on a journey, one that I hope, through time and experience, will mature us into powerful and effective Climate Hawks, seasoned advocates engaged in climate action.

The term Climate Hawk emerged in 2010 when a climate change writer put a question to his readers, “What should we call people who care about climate change and clean energy?” (Roberts, 2010). In a later article Roberts describes why he thinks “being a climate hawk is not easy for anyone” (2018). If you want to test his argument, then I invite you to take a few minutes to try the Financial Times Climate Game.

A Climate Hawk is a fitting metaphor that captures the zeitgeist of living in a time where strength and wisdom are needed to make necessary hard choices. It’s increasingly appearing in news headlines signaling a political stance on climate change as distinct from values of environmentalism (Joselow & Caldwell, 2022, The Energy Mix, 2022, Waldman, 2021).

When I found out that about 42% of Americans reported feeling concerned and cautious about climate change (Leiserowitz et al., 2020), I realized that there are many other fledglings out there. Through my learnings in the MACAL program I know that engagement and education have the potential to advance our collective understanding of the science behind climate change and bring those who are simply concerned and cautious into the more ‘alarmed’ stage where they are more likely to support climate policy (Leiserowitz et al., 2020), a necessary progression for a maturing Climate Hawk.

We urgently need strong climate policies and related action.

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Pakistan floods: thousands of houses destroyed, roads are submerged. Qasim Berech/Oxfam

National climate change policies follow on from international agreements set through the coming together of the United Nations. However, the most recent of these, the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27), kicked off amid a swirl of controversy, and with the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, stating

“we’re on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator”

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres (Reuters, 2022)

For many people here in BC, who have been feeling the impacts first hand, this statement rings especially true. We need mature Climate Hawks to help work towards policy and action and one to watch here in BC is NDP leadership challenger Anjali Appadurai, who is helping to raise critical voices. Appadurai is challenging the establishment from within to do more to equitably address the impacts of climate change (The Energy Mix, 2022).

Appadurai is not alone. Criticism of the government’s handling of the 2021 wildfires, that destroyed the town of Lytton, continues from earlier criticism of the handling of events in 2017 and 2018 which resulted in an Emergency Management Memorandum of Understanding with First Nations.

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Lytton, BC, Wildfire 2021. Image by Antti Lipponen cc 2.0

After the renewed criticism, the Provincial Government has announced the creation of the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.

It’s a recognition of the fact that B.C. seems to have been hit harder than most other places in Canada by climate change

Premier David Eby (quoted by Hoekstra, 2022)

The Premier’s directive to Bowen Ma, the new Minister, is that the plan must establish Indigenous peoples as “true partners and leaders” (Eby, quoted by Hoekstra, 2022). This direction aligns with that of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which has taken a step towards Indigenous self determination by engaging Indigenous authors to include traditional knowledge in an assessment chapter led by them (Constable et al., 2021, P.2325).

Having passion and knowing what actions to take are necessary to becoming as effective as someone like Appadurai. However, action can be futile without the necessary educational foundation and there are many disinformation traps to watch out for. While much effort has gone into exposing sophisticated disinformation campaigns (UCS, 2015), they have not been dismantled. In addition to targeted disinformation there are still examples of fossil fuel companies implying that they are Environment and Social Governance (ESG) leaders. According to a Swiss consultancy survey, a quarter of companies worldwide are estimated to be engaging in greenwashing or green-hushing (Byrne, 2022).

An antidote to the disinformation traps is to direct people to the IPCC as the source of truth. The IPCC’s Climate Change 2021: Summary for All succinctly explains global warming as the human caused imbalance between incoming and outgoing solar energy due to the accumulating greenhouse gases. It describes advances in climate modeling that have improved the confidence in projections of increasing multiple extreme weather events, like the kind we’ve been experiencing in BC.

Using an analogy of time travel the Summary for All describes how Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) use a range of assumptions to create stories allowing us to visualize the resulting alternate futures (2021, Conners et al.).

Cartoon Cat Time Machine
Figure 1: Katherine Leitzel, Summary for all P.9 cc-nc

Despite the friendly cartoons (Figure 1) it does not sugar coat the facts.

Global warming will continue until at least about 2050 before temperatures can stabilize

Conners et al., 2021, P.9

The key learning is that we’re already locked into a certain amount of warming. This means we need to navigate through adaptation and mitigation options and balance actions with sustainability goals (Schipper et. Al., 2022, P.2666).

Engaging in Climate Change action gets complicated quickly and so continuous learning is important to the maturing Climate Hawk. Once you’re ready to move beyond the basics you’ll be ready for the technical reports which explain how balancing climate resilient development, the kind that includes transformational, equitable, and sustainable adaptation actions, alongside strong mitigation measures, greatly increases our chances of addressing the escalating impacts equitably (IPCC, 2022).

The IPCC has made learning the facts relatively straight forward but taking action, like developing adaptation plans, is much harder. A Climate Hawk should not feel like they have to know it all or do it all. Climate Services have emerged to provide assistance with developing climate strategies and adaptation plans (Canada, 2021). An example is the Northwest Territories Climate Strategy which includes a simple illustration (Figure 2) that describes how competing goals intersect (GNWT, nd) .

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Figure 2 GNWT interconnected goals across strategies (GNWT, (nd), p. 22)

It’s a fact that, by achieving immediate and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, we could slow down global warming and, while not immediate, we could stabilize temperatures within twenty years (Conners et al., 2021). The challenge requires an enormous number of Climate Hawks working together. This brings us to another trait of maturity. The ability to build strong networks. We can do this by setting aside perceived value differences to engage and learn from each other and combine our strengths. If this concept resonates with you, or you have alternative ideas, I invite you to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

References

British Columbia. Office of the Premier. News Release. New cabinet ready to take action on cost of living, health care, housing, climate. 2022, Dec. 7. https://archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/news_releases_2020-2024/2022PREM0097-001863.htm

Byrne, D. (2022, Oct. 26). What is green-hushing? Corporate Governance Institute.  https://www.thecorporategovernanceinstitute.com/insights/lexicon/what-is-green-hushing/

Connors, S., Berger, S., Péan, C., Bala, G., Caud, N., Chen, D., Edwards, T., Fuzzi, S., Yew Gan, T., Gomis, M., Hawkins, E., Jones, R., Kopp, R., Leitzell, K., Lonnoy, E., Maraun, D., Masson-Delmotte, V., Maycock, T., Pirani, A., Ranasinghe, R., Rogelj, J., Ruane, A.C., Szopa, S., Zhai, P.  (2021, Nov. 15). Climate Change 2021: Summary for All. Version 2. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/outreach/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SummaryForAll.pdf

Constable, A.J., S. Harper, J. Dawson, K. Holsman, T. Mustonen, D. Piepenburg, and B. Rost, 2022: Cross-Chapter Paper 6: Polar Regions. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 2319–2368, doi:10.1017/9781009325844.023. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_CCP6.pdf

Government of Canada (2021, Dec. 17). About the Canadian Centre for Climate Services. Canadian Centre for Climate Services. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/canadian-centre-climate-services.html

Government of Canada. (2022, Jan. 20). CMIP6 and Shared Socio-economic Pathways overview. Canadian Climate Data and Scenarios (CCDS). https://climate-scenarios.canada.ca/?page=cmip6-overview-notes#shared-socio-economic-pathways(ssps)

Government of Northwest Territories. [No Date]. 2030 NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework. https://www.enr.gov.nt.ca/sites/enr/files/resources/128-climate_change_strategic_framework_web.pdf

Hoekstra, G., (2022-Dec. 7). Premier David Eby creates new ministry to make sure B.C. is ‘ready to go’ for next disaster. Vancouver Sun. https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/david-eby-announces-bc-emergency-management-climate-ministry.

Indigenous Services Canada (2019). Emergency Management MOU _ British Columbia Assembly of First Nations. https://www.bcafn.ca/emergency-management-MOU

IPCC. (2022, Dec.). Sixth Assessment Report. Working Group II – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Fact Sheet – North America. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/outreach/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FactSheet_NorthAmerica.pdf

Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., & Rosenthal, S. (2020). Global warming’s six Americas. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/about/projects/global-warmings-six-americas/

Lindwall, C., 2022, July 20. IPCC Climate Change Reports: Why They Matter to Everyone on the Planet. NRDC. [Web Page]. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/ipcc-climate-change-reports-why-they-matter-everyone-planet#:~:text=How%20many%20scientists%20contributed%20to,than%2066%2C000%20peer%2Dreviewed%20studies.

Reuters. (2022, Nov. 7). We’re on highway to climate hell, says U.N. chief Guterres at #COP27 climate summit. [YouTube]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UlixqYuQAI

Roberts, D. (2010, Oct. 22). Introducing ‘Climate Hawks’. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/10/introducing-climate-hawks/

Roberts, D. (2010, Oct. 21). Introducing ‘Climate Hawks’. Grist. https://grist.org/article/2010-10-20-introducing-climate-hawks/

Roberts, D. (2018, Jan. 27). Reckoning with climate change will demand ugly tradeoffs from environmentalists – and everyone else: Being a climate hawk is not easy for anyone. Vox. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/1/27/16935382/climate-change-ugly-tradeoffs

Schipper, E.L.F., A. Revi, B.L. Preston, E.R. Carr, S.H. Eriksen, L.R. Fernandez-Carril, B.C. Glavovic, N.J.M. Hilmi, D. Ley, R. Mukerji, M.S. Muylaert de Araujo, R. Perez, S.K. Rose, and P.K. Singh, 2022: Climate Resilient Development Pathways. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 2655–2807, doi:10.1017/9781009325844.027. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Chapter18.pdf

The Energy Mix. (2022, Aug. 24). Eby ‘Frustrated’ After Climate Hawk Appadurai Enters B.C. NDP Leadership Race. https://www.theenergymix.com/2022/08/24/eby-frustrated-after-climate-hawk-appadurai-enters-b-c-ndp-leadership-race/

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). (2015, Jun.29). The Climate Deception Dossiers: Internal Fossil Fuel Industry Memos Reveal Decades of Corporate Disinformation. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/climate-deception-dossiers

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). (2022, Nov. 29). What you need to know about the COP27 Loss and Damage Fund. [Web Page]. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/what-you-need-know-about-cop27-loss-and-damage-fund.

Joselow, M & Caldwell, L. (2022, Aug. 18). The Climate 202: ‘The three climateers’ represent a new type of Climate Hawk on Capital Hill. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/18/the-three-climateers-represent-new-type-climate-hawk-capitol-hill-2/

Waldman, S. (2021, July 13). Senate’s ‘quiet’ climate hawk sells a CES to moderates. E&E News. Climate Wire. https://www.eenews.net/articles/senates-quiet-climate-hawk-sells-a-ces-to-moderates/

Transformative Reflections

If I had to choose one word to describe the learnings from the first week of the Masters of Climate Action Leadership it would be hopeful. This is partly due to the standout session where I had the honour of participating in an Indigenous circle led by Michael Lickers. My team had asked what his perspective on what a decolonized world would look like. I thought it would help to have a hopeful vision as a guide for future practice. Michael quickly reminded us that, as described by Gram-Hanssen (2021), decolonization is itself a colonizer’s word and thus problematic. He then went on to expand on the concept of transformation being about coming up with something new rather than destruction, which is a concept that I’m learning through this program and, which in itself is a hopeful future vision.

As we engaged in further dialogue I was drawn deeper into the concept of ‘right relations’ and I realized that I have much work to do to embody the characteristics put forward by Gram-Hanssen: listening deeply, self-reflexivity, creating space and being in action. (2021)

“Right Relations, then can be seen as an obligation to live up to the responsibilities involved when taking part in a relationship – be it to other humans, other species, the land or climate.”

(Gram-Hanssen 2021, p.678)

Later, as I reflected on our talk and readings on the topic, I was gazing at ‘Eagle Spirits’, a John Rombough painting, on the wall in my home office, and it made me wonder about the artist’s story and how right relations may have impacted him and his community. This was my first purchase of an original work of art which, at the time, made me feel as though I had stepped through the threshold into adulthood. Rombough credits his birth mother’s Ukranian Heritage for also informing his style, a style which a local critic opines is an extension of the Indigenous Group of Seven. (Grunwald, 2022, para. 31) For me this is an interesting visual example of the possibilities of transformation.

Eagle Spirits, Lutsel K’e, NT by John Rombough 09/22/2000

In the circle we discussed the importance of being able to participate in the economy, such as it exists, and it made me wonder if this young artist was able to go on to thrive in his work. I Googled him and this small act of academic procrastination took me to a place of deeper understanding of the assigned readings. Not only did I feel good in knowing that Rombough is doing well, as told in his own words in an interview with CBC News (Grunwald, 2022), but it brought me to a place of deeper connection of the kind described by Gram-Hanssen. (2022) as I read about how his family was impacted by the the ‘sixties scoop’. (Grunwald, 2022, para. 10) I then explored a bit more about his community and found a good example of ‘right relations’ in action through the Indigenous Guardian Program and the Ni Hat’ni Dene Rangers in Lutsel K’e. The kind of reconciliation programs that feel in tune with the concept of right relations. However, the impact of this one reconciliation program seems to be relatively small for the community. The overall economic outlook isn’t as positive as shown in this excerpt from their Community Infographic produced by the Northwest Territories Government.

Equitable participation in the economy?

(Government of Northwest Territories, 2022)

I’m reminded of how we are all connected and how important engaging in the act of righting relations is if society is to over come the climate crisis and move from adaptation to a more hopeful transformation. For me, philosophically, this concept of transformation was my first surprising new learning of the program so far. I find it empowering to reframe how I was thinking of climate adaptation as only in the negative rather than as an opportunity for “generating equitable and sustainable transformations.” (Gram-Hanssen et al., 2022, p.773).

As I write and reflect on these ideas I’m taking my first aspirational steps towards a deeper understanding of what it means to create space for voices of the oppressed to be heard by “decolonizing our practice at every turn.” (Gram-Hanssen, p.681). I’m sharing my thoughts and hoping for feedback to foster dialogue with those outside of my typical circle to help me develop transdisciplinary thinking in my practice. My goal is to get to that place where we can envision solutions that help to address the complex and wicked problems that the climate crisis presents. (Corman & Cox, 2020)

References

Corman, I., & Cox, R. (2020). Transdisciplinarity: A Primer. Royal Roads University.https://commons.royalroads.ca/macal/wp-content/uploads/sites/88/2021/04/MACAL_Transdisciplinary_Thinking03-31-21-3.pdf

Government of Northwest Territories. (2022). Lutselk’e 2019 Community Survey. Downloaded 2022-05-14 from www.statsnwt.ca/community-data/CommunityInfographics/community%20-%20Lutselke.pdf

Gram-Hanssen, I., Schafenacker, N., & Bentz, J. (2021). Decolonizing transformations through ‘right relations.’ Sustainability Science, 17(2), 673–685. Retrieved 10 May. 2022, from https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-00960-9

Grunwald, Emma (2022, March 13). Finding his Dene family brought colour into John Rombough’s art. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/artist-john-rombough-dene-connection-1.6383392

Indigenous Leadership Initiative. New Video spotlights indigenous guardians leadership on the land. Retrieved 10 May 2022, from https://www.ilinationhood.ca/blog/new-video-spotlights-indigenous-guardians-leadership-on-the-land

Rombough, John. Eagle Spirits. 2000. Oil. Vancouver.

Smith, M.(2016). Indian Group of Seven . In The Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism. : Taylor and Francis. Retrieved 15 May. 2022, from https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/indian-group-of-seven. doi:10.4324/9781135000356-REM835-1