What Does Decolonizing Climate Look Like?

Decolonizing climate and the reindigenization of climate go hand in hand. 

Decolonizing climate involves the untangling and removal of the deeply rooted causes of unnatural climate change. Colonization of climate is brought about by the appropriation of the natural world (e.g. land and water) by typically Western, European systems that see the environment in terms of resources rather than relationships. The reindigenization of climate then would involve reestablishing a more harmonious human-nature relationship based on the values, beliefs, and practices of the people tied to a place (prior to the spread of colonization).

As Ash Patea of the Whanganui River Ki Tai organization put it recently on my Maori immersion trip, colonizers must put energy into decolonizing themselves so that indigenous peoples have the space that they need to re-indigenize. Without that space, it requires even more effort.

I discuss the dynamics of how climate change in itself is a more recently imposed form of colonization and even slavery in my blog post Colonization and Climate.

To understand what decolonizing climate looks like, I've put together three photo slideshows. These photos are taken from my recent Maori immersion experience in New Zealand, supplemented with some photos I've taken in the U.S. They show just my personal experience of: 

• climate colonization: this includes examples of conservation that exclude indigenous peoples, and built spaces that limit access to already marginalized peoples.
• decolonization and reindigenization of climate: this can involve comanagement, or an equal partnership in management between colonizer institutions and indigenous peoples. It takes considerable openness and a conversation surrounding marginalization (perhaps ensuring that indigenous peoples are already settled on other historic lands) to get to truly equal partnership.

Climate Colonization

Climate Decolonization