I've got to start by admitting that in many ways me giving a talk about how climate action can help Black communities is surprising. I grew up poor and Black with a single mother in Tottenham, one of the most deprived areas in London, in the 1970s and '80s. Climate change was the last thing on my mind. And representing Tottenham as its member of Parliament for the past 20 years, my focus has been on trying to reduce the deprivation I grew up around.
一開始,我要承認,在許多層面上, 由我來講如何以氣候行動 來協助黑人族群,蠻讓人驚訝的。 我是在托特納姆出生的黑人, 家庭貧窮且只有單親媽媽, 那裡是 70、80 年代 倫敦最貧困的地區之一。 我從來不會想到氣候變遷。 在過去二十年間,我以國會議員 身分代表托特納姆時, 我的焦點一直都是在減輕 我家鄉地區物質匱乏的情況。
In the past, the climate crisis never featured at the forefront of my politics because it was never one of the most immediate challenges my constituents were facing, or at least it didn't feel like it. Rising sea levels feel unimportant when your bank balance is falling. Global warming is not your concern when you can't pay the heating bills. And you're not thinking about pollution when you're being stopped by the police. And so perhaps this is why as the Black Lives Matter movement roared across the world, there's been so little mention of saving Black lives from the climate emergency.
過去,我的政見 從來沒有主打氣候危機, 因為它從來不是我的選民 最迫切的問題, 至少感覺不是。 當你的銀行存款越來越少時, 海平面上升並不顯得重要。 沒錢支付暖氣帳單時, 你也不會關心全球暖化。 當你被警察盤查時, 想的不是污染問題。 也許,這就是為什麼 當「黑命貴」運動在全世界發酵時, 都沒什麼人提到 要從迫切的氣候危機中 拯救黑人的性命。
For too long, those of us who cared about racial justice treated environmental justice as though it was elitist. And at the same time, the leaders who did focus on climate change were usually white and rarely bothered to enlist the support of Black voices in their work. Even progressive allies sometimes took our votes for granted and assumed that our community didn't care or wouldn't understand.
長久以來,我們這些 關心種族正義的人, 一直都把環境正義視為 菁英主義者專屬的議題。 同時, 強調氣候變遷的領導人 通常都是白人, 且他們很少會花心力 去爭取黑人的聲音 來支持他們所做的事。 就連改革派的盟友有時也把 我們的選票視為理所當然, 並假設黑人族群 不會在乎或不會了解。
The truth is the opposite is true. Black people breathe in the most toxic air relative to the general population. We are more likely to suffer from respiratory diseases like asthma. And it is people of color who are more likely to suffer in the climate crisis. This is no coincidence. The cheapest housing tends to be next to the busiest roads, and many of the lowest paid jobs are in the most polluting industries. People of color consistently lie at the bottom of the housing, educational and employment ladders. This story connects Black communities across the world, from London to Lagos to LA. Black Americans are exposed to 56 percent more pollution than they cause. White Americans breathe 17 percent less air pollution than they produce. It gives a whole new meaning to the Black Lives Matter slogan "I can't breathe."
事實卻恰恰相反。 跟一般民眾相比, 黑人呼吸最多有毒的空氣。 我們最有可能患呼吸道疾病,如氣喘。 最有可能受到氣候危機之苦的人, 是有色人種。 這不是巧合。 最便宜的住宅通常 都位在最喧囂的路旁, 最低薪的工作通常都是在 污染最嚴重的產業。 住宅、教育、就業階梯的底層 一直都是有色人種。 這個情況讓全世界的 黑人族群連結在一起, 從倫敦,到拉哥斯,到洛杉磯。 美國黑人所接觸到的污染, 比他們自己製造的污染多出 56%。 美國白人吸入的污染空氣 比他們所製造的少 17%。 這讓「黑命貴」的標語有了新的意義: 「我無法呼吸。」
We all rightly know the name of George Floyd, who was murdered by the police. But we should also know the name of Ella Kissi-Debrah. Ella, a nine-year-old mixed-race girl from South East London, was killed by a fatal asthma attack. Evidence suggests this was caused partly by the unlawful levels of air pollution near her home.
我們都知道喬治佛洛依德這個名字, 他被警察謀殺。 但我們也都應該要知道 艾拉·基希-戴柏拉這個名字。 艾拉是九歲的混種女孩, 住在倫敦的東南區, 她因為致命的氣喘發作而過世。 證據指出,發作的部分原因 是她家附近的空氣污染超過合法限度。
And it's not only urban areas where Black lives are disproportionately under threat from climate change. My parents' home country of Guyana is one of the most vulnerable countries on Earth to the effects of climate change. So far, Guyana has contributed relatively little to the climate emergency, but it's one of the countries facing the most serious threats from it. While the annual carbon dioxide emissions per head in the United States is a staggering 16.5 metric tons, in Guyana it's just 2.6. It is a pattern repeated across the globe. Those countries that have contributed least to the climate breakdown, mainly in the global south, will suffer the most from floods, droughts, and rising temperatures. This is a pattern of suffering with a long history.
氣候變遷對於黑人的生命 造成不成比例的威脅, 這個現象不只發生在都市地區。 我父母的家鄉蓋亞那 是世界上最容易被氣候變遷 衝擊的國家之一。 到目前為止,氣候危機的肇因中, 蓋亞那佔的比例很小。 但它卻是受氣候變遷影響 最嚴重的國家之一。 美國的每人每年二氧化碳排放量 高達 16.5 公噸, 在蓋亞那只有 2.6 公噸, 這個模式在全球各地不斷重現。 造成氣候瓦解責任最小的國家, 主要是開發中的南營國家, 卻遭受最多洪水、乾旱、 氣溫上升之苦。 這個苦難模式有很長的歷史。
The exploitation of our planet's natural resources has always been tied to the exploitation of people of color. The logic of colonization was to extract valuable resources from our planet through force, paying no attention to its secondary effects. The climate crisis is in a way colonialism's natural conclusion.
對地球天然資源的濫用 一直都和剝削有色人種息息相關。 殖民的邏輯 就是透過武力取得地球的珍貴資源, 並忽略這個做法的二次效應。 在某種層面上,氣候危機 就是殖民主義的自然結果。
The solution is to build a new coalition made up of all the groups most affected by this emergency: Black people in American cities who are already protesting that they cannot breathe; people of color in Guyana watching sea levels rise to the point where many of their homes become uninhabitable; young people in places like Tottenham, London, afraid of the world that they will grow old in; and progressive allies from all nations, of all races, religions, creeds and ages on their side, all demanding recognition that climate justice is linked to racial justice, social justice and intergenerational justice too. And let me say something about how we build this new movement and what it must look like.
解決方案是要由 受到氣候危機影響最大的族群 組成新聯盟, 美國城市中的黑人 已經在抗議他們無法呼吸了; 蓋亞那的有色人種 眼看著海平面上升到 很多房子都無法居住的程度; 托特納姆、倫敦等地的年輕人 懼怕自己終老時將面臨的世界; 以及各國的改革派盟友, 不論種族、宗教、信念、年齡, 都要求要承認 氣候正義和種族正義、社會正義, 以及世代正義都有關聯。 讓我來談談我們應該 如何展開這項新運動, 及它應該是什麼樣子。
First, we need a recognition that the climate movement is not only about protecting the planet. It is primarily about caring for the people who live on the planet. Globally as well as nationally, we need to recognize structural imbalances and inequalities. A radical green recovery plan should provide jobs to the people who've been disenfranchised for centuries, new jobs planting trees, insulating buildings and working on green technologies. We cannot tackle the climate crisis without addressing racial inequalities. And we cannot solve racial inequalities without fixing the economic system. The new deal the economy needs is not only green, it's green and Black.
首先,我們需要認知 氣候運動的重點不只是要保護地球。 主要的目的 是要照顧居住在地球上的人。 在全球及國家層面上, 我們都得要找到 結構的不平衡及不平等。 積極的綠色恢復計畫 應該要將工作機會 提供給數個世紀以來 被剝奪公民權的人, 新工作包括植樹、建築保溫工程, 以及開發綠色科技。 若不解決種族不平等, 就無法處理氣候危機。 若不修正經濟體制, 就無法解決種族不平等。 經濟所需要的新政策不只是綠色的, 是綠色和黑色的。
Second, we need more Black leaders. It cannot be right in 2020 that almost all the leading climate change activists we recognize are white. At Davos this year, five young female members of the Fridays for Future movement came together to give a press conference at the World Economic Forum. This is a picture the Associated Press put out. Here is the original image. As the Ugandan activist, Vanessa Nakate, herself put it afterwards, "You didn't just erase a photo, you erased a continent." We need to look at who is being cropped out of leadership positions in environmental organizations too.
第二、我們需要更多黑人領袖。 都 2020 年了,我們認可的 氣候變遷活動領袖卻都是白人, 這是不對的。 今年,在達佛斯, 五位「氣候大罷課」運動的年輕女成員 一起在世界經濟論壇 舉辦了一場記者會。 這是美聯社刊出來的照片。 這是原始的影像。 後來烏干達活動家 凡妮莎·納卡特自己這麼說: 「你們不只抹除了一張照片, 你們抹除了整個非洲。」 我們也需要注意 環境組織的領導位置上 有那些人被抹除了。
People of color makeup around 40 percent of the United States population. So why is it a University of Michigan study found that the percentage of minorities in leadership positions in US environmental organizations is less than 12 percent? Global organizations should consider moving their headquarters to the global south and urban areas that are most affected by the climate emergency. There should be new scholarships and bursaries in environmental science for people of color. Educate yourself. Join great movements that recognize the links between climate and race. To name a few, the Black Environment Network and Wretched of the Earth.
美國人口中有約四成是有色人種。 那麼,為什麼密西根大學的一項研究 會發現在美國環境組織領導位置上, 少數族群的比例不到 12%? 全球性組織應該要考慮 將它們的總部搬到南營 以及受到迫切氣候危機影響 最嚴重的都市地區。 應該提供新的的獎學金和公費, 讓有色人種能就讀環境科學系所。 自我教育, 加入那些承認氣候和種族 有所關聯的重大運動。 舉幾個例子:「黑色環境網路」 和「地球上的可憐人」。
And finally, racial injustice and climate injustice are both rooted in the evil notion that some lives are more important than others. If you march to say Black Lives Matter in Minneapolis, London or Sydney, please also march for the Black lives on the Caribbean island of Haiti as its children are displaced by storms. Please also march for the Black lives being lost in Darfur, the first climate change conflict. And please also march for the Indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest, as Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro weakens its protections.
最後,種族不公和氣候不公的根源 都在一個邪惡的想法中: 有些生命比其他生命更重要。 如果你曾在明尼亞波里斯、倫敦, 或雪黎為黑命貴走上街頭, 請也為海地加勒比島嶼上的 黑人生命走上街頭, 那裡的孩子因為暴風雨 而被迫離開家園。 也請為達佛送命的黑人走上街頭, 最早的氣候變遷衝突發生在那裡。 也請為亞馬遜雨林的原住民走上街頭, 因為巴西總統雅伊爾·波索納洛 削弱了對雨林的保護。
If we are serious about protecting Black lives in the Global South as well as the north, we need to strengthen international laws. We need a way to apply international criminal laws, like war crimes or crimes against humanity, to the planet. We need a new international law of ecocide to criminalize the willful and widespread destruction of the environment, a law that criminalizes the most severe crimes against nature itself, even for acts don't involve direct human suffering.
如果我們認真想要保護 南營以及北營的黑人生命, 我們就必須要強化國際法律。 我們需要設法在全球施行國際刑法, 以懲治戰爭犯罪或違反人道罪。 我們需要制定與生態滅絕 有關的國際法律, 將肆無忌憚地大規模 破壞環境的行為定義為犯罪, 需要有法律將犯下 嚴重破壞大自然的行為定為犯罪, 即使不直接造成人類苦難。
Economics, race and class are at the center of today's political struggles. The Black Lives Matter movement needs to wake up to climate injustices just as the climate movement must make every effort to include the reality of people of color.
經濟、種族和階級 都是現今政治難題的中心議題。 黑命貴運動必須要意識到氣候不公, 同樣的,氣候運動 也必須要盡所有努力 將有色人種的現實納入考量。
Young Black boys growing up in single-parent households in Tottenham won't have the opportunities I had in a world ravaged by climate chaos. My distant cousins and relatives growing up in Guyana won't have a future if their homes are drowning under water.
在托特納姆的單親家庭中 長大的黑人男孩 在氣候災難蹂躪的世界中, 不可能得到我所得到的機會。 至於我那些在蓋亞那長大的遠親, 如果他們的家都淹沒在水中, 就談不上有什麼未來。
Now is the time for Black and climate movements to come together unequivocally and say, "We can't breathe."
不能再等了,黑人運動和氣候運動 必須立刻聯手, 並且大聲說:「我們無法呼吸。」
Thank you very much.
非常謝謝。