Global Climate Crisis Seeking Environmental Justice and Climate Equality

Chapter Two

Engaging ethically with narratives from historically marginalized cultures in response to climate change

Ben Mylius

This chapter emphasizes the importance of considering diverse cultures when engaging in discourse about climate change. It advocates for the perspectives of individuals from marginalized communities to be involved in the conversation about climate change in order to create approaches to climate change that are multifaceted.

The chapter starts by delving into the ethical woes of climate change, specifically its exorbitant affect on underrepresented communities. It advocates for ethical engagement that values the experiences of these communities and calls for a more inclusive conversation in regards to climate change action. Although engaging with the narratives of other cultures is beneficial it isn’t enough to make up for the destructive stories dominating cultures have spread about the relationship between humans and nature. The author references the four basic components of human nature:

A “background metaphysics”

An account of human distinctiveness

A diagnosis of “what goes wrong”

A prescription and prognosis for addressing these problems

The chapter also considers the relationship between humans and nature and how environmental interactions are influenced by cultural narratives. It critiques the policies that currently exist, seeing as they were created in a one-dimensional point of view,  and calls for a more inclusive approach that considers unrepresented communities.

About the Author

Nina-Abbie Omatsola is the Research Intern for The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace. She is a junior at The University of Maryland on the Pre-Law track pursuing a dual major in Psychology and Theatre