What resources do Indigenous studies provide for addressing the crisis of human-made climate change? And how is the climate crisis linked to settler colonialism? In episode 174 of Overthink, Ellie and David chat with Indigenous philosopher and activist Kyle Whyte about his work on climate action. They discuss how Indigenous people are often blocked out of conversations about environmental impact, the common mischaracterization of the land back movement, and the importance of kinship. How are certain groups disproportionately affected by climate change? Is climate change actually a new problem? And how can respecting land rights of Indigenous people offer some solutions to climate change? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts question who is called upon to respond to the crisis of climate change and how non-Indigenous people should engage in discussions surrounding climate change and colonialism.
Works Discussed:
Kyle Whyte, “Climate Action at the Speed of Consent”
Kyle Whyte, “Indigenous Climate Change Studies: Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene”
Kyle Whyte, “Settler Colonialism, Ecology, and Environmental Injustice”
Highlight: The “Speed of Consent”
Mainstream discussions around climate change highlight a sense of urgency.
More specifically, climate change is generally labelled as an emergency, as something that must be immediately solved, which urges immediate action without reflection. See: The Climate Clock, The Climate Emergency (UN), etc.
“Urgency” as it is tied to climate action reinforces settler colonial logics.
If climate action is approached with a sense of urgency, it prevents any ability to slow down, weigh decisions, build trust with communities, etc.
The language of “urgency” prevents us from understanding and developing dynamics that will lead to constructive climate action.
Developing constructive dynamics entails building trust and reciprocity with Indigenous communities.
This sense of urgency implores us to use settler colonial approaches of addressing the climate crisis.
Ex. Proposals for carbon sequestration technologies are anchored in further taking away the land of Indigenous communities.
The “speed of consent” means moving at the speed at which Indigenous communities—as well as other communities—consent to climate solutions. In doing so, the rights and freedoms of Indigenous people are respected/enhanced, it is made sure that policies are viable/long-lasting/widely supported, and constructive climate solutions are ultimately more empowered and effective in their implementation.
This is a key concept within Whyte’s paradigm of climate action. This idea has many implications, such as revealing how the discourse around climate change shapes our understanding of what effective climate action really means.
