Local Activism for Global Climate Justice The Great Lakes Watershed Routledge Advances in Climate Change Research Series

This book will inspire and spark grassroots action to address the inequitable impacts of climate change, by showing how this can be tackled and the many benefits of doing so.

With contributions from climate activists and engaged young authors, this volume explores the many ways in which people are proactively working to advance climate justice. The book pays special attention to Canada and the Great Lakes watershed, showing how the effects of climate change span local, regional, and global scales through the impact of extreme weather events such as floods and droughts, with related economic and social effects that cross political jurisdictions. Examining examples of local-level activism that include organizing for climate-resilient and equitable communities, the dynamic leadership of Indigenous peoples (especially women) for water and land protection, and diaspora networking, Local Activism for Global Climate Justice also provides theoretical perspectives on how individual action relates to broader social and political processes.

Showcasing a diverse range of inspirational and thought-provoking case studies, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate justice, climate change policy, climate ethics, and global environmental governance, as well as teachers and climate activists.

1. Introduction: Climate Justice, the Great Lakes, and the Earth

Part I. Fairness in Public Policies

2. Carbon Cuts, Not Job Cuts: Toward a Just Transition in Canada

3. Why Ending Oil and Gas Production in Canada is Essential to a Just Transition Both at Home and Abroad

4. Should the Poor Pay More? Community Energy Planning and Energy Poverty in Ontario

5. Vulnerable Communities and Municipal Climate Change Policy in Toronto

6. The Right to Remain: Community-Led Responses to Land Dispossession in the Context of Global and Local Climate Injustice

7. International Advocacy for Climate Victims in Bangladesh

8. Refugee Sponsorship and Canada’s Immigration Policy in Times of Climate Change

9. Out of Credit: Climate Finance in the Face of Climate Debt

Part II. Personal Action and Local Activism

10. The Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement: A View from Toronto

11. I Eat, Therefore I’m Evil: The Dilemmas of Applying Climate Justice to Food Choice

12. Free Food for Justice

13. Building Social Capital to Increase Disaster Resilience

14. Cultivating Community Resilience

15. After the Flood: Coming Together for Toronto

Part III. Education, Consciousness-Raising, And Collective Visions

16. Aamjiwnaang Toxic Tours and Climate Justice

17. The Great Lakes Commons: Working with Water and Adapting Our Movement to the Great Lakes

18. Planting Seeds for Grassroots Activism with Youth

19. Reconciliation in The Watershed

20. Climate Justice Montreal: Who We Are and What We Do

21. Listen, the Youth are Speaking: The Youth and Climate Justice Initiative of Western New York

22. Education Reform in The Struggle for Climate Justice

23. Photographs, Performance, and Protest: The Fight for Climate Justice through Art

24. Conclusion: Moving Ahead for Climate Justice

Patricia E. Perkins is Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, Canada, where she teaches ecological economics, community economic development, climate justice, and critical interdisciplinary research design.