<\/p>\n
To redress this marginalization,\u00a0Professor Sherilyn MacGregor<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Dr Nafhesa Ali<\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0Sustainable Consumption Institute<\/a>\u00a0explain how\u00a0policymakers should do more to engage with a wider selection of communities to work together for the common good.<\/p>\n The collision of the climate and COVID-19 crises has prompted demands for deep social and economic change to\u00a0\u2018build back better\u2019<\/a>, so that a livable world is possible for current and future generations. Success, however, will be limited, unless as many citizens as possible are included and involved in shaping the green recovery agenda.<\/p>\n Calling for a more inclusive approach to sustainability is not the same as saying \u2018we\u2019re all in the same boat\u2019. In fact, a starting premise of our research is that the field of environmentalism is exclusive and not enough is being done to question its middle-class whiteness. The ideas of \u2018sustainable consumption\u2019 and \u2018green lifestyles\u2019 come from affluent, white majority societies in the Global North that have both caused and benefited from unsustainable resource use. Applied in often benign and apolitical ways, they are concepts that obscure structural inequalities while often failing to resonate with marginalised groups.<\/p>\n Our question is, how can racialized minority communities in general, and immigrants from lower-income countries in the Global South specifically, be included in the collective movement to build a more just, livable and low carbon society in the UK? What are the barriers to, and benefits of, a more inclusive approach to sustainability?<\/p>\n Firstly, more needs to be done to recognise the relationship between climate change and racial injustice. The pandemic has highlighted the harm caused by the marginalisation of minority and immigrant communities in terms of health and low-paid, but essential, work. The dominant approach to climate change ignores the impacts of colonialism within UK society as well as the relevance of diasporic cultures and experiences. Moreover, it ignores the fact that it tends to be the privileged white population that is centred as knowledgeable actors and change agents. The argument that groups like\u00a0The Climate Reframe project<\/a>\u00a0and the newly formed\u00a0Union of Justice<\/a>\u00a0are making is that to really build back better we need to promote the contribution and experiences of \u2018people of colour\u2019,\u00a0 and to do this from the perspectives of racialised communities themselves.<\/p>\n Secondly, we need to channel this recognition of injustice towards challenging assumptions that are embedded in UK environmental policy. One problematic policy frame in need of review is \u2018behaviour change\u2019. Although usually well-meaning, it inevitably stems from a deficit view of individuals: the idea that average people lack knowledge about the climate crisis and simply need more education in order to live more environmentally responsibly. Research in environmental sociology has long discredited this assumption, but it lives on in every corner of UK policy-making. When it is coupled with racism, there is the dangerous assumption that certain groups are more deficient if \u2018they don\u2019t speak English\u2019 or have not yet \u2018assimilated\u2019 to a British way of life, which may then play into a view that minority communities are \u2018hard to reach\u2019 or less interested in sustainability than the white majority. Positioning these communities in this way is not only wrong, but also creates and sustains views that lack of engagement is caused by a problem with \u2018them\u2019 rather than a failure of policy.<\/p>\n Lastly, we need to find (better) ways of listening to and learning from minority communities, especially those who have moved to the UK from the Global South. Through our\u00a0\u2018Towards Inclusive Environmental Sustainabilities\u2019<\/a>\u00a0project, we are working with members of the Pakistani and Somali communities across Greater Manchester who have immigrated in the past decade. A\u00a0Manchester City Council Report<\/a>\u00a0(2015, p. 15) highlights that a large number of residents born outside the UK are from Pakistan, totalling 19% of the population. The report further adds that the Black African group has also grown rapidly over the last decade, particularly as a result of immigration from countries such as Somalia.<\/p>\n When we started the research with Somali residents in Moss Side we were met with reticence: \u2018why are you asking us?\u2019 And then came the response that \u2018no one has ever asked us about this\u2019.\u00a0So far, we have found<\/a>\u00a0that water conservation, food waste, accessing local organic food, and recycling are issues Somali-origin residents are concerned about. They are passionate about the environment and concerned about conserving resources, which stems from their Islamic beliefs. We learned that they are just as concerned about the quality of their local environment as British-born residents.<\/p>\n People who have moved from a low-income country such as Somalia to a more affluent part of the world are in a unique position. On the one hand, they have experience of living with limited resources and know what adaption for survival involves. On the other hand, their lifestyles have contributed very little to the drivers of climate change. Yet policies that call for climate mitigation via changing consumption behaviour do not differentiate between these uniquely-positioned residents and the UK-born population. This means that policy messages can lack resonance for them, and their valuable knowledge may be ignored.<\/p>\n More can and should be done at the city level to develop a more inclusive approach to sustainability than currently exists in Manchester and other cities that are pursuing an ambitious green agenda. A list of ideas is set out and explained in our 2019 report (available in\u00a0English<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Somali<\/a>).<\/p>\n A starting point is reducing obstacles to inclusive public engagement, and we think the local level holds the most promise for effective action. Of course, local governments lack resources to provide bespoke services for lots of different kinds of communities, even more so after the pandemic. Therefore, change will require councils finding opportunities for doing more with less as well as empowering local activism and advocacy.<\/p>\n One easy \u2018win\u2019 is to make public events more welcoming to the Muslim community, such as working with mosques to have culturally appropriate meetings. Additionally, there should be creative ways to conduct events and produce materials in more languages than English. Why not work with universities or language schools for mutual benefit? Beyond that, local authorities can use budgets to fund the creation of public spaces that encourage diverse residents to interact in common care for each other and their environment. Moss Side is a success story for grassroots groups like\u00a0Upping It<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Moss Side Eco-Squad<\/a>\u00a0who make the struggle for better environmental quality part of the local identity.<\/p>\n The process of building back from the COVID crisis should involve a blend of net-zero and social justice goals. It won\u2019t be better if it isn\u2019t radically different from what existed before. Unless we prioritise strategies for redressing the marginalisation of minority communities, we risk perpetuating the perception of the green recovery as an exclusive white middle-class agenda, rather than for the common good.\u00a0<\/p>\n Find out more about Sustainable Consumption Institute researchers Dr Sherilyn MacGregor and Dr Nafhesa Ali\u2019s current research project, Towards Inclusive Environmental Sustainability (TIES)<\/a>. This blog was first published on the Policy@Manchester<\/em> <\/a>blog and\u00a0was also published on the PoliticsHome website<\/a>\u00a0(21\/05\/21).<\/p>\n \n\t\t [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.0.106″ in_same_term=”off” show_prev=”on” show_next=”on” prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” header_font_size_tablet=”51″ header_line_height_tablet=”2″ custom_button=”on” button_icon_placement=”right” button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_use_icon=”off” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_size__hover=”null” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover=”null” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover=”null” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover=”null” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” 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