Book Review
“A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis” by Vanessa Nakate is a powerful and essential read for the world we live in. Reading about her journey in climate activism, beginning in Uganda is inspiring and eye-opening, higlighting the intersectionality between the climate crisis, race, and gender.
Vanessa Nakate is an environmental activist whose voice has been heard around the planet. She brings more awareness and support to the climate issues we are all facing, while showing how there is a disparity between the way different parts of the world are affected by climate change. She wrote in her book that “Africa as a continent is the least emitter of carbons but it will be the most affected by the crisis,” (p.31). In her book, she describes her courageous journey to climate activsim from starting protests in Uganda, to travelling alone, and speaking on global stages.
I am currently living in Australia, and while reading Nakate’s book and writing this blog post, where I live has experienced the worst floods in decades. As Nakate writes about, it is confronting and disturbing to see in person how the climate crisis is devastating the planet and people’s lives. The flood was unlike any seen before and happened so suddenly. Neighbouring suburbs to where I live have been completely submerged in water, with people lost and houses gone. There have been evacuation zones set up everywhere, and we are all supporting people who have been displaced with supplies. The event itself was terrifying and the after effects of rebuilding will take years. Being in Australia, I have seen the effects of climate change in the volatility of the weather and extreme natural disasters of droughts, wildfires, cyclones, gale force winds, and floods. Experiencing all of these events, it is clear to see that the climate crisis is not happening in the future, it is occurring right now.
I felt a lot of connection while reading Nakate’s book this week. Being from Uganda, she has experienced the immediate affects of the climate crisis, with natural disaters of floods, droughts, and landslides which made her realise that she needs to do something to help create change for the future of our planet. She writes about how “Climate change is real and dangerous for us all. It is happening right now… We have experienced extreme weather conditions as a country starting with the very high temperatures in the month of January, followed by strong winds that caused destruction in various parts of the country. The heavy rains are causing floods, hence claiming lives of many people and leaving property destroyed,” (p.31). This paragraph felt like it encapsulated thoughts I have been having. We can clearly see the way climate change is affecting the planet, we know the scientists reports, and there is the Paris agreement to lower carbon emissions by 2050. Yet, why is there not more being done? Concern is not enough, major changes need to be made and sustained everywhere around the world.
At the age of 22, after running many climate strikes in Uganda, visiting the UN in New York, and the COP25 in Madrid, Nakate was invited to Davos in Switzerland. During a climate conference there, she was part of a group of young activists who spoke. After the event, there was a photo taken of the group. When Nakate later saw the photo on social media, she had been cropped out. She wrote in her book that “it was as if someone had determined I was the odd one out,” (p.66). The other four activists in the photo, including Greta Thundberg, were shown, and they were all European. Nakate wrote; “By cutting me out of the photo… (they) had denied an African activist a chance to be seen and possibly, her message acknowledged,” (p.66). She spoke out about the injustice on social media and got a vast and varied response which made her realise the gender and racial discrimination that is interconnected with her work as a climate activist. She wrote; “I felt like the photo-cropping was a direct expression of racism and sexism.”
It was incredibly disturbing to read about Nakate being cut out of the photo because it shows how in the work of saving our planet there is not always support and encouragement for diverse voices from every part of the world. Instead, as seen with Nakate’s omission from the image, there is often huge discrimination. This proves that the issues we face with climate change are intersectional with race and gender, as well as identity.
After the event, Nakate writes; “Being cropped out of that photo changed me. I became bolder and more direct in how I talk about the climate crisis and racism… I decided, from my perspective as a young African woman, that I would dedicate as much of my time as possible to addressing the many interlocking facets of the climate crisis, environmental justice, and gender discrimination—and to do so without apology or fear of erasure,” (p.73-73). She has a powerful and intelligent voice in the world of climate, gender, and race. As the Kirkus Reviews wrote; “Nakate is conscious of the power her voice wields, and the world would benefit from listening.” She had a dream to create more awareness about climate change, starting in her own hometown, and now her voice reaches around the world, advocating for the planet, women, and African voices.
In a “Voices of Change” video with the UN, Nakate talks about how climate change is not about the statistics, but about the people who are being affected. She highlighted the importance of looking further than yourself, and talked about how Africa is dealing with huge effects from the crisis, but is not given much focus in media. Nakate ]wants to educate people, she says; ““If one part of a system is broken, then eventually the rest of the system will be broken as well.” This applies to climate justice in how it relates to and intersects with poverty, gender, race, and displacement. Rise Up Movement Africa is a place for climate justice activists in Africa to share their stories. The movement educates people about climate justice through sharing the stories of many diverse climate activists. They provide inspiration for people reading who want to know how they can also create change.
Nakate translates all her work in her social media, which she uses to educate, share resources, and create change. You can see the ways her activism intersects in her posts, like her quote that she retweeted “You can’t have climate justice without gender equality.”
On Instagram Nakate has been posting images of her protest banners and signs since her first climate protest. One of her posts was of her holding a sign saying “What I stand for is what I stand on,” with a picture of the Earth. This image was really memorable to me. I think it encapsulates her message, and why we should all be saving the planet.
