Recognizing that climate change and policing are a similar kind of problem, but also that really they are kind of the same problem
Peonies, by Yun Shouping, via Wikimedia Commons
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There was one part in last week’s issue that I didn’t want to get too deep into, because it felt like too much of a digression from an already complicated topic, but while thinking about the idea of near enemies and carbon dioxide removal, something I kept coming back to was the overlap between police abolition and climate justice movements. So I thought I would do a little follow up today as a first step toward exploring the idea more over time.
At the end of last week’s issue, I mentioned that I watched this panel on police reform vs. police abolition, and one speaker defended the idea of radicalism as the confrontation of root problems. (I’m not going to quote the person here, because even though I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t mind it wasn’t open to the public.) But the speaker actually went further than that and used climate change as an analogy for how we might think of police abolition.
One of the near constant challenges posed to abolitionists is, “But what are you going to do when you need to call the police?” There’s a low key fear-mongering built into this question, and it also overlooks the fact that many people would already never or almost never call the police, because it creates more of a threat to them and/or their neighbors to do so. But it’s also disingenuous because abolition is just as much about creating new systems for the future as it is about dismantling the existing systems, what Mariame Kaba calls “death-making institutions.” (There’s a recent profile of Kaba in the New Yorker by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, which I highly recommend.)
So the climate change analogy was that we know we have to eliminate the fossil fuel industry, a death-making institution if there ever was one, but the resulting question is not, “What are you going to do when you need to turn on the lights?” Instead it’s, what are we doing to replace that institution, using the example of installing solar panels as an analogy for constructive abolitionist acts. So in that sense, the range of actions that could be considered abolitionist are broader than ending policing, but they all move us in that direction.
Like I pointed out last week, the difference between solutions and their near enemies can be determined by how we are defining the problem and whether what we are doing moves us in the direction of solving that problem. In the case of police abolition, a near enemy would be spending money on police departments to better train cops how to deal with people experiencing mental health issues. As opposed to the proper solution of deploying actual mental health professionals and treatments for people with mental health issues, instead of sending men with guns and punisher stickers on their cars.
What I found eye-opening about the analogy with the solar panels is that it was using climate change as a way to bring clarity to police abolition, which is challenging and anxiety-inducing for a lot of people. But at the same time, as we are explored last week, climate solutions are similarly difficult themselves, and might actually gain some clarity from the police abolition movement.
In fact, there is a version of “What are you going to do when you need to call the police?” in climate change. It is something like, we can’t get rid of fossil fuels today, be reasonable, we will need them for a long time. This is often used as a defense for what police abolitionists would call a reformist approach, which often lays claim to pragmatism in its rejection of radical systems change.
I wrote a bit about this before, way back in issue 40:
There are, in fact, incremental steps you can take toward abolition, what Kaba calls “non-reformist reforms.” In an opinion she co-wrote, the authors state that “abolition is both a lodestar and a practical necessity. Central to abolitionist work are the many fights for non-reformist reforms — those measures that reduce the power of an oppressive system while illuminating the system’s inability to solve the crises it creates.” Reformist reforms like piling on more training or rules are merely “asking police not to be police.”
So back to “would you get rid of fossil fuels today” question, the funny thing about it is, while making a perfectly pragmatic point, it was being used at the time to defend a foundation’s continued investments in the fossil fuel industry. Investments that, I would argue, are not part of a responsible, incremental transition away from oil and gas, but a perpetuation of them. Just as in 8 Can’t Wait, there are strategies—like working with oil and gas companies, or spending billions on new natural gas infrastructure—that could seem like they are a means toward a shared goal, but they are pointing in the wrong direction. Reformist reforms that further lock us into a system that needs to go away.
I’m not sure if I’m saying that there should be more explicitly abolitionist messaging in the climate movement. I’ve seen some people calling for a “carbon abolition movement” or comparing the climate movement to slavery abolitionists, and both carry a whiff of appropriation.
But there is definitely a big overlap between climate justice activists and police and prison abolitionists, and better understanding and communicating the explicit connections between the two feels important. It seems like it’s happening more often, like the case that climate justice activist Sam Grant recently made here with Emily Atkin:
“The fight for climate integrity necessitates that all human beings who care about their future are going to be standing up, practicing democracy. And if as we stand up now, we’re going to have our lives put at risk by law enforcement who are trained and paid to protect property at all expense at any cost.”
I think properly making this connection means recognizing that climate and policing are are a similar kind of problem, but also that really they are kind of the same problem, you know like when Lady and the Tramp are eating the spaghetti and then oh look it’s the same piece of spaghetti. Again from Sam Grant (check out that interview):
“We have a number of systems that are all joined together, that collectively are playing roles in shaping negative outcomes for the climate and human life. And it’s important for people who are in the climate movement to recognize the intersectionality of systems. The systems that hurt the climate and the systems that hurt human life are the same systems.”
Going forward there are a few key similarities between abolitionist politics and climate justice that I want to be thinking about:
1. How we choose our solutions all depends on how we define the problem. This is related to the near enemies thing. Are we thinking of the problem as PPM in the atmosphere, or as an inherently harmful institution that needs to end?
2. Ending the harmful institution is not a destructive act. By necessity, it’s a creative one. It’s about replacing extraction and exploitation with something different and better.
3. Doing so requires a high level of faith in what humanity is capable of. Acknowledging the need for radical change means being optimistic that we can do better for ourselves and each other.
I will end with a quote from Mariame Kaba on this last point, because you really can’t go wrong with that. This is from her book We Do This ’til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice, as quoted in the New Yorker.
“The reason I’m struggling through all of this is because I’m a deeply, profoundly hopeful person. Because I know that human beings, with all of our foibles and all the things that are failing, have the capacity to do amazingly beautiful things, too. That gives me the hope to feel like we will, when necessary, do what we need to do.”
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Links
- Near enemy alert! An investigation by the Guardian found that the carbon offsets used by several major airlines are deeply flawed, claiming credit for leaving forests intact when there wasn’t much of a threat of them being cut down. This reminds of when Homer gave Bart a dollar as a reward for simultaneously taking up and quitting smoking.
- Another near enemy! Eversource energy (which is my utility company) says they are all about reducing emissions, but leaked documents show they’re part of a group of utilities waging a campaign to protect natural gas and block electrification. You can never believe what these guys say. “Everyone needs to contact legislators in favor of NG.”
- More than 30 Boston cops made over $300,000 last year largely from overtime pay. The mayor makes $199,000. I love that the Globe published their first and last names and pay.
- Fare-free buses in Boston were once considered an unrealistic aspiration, but are now seriously on the table. My friend and former colleague Phineas is quoted in this article hi Phineas.
- Hawaii’s not afraid to call it what it is: a climate emergency.
- Singapore is almost entirely urbanized, but there’s an aggressive effort to expand urban farming to create more resilience, including a giant farm in what used to be the island’s largest prison complex! Very on theme today Singapore.
- Meet supergentrification, in which extremely wealthy homebuyers force out your run of the mill wealthy homebuyers. (This is often what’s happening when you see luxury real estate but empty storefronts.)
- Elon Musk, meme thief.
- “We did something that shouldn’t be monumental in 2021: We depicted Native Americans as human beings…”
- LA sheriffs frequently harass families of people they kill.
- Why there should, in fact, be a war on meat. The stats about the increase in meat consumption are bonkers and it’s mostly because of government subsidies.
- There’s something gratifying about reading people’s memories of youth when you are about the same age, like Seth Rogen writing about the 90s Bar-Mitzvah circuit.
- Thanks to this law student who runs popular social media accounts on the topic, I’ve discovered that I am what you would call a “cozy gamer.”
- I was really into this idea for a national one week vacation until she said no internet or video games. Pass!
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Listening
I saw some Onion article making fun of what an a-hole Billy Corgan is, which he most certainly is, but it got me listening to the lone record from his post-Pumpkins band Zwan, which broke up during their first tour because Billy Corgan was too much of an a-hole. I still think it rips.
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Watching
Film festival continues with 2019 Spanish dystopian scifi movie The Platform. This movie is honestly disgusting and very violent but it is also a creative exploration of civil resistance and solidarity and violent vs nonviolent tactics. I’m serious though it’s super gross.
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OK that’s what I’ve got for today, kind of a short one, but lot of links there to make up for last week please enjoy this feast of links I bring unto thee.
As always, if you think of anyone who would find this kind of thing useful or otherwise satisfying, consider forwarding this email to them. And if you come across this some other way, consider subscribing.
One note is that I am taking next Friday off I might do like a little baby CP or something but probably will be a skip week. I am getting my second dose of the good stuff the day before so might be messed up and if not I’ll probably just take the day off in honor of my approaching birthday, shout out to my earth signs.
But don’t worry if you don’t get an issue next week I will talk to you the following week, when the world comes in to build a wall between us we know that they won’t win.
Tate