Ketika badai besar melanda kota-kota, lingkungan masyarakat berpendapatan rendah pun ikut terkena dampaknya lebih mungkin mengalami kerusakan yang lebih parah dan dana pemulihan yang lebih sedikit dibandingkan daerah yang lebih kaya. Selama gelombang panas ekstrem, para pekerja pertanian pedesaan yang bekerja di ladang harus menghadapi jam kerja yang panjang dalam kondisi yang berbahaya sedikit perlindungan dibawah hukum. Dan kenaikan permukaan air laut di pantai-pantai negara-negara kepulauan kecil yang kekurangan sumber daya membuat penduduknya mengalami hal yang mustahil pilihan membayar untuk adaptasi atau perpindahan yang mahal.
Dampak perubahan iklim telah memberikan dampak yang tidak proporsional terhadap mereka yang tinggal di komunitas miskin, yang kemungkinan besar merupakan orang kulit berwarna di AS, dan terutama anak-anak dan orang lanjut usia di komunitas tersebut.
Minggu lalu di konferensi teknologi iklim tahunan GreenBiz, SAMPING 21, business leaders, climate activists and tech entrepreneurs discussed how to effectively implement climate solutions to help such communities affected by climate change’s “first and worst.” Technological, policy and nature-based solutions to climate change already exist, and more are being created every day. The question is how to effectively put them in action.
Jawaban terbaik, menurut mereka yang berada di garis depan masyarakat dan mereka yang telah memulai berbagai proyek iklim, adalah membangun kepercayaan yang jujur dan transparan dengan anggota masyarakat yang benar-benar terlibat dalam penerapan solusi dan investasi jangka panjang pada anggota masyarakat.
Kekuatan dukungan masyarakat terhadap proyek-proyek baru
Dalam salah satu sesi VERGE yang berfokus pada teknologi iklim, Julia Kumari Drapkin, CEO dan pendiri platform sains partisipatif ISeeChange, membahas bagaimana pendekatan tradisional terhadap solusi iklim yang melibatkan komunitas rentan berpenghasilan rendah telah mengecewakan kelompok yang ingin mereka layani.
“Top-down, well-intentioned solutions failed to keep pace with local means,” she said.
Drapkin’s ISeeChange is a digital tool that instead enables citizens to report the impacts of climate change around them, then works with policymakers and solutions providers to address these issues on the ground. On the mobile app, citizens can report observations of the natural world around them, from temperatures to rainfall to frost to flowers and bugs. Small talk anecdotes such as “It’s never this cold in April” or “The rhododendron never bloom this time of year,” when collected and connected together, become cold hard data that shows the effects of a changing climate.
ISeeChange’s data also serves as evidence of how communities that have been disinvested in for years often face worse impacts, and their concerns are often overlooked. “One-fifth of new public projects are cancelled due to social and environmental concerns of local communities,” she pointed out.
Solusi yang bersifat top-down dan bertujuan baik gagal mengimbangi upaya lokal.
“Most of our clients have critical trust issues,” she added. For generations, outsiders have come into their communities promising to solve problems, but rarely ask what community members need, instead believing they know better themselves. Sometimes, they make the problems worse, leaving a legacy of “multigenerational toxic narratives.” Building — or rebuilding — trust is crucial for the success of projects.
The Rev. Michael Malcom, founder and executive director of The People’s Justice Council and Alabama Interfaith Power and Light, agreed. His work centers on intersectional environmental justice, and in his observed experience, those coming to low-income communities often have a “throw the [brick] over the wall” approach to providing climate technology, he said. However, they ignore factors like who will undertake the work of implementing and maintaining.
Misalnya, perusahaan datang ke kota Malcom di pedesaan Alabama, berharap untuk memasang panel surya, salah satu bentuk teknologi ramah lingkungan yang paling matang – namun tanpa dukungan masyarakat, panel surya tidak akan dipasang, digunakan, dan memberikan penghematan energi atau manfaat iklim. , jelasnya.
Instead, Malcom issued “a call to care for communities and a call to cooperate with communities.”
Memang benar, aktivis iklim asli Meksiko-Chili Xiye Bastida berbicara tentang situasi serupa ketika dia berbicara kepada audiens VERGE 21. Saat ia menyerukan pandangan titik-temu mengenai krisis iklim, ia menggambarkan bagaimana Mexico City University mencoba membangun kampus baru di lahan dekat komunitas adat. Meskipun masyarakat adat mengatakan kepada para pejabat bahwa lahan tersebut tidak stabil, pihak universitas tetap melanjutkan proyek tersebut — tetapi tidak dapat menyelesaikannya, karena tanahnya berbahaya dan bangunan mulai tenggelam, seperti yang diperkirakan oleh masyarakat.
“The people who have lived on the land for thousands of years know it best,” she said, urging policymakers and entrepreneurs to meaningfully listen to them.
Selain proyek iklim baru, lakukan investasi pada anggota masyarakat
Bagi Suzanne Singer, anggota suku Navajo (Diné) dan salah satu pendiri lembaga nirlaba Native Renewables, mengerjakan proyek energi bersih dan mendorong pendidikan dengan anggota suku adalah hal yang berjalan beriringan.
Native Renewables membantu komunitas suku untuk meningkatkan kapasitas teknis energi terbarukan dan akses terjangkau terhadap listrik di luar jaringan listrik, guna mewujudkan misi keseluruhannya dalam memberdayakan keluarga penduduk asli Amerika dengan kemandirian energi.
In her conversation at VERGE 21, she pointed out how Native American communities are notoriously underfunded. “I think some things that are unknown are how many families need infrastructure, electricity, roads, access to clean water, even running water.”
“We know the community we work in and the culture — in some cases we know the language, because many don’t speak English,” she added, referencing her company.
She urges policymakers and entrepreneurs hoping to work to start “thinking more creatively about what communities want beyond just the project itself.”
Native Renewables, for example, not only helps build solar projects and microgrids, but also offers opportunities for community members to learn about energy, get trained in building or maintenance and more. Singer said that it’s about “trying to invest in our own people through workforce and trainings.”
Pendekatan-pendekatan ini mengharuskan perusahaan untuk memikirkan kembali cara mereka menerapkan teknologi iklim dan proyek energi ramah lingkungan saat ini. Respons kita terhadap tantangan mendasar perubahan iklim harus memberikan akses dan peluang yang sebelumnya gagal, menjamin kesehatan dan kesejahteraan semua orang, dan berupaya mengakhiri pola dan praktik tidak adil yang telah membawa kita ke titik tidak berkelanjutan ini.
