大象传媒

When I started reading Vanessa Nakate鈥檚 new book, (HarperCollins 2021), I didn鈥檛 immediately understand the connection between the title and . It was January 2020 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She and four other youth activists were there to encourage attendees to take the climate crisis seriously. The five activists gave a press conference and posed for pictures. But when the Associated Press story came out, Nakate had been cropped from the photo.

鈥淎s I looked at the image,鈥� the 24-year-old Nakate writes in the introduction to her book, 鈥渋t became impossible to ignore that of the five women who鈥檇 posed for that photo, I was the only one who wasn鈥檛 from Europe and the only one who was Black. They hadn鈥檛 just cropped me out, I realized. They鈥檇 cropped out a whole continent.鈥�

So even though Nakate shares that she had felt great trepidation and timidity organizing climate strikes in the Ugandan capital of Kampala and attending international climate conferences in the previous year, it was this singular 鈥渆rror of judgement鈥� and the resulting backlash that galvanized her resolve to act on climate justice.

鈥淏eing cropped out of that photo changed the course of my activism and my life,鈥� she writes. 鈥淚t reframed my thoughts about race, gender, equity, and climate justice; and it led to the words you鈥檙e now reading.鈥�

The authenticity of Nakate鈥檚 voice and her no-nonsense tone are among the many things I really appreciated about the 200-page memoir/manifesto on her fight to widen the metaphorical frame and bring more African voices into the global climate conversation. And it鈥檚 why I wanted to talk with her further. So, as has become customary for both journalism and climate organizing alike in 2021, she and I met on Zoom to talk about where her activism has taken her in 2021 and how she鈥檚 feeling as the much-anticipated global climate conference known as COP26 kicks off in Glasgow.

For starters, I wanted to know how optimistic she was about COP26.

鈥淚 am not in the minds of leaders right now, but I want to really hope that they rise up for the people and the planet,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd I just hope that their words really match their actions.鈥�

That鈥檚 one of her central criticisms of much of the global climate action鈥攐r inaction鈥攕he鈥檚 witnessed in her time as an activist: Leaders making , let鈥檚 say, but then turning around and continuing to extract fossil fuels or . Because climate change is not some future inevitability for her. It鈥檚 her everyday experience in Kampala, on the continent facing some of the most brutal impacts of climate change鈥�, , , , and 鈥攚hile only having .

鈥淭he already-existing inequalities are fueled by the climate crisis, and this is leaving more Black people, more Indigenous communities, more people of color being exposed to these climate disasters,鈥� Nakate tells me, 鈥減utting them on the front lines of these climate disasters, putting them at the front lines of air pollution, water pollution, putting them at the front lines of exploitation.鈥�

In college, she started learning about climate change and realizing the massive economic and racial gap between those causing the crisis and those suffering from it. With this awareness, and the knowledge of how little it was being talked about in Uganda, she says she couldn鈥檛 not do something about it. That鈥檚 also why she says we can鈥檛 talk about climate justice without talking about racial and gender justice鈥攚ithout talking to the people living on the front lines of this present climate crisis.

鈥淎nd yet,鈥� I ask her, 鈥渉ow many of those people on the front lines are going to be attending COP26?鈥�

Her reply is frank, though not defeated: 鈥淲hile these communities are on the front lines of the climate crisis, they are, first of all, not on the front pages of the world鈥檚 newspapers. Their stories are not being told. 鈥� Their stories are not being amplified.鈥�

And that, she says, is a problem for the climate crisis worldwide. The people in these communities aren鈥檛 just victims; they are also the ones actively surviving and adapting to disaster after human-caused climate disaster. So until their voices are included and elevated in climate conversations, the needed progress on climate action will remain out of reach. It鈥檚 one of the reasons Nakate felt compelled to write a book that would elevate the voices of African climate activists specifically.

Nakate very intentionally uses the word 鈥測et鈥� when she writes of the future she envisions: 鈥淲e aren鈥檛 (yet) in the decision-making forums. We don鈥檛 (yet) make the rules or (yet) have the votes to determine whether to continue with fossil-fuel financing or change.鈥�

But she is actively works to change these facts.

鈥淲hile we recognize and see how the climate crisis really impacts women and girls in different parts of the world,鈥� she tells me, 鈥渨e should also recognize how powerful it would be to put more girls in school and ensure that more girls finished school, and how powerful it would be to empower more women, because in the end, it will give all of us a lifeline.鈥�

In her book, Nakate discusses gender equity and the importance of access to education at length. She contrasts the way messages are received depending on who is delivering them: If a man stands up for something he believes in, he鈥檚 commanding; if a woman does the same, she鈥檚 considered irrational and shrill. A man expressing himself on a topic is considered passionate, whereas a woman doing the same is seen as bossy or overly emotional.

Especially in Uganda, women and girls are encouraged to be silent, under the guise of maintaining their dignity and self-respect. Nakate knew she would receive pushback for going against this cultural norm, standing on busy street corners with handmade signs about stopping the climate crisis. And she did, both in person and on social media. People accused her of using her climate activism as a front for prostitution, finding a husband, or selling drugs.

But the harmful comments she鈥檚 received have only compelled her to continue her work toward gender equity (and block social media users more freely). That鈥檚 because Nakate believes equipping women and girls with the information, knowledge, and skills to handle climate issues will not only reduce existing inequalities, but will also help all of humanity reduce greenhouse gases and build climate resilience.

That鈥檚 why she dedicates much of her energy to a project supporting Ugandan schools by installing solar panels and clean cookstoves. Having electricity and clean air is life-changing for the students at these schools, especially female students. And she says it鈥檚 no accident that youth, and young women in particular, are leading many of the world鈥檚 climate justice movements.

鈥淚 think that every activist understands the solutions that they need in their communities,鈥� Nakate tells me. 鈥淎nd they don鈥檛 really just understand these solutions, they implement them, regardless of how small or big their resources are.鈥�

In this way, she discounts moonshot climate solutions or future technologies that promise to almost magically offset past emissions, though at great cost. Instead, she focuses on current climate solutions that are 鈥渁ctionable, scalable, and holistic,鈥� and aims to amplify actions taking place at the community level. These are the conversations and projects and relationships that inspire her ongoing climate activism.

Read an excerpt from Vanessa Nakate’s book, A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis.

鈥淚t can be really tough to see that the kind of future that you want seems really far away,鈥� Nakate says. 鈥淓specially with the actions of the leaders, it can be quite frustrating to see inaction and disasters continue to happen.鈥�

To counter this, she says she chooses to see the ways people are driving solutions in their own communities and changing people鈥檚 lives right now. Her book looks at the work of fellow youth climate activists across Uganda and beyond. She lifts up the voices and actions that inspire her. 鈥淟ook for the light in the present,鈥� she says.

Nakate also points to her faith as a major motivator because she says it allows her to believe in something that she has not yet seen. 鈥淚 just keep believing that the power of the people will win in the end, and the actions of the people will win in the end. I think that kind of belief for a sustainable world, and the belief that it鈥檚 actually possible, is something that really keeps me going.鈥�

In the book鈥檚 final chapter, Nakate offers guidance to help readers turn these ideas into their own personal forms of activism. It鈥檚 hard not to feel as if a better world is possible when she writes, 鈥淓very activist has a story to tell; every story has a solution to give; and every solution has a life to change.鈥�