15 Pacific Climate Warriors and Local Narratives on Climate …
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is a human issue first and foremost. Climate change is cyclone Winston and cyclone Gita
threatening Fiji and Tonga and destroying the infrastructures of our island nations. Climate
change is the washing away of the graveyards of our ancestors and the future of our children.
We must remember that in these gatherings and in the noise of political arguments and
ideological narratives we do not forget our humanity and become desensitized of the human
faces at the center of this crisis. We flew all the way here because we are fighting not just
for our children but yours as well, and your grandchildren.
We in the Pacific cannot wait. We need to understand that 1.5 is the only acceptable outcome.
The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees is the difference between our islands surviving or
drowning. […] Remember the human faces of climate change. See us. Partner with us. We
are more than a current threat through climate change. We are families, we are communities,
we are the memories of our ancestors, we are the saltwater that runs through our veins. We
are more than drowning islands, we are fighting warriors. (350 Pacific 2018)
With this talk, Moeno-Kolio is trying to make visible and graspable a phenomenon
that is usually hard to understand and experience firsthand (Rudiak-Gould 2013).
Climate change is, in his words, personified by cyclones Winston and Gita (in and of
themselves personified extreme natural events); it is menacing the past (“the washing
away of the graveyards of our ancestors”) as well as the future (“and the future of our
children”), undermining the very existence of Pacific lifestyles and likely to cause a
cultural crisis.
Also, a lot of effort is put in projecting an emotional connection between the Pacific
communities and the Western public, while enforcing a strong imagery on how it
feels to be threatened by climate change (“we are families, we are communities”),
to touch people’s sensitivity and trigger a sense of responsibility for their global
neighbours.
In the first case—Newcastle—we are confronted with a protest which took place
in Oceania. Local popular participation was a very important part of the action: the
activists tried to block the wharf riding traditional canoes; traditional dances and
demonstrations took place afterwards on the beach. These demonstrations raised the
Australian public’s attention and attracted other Australian activists.
In the second case—Vatican City—only a few Warriors were selected as
spokespersons for the majority of the Pacific communities and the sessions of the
conference were not accessible to the lay public. The particular way the movement
presents the environmental issue to the Western (and Australian) public is representative of the capacity of the Warriors to speak different languages in different contexts,
to move seamlessly between different universes of meaning. The power and agency
of these social actors lie exactly here: in the capacity to translate heterogeneous
worlds and render them understandable for both Pacific Islanders and the rest of the
world.
301
is a human issue first and foremost. Climate change is cyclone Winston and cyclone Gita
threatening Fiji and Tonga and destroying the infrastructures of our island nations. Climate
change is the washing away of the graveyards of our ancestors and the future of our children.
We must remember that in these gatherings and in the noise of political arguments and
ideological narratives we do not forget our humanity and become desensitized of the human
faces at the center of this crisis. We flew all the way here because we are fighting not just
for our children but yours as well, and your grandchildren.
We in the Pacific cannot wait. We need to understand that 1.5 is the only acceptable outcome.
The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees is the difference between our islands surviving or
drowning. […] Remember the human faces of climate change. See us. Partner with us. We
are more than a current threat through climate change. We are families, we are communities,
we are the memories of our ancestors, we are the saltwater that runs through our veins. We
are more than drowning islands, we are fighting warriors. (350 Pacific 2018)
With this talk, Moeno-Kolio is trying to make visible and graspable a phenomenon
that is usually hard to understand and experience firsthand (Rudiak-Gould 2013).
Climate change is, in his words, personified by cyclones Winston and Gita (in and of
themselves personified extreme natural events); it is menacing the past (“the washing
away of the graveyards of our ancestors”) as well as the future (“and the future of our
children”), undermining the very existence of Pacific lifestyles and likely to cause a
cultural crisis.
Also, a lot of effort is put in projecting an emotional connection between the Pacific
communities and the Western public, while enforcing a strong imagery on how it
feels to be threatened by climate change (“we are families, we are communities”),
to touch people’s sensitivity and trigger a sense of responsibility for their global
neighbours.
In the first case—Newcastle—we are confronted with a protest which took place
in Oceania. Local popular participation was a very important part of the action: the
activists tried to block the wharf riding traditional canoes; traditional dances and
demonstrations took place afterwards on the beach. These demonstrations raised the
Australian public’s attention and attracted other Australian activists.
In the second case—Vatican City—only a few Warriors were selected as
spokespersons for the majority of the Pacific communities and the sessions of the
conference were not accessible to the lay public. The particular way the movement
presents the environmental issue to the Western (and Australian) public is representative of the capacity of the Warriors to speak different languages in different contexts,
to move seamlessly between different universes of meaning. The power and agency
of these social actors lie exactly here: in the capacity to translate heterogeneous
worlds and render them understandable for both Pacific Islanders and the rest of the
world.