Blogs
How is this representation of climate change similar to the other things you’ve read/viewed? How is different?
This representation of climate change is similar to the other things I’ve viewed because it explains how carbon dioxide directly correlates to climate change and how heat is getting trapped in the atmosphere because of rising carbon dioxide levels. The video describes how the main source of carbon emissions are the factories, which is common knowledge, but is also goes into depth about the effect of trees and deforestation on climate change. Trees, as many people know, take in carbon dioxide, and are therefore a great resource in the battle against climate change. However, deforestation not only destroys this resource, but it also releases back into the atmosphere all the carbon dioxide that the tree has accumulated throughout the years, thereby rendering that tree a waste of a valued resource. Yet, this video was also able to address many new topics that most climate change film-makers do not think to include. Firstly, the video is shown from the perspective of a person belonging to an indigenous community. This person also explains the opinions of the non-indigenous people, and because of that allows the audience to experience a wide variety of ideas and solutions to climate change that have been proposed by both indigenous and non-indigenous communities. This video also explains how REDD+ is working to further enhance the amount of influence indigenous people have on the decisions about climate change. I have never seen any other organizations that are specifically devoted to the purposes of indigenous peoples proposals and ideas and how to effectively incorporate them into the government.
Where do you see the influence of Indigenous peoples in this video? Where is it missing?
I see the influence of indigenous peoples in this video throughout the entire video because it is an elder from one indigenous people narrating the video, and he is enunciating how everything relates back to the indigenous peoples and what they have to do to change the world for the better. He is speaking to his people about what they can do and how climate change affects them. This all falls under the category of the influence of indigenous people in this video. Because the elder is talking about how the indigenous people affect the environment, he is expressing their influence. However, this elder also speaks about how many high-ranking companies discard the opinions of indigenous peoples because, in the grand scheme of things, they cannot affect how the company cuts down trees or releases too many emissions. Indigenous people tend to not have much of a say in government, so they cannot really influence these larger companies that are a large cause of deforestation. However, in this video, REDD+ promotes the idea that indigenous peoples should be given some power, and that their ideas need to be listened to.
What solutions to climate change does this video propose?
This video proposes various solutions to climate change such as reforestation where we make an attempt to replant lots of trees that have been chopped down for human use. If more trees get planted again to replace the other trees that have been harvested over many years, then these trees will be able to react to the carbon emissions by taking in more carbon dioxide before it hurts the environment too much. We should also slow down and eventually stop all forest destruction. This would increase the amount of forests taking in carbon dioxide and lead to the reproduction of forests naturally. If we make leaving a tree standing more valuable than cutting it down, then more countries would be willing to agree to stop deforestation. The video also suggests that governments create laws that prohibit or minimize the amount of carbon emissions that companies and factories are allowed to produce. Many of these laws and restrictions are already put into action in many countries. However, we need to work on gradually lowering the amount of emissions companies are allowed to produce, until they run on alternative energy and have no use for fossil fuels. Yet another solution would be to bring back the indigenous animals of each area in order to create the balance of carbon emissions and carbon intakes that was achieved before industrialization. If you bring back the natural animals and plants of an area who together were able to achieve balance in the environment, then you are more likely to accomplish balance now. Additionally, REDD+ thinks that reducing poverty in areas where climate change will occur will allow those in that area to be better prepared to respond and react to the effects that climate change will have on their community.
Do you agree with the representation of Indigenous peoples and climate change action in the video? Why or why not?
Keira: I agree with the representation of indigenous peoples and climate change action in this video because I think that overall, indigenous people will be a positive influence on the creation of laws concerning climate change. Even though earlier, indigenous people had minimal power, we have seen the effects of climate change rising with the amount of forests that have been cut down and how indigenous people are arguing against it, and I think that by including indigenous people, the laws proposed will be more effective though they may be more harsh than some companies would like. I think that this video had to be able to represent indigenous people especially well because it was from the perspective of an indigenous elder. I think that because it was from the perspective of an indigenous elder, we were able to experience further how indigenous people have been treated and how they feel about climate change. In many other videos, indigenous people are represented less because so far they have not made that much of a difference. This is due to powerful companies pushing aside the indigenous people who have no influence in government. Yet with this video, you were able to see how the indigenous peoples connection with the environment and how they want to protect it from climate change. Climate change is seriously affecting our planet, and I think the REDD+ proposes many attainable and reasonable ideas that we can put into action and will be effective.
What are the opportunities and challenges in taking seriously Indigenous perspectives of climate change? Consider factors that facilitate or hinder ethical responses to climate change, including social and economic inequities, political dynamics, marginalization, discrimination, state, military/police power, etc.
Keira: The opportunities in taking indigenous perspectives of climate change include that because indigenous people usually are large protectors of the environment and because of this strong belief, they would argue for much action against climate change. If more people agree to stand up to climate change, it is more likely that action will be taken against climate change. I think that some challenges in taking indigenous perspective of climate change would be that they could propose much harsher standards than other people as ideas for how to reduce carbon emissions or how to stop deforestation. Indigenous people have a simple way of life, and they would be surprised by the amount of emissions we produce in what we call our daily life. Because so many people require many materials made from wood, and many companies produce a tremendous amount of carbon emissions compared to the indigenous people, lots of people could be surprised with the standards that indigenous people propose. Indigenous people may be set on helping the environment as well as possible, but not everyone will think that their standards are achievable. I agree that this may not be true for all indigenous people, maybe not even true for most indigenous people, yet it is a possibility that we need to be prepared for. Another challenge I think could occur when we take in the perspectives of indigenous people is that not everybody will believe that they have a right to participate because they live separately from most people and are not a part of government. Many companies think of indigenous people as roadblocks in their work procedure of cutting down forests and manufacturing the wood. If we eventually stop deforestation like the indigenous communities want us to, many jobs will be lost in the lumber industry and maybe even whole companies will have to shut down, or change their industry. When we focus on the opinions of the indigenous people that will benefit the environment, we may not be taking into consideration all of the negative impacts it will have on our community. I think that we do need to stop climate change, but we need to do it so that everyone, not just indigenous people, end up satisfied with the condition of our world.
