‘We have got to figure out a way to make them understand’
At a conference at the University of the South Pacific in 2016, US climate campaigner Bill McKibben stated: ‘We have to make the world understand about the crisis, which is the most difficult job. We have got to figure out the way to make them understand’. He added, ‘Since the Pacific faces [a more urgent] danger than any part of the world, you have more right, more credibility to stand up and push this movement on the fast track… ‘
Challenging and enabling people to understand in a way that is compelling and moves them to act is a key function of cultural power. The Pacific Warriors’ blockade dramatised the issues, brought them into focus, provided a basis for redefining climate change and ‘joined the dots’ between the causes and consequences of global warming in a vivid and compelling way.
Some new definitions:
from… / to…
The Pacific Warriors’ blockade illustrates how an event that is rich in cultural power can provide a basis for seeing climate change in new ways:
| Issue | • From/ • To | Notes/ examples |
| Causes of climate change | • Nebulous and ill-defined • Coal and Australian coal exports are treated as a central problem. | It’s common knowledge that the burning of fossil fuels is the greatest man-made contributor to climate change. Australia is the world’s second largest coal exporter, with plans to triple those exports in the coming years… These plans do nothing to help the Pacific islands and yet we are the ones who will lose everything because of them (Milañ Loeak, 2014). |
| Focus of the debate | • Technical aspects of pricing carbon and promotion of renewable energy • The fossil fuel industry and its human impact | The story of the Pacific Islands and climate change is… about the fight to keep the Islands above water, and fossil fuels in the ground (Aaron Packard, 2014). |
| Australia’s coal export industry | • Coal as a source of jobs and investment Coal prioritised over renewables • Continued burning of coal is the source and root of the climate problem. | These traditional canoes [went] to Australia to stop the destruction of their Islands at its source (Aaron Packard, 2014). Josh Frydenburg: ‘Government support for renewable energy will not be at the expense of coal’ (Ludlow, 2015). |
| Perceptions of climate change | • Distant and remote • Happening now, affecting people now | We have heard in the media that climate change is not real, but we wake up every morning and go to bed every night living climate change (George Nacewa, quoted in Trigger, 2014). Lately the sea has become a source of fear… Earlier this year over 1,000 people were forced to be evacuated after king tides rose across our homes… (Milañ Loeak, 2014). |
| Locus of climate politics | • Centred on abstract policy—e.g. carbon trading schemes and global negotiations • Challenging the fossil fuel industry directly | Pacific Climate Warriors representing 12 different Pacific Island Nations, paddled out into the the port of Newcastle – the largest coal port in the world – in hand carved, traditionally built canoes with one goal in mind: block coal ships from passing through that channel, and highlight the devastating impacts the fossil fuel industry has on their Island homes (Fenton Lutunatabua, Aaron Packard and Koreti Tiumalu, 2015). |
| Pacific Islanders | • Passive, helpless victims • Not drowning, fighting | We come from a people who have lived sustainably and in harmony with nature, with our environment, for centuries. So to be labelled as passive victims, or to have some of our islands be seen as the possible first climate refugees, is really not well received in the Pacific (Koreti Tiumalu, quoted in Butler, 2014). “We are not drowning, we are fighting” (350, 2013 and 350 Pacific) |
| Australia’s relationship with the Pacific | • ‘Beneficent big brother’ • Australian government prioritising the fossil fuel industry over the wellbeing of Pacific Islanders and its own people’s future. | Australia has always been seen as a big brother in this region, and it’s disappointing to feel like the leadership isn’t serious about what’s happening. (Zane Sikulu in Connell, 2016). |
| Pacific Islands | • Holiday destination • Home to people whose need for security and safety are threatened by climate change | The Pacific Islands are so often [seen as] just a holiday destination… What we hope to achieve in bringing the Pacific Warriors to Australia will be… [to] deliver a message from a strong, independent community of people who want nothing more than what every Australian wants: security, stability and a safe home environment in which to raise our children (Koreti Tiumalu, quoted in Butler, 2014). |
| Impacts of climate change (1) | • Focus on sea level rise • Focus expanded to include safe water supply, fisheries, agriculture, health, culture and livelihoods. | Rising saltwater tables [are] impacting deep rooted food crops [and] are infiltrating fresh water supplies (Pacific Warriors media pack, 2014). |
| Impacts of climate change (2) | • Abstract • Personal | We have brought our stories, we have brought our human stories, our human face to climate change, to the impact of climate change and… that is what we wanted to do to highlight the impacts that the Pacific islands are facing, and to also… bring to light the fact that Australia’s commitment to expanding the fossil fuel industry is also expanding the destruction of the Pacific islands. (Arianne Kassman in Mercer, 2014). |
| Who leads / takes the initiative | • Governments, peak environmental organisations, institutions • Representatives of Pacific Islander communities and their supporters | Until this blockade, the strategy to keep the islands above water was confined to the limits of what Pacific governments and big non-government organizations could do. Most Pacific Island leaders have shown tremendous leadership on climate change, but their effort needs to be coupled with that of a grassroots movement that can do what they can’t (Aaron Packard, 2014). |
Dramatic, vivid and emotionally-compelling events matter for redefining climate politics in a way that puts coal, Pacific Islanders, and the role of major fossil fuel projects on the agenda.
Changing the ‘climate of opinion’
Achieving the climate movement’s goals requires shifts in the ‘climate of opinion’ (or in the terms described above, ‘making them understand’).
This is about
- the level of political will
- how people vote
- whether the debate about climate change is ‘about’ ending the fossil fuel economy, emissions trading or technological fixes.
- whether contractors who work with coal companies or banks that lend to them are seen to be breaching standards that the community cares strongly about.
Vivid images, stories and drama provide a basis for shifting the climate opinion that ‘the facts’ (or ‘information politics’) lacks. One symbolic action does not shift national political culture by itself, however the cumulative effect of the stories and images that circulate in the ‘cultural dimension of politics’ matters.
The role of the blockade
Vivid, dramatic defining moments like the blockade are important for how they influence a movement and their broader public impact. They provide a way for movement participants to catch a vision, and a basis for the public to ‘see’ climate change differently.
The Pacific Warriors sought to ‘join the dots’ between Australian coal production and the impacts of climate change. Australia’s role as the world’s second largest coal exporter was thrown into sharp relief. Koreti Tiumalu, then 350.org’s Pacific Regional Coordinator, observed
Targeting the coal industry in Australia, the climate change campaign aims at sending a message to the Australian fossil fuel industry that we share the same ocean and the impacts (of climate change) are not only being felt by the Pacific Islands but also Australia.
Australians were confronted with challenging questions: where did they stand on calls to halt ‘the very activities that are causing climate change’? How would they respond to the links that the Pacific Warriors were making, for example between ANZ and its role as ‘Australia’s biggest funder of fossil fuels’?
Tiumalu reflected on the widespread image of Australia as ‘big brother’:
I can no longer stand the phrase “Australia is the big brother to the Pacific” because big brothers usually act as protectors to their younger siblings – not participate in activities that bring them serious harm. The Australian government’s denial of climate change is hurting the Pacific Islands fight for climate justice and it cannot continue.
Mika Maiava from Tokelau elaborated:
We want Australia to remember that they are a part of the Pacific. And as a part of the Pacific, we are a family, and having this family means we stay together. We cannot afford, one of the biggest sisters, really destroying everything for the family.
So, we want the Australian community, especially the Australian leaders, to think about more than their pockets, to really think about humanity not just for the Australian people, but for everyone.