CHENNAI: To address the extreme impacts of climate change on marginalized communities, Greenpeace has launched People for Climate – a climate justice movement. Featuring real-life objects destroyed by extreme weather events, art installations, photography exhibitions, VR films and roundtable discussions, the People For Climate exhibition highlights the urgent need to reduce climate disasters beyond just numbers and headline-grabbing headlines news.
greenpeace memory museum A painful reminder of the human toll the climate crisis is taking. Featuring 26 exhibits of everyday items that tell stories of loss, recovery and hope in the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather events, the museum aims to evoke a sense of urgency and hold policymakers, big polluters and collective society accountable. .
As part of the initiative, a roundtable expertly moderated by climate strategist Ruhie Kumar and environmental lawyer Vetri Selvan focused on two main aspects of the event – the direct experience of communities and the role of policy in addressing climate challenges. Active participation from community representatives, climate change experts, journalists and civil society provided valuable insights that provide depth and direction to the climate justice movement.
Participants in the first roundtable discussion included Shankar Halder from Mukti Foundation, Sundarbans; Sindhu Napoleon from Trivandrum Coastal Students Cultural Forum; Ajay Kumar, a Dalit activists in Larnaca; renowned photographer Palani Kumar and his students Sugandhi, Poongodi, Pratima, Nandini, Benisha (from Citizen Consumer and Citizen Action Group), Sebastiao Anthony (from National Small-Scale Fisheries Workers Platform) ; Gopinath Parayil, activist specializing in flood recovery in Kerala; Amruta SN, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace India
The roundtable discussion on the role of the state in achieving climate justice featured luminaries such as Sunder Rajan from Poovulagin Nanavagal; Soumya Dutta, a climate activist who has been working in the field for over 30 years, and Harjit Singh, author of IPCC and Climate Experts; Benisha from the Chennai Climate Action Group; Sandeep Minhas from Environics Trust (Himachal Pradesh); and independent journalist Smitha TK share their views, shedding light on the urgent need for comprehensive climate action.
Sindhu Napoleon A member of the Thiruvananthapuram Coastal Students Cultural Forum said, “I cannot speak here about our experience in Cyclone Oshi. This moved me very much. It’s hard to imagine what it’s like when a hurricane makes landfall. Now, the occurrence of such extreme disasters is increasing on the northern coast of Kerala. My father is a fisherman and can only work 5 days in the past two months. Can you imagine how a fisherman whose only source of livelihood is the day's catch can survive if he can only go fishing for 5 days in 60 days?
“It’s time we stop looking at these extreme weather events in isolation, and instead see them as symptoms of a larger, deeper problem at hand – the climate crisis. Understanding the interrelationships of these events is critical to addressing the root causes and implementing comprehensive Solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change are vital,” said Amruta SN, climate campaigner at Greenpeace
The People for Climate movement was launched to bring the voices of marginalized communities to the forefront to demand effective climate solutions and a just transition. India and the global South Asia region are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. data shows that more than half of South Asia, or 750 million people, have been exposed to one or more extreme weather events in the past two decades.in fact based on Atlas of weather events in India, Of the 273 days from January 1 to September 30, 2023, 235 days experienced extreme weather events, causing 2,923 deaths and affecting 1.84 million hectares of crop area.
