What can every Brazilian citizen do about global warming? Never before has humanity consumed and polluted so quickly. There is a structural problem in the world, and this is not global warming, since this phenomenon is just a consequence of the logic of life: anthropocentric neo-extractivism, an important problem for Latin American critics such as Alberto Acosta, Eduardo Gudinas, Maristella Swampa. and Sylvia Kusikanki. There are environmental political scientists in Brazil: Copenava and Crenac.
In times of scientific denial, being a political agent seems necessary to overcome the consequences of such a logic of habitation and life. The deniers argue: there is no global warming, the Earth is flat, products with pesticides are beneficial, progress and consumption of highly outdated products are harmless. Forests are eaten to justify all kinds of monoculture and extractivism. The mountains have been eaten so that electronics can be quickly disposed of. Water can no longer be drunk, the air is not much cleaner, and the ground continues to be polluted.
But in the end, what is this unearthly and distant but aggressive phenomenon that bears such names as global warming and climate change? Global warming is real and is the result of human activity. Climate change is already scientific evidence, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). If a scientific controversy has arisen, it ended 20 years ago. It is worth mentioning that the IPCC, created in 1988 by the UN, provides the public, especially policymakers, with consolidated information about the climate emergency.
Global warming can be thought of as a warning to humanity. A call to change the way we live, produce and live on Earth. Climate change requires change: to move from a neoliberal-neo-extractive logic, where there is an illusion of unlimited freedom and self-consent to the unlimited exploitation of the other, including people and not only people, to another ecologist and convivialist – where the dignity of the other, and it is possible to create spaces for “life” without violence, symbolic or physical, for people and for nature.
I return to my original thought: “What then can a citizen do at the local level?” Quick answer: do daily environmental practices through an ethical (social) climate ruler. A new moral ruler is needed to cope with local problems, since warming is global in nature, but solutions must be tailored for each territory. Words matter. And stocks too. Worldview plus words and actions equals political action in the world. But what does this mean in practice?
More everyday ecologists are required. We need more Krenaki and Yanomani to keep the sky from falling over our heads, to postpone the end of the world, in short, to recognize that a certain kind of urbanized industrial and extractive worldview, especially patriarchal, hierarchical and selfish, can lead to life on Earth collapsing. This is not a panic story.
Guardians are needed. Ailton Krenac warns, stating that indigenous peoples are not the only guardians of the forest, but every citizen on Earth. Each person in his daily choices decides to eat the forest more or less. Davi Kopenawa, Yanomami, in Altima Floresta tells the story of how the Jurua do not know how to live in harmony with the waters and mountains: “The Jurua prefer to dig and pollute rivers. The Huruashi prefer to eat mountains and get sick when they release disease vapors of oil and toxic minerals. “
It should be recognized that Brazil is a multinational territory. That there are over 300 different worldviews. It’s easy to mention Brazilian indigenous ethnic groups. They have been involved in climate policy for over 1000 years, and Jurua, we non-indigenous peoples, have a lot to learn about how to live with nature.
As Leonardo Boff argues, an ethic of care is essential in our daily choices. A ruler who allows everyone to take responsibility for their daily actions. From knowing when to use water every day while showering to alleviate the water crisis, to deciding to cut plastic or food consumption that needed to be overcome across half the planet. It’s about day-to-day climate policy.
Looking for a citizen / politicians. The Brazilian Climate Policy was officially launched in 2009 with the adoption of the National Climate Change Policy. Politics, however, is not limited to civil servants in the executive or the legislature. Other local entities include municipal councils and district associations.
We need children’s politicians. In Brazil, some young people are starting to propose civil society policies. Initiatives such as Engajamundo, Young Politicians for Climate, The Brazilian Climate Strike and others demonstrate that any citizen can get involved in politics. This political action by Brazilian civil society still requires overcoming the myth that “politics is not discussed” or “politics is carried out only by the councilor, deputy, senator, mayor, governor and president.” Perhaps Brazil needs the emerging Krenac / Copenava effect. A collective force that transforms every citizen into the protector of the forest and therefore the planet.
Thus, we are not living in an era of climate change, but in an era of planetary collapse. Global warming is real, and socio-ecological inequalities have increased dramatically over the past decades. Scientifically, an updated IPCC climate publication is expected in 2022. But will an ethical appeal be on the agenda? And I leave the provocation: “When will we, juruás, begin to use a new ethical ruler to reorient our way of living and living in this world before the announced apocalypse?”
Frederico Salmi is a PPG Master in Sociology at UFRGS and is a member of the TEMAS (Technology, Environment and Society) group and AmazonFACE program.
