A Just Transition or Just a Transition?
‘Tis been a while!! But allow me to get to it.
In my last piece — of sound and fury signifying nothing — I attempt to explain the current discourse on a just transition, focused on energy. And just as the title suggests I realized it was a lot of brouhaha without substance. So I will attempt to remedy this by giving some background and adding more flesh to this discourse.
Definitions
Allow me to start from the basics, what is a transition. Well, Webstar defines it as A shift from one state to another pretty basic stuff you know. But the fundamental thing is to understand the state we are coming from, how we got there and where are we shifting to, this will help us to understand why the transition is critical.
If you have read anything in the news in the last year, you can't have missed stories around the COVID 19 pandemic, The Euros football Tourney, and critically the climate crisis that we are in. There have been such extreme weather events — Floods and Fires in Europe, Heat Waves in North America, and Fires in Algeria — and the recently published Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report (IPCC 6) all but confirms that these events will only escalate, putting out Code Red for humanity. Sadly though many climate scientists warned about this as Prof. Mann in an interview points out. These scientists even point out that this was inevitable *snaps fingers*
How we got here is even more interesting. For much of my life, I was erroneously under the impression that climate change was solely about personal responsibility. While that is true, it leaves out those who are actually responsible for climate change and climate variability.
The rendering of Catherine Keller’s facing apocalypse and Maya Rivera put it best; the climate crisis is a result of colonialism and extractive capitalism. The argument is that we are in our current predicament because of the (neo)colonial extractive economic model that, unfortunately still grinds to this day. That is why, as pointed out in All that Glitters, the fossil fuel companies can argue for plastic recycling while only recycling approximately 15% of the plastics, or how oil companies can purport to lead a green energy revolution, while still increasing the investment in new oil finds in critical biodiversity areas like the Okavango Delta. Or why big Pharms can hold the world hostage with the Covid Vaccines, yet Africa is only 3.5% vaccinated (at time of writing) and yet the continent is expected to negotiate in COP 26 with all the restrictions in the UK??!! So I (and I presume many others) have been hoodwinked in this personal responsibility narrative without ever questioning who is actually responsible.
What is a just transition?
“Transition is about navigating contradictions” — Hamza Hamouchene
The economic regime that has necessitated this transition is flawed, that is something we can agree to. That said, this transition will be non-linear. This essentially means that the generation responsible for the transition will be managing chaos. The transition will not only take place within the energy spectrum but mainly in the social sphere. Since the transition is intended to be just, that means that class, race, gender, and livelihood will be on focus. This could explain the protests that have been witnessed in South Africa in 2021.
A just transition questions the very core of our economic model. How is wealth generated? how can society be equal? but crucially it questions how can human live in dignity? Think about your neighbourhood and how it accesses water, versus how another side of town accesses water. Where I stay we receive water from the local government once a week. However, there are some parts of Nairobi, that receive water once every fortnight, some go on months without water…imagine the ramifications of this on sewerage or better yet public health. Where is justice?
Looking at the global discourse on transition, it does feel that it is far removed from the local realities. For example, I lauded Morocco’s efforts in solar production, but unbeknownst to me was it was at the cost of pastoralists losing grazing land. The Ouarzazate Solar Plan launched in 2016 was installed on Amazigh agro-pastoralist communities’ land without their approval and consent, a land grab for a supposedly green agenda. And to add salt the project is not as green as it professes. It is using concentrated thermal power (CSP) that necessitates extensive use of water to cool down and clean the panels in a semi-arid area. This is very similar to the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project in Kenya, and the geothermal exploration in Ol Karia that has led to the dispossession of Maa Land. Actually, in Ol Karia, KenGen offered the community modern housing. While this may look ok, (free housing and green energy) it becomes murky when you realize that this project was in a national park, and the houses did not even consider the cultural nuances of the community. Electric vehicles are another, are we able to recycle the batteries without polluting the environment or adding waste?
Similarly, the discourse on food security. New perspectives on agrarian change come up every day. I remember growing up there was a time where it was thought that irrigation schemes were the silver bullets for a nation's food security, now there is talk of climate-smart agriculture and agroecology (and honestly sometimes this is just jargon). Crucially is what is just for the farmer. What makes his/her food secure — nutrition included - ensures soil health and can make an income out of farming. A just transition means producers are protected in the whole value chain — from soil to market. A just transition also means that all the herbicides and pesticides are removed for the sake of our pollinators…remember the song?
“Hey, farmer, farmer Put away that DDT now Give me spots on my apples But leave me the birds and the bees Please!” — Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchelle
Why should I care?
I am inevitably taken back to Macbeth’s soliloquy “…of sound and fury signifying nothing” as Macbeth perfectly sums up the weariness and futility that life can be especially when we are supposed to be navigating contradiction, yet we seem to be going back to the same model that brought us here.
But here is the beauty of it all, The just transition is a non-linear process. Meaning that not everything will go as planned, and I believe that we are the generation that leads this process, meaning we have the opportunity to learn from mistakes and forge a brighter future. So while you advocate for your rights — this from the freedoms set out in different pieces of law - or equal pay, or even embracing this digital age of working remotely, you are inadvertently shaping the Just Transition debate. And even as I try to make sense of a Just Transition in different social-ecological contexts, I am learning from you.
So why should you care, because we cannot go back to what put us in this morbidly unequal society, so let us learn and avoid just transiting and demand for a Just Transition. Ultimately the system must change!
Viva!!!
