Episode 36 - Turn Towards Each Other: A Collective Climate Justice Movement

Collective action can lead to real, tangible victories, like halting an offshore oil project proposed by Big Oil, reminding us that collectives of people have the power to challenge destructive and powerful forces. Instead of the individualistic, lonely, consumerism-heavy environmentalism that claimed centre stage in the past - telling us we are guilty for the worsening climate impact and we need to solve it all alone - the collective climate justice movement encourages us to turn towards each other. 

Guest Tori Tsui is a Bristol-based climate justice activist, organiser, writer and speaker from Hong Kong. You might have seen her on the cover of Vogue with a host of young environmental leaders and Billie Eilish, on panels like one hosted by Emma Watson at the New York Times Climate Hub, or in Instagram posts with inspiring activist friends like Mya-Rose Craig, Greta Thunberg, Daphne Frias, and Dominique Palmer. Tori is one of the wise, outspoken, and youthful leaders of a collective climate justice movement that is expanding environmentalism, intellectually, philosophically, equitably, and emotionally. Her recent debut book, It’s Not Just You, explores the intersections between climate change and mental health from a climate justice perspective. 

The climate justice movement shows us how taking care of the Earth does not have to mean the death of our mental health, requiring non-stop urgent action and burnout. Instead, activists like Tori remind us that climate action is lifelong work, requiring rest, mutual care, and joy. This conversation reveals concrete steps for creating welcoming, nuanced, and flexible spaces that allow for imperfection and conviction. It provides wise reflections on successful movement building and sustaining, and shows how recent wins have been accomplished by collective-minded organizing that is required for these dark times.