Alex, Willa, Simone, John, and I assembled an informative and interactive website for our action project on the topic of climate refugees.
The topic seeks to draws awareness to the interdependent nature of our global system.
Climatic crises, caused by Western overconsumption, will displace millions of people in historically exploited areas, to flood countries that enabled their displacement. Ultimately, our responsibility to the global system is contingent not only upon upon moral obligation, but also the fact that we, too, depend on its health and stability.
In creating the format of our website, we wanted to convey this information in a way that was impactful, empowering, and personal.
Providing examples of people creating strategies for adaptation, including people at the UW, makes progress seem feasible—rather than its vastness debilitating— and it connects our target demographic to a tangible support structure of people advancing this mission to draw strength and ideas from.
Our group also shared in the uncomfortable disillusionment process of addressing how our actions contribute to destructive circumstances for others and for our planet. Being in a group where we could all share in the associated guilt and confusion held us accountable to experience those emotions, and then identify how we could reasonably pursue change.
The group context of our action project was a testament to the power of community in fostering resilience and in empowering one to action. By drawing on the diverse strengths and insights of the collective, we were able to avoid being overwhelmed or incapacitated by the demands of the project itself, or by its heavy subject matter.
Though I doubt that our project in itself will have sweeping institutional implications, our goal was to make our viewers aware of the problem, disillusioned from their state of complacency, and empowered by a sense of responsibility, connection, and empathy.
We sought to inform our audience that they not only had a role in the creation and perpetuation of climate instability, but that that also directly coincided with their ability to exact positive change. Imbuing people with this dual sense of accountability and agency allows them to be informed and intentional in their pursuit of broader social and ecological adaptation.
In this way, the action project also helped me to better align my values with my actions and to move forward with an expanded conception of agency and ability.