Why climate justice is a responsibility, not charity | S Bituila | TEDxIITDelhi
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HQWph2muYI Video ID: 2HQWph2muYI ============================================================ [music] [applause] I started my research journey here in IIA Delhi in 2022. And if you'd asked me back then why I wanted to be part of climate solutions, I would have said that it was because I wanted to help save the planet. But if you ask me the same question today, my answer would be completely different. I come from Manipur, a beautiful state located in northeast India. It's often called the jewel of India and it really is with green hills, incredible biodiversity, rich culture and communities that have lived in harmony with nature for generations. For centuries, my people have been guardians of nature, taking care of the forest and the lands that sustain us. But in the last few decades, this beautiful home of mine has been devastated by climate related disasters. Year after year, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives, their homes, and still remain displaced. And right now, as I'm speaking to you, over tens of thousands of people, including children, women, and elderly, are living in relief camps and makeshift shelters with limited access to basic services like food and drinking water, living in conditions no one should ever face because they can't afford to rebuild or move away. On one morning in July 2023, I woke up to a phone call that would change everything. My village to me on Kulin had been hit by a devastating storm. The faces in these photos, these are people I've known my entire life. They lost their crops, their livelihoods in a single night. This wasn't just bad luck. This wasn't nature just being unpredictable, but this was climate change making storms more destructive and more intense. And the thing that breaks my heart the most is that not one of them has ever owned an air conditioner. Not one of them has ever owned a car. Most of the families don't even have a fridge. So their carbon footprint is almost nothing. They contributed least to the emissions causing climate change. Yet when the storm came, they paid the highest price. And I kept asking myself, how is this fair? What's happening in Manipur is happening across India. It's happening across the globe and it's happening to the same people everywhere. The most vulnerable, the poorest communities. So today, I'm here to tell their story from the lens of climate change. A story of how the same weather event becomes a minor inconvenience for some and a death sentence for others. For some heat wave means higher electricity bills while for others it means dying on a construction site. In the last two decades, India experienced over 1,000 climate disasters and over a 100,000 people lost their lives. But here's what the numbers don't capture. Most of the victims were daily wage workers, construction laborers, street vendors, people who testified to working in extreme weather conditions with no protection, people with no houses of their own, no insurance and no safety net. The Kerala floods in 2018, the heat waves last year, millions of lives shattered. It's different disasters, different years, but always the same people paying the highest price and the crulest irony is that the people that are most impacted by climate change are the least responsible in causing it. And that's why I believe real climate solutions start with justice by listening to the people that are most affected and building a system that is fair and lasting. Now, some of you might be thinking, "But I'm not poor. I'm not a construction worker. I'm not a farmer. Why should this matter to me at all?" Let me paint you a picture. Imagine we're all passengers on the same boat. Suddenly, the boat hits a rock and tears a hole in the bottom, but only on one side. Water starts gushing in. The people there are frantically bailing it out, trying to stay afloat. Meanwhile, on the other side, it's comfortable, it's dry, and it's safe. So, here's my question. Do those dry passengers sit back and watch? Do they think not my problem or do they realize that if half the boat sings everyone drowns? All of us are in that boat right now drinking the same water, sharing the same planet and breathing the same air. What's happening in my home state today could reach your city tomorrow. But here's the thing, and this is important. Everyone in this room has real power. We are educated. We can make choices. We can speak up. So the question is not that we cause climate crisis. But the question is, will we help fix it? So what can you actually do? Here's what I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to tell you to use less air conditioners or buy bamboo toothbrushes or take shorter showers. Those things are fine, but they won't save my home state. They won't stop construction workers from dying in the heat waves. But you know what will? You look around this room. We're at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Do you know what that means? In five years, some of you will become engineers. You will design buildings. So, design them for people who can't afford AC with natural ventilation, with materials that don't trap heat. Some of you will work in policy. So, fight for laws that protect outdoor workers during heat waves. Demand that climate adaptation reaches the people who need it the most. and not just the one who can pay for it. Some of you will become researchers. So study solutions that actually work for the poor. Affordable cooling, floodproof housing that costs less than a month's rent. Some of you will join companies. So ask the uncomfortable questions. Who is being displaced for this project? Who is paying the real cost? Are we building solutions for everyone or just for people who can pay for it? Use your education as a weapon for justice? Because individual choices matter, but systems matter more. And you, all of you are going to build those systems. So build them differently. Build them for the construction workers, not just the architects. Build them for the vulnerable communities, not just the policy makers. Build them for everyone who is already drowning. Because climate crisis isn't equal. It never was. It never will be. But we can choose to be fair. And that's what climate justice looks like. Not charity, not pity, just building a world where your comfort doesn't come at the cost of someone else's suffering. where the systems protect everyone equally. Now let me take you back to where we started. Why I want to be part of climate solutions not just to save the planet. No. Today my answer is different. I want to be part of climate solutions because I want us to save each other. Not just the planet but each other. Because I've seen the people I love lose everything with no one to listen and no one to speak for them. I've seen communities that have given everything to this planet and receive nothing but disaster in return. But I've also seen something that changed me. I've seen those same communities rebuilded. I've seen farmers replant after losing everything. They haven't given up, so neither can we because they shouldn't have to fight alone. In five years, some of you will write the policies that protect lives. Some of you will design new technologies. And when you do, I want you to remember this moment. Remember the farmers in my village. Remember the construction workers dying in the heat waves. And remember that your work isn't just about innovation, it's about justice. And remember that we're all in the same boat. Climate justice isn't charity, my friends. It's a responsibility we all share because in the end, climate action isn't just about saving the planet. It's about saving each other. Thank you. [applause]