Bellingham Bay. Joe Addison // AS Review
By Kelsey Jones
The Southern Resident killer whales made national headlines in the summer of 2018 when a mother orca carried her 400-pound calf for 17 days after its death. This behavior had never been seen before in orca whales, and to many people it seemed as though the mother was purposefully sending us a message. These whale populations are dying. The dead calf was the first to be born to the J-pod in three years, due to the food insecurities that the Southern Residents are facing. Warming oceans are contributing to the decline of local Chinook salmon populations, which is the Southern Resident orca’s main food source.
As a visitor in Seattle, you might not realize that the local orcas are threatened. The whales are a sort of symbol for the Pacific Northwest area. Whale-watching boats bring in revenue for the city through tourism, and the image of the orca can be seen in gift shops, on t-shirts and license plates.
So how is it that a city that ostensibly has so much pride in these animals is able let their environment be destroyed so easily? Policy changes regarding the preservation of the Puget Sound, stricter regulations on pollution by companies and greater funding towards research on the health of the Puget Sound are all examples of actions that the city could be taking to protect these whales.
Instead, the city uses the whales for their allure, their drawing power and their ability to sell keychains, without returning the care and protection that they need to survive. In much the same way, the indigenous populations of the Seattle and Pacific Northwest area, who have lived symbiotically with these animals for thousands of years, are seeing their culture and image being used as a draw towards the city, while, according to The Seattle Times’ article “Native Americans, Seattle’s Original Residents, Are Homeless at Highest Rate” by Vianna Davila, their people are experiencing the highest homeless rates in Seattle (2018).
Environmentalism and social justice are movements which cannot be separated. The same system that is destroying our environment is also contributing to the oppression of marginalized groups in our country.
Indigenous people and people of color, especially women, have always been those most affected by climate change, though this is not often recognized. As Robin Morgan wrote in her book Sisterhood is Global, “Because virtually all existing countries are structured by patriarchal mentality, the standard for being human is being male — and female human beings per se become ‘other’ and ‘invisible’” (1984).
Women, especially women of color, have historically been some of the most important voices in the environmentalism movement. Winona LaDuke, Margaret Murie and Wangari Maathai have been examples.
New voices are emerging today, such as Greta Thunberg and Isra Hirsi, both of whom who have received discriminatory attacks for speaking up about the environment. For example, President Trump’s gave a sarcastic description of Thunberg as “a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future,” as reported by Sophie Wilkenson for The Independent (2019).
Another example is Jeremy Clarckson, who called Thunberg a “spoilt brat” and advised her to “be a good girl” and “shut up.” According to her interview for Vice by Leila Ettatchfini (2019), Hirsi has also been faced with racist attacks from users on social media and from her classmates.
It is not a coincidence that the women and people of color who speak out against climate change are likely to be shut down by misogynistic and racist attacks. The same people in power who are threatened by the advancement of women and minorities are also threatened by the growing presence of environmentalist ideas and criticism of the capitalist system which opposes these movements.
In order to advance the environmentalist movement, we have to acknowledge that environmental issues are also indigenous issues. We have to realize that there are people who benefit from the opposition against environmentalism. The privileged, the people in high positions of power and anyone who benefits from the marginalization of the lower class, women and people of color, also benefits from the opposition to environmentalism.
In the words of Morgan, the marginalization of women’s voices “permits governments and international bodies to discuss ‘the world’s problems’ [..] without noticing that those who suffer most from ‘the world’s problems’ are women, who, in addition, are not consulted about possible solutions” (1984).
We can see this opposition manifest in the way that some voices, even inside the environmentalist movement, are able to gain more traction than others. For example, Greta Thunberg has become a household name through her activism, but Autumn Peltier, a 15 year-old native Canadian environmental activist, is hardly as well-known.
Indigenous voices are not being recognized with as much importance as white voices within this movement, even though indigenous people are much more likely to be affected by this issue.
As Vandana Shiva wrote in her essay “Development, Ecology, and Women,” “‘Development’ could not but entail destruction for women, nature and subjugated cultures, which is why, throughout the Third World, women, peasants, and tribals are struggling for liberation from ‘development’ just as they earlier struggled for liberation from colonialism” (1989).
The silencing of these voices directly benefit those in power who enjoy the comfort of knowing that environmental changes won’t directly influence their lives any time soon.
In orca whale societies, the matriarch is important to a family’s survival. According to the National Geographic article by Roff Smith, “Hot Flashes in Cold Waters? Orca Whales Undergo Menopause” Orca whales are one of only two species, besides humans, which go through menopause. Female whales can live up to 50 years after they have left childbearing age. These older females are important to the pods survival because of the indispensable knowledge they are able to pass on to the newer members of the pod about how to catch food and survive in their particular area they live in.
We can take an example from the orcas here, in regards to their respect for the importance of female voices within their communities. For the environmentalist movement to be successful, we need to rely on the voices of women, people of color, and indigenous people. Much like the matriarchs of killer whale societies, marginalized people have a point of view which is indispensable in maintaining the health of our communities and our environment. The survival of the Southern Resident Orcas, and the survival of our own species rests on our ability to recognize that.
Note from the editors: This article was edited solely for grammar and not for content. Submit guest submissions to as.review.editor@wwu.edu.