You have said that climate change is a queer issue. Why do you say that?
Humanity faces an unprecedented climate emergency. It threatens everyone, including LGBTs. There is no point campaigning for LGBT+ freedom if we don’t have a planet on which to practice and enjoy it. That’s why climate justice is a queer issue. Climate chaos menaces our LGBT+ future. We must not collude with environmental, species and climate destroying coal, oil and gas companies. They put profits before human health and survival. As victims of oppression ourselves, we LGBTs must stand in solidarity with the victims of fossil fuel production, against their corporate oppressors. This solidarity is in their interest and also in our interest too, because many of the victims of the pollution and climate damage caused by the fossil fuel industry are LGBT+.
The climate crisis is now a major political issue. How serious do you think it is?
The future of life on Earth is in potential danger. Sir David Attenborough has warned we are risking the collapse of the global food and fresh water supply. Rising sea levels caused by the melting of glaciers and the polar ice caps are set to swamp low-lying land, including parts of the UK. Our whole way of life is under threat. Dr James Hansen, the ex-NASA scientist who is now at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, says we face a catastrophe equivalent to a direct hit from a huge asteroid, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. The UN described its last climate report as “Code Red for Humanity ” and said “the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.” We would be fools to ignore these warnings.
What is the likely global impact of climate destruction?
The climate crisis has already killed, injured or made homeless and jobless millions of people worldwide through sea level rises, floods, droughts, hurricanes and forest fires, especially in Pacific and Asian island states and low-lying delta regions in the global south. Those affected include LGBTs who have sometimes faced discrimination at emergency shelters and disaster aid centres. During the summer, a LGBT+ family fleeing forest fires in Greece was turned away from relief accommodation. If the fossil fuel industry is not stopped, then hundreds of millions more people worldwide may lose their homes, jobs and lives.
What about the impact on UK cities like London?
Climate destruction will affect London and other UK cities too, with expected future sea level rises and storm surges that will overwhelm the Thames Barrier and regularly flood large parts of London, according to NASA and the official London flood map. This will devastate the lives of around two million Londoners, including more than 200,000+ LGBTs, with the mass loss of homes and jobs in the capital. Houses and businesses in the flooded parts of our big cities will become uninhabitable, uninsurable and unsellable – worthless.
Some people predict that the world can, in years to come, expect to see millions of climate refugees. How realistic is that?
The numbers are relatively small now but we will face tens of millions of climate refugees in the decades ahead. Many of the world’s most populous and productive agricultural regions are in river deltas that are only just above sea level. When they disappear under the waves, and the ground water turns saline, there will be a massive fall in global food production. People in those areas, including LGBTs, will lose their homes and livelihoods. They will flee in their millions to drier, safer land and in many cases to less affected countries. Most will arrive destitute, with no homes or jobs to go to. As more and more people squeeze into ever smaller pockets of habitable land, overcrowding will become intolerable and public services, water and food supplies will not be able to cope. Hunger, poverty and death will run out of control. Even in the UK, we can expect to see climate refugees as people flee flooded parts of the country. Where will they go? Where will they be housed? Where will they find work?