Black Climates: notes on Race, our Environment, and visions for Equitable Futures

(Hardback)

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An accessible introduction to the connections between blackness and the climate crisis, with a focus on the Black British experience for readers of Mikaela Loach, Emma Dabiri and Afua Hirsch. To want to 'save the planet', a person has to have a sense of belonging in it... What would a saved planet look like for a Black collective Globally, Black people are among the most affected by the climate crisis, despite contributing very little to it. For a long time, the crisis was portrayed as yet another injustice for Black people to care about, on top of the day-to-day oppression they face. In Black Climates, Selina Nwulu reframes the crisis to encompass our disconnection from each other and the world around us. She argues that the root of climate change lies in historical colonial violence and ongoing exploitation, making it inherently racist. Nwulu, former Young People's Laureate for London, uses her poetic and skilful voice to directly address Black British readers who have been previously ignored in mainstream environmental conversations. She includes interviews with a wide range of creatives and campaigners to explore a variety of subjects, including air pollution, prison ecology, disability justice, migration, food, nature, community care, and radical imagination. This is an essential and empowering read for anyone who wants to fully understand the connections between Blackness and the climate crisis, providing the tools to envisage more equitable futures.

Author Bio

Selina Nwulu is a poet and essayist of Nigerian heritage. Her work has been widely published in a variety of journals, short films and anthologies, including the critically acclaimed New Daughters of Africa, and more recently Nature Matters, an environmental anthology written by the global majority. Her first chapbook collection, The Secrets I Let Slip was published in 2015 by Burning Eye Books. She was Young Poet Laureate for London 2015-6 and shortlisted for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize 2019. She is also a 2021 Arts Award Finalist for Environmental Writing. Her full-length collection, A Little Resurrection was published with Bloomsbury in 2022. Selina is also a researcher and independent consultant, having worked extensively in the civic sector in a number of NGO organisations within research, education and social policy. She has been a voice for climate justice for over 10 years, working with a number of grassroots, charity and arts organisations to strengthen narratives around the gaps between race, justice and the climate crisis.