Translator: David DeRuwe Hello people, how are you doing? My name is Amanda Costa. I’m a Black woman, internationalist, and activist.
I’m the daughter of Ancelmo and Gisleide, Taís’s sister and Jandira’s granddaughter. My grandma courageously migrated from Iguarapava to Minas Gerais to work when she was only eight years old. My grandma taught me to be a warrior, to love nature, and to live by faith, and it was in Jesus Christ that I found my activist spirit.
When I tell people that I’m a climate activist focusing on environmental racism, people generally look at me with an expression like this: “Wow! ” “Wow! ” But they have no idea what I’m talking about or what I do.
Raise your hand if you’ve heard the term “environmental racism” before. The term “environmental racism” was created in 1981 by Dr Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr. He was a partner of Martin Luther King, and at that time, he was investigating how environmental racism was mainly affecting suburban Blacks in the US.
The more I investigated this, the more I started realizing how he was talking about my reality, the reality of the periphery. Think about this with me: In the periphery, mobility is so difficult, there’s intense traffic, the metro doesn’t go there, the bus is always full, the garbage is in open-air dumps, there are no urban green spots, and there is smelly unpiped sewage. There are Indigenous people, quilombolistas, river people, Black people, periphery and slum dwellers - all without rights to housing and land.
The more I investigated Brazilian territorial issues, the more I realized that they’re directly connected to climate issues. Tell me - be you man, woman a São Paulo or Rio resident, whatever type of Brazilian you are - Why is it that we have so little diversity in the climate debate? In 2017, I got a scholarship to represent Brazilian youth at COP23, on account of my volunteer work and the research I’d been doing.
At the time, I thought, “Wow, this is my chance! ” because in my head, I thought I was just so experienced - like post-doctoratal student Amanda Costa. I was just so totally awesome.
Besides, who else from the slum gets to travel internationally? I’d have to wear a little suit. But in reality, I saw the opposite: I saw myself as super-young, beginning my academic career, doing basic science, nothing really awesome, and I was dressed like this - leggings and tennis shoes.
Participating in the COP really impacted me because I became aware of some of the dynamics that happen there, and I realized the people who stand out the most in the climate debate are white people with an international pedigree, who occupy a certain level of privilege in society. Neighborhood Black folks are somewhere else thinking about other things, like “Man, is it going to rain today? If it rains, we better get going - we’ll have to pick up the furniture so we don’t lose too much.
But, what if it doesn’t rain? My God, rationing. Let’s buy buckets to get ready for the water that’s not coming.
” To think of climate issues, we must think about the challenges of where we live. When I was at COP23, I looked at the faces around me and asked myself: “Where are the people who look like me? Where are the Black folks with skin the same color as mine, with hair the same hair texture, and with the same Black features?
” But at that time, I didn’t recognize it as racism. I came back to Brazil with my heart racing, because I thought I’d become the leader I so longed to see at COP. I joined Engajamundo, an organization of young activists that works with political training, lobbying decision-makers, and socio-environmental projects.
I began coordinating, at a national level, young people from all over Brazil who were interested in the sustainability issue. And this experience helped me realize the perspective of “Brasis,” young people from Brazil. This is “Brasis” with an “s” because Brazilian young people are so diverse.
You tell me: Is this diversity being seen in the climate debate? My friends of all kinds - one thing continues to be very dark: We live in a country that is extremely racist, misogynistic, and unequal. Thinking of climate issues is knowing who will be the main ones impacted.
Brazil has been built on a capitalistic model which exploits the most vulnerable populations - Black people, slum dwellers, Indigenous people, quilombolistas, and river dwellers. What bothered me most about COP was that those decision-makers were talking about my reality and how climate issue will impact people on the periphery and vulnerable groups, but they’re not a part of this world. Thinking about different solutions is contemplating solutions for everyone, and that may not be of interest to certain people.
Thinking about all this, in 2019 I said: “Enough! I’m tired of hearing that the environment is just a matter for white, rich, and privileged people. Enough of that.
I want to take on this role; I want to be part of the solution. ” And then in 2019, I founded “Perifa Sustentável,” a project which works with sustainability questions in the periphery. And in 2021, Perifa Sustentável became an institute, and we took four young Black women to COP26, this time in Scotland, not just as observers, but as political subjects who were bringing decolonized, anti-racist, and diversified solutions to the negotiating table.
Vitória Pinheiro, Ellen Monielle, Mahryan Sampaio, and me, Amanda Costa were there to represent part of the Brazilian youth. You know what was most powerful? We were part of a Black coalition for rights, that for the first time was considered as an important subject for climate negotiation.
We were participating in panels, lobbying decision-makers, and leading the march for climate. This is a beautiful thing, right? But it’s not enough.
COP showed me that it is only a reflection of the Brazilian National Congress, a place where white men are defending the old policies, and these guys are ruining my future and ruining the future of young people. If we want new solutions, we need new political players, creating policy based on gender, race, class, and sexual orientation. I dream of the day that environmental racism will only exist in history books.
But until that day arrives, I am committed to co-creating policies I want to live by: policies of well-being, preservation, circularity, affection, and love. Maybe right now, you’re looking at me and saying, “Amanda, I want to participate in creating these policies; what is it that I can do engage in this role? ” I’ll give you three tips of how you can start this movement with me: The first tip is to expand places for participation.
The second tip is to support young activists engaged in the climate fight. And the third tip is to actively participate in democracy. Be calm.
I’ll explain each one of these: First, growing spaces for participation. Being here and having the microphone is cool, and it’s powerful, but it’s not enough. Black people, young people, people from the periphery - these people also need to be in strategic places, pen in hand, with access to resources, power, and connections, and in a position to cause a transformation from within.
Our world can’t withstand more of these big companies who provide resources only to their own institutes. Why? Because these are colonial solutions.
I’m seeing my friends sitting on the boards of companies, but this is still very little, and we need more. The second tip, support young activists engaged in the climate fight. Folks, let me confess a secret to you: Only a month before going to COP, I was desperate.
I had no money, and I had no resources, so I decided to make a support request on my social network, LinkedIn, and I received so much support: 5, 10, 20, 100, 500, 1000, 4000 reals. And at that moment, I thought, “My God, what’s happening? ” I felt so grateful and happy, but also very uncomfortable and disturbed, and I couldn’t really tell what was in my heart.
It was then that I talked with my mentor Egnalda Côrtes. She said, “Amanda Costa, my love, you’re a Black woman, and you’re used to working a lot for very little recognition. But instead of asking yourself: ‘Do I deserve to be here?
Am I capable of this? ’ turn the question around and ask yourself: ‘What can i do with this place of influence and visibility I have today? ’ Isn’t this a time to be supporting other young female Black leaders?
” And that was how I brought these young women to COP. So I ask you now, today - What is it that you can do with the space you occupy today? Isn’t this the time to support young female Black leaders?
And the last point, participating in an active democracy. Voting is very important, and informed voting is essential, but it’s also important to accompany your decision-makers to co-create policies together with them. Our planet can’t take more anti-ecological and climate-denying governments, and it’s important that each of us realize that constructing the future isn’t just a role for young people - it’s a role for all of us, It’s really important for Black people to participate, but it’s also very important that we all involve ourselves in some way.
When I find this space, when I see myself in this position, I look to God and say: “God, I’m not ready, but I’m willing. ” And so, let me ask you: Maybe you’re also not ready, maybe you also don’t know the answers, maybe you also don’t know what to do, but the issue isn’t whether you’re prepared or if you’re ready. The issue is: Are you willing?
Thank you.
