Why climate change is a civil rights battle

Climate disasters are not ‘natural’ – they’re human made. If we want to fight climate change, we first need to tackle inequality and racism.

On 20 May, Cyclone Amphan made landfall in India near the border of Bangladesh, in a low-lying region called the Sundarbans. In a matter of hours, the future of the whole region was rewritten.

When the storm hit, the devastation was immense. Thousands of predominantly low-caste and marginalised people had stayed behind, eager to protect their belongings and provide refuge and support for each other. Because of Covid-19 and the economic downturn, some of those families had recently moved back to the region from Kolkata, the nearest big city.