One Past Many Futures
To set our house in order, we must begin with the past.
These maps reveal the devastation and injustice of the climate crisis, and they show that its physical and social impacts are tightly bound together.
Since the end of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago, a stable climate has supported the development of human civilization. It now faces collapse. In this crisis, wealthier and whiter nations and populations endure less harm. Developing nations and populations that are primarily Black, brown, Indigenous, and low- income endure more. Compounding the inequity, those who face the worst impacts have done the least to cause the crisis.
The panels in the center of the exhibition present a starting point for understanding how we have arrived here through an examination of the fossil fuel industry:
How today’s industry is built on racism and inequity and how those foundations date back to colonialism, transatlantic slavery, and the Industrial Revolution.
How the industry maintains its social legitimacy through disinformation.
How it maintains its political influence through economic power and electoral dysfunction.
You will also find information about the tenuousness of the fossil fuel industry’s standing, policies and movements that advance climate justice, and what you can do to join with others in moving toward the just, safe, and beautiful world we deserve.
“IF YOU DON’T LOOK AT IT, YOU CAN’T CHANGE IT. YOU’VE GOT TO LOOK AT IT.”
–JAMES BALDWIN
THE NIÑA, THE PINTA, AND THE SANTA MARÍA, AND COLONIALISM IN GENERAL, MARK THE START OF TODAY’S WORLD SYSTEM, AND IN TURN THE FOSSIL FUEL ECONOMY AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS.
WITH GRATITUDE TO JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN FOR HIS ORIGINAL “HOUSE IN ORDER” QUOTE, MODIFIED HERE
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John Hope Franklin quote
New York Times Archive: Rediscovering Black America: A Historical Roundup
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Humanities for the Environment: Is it Colonial Déjà Vu? Indigenous Peoples and Climate Injustice
Political Geography: The unbearable heaviness of climate coloniality
