“Britain’s colonial past is not history” – Climate Change and Colonialism in The Gretchen Question

Over the past decade, public discourse on climate has become more and more high profile – yet it is only in recent years that the complexities of colonialism have been included in our understanding of our changing climate.

Because British colonialism not only plundered overseas environments but brought about chronic poverty, inequity and structural instability – all of which continues to govern the choices that countries, once under British rule, can make today.

Britain’s reach, which extended all over the globe, was supported by its naval strength. The maritime industry was able to import previously unimagined natural wealth. Suddenly, timber, cotton and coal were in abundance – and it was these natural resources and stolen capital that would eventually create the conditions that brought about the industrial revolution.

In recent times we have seen this dynamic shift with countries in the global north, all the richer for unsustainable land use, quite literally shipping off emissions overseas through offshoring production to those historically disadvantaged by colonialism, filling landfills in Indonesia and leaving Ghanaian island shores littered with fast fashion.

The social acceptance of this plays into the historic thought processes used to justify colonialism. The easy “othering” of those seemingly distant places, of the far away ‘exotic’ allows the plight of those of the frontline of climate change to be largely ignored.

And so, colonial power dynamics remain in play.

The destruction of cultural tradition was central to the exploitation of people and their lands. Climate activism today includes the push to reintroduce traditional systems that supported ecosystems for thousands of years. Often this is in opposition to far reaching green imperialism, which seeks to regulate and control the autonomy of these countries, reliant on external funders because of the poverty colonialism thrust upon them, in more insidious ways.

Many face the very real threat of their homeland disappearing in their entirety. Here, consider too the non-economic loss of climate change. An erosion of coasts, and of cultural identity.

Britain’s colonial past is not history: its legacy is felt in a very real and present way – and it will continue to shape the futures of past colonial states.

By Jasmine Kaur

Jasmine Kaur is Sky News’ digital politics producer. Previously, she was the producer on the Daily Climate Show, the first daily prime time news show dedicated to climate change produced the RTS-winning show Climate Live which provided 24/7 coverage of COP26. She has worked across print, digital, broadcast and radio.