Building a climate of care
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Care Work Is Essential Work. It's Also Climate Work.
As temperatures drop, the engines of exploitation keep revving up -- and coronavirus cases are surging again. We're all bracing for a resurgence of the pandemic, and we know that so many of you are already being impacted. At The Leap, we're thinking about the communities that never experienced a reprieve from this nightmare, and the workers who continue to risk their lives every day.
We're thinking about our grandparents and elders -- including those living in long-term care facilities run for profit, left behind in horrific conditions, while billionaires grow even richer by treating people like them as disposable.
Whether it's care homes, overburdened hospitals, or schools struggling to reopen, we're thinking about these essential places and ways we take care of each other. In a time of converging crises -- racism and inequality, climate change and the pandemic -- care has become an even more critical site of struggle. It's the key to not only surviving this moment, but also to building a better society out of the wreckage. It's the key to creating the good jobs and economy we need, with lives of dignity and security for all.
You've just seen this theme reflected in our latest project Message from the Future II, and it will continue to guide The Leap's work over the months to come. If you want to go deeper on the subject of care, and understand why it's so fundamental, check out this short documentary we released over the summer, narrated by Naomi Klein: Care Work Is Essential Work. It's Also Climate Work.
In the film, you'll hear how nurses, home care workers, advocates for disability rights, and teachers -- along with the vulnerable communities they serve -- are navigating a world on fire. While it was shot just before the pandemic hit, the film couldn't be more relevant to our current moment. You'll learn how these professions were already on the frontlines on the climate crisis, and showing us the meaning of essential work. Every day, they do care jobs that are not only life-saving and live-enriching, but low-carbon as well.
As these workers know, we can make care the engine of a new kind of economy. To see what that could look like, watch our short film here.
We can't return to a status quo that was already killing us. There's only one answer to systemic crisis: building a society based on care for the earth and one another.
In solidarity,
James Hutt, The Leap
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