Here are the “beautiful badges” (according to zain – see post below) I designed, though apparently “too political” for the likings of the respectable “school community”:
Of course, these are only first drafts. There would probably be more environmentally-themed badges than general social justice badges.
However, it is important to recognize that we don’t live in a bubble as students or environmental activists. The environment is deeply political, especially now considering the sheer scale of climate crisis and the immediate urgency for action. Climate change, as with any other form of ecological catastrophe, is always the result of conflicting interests. When you deny that and instead insist we’re “all in this together” and that we shouldn’t bother to step outside the safe boundaries of school, you’re not taking a “neutral” or “less-political” stance. Rather, you’re fighting for a different cause altogether and you end up placing yourself on a different side of the fence. In other words, your stance is still “political”, albeit a more right-wing one.
Broadly left-wing badges would appeal to the many people who express opposition towards the wars in the middle east, and who support womens’ reproductive autonomy for instance. These people are generally concerned about climate change as well, and would indeed support the Eco-Committee. None of these are isolated, “pre-packaged” fragmented causes, they’re all inherently linked.
Some have raised concerns about these badges from a different perspective – that younger students may not understand them and so therefore we need to promote “less politically provocative”, more “friendly” badges. That’s precisely where we come in as Eco-Committee members, to explain and talk to people about climate change and to engage them in the importance of becomming active and putting pressure on the government and corporations to start acting on climate change. Simply watering down our message to “buying greener” or “offsetting carbon” will not necessairily attract more people, but will only lead us down the path of buying into corporate greenwashing and to an overall more conservative position.
I think some of this is also partly based on a patronizing and stereotypical view of year-7s. Most students, however old, know that climate change is a crisis of emergency proportions. It’s pretty difficult not to. The issue however, is what to do about climate change. In a time when the dominant “solutions” advocated by the ruling class are either emissions trading schemes that “compensate” the heaviest polluters, or ones that shift the blame to ordinary people in the form of individual consumption politics, it is imperative that we start looking at what will actually stop climate change, to recognize that we don’t share any common interests with those who got us into this mess.
We need to move on from benignly “raising awareness” about climate change (who isn’t aware?) to start making concrete demands- even if these demands won’t be popular with the coal industry. This ultimately means taking firm, principled, and dare I say, radical stances. It also means recognizing that there exists an environmental movement beyond the fences of our school. “Business as usual” will no longer do when the ice-caps are expected to melt in five years, or when Islanders are being displaced as a result of rising sea levels.
That’s why I don’t think we should throw out the militant or “non-eco” badges.
_ Jimmy
Posted by gwscecocomittee 
Posted by zainkaz 
Posted by gwscecocomittee 
