Besides amplifying unheard voices in cycling, one of the other reasons I started Cyclista Zine at the height of New York’s deadliest year for cyclists in 2019, was because the impacts were devastating the NYC cycling community. Being a part of that community and knowing that any day it could be me, my partner or my friends was enough to take some action. As an active transit advocate I knew I had to prioritize my energy towards our ability to cycle safely over group rides or events.
In the summer of 2019, I had read headline after headline of the stories of every victim and noticed they weren’t the image of the media’s glorified pastry weight cyclists or heroic stories that you usually read in a glossy cycling magazine or website. And for every story that was shared on mainstream cycling media, they covered white victims, especially young white women. Pointing this out isn’t to undermine the impact their stories have and how their loss impacts our community, however, it was not the usual victims of auto violence who were also pedestrians, working-class people, immigrants, and older men if color trying to get to work or home safely. Didn’t their lives and stories matter in the grand narrative of “cyclist death by auto violence”?
I know for a lot of my friends that year, we questioned our group rides, planned routes and times where traffic was calm, and even wondered if risking our life to pursue joy in cycling was even worth it anymore. Even this week, after seeing four headlines of cyclists in serious injury from being hit by a car or dead has me thinking if it’s worth it anymore. Compounded by empty promises of climate action and vision zero, it makes me want to pack it all in and call it quits.
Maybe I’ve listened to too much Radiohead this week that the world feels particularly heavy but I’m optimistic, perhaps its willful delusion in the possibilities after watching resistance action during COP26 .
Speaking of infrastructure and climate, this weeks COP26 had transport day opening with a statement that “kick-started the mass market for zero-emission vehicles.”
It was all planes, trains, and EV’s. Not only were bicycles missing from the conversation, low carbon development, accessible design, walking, and trains too. At this rate, sustainable development goals will unlikely be met along with reducing traffic violence.
Active travel doesn’t just help reduce carbon emissions, it also keeps resources in the ground, stops particulates from tire or oil runoff from polluting our waters and grounds, reduces traffic violence, increases public health, reduces air and noise pollution, reduces congestion, and keeps our spaces livable.
And then there is the human and environmental impact of mining lithium for EV’s that will cost our planet. Already the race to lithium and cobalt reserves are devastating places like the Congo and apparently started a U.S.-backed lithium coup in Bolivia. Already today we see how treaty rights and sovereignty held by Indigenous people in places like Nevada are being violated to make precious car batteries.
As the effects of climate change grow, the fantasies of technological innovation to combat the climate are everywhere, even in the infrastructure bill. There is a hope that electric cars (such as those made by Tesla) will be a step toward a broader green transition, getting us significantly closer to mitigating the crisis. While this might be helpful, it’s not enough to address the crises of pedestrian/cyclist deaths and the intensive resources to mine that require to violate and destroy Native land and sovereignty. Is it right that an American green transition be built on the basis of denying that sovereignty to Native communities or Nations overseas? I do not think so.
As one of the generations that will ultimately have to deal with the pressing impacts of climate change, we should consider what kind of world we are building after two years of Black and Indigenous Resistance. What are we agreeing to when we buy or demand the changes necessary to fight climate change? Any green transition must have reparations and reconciliation for Black communities, Indigenous sovereignty, and Global South Nations. Is it enough to imagine and demand an economic system and foreign policy that doesn’t require exploiting our vulnerable communities and nations for our own survival? American climate colonialism through waste and carbon offsets is wreaking havoc on developing countries and redlined communities. How do we ensure that this country is not just impacting our vulnerable populations or others “over there”.
A popular demand of American progressive movements is the Green New Deal to create a green transition for the majority. However, the American empire maintains its control through political and economic means that are vital to winning this demand. And it could not be said enough from me that Land Back Is Climate Justice. We cannot liberate ourselves unless we liberate The Land.
Engaging in Black and Indigenous solidarity locally and globally is key to winning non-imperial alternatives like The Red New Deal that centers Indigenous knowledge and stewardship in climate mitigation policy. As advocates and allies trapped by climate despair, either facing debt, lack of access to safe transit, healthcare, or job security, perhaps our interests should not be aligned with those of the American empire or the fifth-richest man alive, but rather, with the Indigenous people fighting for their sovereignty, land, and dignity to save us from ourselves.
I shared this post on Patreon, but considering where I have been putting a lot of my energy lately, I figured it was appropriate for the blog.
Anyways, interesting headlines from this week that got me thinking to write this:
Are Bike Brands Greenwashing? We Asked An Expert
Big oil is making violence against Native women worse, COP26 protesters say
The bipartisan infrastructure bill is both historic and not nearly enough
Transport and Building Emissions Are Not Separate—They Are ‘Built Environment Emissions‘