Credits: UN News/Laura Quiñones
By Otto Spijkers
This post is part of our NNHRR Toogdag 2024 Blog Series. It is based on a presentation given on 27 June 2024 for the Human Rights and Climate Crisis Working Group Panel on the occasion of the Toogdag 2024: NNHRR Annual Conference, hosted this year by the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) and Utrecht University Law School. The topic of this year’s conference was 'Resilient Rights - Tools for Inclusion and Justice'.
Introduction: Welcome to the Apocalypse
In her book “Apocalypsofie” (Apocalypsophy), Lisa Doeland, a PhD candidate at Radboud University and lecturer at Erasmus University College (EUC, Netherlands), philosophises about the end of the world as we know it. She does not believe that the earth can be saved solely with green growth, the energy transition, a circular economy, and technological inventions. In her book, these are all referred to as dangerous fantasies. It comes down to living as best as we can in the rubble and to die out with dignity. In her lectures, she encourages her students to visualise the plastics in the ocean and the microplastics in our bodies. Some of her students are in shock.
Ingo Venzke, Professor of International Law and Social Justice at the University of Amsterdam, recently gave a lecture on climate change law as part of a course I coordinated at Amsterdam University College. He asked our students to read a recent article he published in the European Review of Books on the current state of climate optimism. It is entitled, ‘Tragedy & Farce in Climate Commentary’, and it looks at the over-optimistic debates concerning the climate crisis. Professor Venzke suggests that this stubborn optimism has become an obstacle rather than a catalyst for action. ‘We are fucked,’ and the sooner we accept it, the better:
‘We are fucked’ is Extinction Rebellion’s much better slogan than the worn and tattered ‘it’s not too late.’ There is a paradoxical solace that follows from the realization that we are fucked. The future’s openness is made to rest not on stubborn optimism but, far from it, on the inevitability of our fuckedness. Such a slogan inspires, paradoxically, as an antidote to false optimism and artificial smiles. A stubborn optimism that announces itself as being tied ‘realistically’ to possibilities of a different outcome at some point becomes an obstacle to meaningful action and even a betrayal of freedom. Stubborn optimism, that is to say, becomes cruel optimism. […] Optimism is cruel when something we desire ignites a sense of possibility but makes it impossible to attain. […] The ‘it’s not too late’ [slogan] misses what ‘we are fucked’ demonstrates: a genuine grasp of tragedy.
One may wonder whether insisting on the inevitable tragedy of our ‘fuckedness’ is really the best way to teach the young generation of international (human rights) lawyers about climate change. It may be honest and sincere, but you are taking all hope away from them.
This is a quote from an anonymous student evaluation of yet another – not one of the courses referred to above - international law type course addressing climate change:
I found many aspects of the course to be very emotionally difficult (specifically for me, the part about Antarctica about climate anxiety). Even though it should have been obvious in retrospect that this course would be difficult, I would have appreciated a bit of an explicit warning at the beginning of the course of the cold, sheer, and heart wrenching intensity of the subject matter.
Action is the Antidote to Anxiety
What other option is there, besides being brutally honest, to teach about international (human rights) law in times of climate change? One thing we cannot do: as teachers, we cannot stick our head in the sand and pretend that all is well with the earth and simply focus on other ‘more urgent’ human rights problems. This is not a viable option, for at least two reasons. First, at the workplace, there is a growing demand for climate change law expertise, and thus we as university teachers must ‘produce’ more climate conscious and less climate blind legal professionals. And second, the younger generation itself regards climate change as one of the most important global challenges.
How, then, can we teach our students about climate change without making youngsters lose all hope? It is said that powerlessness is the main cause of climate anxiety and depression. And thus, action is the antidote to despair. Teaching about climate litigation and other forms of youth activism empowers our students. There is certainly research showing that climate anxiety is addressed when learners are taught how to engage in climate action. In the report entitled ‘Greening Curriculum Guidance: Teaching and Learning for Climate Action’, that was recently published under the auspices of UNESCO, one of the topics is ‘Climate Anxiety and Constructive Coping’ (Topic 4.3, at pp. 110-111 of the report). According to this guidance,
Doing something about climate change can make us feel better. This could be things like planting trees in our community, reducing fossil fuel usage, or helping to organize activities in our school or neighbourhood.
Additionally, the report notes that learners must be taught to ‘demonstrate a sense of hope and understanding that while the challenges posed by climate change are significant, collective action and individual contributions can make a difference’. It is important to work together in addressing climate anxiety, and learners must be taught to ‘connect their feelings of climate anxiety with opportunities for community engagement, translating personal concerns into collective efforts’.
We can help our students to develop the skills to do something about climate change. Perhaps the student who wrote the above evaluation would have felt more optimistic and hopeful about the course when it would have ended with some concrete tips on climate activism. Surely, there is nothing that can be done about the cold, sheer, and heart wrenching intensity of the subject matter, but at least the student could have been told that we are not entirely powerless. When students have doubts about whether one person can make a difference, we can tell the story of the Tiny Sparrow, made famous by Antonio Cassese:
It is about a medieval knight [who] returns to his castle, and just as he enters his domain, notices a tiny sparrow lying on its back right in the middle of the road, with its little claws pointing upwards. ‘What are you doing?,’ he asks. And the little bird tells him he has heard that the sky is going to fall that very day, so he is ready to hold it up and protect his liege lord’s possessions. The nobleman is rather touched by his minuscule subject’s loyalty, but cannot help laughing. If the sky really were to fall, what could such a small creature with his scrawny little feet ever do? And the sparrow somewhat resentfully replies: ‘Everyone does what he can!’
Indeed, we all do what we can to stop the sky from falling. An excellent example of what one person can do – and how to put legal skills to good use - is the case of the Indonesian Youths and others v. Indonesia. It was a fellow member of our recently established NNHRR Working Group on Human Rights and The Climate Crisis, Monique van Cauwenberghe, who referred me to this case. On 14 July 2022, fourteen applicants filed a complaint against the Indonesian government with the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission. At the time of writing this blog post, the case is still pending. I thus do not want to analyse the case in this blog post, but simply refer to the story of one of the plaintiffs, Rasya. The quotes below are from the Petition:
[Fifteen years old Rasya was born and grew up in Jakarta, the economic, cultural, and political capital of Indonesia, with over ten million inhabitants.] At a fairly early age, Rasya has learned to manage his worries and anxieties. ‘Climate anxiety often occurs when I look at a fact and think, oh no, what happens when I grow up! At one point, I reflected on this experience and realized it might be anxiety – I was so worried about something that had not even happened. I am figuring out what I can do, how I can manage it.’ Rasya finds peace in his hobbies – reading and knitting. He finds he can channel his anxiety when he learns the facts of horrific environmental damage by more carefully understanding the environmental consequences of his actions. For example, Rasya tries not to use air conditioning too often because ‘The majority of the electricity we use doesn’t come from good places – we don’t even have the option to use renewable energy.’ Although Rasya understands that his actions will not have a massive impact, ‘By doing these small things, make me feel better. I hope that what I do can help the earth and remind others that we can choose not to do anything destructive.’ […] Rasya hopes that this complaint can have an impact on realizing a future with a safe climate. ‘I have always felt helpless since I was a kid. And I do not believe that I can do anything. But with this opportunity, I can partake in something that impacts me.’
In Conclusion: The Story of the Tiny Sparrow
Climate change has a disproportionally significant impact on young people. Many of our students already suffer from feelings of anxiety and despair. At present, they already experience the effects of climate change in their daily lives. These are firsthand and sometimes traumatising experiences. Added to this is a fear about what might happen in the future. It is primarily the lack of government action which is the main cause of these feelings, and which increases distress. Fear of the future is very real for young persons. Teachers have a responsibility, not only to strengthen students’ emotional wellbeing and resilience, but also to empower them. And thus, teachers need to provide their students with the expertise and competences to successfully engage in climate litigation and other forms of youth activism.
Bio:
Otto Spijkers is Assistant Professor of International and European law at Leiden University College (LUC), Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University. Before joining Leiden University College, Otto was professor of international law at Wuhan University’s China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies as well as its Research Institute of Environmental Law. Prior to joining Wuhan University, he worked at the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law and the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea of Utrecht University, Netherlands. He wrote his doctoral dissertation, entitled The United Nations, the Evolution of Global Values and International Law, at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University. Email address: o.spijkers@luc.leidenuniv.nl.