By Pete Wallis
Ben Almassi, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Governors State University in Chicago and author of 'Reparative Environmental Justice in a World of Wounds’ led a fascinating discussion on this question at The Mint House on Wednesday 13 October 2021. With COP26 fast approaching his talk couldn’t have been more timely.
The need for urgent action by those in power raises questions about the role, if any, of a restorative approach in addressing the crisis that threatens all our futures. Restorative practice involves the slow process of building relationships and the delicate task of finding ways for repair when harm has been caused. It feels unhelpful to label things that are already happening in the global response to climate change ‘restorative’ for the sake of it, and yet Ben acknowledged that there are few tangible examples of restorative approaches being explicitly deployed in the context of environmental damage. As one of the audience said, we want a quick fix. She went on to say that actually it is quick fixes in the past that got us into this mess. If we are to find a way forward, even if no one has done it before, this has to be done together. That means working on relationships.
Ben helpfully mapped out the variety of relationships that could form a focus for reparative environmental justice, including interspecies as well as human relationships, and intergenerational relationships that embrace our predecessors as well as future generations. Lots of the familiar restorative themes emerged from his presentation, for example accountability, interconnection, consequences, needs, collaboration and healing. It got me thinking about whether I am already employing restorative practice in my own response to the climate crisis, and I came up with a couple of personal examples.
For the past five or six years I have been a member of an activist group called Fossil Free Oxfordshire that is trying to encourage the Oxfordshire Pension Fund Committee to divest from fossil fuels. I feel that my restorative background is relevant on several levels; looking out for the relationships within the activist group to avoid burnout and conflict; building positive relationships with the Pension Fund Committee and pension officers to try to work with them towards a common goal of decarbonising the fund; looking closely at the engagement that the committee is committed to with fossil fuel companies to ensure that there are clear metrics and targets in line with the Paris Accord (holding them to account); and encouraging staff who are in the pension scheme to think about where their money is invested. Restorative approaches help in developing and maintaining all of these relationships. Get it wrong with one of the key players and a door could be closed, whilst remaining open to different perspectives feels more fruitful than battering people to do what I think is needed.
My other example is more personal. It is a letter that I intend to write to my granddaughter (who is approaching 11 months old). The joy I feel as a new grandparent is tempered by my anguish and despair at the damage that my generation has wrought on our perfect planet, and fear for the world that she will inhabit as she grows towards adulthood. It may be more about my need for forgiveness for my part in the excesses of the rich West than anything that will help her, but letters of apology nonetheless have a noble tradition in restorative circles.
We need hope, and if no one has done it before, now is the time to find better ways to work together in healing our world, which as Ben said, has to be through relationships.
A recording of the event ‘What contribution can restorative practices make to the climate crisis?’ can be found here: https://www.minthouseoxford.co.uk/events/2021/10/13/what-contribution-can-restorative-practices-make-to-the-climate-crisis