While many of us carry on with our daily routines, the urgency of climate change often escapes notice. However, as Osprey Orielle Lake emphasizes, "We are in a climate emergency." In her newest book, The Story is in Our Bone: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis, Osprey Orielle Lake delves into the question of whether we are willing to take action and rise to the challenge. This book serves as a doorway into the realm of justice surrounding this pressing social issue. To learn more about The Story is in Our Bone: HowWorldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis, and Osprey Orielle Lake, read on.

We heard that you are releasing your latest book, The Story is in Our Bone: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis, on January 30, 2024. Can you tell us more about the book? What was the inspiration behind it?
Along with many people globally, I have committed my life's work to addressing the complex and dire circumstances we face, and to envisioning and building the healthy and just world we know is possible. This moment calls for deep systemic change entailing a metamorphic shift in worldview: literally, how we understand the world and our relationship and responsibility to the web of life and each other.

Many of us are in the midst of the great task of changing who we are and how we interact with each other and the land, which means fundamentally addressing how we see the world. So the book is an invitation to bring our collective learning together so we can coherently (and with necessary speed) see how we can survive and thrive in this time of interlocking crises — a time of great transformation.

The Story is In our Bones, is meant to remind us of our inherent Earth lineage as part of the web of life. Even as many of us live in cities and function in circumstances that pull us away from the direct memory of who we are in nature, we still can draw upon our inner knowing, no matter how dormant. As an example, we can lucidly but inexplicably know things if we listen deeply, because inside of us, as designed by Nature, there is a way of keeping alive what we have forgotten. The stories of who we are in our bones, calling to our ancestral memories, waiting to be retrieved and spoken and sung to the people and the land once again.

And quite literally, inside our bones is life-giving marrow, which makes the components of our blood that we need to survive and is also a carrier of our DNA. Every day, billions of new blood cells are produced in our bones, and this involves hematopoiesis, which is a term originating from the Greek words: haima (blood) and poiēsis (to make). I like to think that bones are a place of life, memory and world-making. And we are now in place where we very much need to remember who we are and remake our world by relearning and reweaving our Earth-based stories.

How did you get empowered to go into social justice?
We are in a climate emergency. We are in dire need of a paradigm shift and an upwelling of global action, and that the window for meaningful action on climate change will not be open for long. Given the lack of urgency and insufficient ambition of international climate agreements and national climate policies, I was compelled to create the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) - https://www.wecaninternational.org — to put forth a passionate call to action by and for women and gender diverse leaders and their networks.

Due to unequal gender norms globally, women are impacted first and worst by climate change, and yet, one of the untold stories is how women are simultaneously essential actors in local and global solutions. Study after study shows that we must involve women’s leadership if we are to succeed in areas of just climate solutions, social equality, and bold transformative change. WECAN has collected considerable research to demonstrate exactly why and how women’s leadership and efforts are fully necessary to climate solutions.

Every day, I see how women are leading important efforts — fighting harmful extraction projects, restoring damaged and polluted lands, leading efforts for forest protection and food security, and so much more. I truly believe we can enact the vision for a healthy and equitable future when we work together as women — there is a profound way in which women create an unstoppable force when united together, and WECAN gratefully draws inspiration from the legacies of powerful women who have led movements for liberation, justice, and protection and defense of land, forests, water and climate for generations.

Can you give our readers a taste of what they should expect from The Story is in Our Bone: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis?
The dominant cultural worldview is based upon extraction and exploitation practices that have brought us to the precipice of social, environmental, and climate collapse. Braiding poetic storytelling, climate justice analyses, and collective knowledge of Earth-centered cultures, The Story is in Our Bones opens a portal to restoration and justice beyond the end of a world in crisis.

The book calls forth historical memory of who we are in the Earth’s lineage to bring into being the world we keenly long for, at the delicate threshold of great peril or great promise. For anyone grieving our collective loss and wanting to take action, The Story is in Our Bones is a guide of sorts to remaking our world.

What steps do you believe we should take to address climate justice? How would you like to see this implemented?
I want to share work that is not so visible, but is actually quite critical — the ongoing work that is often harder to measure and takes longer to achieve, and requires us to transform who we are and how we see the world and each other, how we understand gender and racial equality and how we respect Nature. As a part of all our campaigns we are very focused on ensuring a systemic and rights-based approach that addresses the root causes of the climate crisis. This means connecting climate justice to gender justice, social justice, racial justice, economic justice, and human rights.

As the years have passed, we have seen significant change in the many ways our multiple movements are supporting each other, and collectively building a vision for justice and liberation for every community and ecosystem on the planet. This is the great collective task of our time.

In addition to be a writer you are also the founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN). Can you tell us a bit about WECAN and why you created it?
Since my youth, I have always been very concerned about the devastation humans are causing to our Mother Earth. My life’s focus has been a call to action for our very survival and that of future generations. WECAN International’s development was catalyzed by our 2013 International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit, which brought together more than 100 women leaders from around the globe to raise their voices, unite and collaborate for just climate change solutions. Over the course of the Summit, the need for a long-term, diverse and decentralized mechanism for feminist climate justice organizing became clear - and the organization was born. We have wide ranging projects from forest protection to reforestation, from stopping fossil fuel expansion to food security programs.

At the heart of it, women are critical to implementing successful solutions to the climate crisis and environmental degradation. As an example, globally, women are responsible for the majority of the world’s food production, and in most Global South countries, women produce between 40 and 80% of household food, and are central stewards of seeds and agricultural biodiversity.

A detailed study found that a one unit increase in a country’s score on the Women’s Political Empowerment Index leads to an 11.51% decrease in the country’s carbon emissions.

Yet, women in all their diversity are simultaneously disproportionately impacted by ecological crises because of global gender inequality.

Globally, women’s basic rights continue to be denied in varying forms and intensities, from lack of education opportunities to gender-based violence — and we cannot discuss gender inequality without addressing the inextricable relationship to racism and the additional disproportionate impacts of extractive industries and socio-ecological harms to Indigenous, Black, and Brown women.

Consequently, to build a foundation for deep systemic change for disenfranchised communities, it is vital to uplift and amplify the deep political analysis of historically marginalized frontline communities and justice movements and this foundation is central to the goals of WECAN since its inception and to the underlying premise in my book.

I feel so fortunate to be able to work with so many remarkable women leaders globally every day who are truly leading the way to a better future.

Indigenous women really stand out in your book and with WECAN. How can we start to better listen and learn from them?
Indigenous Peoples globally tell us that their bodies are the land itself and that their culture and very existence are bound to the land where their ancestors have lived and are buried. Their bodies and spiritual lives have been nourished and informed by the plants, water, animals, mountains, and spirits of their ancestral homelands since time immemorial. This is also one of the many reasons it is critical to respect, listen to, and learn from Indigenous Peoples in their territories because their life practices and observations are the very expression of how humans can live appropriately in the ecology of a geographical region.

Here it is crucial to recall and respect that eighty percent of the biodiversity left on Earth at this time exists in the territories or lands maintained by Indigenous Peoples, and this is in great part due to the respect and care Indigenous Peoples have for the sacred living systems of life and their commitment to seventh-generation thinking. This is also why it is imperative that we all participate in protecting and defending Indigenous Peoples’ rights, sovereignty, and ways of life. To respect their human rights and dignity is morally the right thing to do, but it is also important for all our survival.

What are some common misconceptions about climate change that you would like to debunk?
We can change our current trajectory if we act now boldly and with transformative policies. We also need to keep a critical view about what solutions are being presented.

In December 2023, during the United Nations Climate Negotiations in Dubai, WECAN released and then broadly promoted “The Need for Real Zero Not Net Zero: Shifting from False Solutions to Real Solutions and a Just Transition”. With growing pressure to take action to address the climate crisis, governments, financial institutions, and corporations have made Net Zero commitments a primary response to adhere to the goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement, with the aim to limit warming temperatures to 1.5°C (2.7°F). WECAN’s policy analysis specifically aims to address serious concerns about, and better define Net Zero, and in doing so, begins to explore and define Real Zero initiatives that demonstrate alternative practices and pathways forward for a healthy and equitable approach to the climate crisis within principles of a Just Transition. To bolster real solutions, there must be critical interrogation and accountability from governments, financial institutions, and corporations to support efforts and frameworks that lead to equitable and effective outcomes. You can download our report analysis here: https://www.wecaninternational.org/_files/ugd/d99d2e_8a366f82a83344938ee689efcfaca420.pdf

What is one thing you would love to see the lay person do to help fight climate change?
The most important thing to do is get involved. This is no time to be on the sidelines, we know from global scientists, including the IPCC report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C, as well as frontline leaders from around the world that we are in this small window of time to take significant and urgent action to avert the worst impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and impacts on affected communities. It’s time for everyone to find our passion and courage, find an entry point, and jump in.

Climate advocacy is very exciting in creating community and generating hope. There is so much to do, and we need each other and our communities to build resistance to harmful extraction projects as well as to build the world we know is possible with localized food and energy and respect for our local ecosystems.

When working at the community level it is also important to learn more and connect with the Indigenous Peoples whose land we are on, and what campaigns they have. We all need to be standing in solidarity and action for Indigenous peoples rights and leadership.

We can learn about local climate justice groups in your area, people who are already doing work and who are bringing with them a systemic analysis to the climate crisis.

It’s also important to connect to ourselves, what are we passionate about, what is our skillset. Passion is a signal about how life is talking to us and can be a guide for our path in this time of great change. We need to work at all levels – personal, community, national, and international — to address the climate crisis — so find your passion and your people and this will be a wonderful entry into your climate work.

Are there any upcoming projects you and/or WECAN would like to share?
We have been working with our WECAN DRC Coordinator, Neema Namadamu, to reforest the Itombwe Rainforest, which has been decimated by many decades of deforestation, and in those past eight years we’ve seen not only a flourishing forest, but also a flourishing of women’s leadership and power in their communities. Ours is the first tree planting project to occur in the Itombwe Rainforest. Also unique is that the implementers and leaders are women, increasing respect for women and their leadership role within the communities. The women refer to themselves as forest guardians and take great pride in their efforts.

We have been planting trees with over 1,000 women to restore damaged lands and rewild the forest. In addition, 25% of the trees were intentionally planted to be used as resources for local communities, and because of this we are working towards protecting over 1.6 million acres of old growth forests because community needs are being met with the planted trees. These old growth forests are vital for biodiversity, mitigating climate change and sequestering carbon. Additionally, all of this work is happening outside of carbon offset or carbon credit programs which often take land from Indigenous communities and do not consider the cultural impact of the unique trees and plants that are specific to each forest ecosystem, which is something our program does.

There are no roads in these areas, so the tree-planting was accomplished without mechanical equipment or vehicles. Bagged seedlings were carried to the planting sites in buckets on the women’s heads. We have confirmed that using non-gmo seeds, determination of the correct tree species for each area and traditional planting methods the rate of surviving trees is 94.7%.

Our reforestation project generally contributes to the conservation and restoration of the habitat of many endangered species in the Itombwe sector where the Itombwe Nature Reserve is located, and which is home to a wide range of animal species and wildlife. Our efforts have helped protect and restore the natural habitats of animals such as the Eastern chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, antelope/Bongo, the Golden Cat and various species of birds such as the Itombwe Nightjar. Several wild species have reappeared in Itombwe such as monkeys, antelopes and wolves.

Given their work, the women foresters have literally changed the weather patterns in this region. Rain is coming back to the damaged lands. This in turn is fostering conditions for the planted trees to flourish abundantly, wild tree areas to spring up, and the old growth forest to be healthy and to regenerate. These are long lasting and sustainable results, and in addition to the amazing contributions to the forest and climate, the lives of the women in the program are also being transformed through these efforts.

Since women are leading this effort, they are gaining higher status and respect in their communities and overall, they report community improvement and education from this project. We are not only bringing back vital ecosystems but also uplifting the leadership and solutions of women. This is a powerful example because it demonstrates what is possible when women are funded and supported to lead. Structural change is possible. This is what happens when women are given agency and funded to do the work in their communities, and the whole world is better for it.

Please see the following video to learn more about our forest protection and reforestation project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, “Seeding the Future: Women Protecting Forests, Climate, and Communities”: https://youtu.be/pVF65uhzips

To learn more about Osprey Orielle Lake follow the links below.
Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)
Facebook
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New Society Publishers
https://ospreyoriellelake.earth

Osprey Orielle Lake - Ink and Advocacy