We're back! Kind of...

We were asked to be an artist in Do The Green Thing's The Colour of the Climate Crisis exhibition launched in Glasgow during COP26. So we've created a physical piece paired with audio with clips from the podcast. In this episode, we share more about the exhibition and our approach to it.

The exhibition
Art has always helped us to interpret the world and get closer to its truths.

The Colour of the Climate Crisis grapples with one of those truths: that we are facing a crisis of climate and nature, and that the people most affected, most at risk and least responsible for it are people of colour.

We know that racialised and minoritised communities are already on the frontlines of climate change. Their experiences, ideas and leadership must be central to the global response to it.

As world leaders meet at COP26 to discuss the climate crisis, this exhibition offers them an opportunity: to be quiet, and listen. To be humble, and learn. To be brave, and commit to meaningful action.

This is an opportunity for us all to acknowledge the truth that racial injustice is climate injustice, and to begin to change it.

Our approach
Coming from a background in human-centered design and systems thinking, my creative practice focuses on synthesising insights gained from conversations with a range of people and finding the patterns and commonalities of personal experiences. These insights aim to highlight the root causes of our collective oppression, experienced as barriers to empowerment, abundance, and connection. 

My piece for this exhibition stems from conversations from the Crystals, Clits, and Climate podcast, which I’ve hosted for the last few years, focusing on the conversations with environmental, intersectionality, and spiritual activists. The people I spoke with, including but not limited to Joycelyn Longdon, Lusugu Kayani, Aalayna Green, Zachi Brewster, Sadie Sinner, and Leila Sadeghee brought up our colonialist history and how we still experience the ramifications of it today. In addition to the explicit racism still happening, we also must face the internalised racism we are so often unaware of. And when we are unaware of it, we cannot address it. Colonialism creates a hierarchy between people, dehumanising them and disconnecting us from our nature and our planet.

Through messaging on a mirror, this piece invites the viewer to reflect on and explore their own internalised definitions of desire and success and how we often unknowingly participate in systems of oppression, including forms of oppression that disconnect us from ourselves, others, and our home planet.

Vanessa Cuccia is the founder of Chakrubs, the original crystal sex toy company. Chakrubs are sex toys made from natural crystal that bring a sense of sacredness to your playtime.  These beautiful, hand-crafted tools are created with the intention of opening oneself up to the healing properties crystals provide. Crystals have perfect molecular structures that have positive effects on our electro-magnetic fields. When our energetic bodies are at ease, we are at ease, we are open to healing, to peace, to love, to all of life's pleasures.

Natasha Thompson is an astrologer and tarot card based between Colombo and London. As an Australian / Sri Lankan, Natasha’s readings are grounded in both Western and Eastern
foundations of astrology, as well as the global principles of mythology. Growing up in Sri Lanka
embedded her in Astrology, as it is common practice to consult natal charts for all matters of life.

With a mother who is also a keen enthusiast, it’s no wonder Natasha and her sister, Ashira,
became astrologers in their own right. Together they formed Astrosisters, where she and her sister bring their own approaches to ancient system/s, ultimately helping people learn about
themselves.

Whole sign Astrology (Hellenstic Astrology) has become Natasha’s base for her natal chart and synastry readings, in addition to tarot. She believes that we are the masters of our own destiny, with free will, nonetheless astrology combines ancient modalities, maths, astronomy, and mystical planetary energies to give us blueprint for who we are, and who we can be.

Key takeaways:

• A synastry reading involves examining two charts and the compatibility/challenges in the interaction between them. Synastry readings are usually aimed for partnerships of a romantic nature, as it gives individuals an understanding of how two people work together and the dynamic of the union based on their astrological makeup.
• There are no 'good' or 'bad' signs for lovers. Synastry readings help you and your partner to understand how each other approach the world so you can be mindful of where you might see things differently. Astrology isn't fortune telling, it's providing awareness of where you have compatibility and where you may have challenges.

Resources:
https://www.astro-sisters.com/

Lusungu Kayani was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and moved to the U.S. at the age of 4. She is an urban planner and international development practitioner with more than a decade of experience. She has served as an advisor with international organizations such as the United Nations Center for Human Settlements, Vital Strategies, UNICEF and most recently, with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Her work focuses on the role cities play to ensure an equitable and sustainable future for our planet, especially through the lens of health and well-being. In recent projects, she has worked to better understand how urban environments can specifically support the health and development of children and adolescents. Currently, I am assisting in the development of tools to guide cities in monitoring implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  In her spare time, she likes to read, write, volunteer with her local parks and trails committee and enjoys teaching yoga.

Key takeaways from our conversation:

• The rapid shifts in populations moving from rural to urban areas requires an adjustment in urban planning and the need to update systems, such as waste systems, to consider the behaviours and norms of new and bigger populations.
• Cultures and countries already have many sustainable systems, for example circular economies, they just haven't been labeled as such. We need a mental shift to look at how we can build off of existing sustainable systems, rather than always trying to build something new. But having new sustainability terms can help provide language to existing behaviours.
• We can apply circular economy principles can not only be applied to products but also to spaces and systems.  How can we build offices, homes, etc to be adaptable to changing needs so that it can be used for longer?
• Stories and storytelling can provide representation on who can be solution providers and empower young people to take action within their own communities. It can help to plant the seeds with youth of how to live in a way that is aligned with a sustainable and regenerative future.

Resources mentioned:

• Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the circular economy

We're so excited to share this episode with you all! We're joined by Chastity Twist. Chastity Twist started burlesque in 2012 after growing up as a dance and theatre kid. She began teaching burlesque and chair dance at the Vancouver Burlesque Company in 2017 and is the current Secretary on the Board of Directors for the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival (or VIBF.) In 2018 she began working at a strip club as a topless blackjack dealer and private dancer.  2012 was also the year she began work as an independent indoor sex worker, and has participated in sex work since then in various capacities, as a sugar baby, escort, erotic masseuse and pro-domme. She is currently working on her business and the festival and waiting for pandemic restrictions to lift so that live classes and performances can be a thing again. 

Key topics:

• The difference between sex work and sex trafficking (answer: consent!)
• The whorearchy which says one form of sexual expression or work is better than another. For example, burlesque is acceptable but escorting may not be, etc.
• Privilege within sex work and the difference between indoor and outdoor sex work.
• How sex work and laws around it impact all of our daily lives, such as through urban planning and road traffic laws.
• Sexual empowerment and connecting with your own sexuality. 

Where to find Chastity:

• https://www.instagram.com/chastity_twist/

In this episode, our host Hannah Phang, shares her reflections on conditioning and framing them as the conditions we set for ourselves and others in order to be worthy or of value. Hannah shares some insight from the book Five Levels of Attachment by Don Miguel Ruiz Jr and the opportunity to take responsibility for our conditioning by understanding them as knowledge we have an attachment to. We can be attached in varying degrees, and becoming aware on how attached to a belief we are helps us work towards unconditional love and acceptance. 

Aalayna (Ah-Lay-nah) Green (she/her) is  a self proclaimed unapologetic scholar activist and intersectional conservationist. She’s pursuing a BS in Zoology at Michigan State University. She’s passionate about human-environment relationships, and she studies the interconnections between wildlife crime, human-wildlife coexistence, and critical race theory and gender studies. She is the co-Environmental Education Director for Black Girl Environmentalist and seeks to position BIPOC women and nonbinary folk at the forefront of the environmental movement.

We talk about:

• How the mainstream environmental movement and industries centre the white perspective
• Conservation efforts exclude the role of women in the scope of the problems and solutions
• Being an environmentalist includes considering how your environment impacts your ability to freely express yourself

Key Takeaways:

• Being sustainable is often positioned as a new way of doing things and often requires purchasing new items. Aalayna shares with us examples of how BIPOC communities already have sustainable lifestyle behaviours, and these need to be considered and celebrated in the sustainable lifestyles movement. 
• Conservation solutions haven't been considering the role of women. Like in many industries, efforts to solve problems are created by men and for men. This limits our ability to address systemic and interconnected issues because we aren't looking at the problem in its entirety and are missing out crucial perspectives and key stakeholders when creating solutions.
• Women, non-binary, and BIPOC folk are reclaiming their space in the environmental movement and looking at how intersectional identities are impacted by environmental issues can help us have deeper conversations about the potential solutions.
• Classism is incredibly present in the environmental industries. To work in the space often requires higher education which often requires a level of privilege in order to access those institutions. Because BIPOC do not have as easy access to those spaces, they are often not considered for environmental jobs. However, BIPOC are more likely to be impacted by environmental issues, but their perspective is often left out of solutions and environmental work because of the lack of higher education. And the people creating the solutions have never experienced the problems they are trying to address and will also not experience the impact and consequences of the solutions.

Links and resources:

• https://www.instagram.com/blackgirlenvironmentalist/
• https://www.instagram.com/aalayna.green/

Joined by recurring voices on the podcast, Chantal Russell and Chris Skidmore, we explore how the well known hero's journey has provided the underlying energy pattern for our society and how the heroine's journey may provide us with the insight we need to transition into a sustainable and just society.