From a very young age, I knew the gender I was assigned at birth didn’t make a lot of sense to what I felt internally.
Unfortunately our society does not do a good job of embracing complexities that exist within one person. This binary of “man” and “woman” has always been something that I was confused about, which resulted in me completely rejecting it. Growing up I didn’t have the language we have now to acknowledge different gender identities and expressions. “Why is there no word to describe what I’m feeling?” was always spinning in my mind.
For me Pride month is about remembering our history of resistance and persistence as Queer people. Whether it was the Stonewall riots or the Compton Lunch riots, we have always rejected societal norms that want to erase and make us fit this “perfect image” of what it looks like to be a man or a woman. It is these historic events that remind us that the fight for Queer liberation has and is being led by Black and Brown Trans people.
Pride month is for Queer joy and recognizes how far our advocacy efforts have gone. Our Queer elders have laid the groundwork for us to exist and for us to keep fighting, but only if we choose to do so. The simple act of showing up as your authentic self is a huge middle finger to those who are actively attacking us, but we must continue to remember our past of resistance and community organizing as we move forward.
My mind went into so many different directions when I was preparing to write this blog. I asked myself “what connection even is there between combating homophobia and combating the climate crisis?” This sent me into an interesting research spiral, where I learned about Queer Ecology and how these binaries, that I reject, are even applied to nature. I also read about how Queer people, specifically Trans people, are in Frontline communities as we have a large number of Trans people who are homeless and more exposed to the harms of pollution due to climate change.
Although these are really great reads that show some connection between Queer rights and Environmentalism I still struggled to feel the connection… until I did some deeper reflection.
The Power of Storytelling: Who are the Muxe?
Growing up, the men in my family told me to be the most competitive and aggressive person in order to achieve success. I was never this person, though, and found it hard to see why I needed those traits in order to survive.
Being the oldest of 3 and being labeled a “boy”, who would later become a “man” just didn’t sit well with me. Sadly it was who I was told to be, especially in the Catholic church. I don’t hold a grudge with my family, this is how they were raised and there is no handbook on how to raise a gay child. Luckily for me I accepted my own Queerness from an early age, so even if I was confused I was able to navigate the world as a Queer kid. After that I was struggling to learn about how I can show up as my authentic self in my Latine community.
Much like stories, toxic traits are passed down through generations. These traits aren’t random and learned in one day, they are systemic. They are the result of oppressive systems that don’t prioritize community and collaboration. Capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, and patriarchy are very big and scary words, I will admit, but being able to name them now has been eye-opening.
My family never talked about Queer people, so I didn’t know what LGBTQ+ history existed in Mexico until I did my own research. Through online storytelling, I was able to discover that the Indigenous people of Mexico, specifically the Zapotec in Oaxaca, recognize and celebrate a “third gender”. The Muxe (mu-shay) are a fabulous group of people in Mexico that embody masculinity and femininity both internally and in how they present themselves.
As a nonbinary person, I asked myself, “Why was I never introduced to the Muxe?” If they are an integral part of Mexican culture and history, then why does the binary way of thinking still exist in Mexico?
As I learned more about colonialism, specifically in Mexico, I learned that so much of what makes Mexican culture is a result of being colonized by Spain. From our language to the religion practiced there, I see how Spain “influenced” what I know Mexico to be today. It is important to remember that religion was a tool used for colonization and deeming what is or isn’t “natural”.
Colonization not only takes land and its resources away from the people indigenous to it, but it erases culture and replaces it with a straight, white version.
The Muxes and other Third Gender people were almost erased completely if it wasn’t for storytelling. I would not have been able to connect to my gender identity if it weren’t for storytelling. The story of the Muxe tells me that the world I’m envisioning is not far-fetched; it was once and still is a reality that shouldn’t be swept under the rug. We must keep fighting, not only for our rights and the rights of the planet, but also for the stories that helped guide us, as organizers.
When I say LGBTQ+ liberation, I mean breaking away from the harmful and oppressive systems and way of thinking that don’t serve our needs and dehumanize us. This liberation also means that people don’t suffer because of how and where they were born; everyone is taken care of regardless. Everyone should have access to housing, healthcare, and a healthy environment. Systems like capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy have created a world centered on the voices of the white wealthy elites.
The Fossil Fuel Industry perfectly embodies this way of thinking. Accepting Queer people and advocating around the climate crisis goes against everything the Fossil Fuel Industry was created to silence. For this reason we are seeing Queer and Environmental advocates being targeted, which is not new. Pushing back against the status quo is what our advocacy work should be centered on and failing to do so will only create incremental change, which is needed, but won’t be liberating anyone.
In order to achieve liberation for all Queer people we must reject capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy not only to avoid those systems from returning, but because it also means protecting the planet from further destruction. Although the language for homophobia has changed over the years, it still stems from viewing LGBTQ+ people as “unnatural”, which I find ironic since these are the same people who reject nature by exploiting our Earth.
As I become more of an Environmental organizer, I am doing a lot of unlearning on what I thought was “eco-friendly” and what I thought being an Environmentalist means. On the surface, I am getting better at recycling and teaching others how to properly recycle: I am getting better at not using single-use products; I am producing less food waste. On a deeper level, I am learning that the systems I listed above are not only the reasons why we are in the climate crisis, but are the reasons why so many people don’t deem LGBTQ+ people as human.
The Current Erasure of Queer Identity
Last year, we saw how Target backed out from openly supporting the LGBTQ+ community by removing products created by us. Now we are seeing the company remove all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion protocols. This corporation also sells a lot of greenwashed products like those made from “recycled materials,” when in reality, it is single-use plastic in green packaging.
These are clear examples of how these systems, in this case capitalism, try to infiltrate movement spaces.
Whether it be in the Environmental or Queer spaces it is important to remember one thing: corporations are not our allies and they must be rejected from entering our spaces. Failing to do so will destabilize our movement spaces and we will repeat the same harms… only this time it will be with a rainbow and Earth sticker.
As I enter into Pride season, I remain grounded in keeping the movements alive through stories. I challenge myself to think about how all these different issues connect. Housing, access to healthcare, defeating homophobia and racism means challenging the oppressive systems that got us in this mess to begin with.
It is not us vs. each other, but rather it is us vs. the problem. Being centered around this will not only ground me on who is to blame, but also on who I am working with to achieve liberation.
B. serves as Policy Manager for Climate Generation. They are a Minneapolis Southsider and first generation graduate of the University of Minnesota. B. has several years experience in community organizing and policy work and is excited to bring their experiences in voting rights and housing advocacy to Climate Generation’s climate justice work. They believe in investing in our young leaders to build a better future and sustain movement work and have centered the voices of young people in previous campaigns. B. is a participant in the Wilder Foundation’s Community Equity Program, a nine-month political leadership cohort-based learning journey for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community leaders and change makers.
Resources:
- Queer Ecology: https://queerbrownvegan.com/queer-ecology/
- Queering Climate Activism: https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2021/11/19/queering-climate-activism
- Queers for Climate Justice: https://www.queerecoproject.org/queers4climatejustice
- Climate Solutions need Queerness: https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2023/06/08/queer-climate-solutions
- Queer Ecology and Intersectional Environmentalism: https://www.sustained.kitchen/latest/2021/6/17/queer-ecology-and-intersectional-environmentalism
- Grist’s Queer Activism in EJ spaces: https://grist.org/article/what-the-queer-community-brings-to-the-fight-for-climate-justice/
- Decolonizing Climate Action: https://commonslibrary.org/decolonizing-climate-action-toolkit/
- SOMO History on Colonialism: https://www.somo.nl/history-colonialism-climate-change-carbon-markets/
The post A Call for Liberation appeared first on Climate Generation.
Climate Change
DeBriefed 15 August 2025: Raging wildfires; Xi’s priorities; Factchecking the Trump climate report
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Blazing heat hits Europe
FANNING THE FLAMES: Wildfires “fanned by a heatwave and strong winds” caused havoc across southern Europe, Reuters reported. It added: “Fire has affected nearly 440,000 hectares (1,700 square miles) in the eurozone so far in 2025, double the average for the same period of the year since 2006.” Extreme heat is “breaking temperature records across Europe”, the Guardian said, with several countries reporting readings of around 40C.
HUMAN TOLL: At least three people have died in the wildfires erupting across Spain, Turkey and Albania, France24 said, adding that the fires have “displaced thousands in Greece and Albania”. Le Monde reported that a child in Italy “died of heatstroke”, while thousands were evacuated from Spain and firefighters “battled three large wildfires” in Portugal.
UK WILDFIRE RISK: The UK saw temperatures as high as 33.4C this week as England “entered its fourth heatwave”, BBC News said. The high heat is causing “nationally significant” water shortfalls, it added, “hitting farms, damaging wildlife and increasing wildfires”. The Daily Mirror noted that these conditions “could last until mid-autumn”. Scientists warn the UK faces possible “firewaves” due to climate change, BBC News also reported.
Around the world
- GRID PRESSURES: Iraq suffered a “near nationwide blackout” as elevated power demand – due to extreme temperatures of around 50C – triggered a transmission line failure, Bloomberg reported.
- ‘DIRE’ DOWN UNDER: The Australian government is keeping a climate risk assessment that contains “dire” implications for the continent “under wraps”, the Australian Financial Review said.
- EXTREME RAINFALL: Mexico City is “seeing one of its heaviest rainy seasons in years”, the Washington Post said. Downpours in the Japanese island of Kyushu “caused flooding and mudslides”, according to Politico. In Kashmir, flash floods killed 56 and left “scores missing”, the Associated Press said.
- SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION: China and Brazil agreed to “ensure the success” of COP30 in a recent phone call, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.
- PLASTIC ‘DEADLOCK’: Talks on a plastic pollution treaty have failed again at a summit in Geneva, according to the Guardian, with countries “deadlocked” on whether it should include “curbs on production and toxic chemicals”.
15
The number of times by which the most ethnically-diverse areas in England are more likely to experience extreme heat than its “least diverse” areas, according to new analysis by Carbon Brief.
Latest climate research
- As many as 13 minerals critical for low-carbon energy may face shortages under 2C pathways | Nature Climate Change
- A “scoping review” examined the impact of climate change on poor sexual and reproductive health and rights in sub-Saharan Africa | PLOS One
- A UK university cut the carbon footprint of its weekly canteen menu by 31% “without students noticing” | Nature Food
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
Factchecking Trump’s climate report
A report commissioned by the US government to justify rolling back climate regulations contains “at least 100 false or misleading statements”, according to a Carbon Brief factcheck involving dozens of leading climate scientists. The report, compiled in two months by five hand-picked researchers, inaccurately claims that “CO2-induced warming might be less damaging economically than commonly believed” and misleadingly states that “excessively aggressive [emissions] mitigation policies could prove more detrimental than beneficial”80
Spotlight
Does Xi Jinping care about climate change?
This week, Carbon Brief unpacks new research on Chinese president Xi Jinping’s policy priorities.
On this day in 2005, Xi Jinping, a local official in eastern China, made an unplanned speech when touring a small village – a rare occurrence in China’s highly-choreographed political culture.
In it, he observed that “lucid waters and lush mountains are mountains of silver and gold” – that is, the environment cannot be sacrificed for the sake of growth.
(The full text of the speech is not available, although Xi discussed the concept in a brief newspaper column – see below – a few days later.)
In a time where most government officials were laser-focused on delivering economic growth, this message was highly unusual.
Forward-thinking on environment
As a local official in the early 2000s, Xi endorsed the concept of “green GDP”, which integrates the value of natural resources and the environment into GDP calculations.
He also penned a regular newspaper column, 22 of which discussed environmental protection – although “climate change” was never mentioned.
This focus carried over to China’s national agenda when Xi became president.
New research from the Asia Society Policy Institute tracked policies in which Xi is reported by state media to have “personally” taken action.
It found that environmental protection is one of six topics in which he is often said to have directly steered policymaking.
Such policies include guidelines to build a “Beautiful China”, the creation of an environmental protection inspection team and the “three-north shelterbelt” afforestation programme.
“It’s important to know what Xi’s priorities are because the top leader wields outsized influence in the Chinese political system,” Neil Thomas, Asia Society Policy Institute fellow and report co-author, told Carbon Brief.
Local policymakers are “more likely” to invest resources in addressing policies they know have Xi’s attention, to increase their chances for promotion, he added.
What about climate and energy?
However, the research noted, climate and energy policies have not been publicised as bearing Xi’s personal touch.
“I think Xi prioritises environmental protection more than climate change because reducing pollution is an issue of social stability,” Thomas said, noting that “smoggy skies and polluted rivers” were more visible and more likely to trigger civil society pushback than gradual temperature increases.
The paper also said topics might not be linked to Xi personally when they are “too technical” or “politically sensitive”.
For example, Xi’s landmark decision for China to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 is widely reported as having only been made after climate modelling – facilitated by former climate envoy Xie Zhenhua – showed that this goal was achievable.
Prior to this, Xi had never spoken publicly about carbon neutrality.
Prof Alex Wang, a University of California, Los Angeles professor of law not involved in the research, noted that emphasising Xi’s personal attention may signal “top” political priorities, but not necessarily Xi’s “personal interests”.
By not emphasising climate, he said, Xi may be trying to avoid “pushing the system to overprioritise climate to the exclusion of the other priorities”.
There are other ways to know where climate ranks on the policy agenda, Thomas noted:
“Climate watchers should look at what Xi says, what Xi does and what policies Xi authorises in the name of the ‘central committee’. Is Xi talking more about climate? Is Xi establishing institutions and convening meetings that focus on climate? Is climate becoming a more prominent theme in top-level documents?”
Watch, read, listen
TRUMP EFFECT: The Columbia Energy Exchange podcast examined how pressure from US tariffs could affect India’s clean energy transition.
NAMIBIAN ‘DESTRUCTION’: The National Observer investigated the failure to address “human rights abuses and environmental destruction” claims against a Canadian oil company in Namibia.
‘RED AI’: The Network for the Digital Economy and the Environment studied the state of current research on “Red AI”, or the “negative environmental implications of AI”.
Coming up
- 17 August: Bolivian general elections
- 18-29 August: Preparatory talks on the entry into force of the “High Seas Treaty”, New York
- 18-22 August: Y20 Summit, Johannesburg
- 21 August: Advancing the “Africa clean air programme” through Africa-Asia collaboration, Yokohama
Pick of the jobs
- Lancaster Environment Centre, senior research associate: JUST Centre | Salary: £39,355-£45,413. Location: Lancaster, UK
- Environmental Justice Foundation, communications and media officer, Francophone Africa | Salary: XOF600,000-XOF800,000. Location: Dakar, Senegal
- Politico, energy & climate editor | Salary: Unknown. Location: Brussels, Belgium
- EnviroCatalysts, meteorologist | Salary: Unknown. Location: New Delhi, India
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 15 August 2025: Raging wildfires; Xi’s priorities; Factchecking the Trump climate report appeared first on Carbon Brief.
DeBriefed 15 August 2025: Raging wildfires; Xi’s priorities; Factchecking the Trump climate report
Climate Change
New York Already Denied Permits to These Gas Pipelines. Under Trump, They Could Get Greenlit
The specter of a “gas-for-wind” compromise between the governor and the White House is drawing the ire of residents as a deadline looms.
Hundreds of New Yorkers rallied against new natural gas pipelines in their state as a deadline loomed for the public to comment on a revived proposal to expand the gas pipeline that supplies downstate New York.
New York Already Denied Permits to These Gas Pipelines. Under Trump, They Could Get Greenlit
A “critical assessment” report commissioned by the Trump administration to justify a rollback of US climate regulations contains at least 100 false or misleading statements, according to a Carbon Brief factcheck involving dozens of leading climate scientists.
The report – “A critical review of impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on the US climate” – was published by the US Department of Energy (DoE) on 23 July, just days before the government laid out plans to revoke a scientific finding used as the legal basis for emissions regulation.
The executive summary of the controversial report inaccurately claims that “CO2-induced warming might be less damaging economically than commonly believed”.
It also states misleadingly that “excessively aggressive [emissions] mitigation policies could prove more detrimental than beneficial”.
Compiled in just two months by five “independent” researchers hand-selected by the climate-sceptic US secretary of energy Chris Wright, the document has sparked fierce criticism from climate scientists, who have pointed to factual errors, misrepresentation of research, messy citations and the cherry-picking of data.
Experts have also noted the authors’ track record of promoting views at odds with the mainstream understanding of climate science.
Wright’s department claims the report – which is currently open to public comment as part of a 30-day review – underwent an “internal peer-review period amongst [the] DoE’s scientific research community”.
The report is designed to provide a scientific underpinning to one flank of the Trump administration’s plans to rescind a finding that serves as the legal prerequisite for federal emissions regulation. (The second flank is about legal authority to regulate emissions.)
The “endangerment finding” – enacted by the Obama administration in 2009 – states that six greenhouse gases are contributing to the net-negative impacts of climate change and, thus, put the public in danger.
In a press release on 29 July, the US Environmental Protection Agency said “updated studies and information” set out in the new report would “challenge the assumptions” of the 2009 finding.
Carbon Brief asked a wide range of climate scientists, including those cited in the “critical review” itself, to factcheck the report’s various claims and statements.
The post Factcheck: Trump’s climate report includes more than 100 false or misleading claims appeared first on Carbon Brief.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-trumps-climate-report-includes-more-than-100-false-or-misleading-claims/
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