PARIS – If Cop27 in Egypt has disappointed, environmental struggles only become visible when they smear a masterpiece in a museum, there is a silent force that works every day to meet the challenges of climate urgency. For almost a year, an initiative supported by the Fondation européenne pour le Climat has selected a pool of activists and concrete projects, accompanying them in the Nouvelles Voix de l’Action Climatique collective: the aim is precisely to bring out the new voices (but also the new ways) of climate action. In the city that launched the Paris Agreements, whose objectives have so far unfortunately been disregarded by many governments starting with the French one, eleven activists, seven women and four men have been identified to embody a new generation that combines struggle and action. Julia, Esther, Abdelaali, Boris, Teïssir, Nadim are part of a dream team that represents as many ways to act against global warming in an inclusive way. “They all have in common – say the promoters of the initiative – the fact that they bring together the themes of climate and purchasing power, on topics as diverse as food, agriculture, energy, digital, fashion , the industrial transition, nature in the city and in popular neighborhoods”.
Ethical Fashion
At Cop27 the great climate march to ask for climate justice and the release of Alaa
by Giacomo Talignani
After a degree in agronomy and gender studies, Julia Faure decided to develop her business in ethical and sustainable fashion. In 2017 you co-founded Loom, which revolutionizes the codes of fast fashion. “Zero collection, zero promotional offers, zero sales” Julia explains. “We make clothing that lasts over time. Basic products that do not age and can be worn for a long time” explains the entrepreneur. Against unbridled consumerism you have a slogan: “Less but better”. A recipe for success. In 2021 Loom, by applying a strict protocol on suppliers and raw materials, achieved a turnover of 1.4 million euros, an increase of 60 percent. With other players in the textile industry, Julia created In Climate Modea collective that pushes for the fight against global warming, demanding to change the laws in order to regulate polluting industries and not sufficiently attentive to human rights.
Boris Tavernier has made access to quality food a mission, illustrated in the book Together to eat better, together to eat better. He manages the association Bulk which offers organic products, within a fair trade network, while guaranteeing highly competitive prices. Boris has shown that it is not an impossible equation, on the contrary. Thus he managed to involve families from the suburbs of many French cities, from Lyon to Bordeaux, from Marseille to Paris. “We make quality food accessible to people with limited means,” explains Boris. Prices are brought down by cutting packaging and brokerage costs. The Vrac association has almost 10,000 members, including 500 volunteers who manage the local branches and about sixty buying groups. “Many consumers become ambassadors of the project in their area” continues Boris who campaigns for “food security” in support of the poorest classes, maintaining ethical and ecological parameters.
Climate activists throw black liquid on a painting by Klimt in Vienna
by the Foreign editorial staff
Popular ecology
He also works in the suburbs Abdelaali El Badaoui, a nurse by profession who has long been campaigning to contribute to equal access to health care in popular neighborhoods. Abdelaali is convinced that the environmental struggle is not a “thing for the rich”. Many want to oppose “the end of the world and the end of the month”, alluding to the financial difficulties of those with insufficient monthly income. And instead with Banlieues Climat, Abdelaali has brought climate activism also among the inhabitants of the suburbs. It is a battle similar to that of Teïssir Ghrab, 25, who aims for a popular ecology “so that the populations most affected by climate change can take ownership of the issue and participate in the action. Teïssir is an activist of Mouvement, an NGO that helps citizens to have tools to weigh in on social and climate issues in France. She is determined to change things. “The young people of working-class neighborhoods – he underlines – want to understand, mobilize and act for the climate”.
Waste products
When Esther Lutete she ran for the Clinton Foundation with a project focused on Africa she never imagined how far it would go. You created the Ecoa association which deals with the new brown gold: a natural fertilizer made from the waste products of cocoa processing. A topic more relevant than ever during the holidays. “With Ecoa, the inevitable waste from chocolate production is no longer a burden but an opportunity” says the activist. The search for fertilizers has become an urgent need at a time when French and European farmers are concerned about the shortage of Russian fertilizers.
Designer specialized in user experience (UX), Nadim Bel Lallahom works on a project to promote the development of digital impact. “UX design, at the heart of all the applications that make up our daily connected life, can be put at the service of climate action” observes Nadim. The project provides for the training of emerging talents from working-class neighborhoods in the profession of UX designer. Each protagonist of the program is a piece of a more global struggle. Changing the world in small steps, all together.