January 24, 2024 • 29 mins
Chris is joined by UN Goodwill Ambassador, Sabrina Elba, to discuss climate change, conflict, and climate injustice. Sabrina highlights the urgent, real-time impacts on rural communities and why empowering women is critical to getting us out of this dumpster fire.
Show notes from Chris:
On global climate migration, check out this extraordinary article by the amazing Gaia Vince on the realities of a century of upheaval and how we can build greater resilience in our communities.
Global Citizen has so many fantastically inspiring resources it’s hard to know where to start. But on empowering women and girls in rural areas, this is a truly uplifting article with suggestions on how to take action: 7 Women Changing the Future of Farming in Africa.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think it's a complete injustice of the world and
so wholly unfair that someone who can contribute so little
to this issue can be affected so devastatingly. And I
see it all the time. You know, people do think
that it's coming ten years down the road, or you know,
twenty years down the road. But like we said earlier,
people are living through it now.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Fucked.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Welcome to I'm Fucking the Future. I'm your host, Chris Turney.
I'm a climate scientist based in Sydney, Australia. I've been
missearching climate change from the poles to the tropics for
almost thirty years, and I'll be the first to admit
that we've royally fucked up our planet. Well, I believe
that we can still turn things around. That's what this
(00:50):
show is all about. We'll talk to people making a
real difference in fighting against global heating, and then how
we can make a difference too. So let's get started.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Fucking the future.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
We fight with those who have been forgotten. We fight
with those who have been neglected, millions of rural people
who starve feeding the world, people who depend on their
land for independence, but whose land suffers the effects of
climate change, not in some near future, but today, people
who remind me of my mother who once depended on
(01:26):
that land as well and is now here with me today.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
That's our guest today, Sabrina Elba accepting the Time one
hundred Impact Award. She and her husband, the actor Idris Elba,
are you and Goodwill ambassadors. They've been focusing on an
often overlooked aspect of a climate crisis, the impact on
the rural of developing world. It's important work for two reasons. First,
(01:54):
these areas are often the most vulnerable to the effects
of global heating. And second, these populations have not caused
the mess we're in. They've produced so little greenhouse eating gases,
but they've been at the forefront of a climate crisis
four years.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
It's just not right.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
It's also a personal passion for Sabrina because of her background.
While she was born in Canada, her family is from
Somalia in Eastern Africa, and her Somali heritage was a
big part of her life growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
My mom left in the early eighties, and she says
she thinks she was one of three Somali people in Canada.
I cannot guarantee those numbers are cracked, I mean, but
that's what she says, so we'll take her word for it.
She came to Canada, she was pregnant with my older sister.
She had so many dreams, you know, she wanted to
finish school, she wanted to do all these exciting new
things that were new to her, obviously being in a
(02:46):
different country. But she quickly had five kids before she
knew it. And she was a stay at home mom,
and I always saw that as powerful because she did
so many things in one day. I couldn't imagine how
she could do all these things and you know, drive
me one place and cook dinner and you know, take
care of my dad.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Even though she had a lot on her plate. Sabrina's
mum marry him, made sure her kids understood their cultural heritage.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
There is a very strong identity attached to the country itself,
and I carried that with me. You know, the language,
the food is a big part of it. Family over
all the time. And I loved it. I loved growing
up in my Somali Canadian household. And my mom made
sure that, you know, we understood our culture and went
back to visit as often as we could. So I
(03:32):
was super thankful to be growing up two languages and
two identities, and I think it only made for good,
you know, conversation, especially in Canada where cultures are welcome.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
It was through her mom's example, but Sabrina found her
passion for activism.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
She's always been a humanitarian, which I don't know if
I quite appreciated when I was younger, because she left
a lot to go help when she could. She'd go
to Somalia, she started a water project, she'd distribute water
to rural areas that didn't have much, and she'd, you know,
she'd help families in whatever way she couldn't. When I
was younger, I remember thinking, why do you have to
keep leaving? You know why I can't do you stay
(04:08):
with us? And when I was younger, I didn't understand
why she was so passionate, but she always did say,
you know, this is what I want to change, this
is why I'm doing what I do. I want to
go back one day and see the beauty that I remember,
and actually in my advocacy and my humanitarian work. As
I get older, I start to realize a lot of
my passions have aligned with hers.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
As a kid, Sabrina's Mum would take her to Somalia
and what she saw was a country full of pristine,
natural beauty. But that was changing and fast.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
My visits when I was younger. The difference between visiting
back then and visiting you know last year was my
most recent visit. It's astronomically different, just in terms of
I feel, you know, the weather. You notice a big
change when we were younger. I don't know if I
quite noticed it because I only noticed like, oh my gosh,
Camel's exciting, sad, how exciting. But the older I got
(05:04):
and the more i'd go back, I'd realize that, you know,
these people really are trying to rebuild from massive amounts
of not only physical but cultural destruction.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Somalia suffers from some of the worst effects of global heating.
While you might just think that means rising temperatures, the
situation goes far beyond that, which brings us to our segment.
Holy fuck. Less than two percent of Somalia is productive farmland. Meanwhile,
(05:37):
that tiny portion generates seventy five percent of the country's economy,
so that means having productive growing seasons every year is
critical in Somalia. Unfortunately, Somalia has had five years of drought.
No rain means no crops, and no crops means famine.
There's seven point eight million people in Somalia who experience
(05:59):
food into security, and one point four million of them
are children under five years old who are suffering from malnutrition.
It's absolutely heartbreaking. And to make matters even worse, Somalia
actually did get rain this year, so much rain that
it's caused catastrophic flooding and displaced more than seven hundred
(06:20):
thousand people. The country is experiencing one climate extreme event
after another. This kind of crisis has another terrifying side effect.
It creates political instability and enables violent extremism. And that's
exactly what's happening in Somalia. The country is in the
middle of a decade long civil war between the federal
(06:41):
government and al Qaeda aligned militants. The causes of a
what are complex, but the climate crisis is contributing to
famine and therefore to the political instability. It's just one
example of the enormous and far reaching impacts of global heating. Okay,
(07:03):
back to Sabrina. As she discovered, but climate crisis is
not just about bad weather. It creates a risk of
war and of cultural destruction.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
We do think of it as being a sole an
environmental issue, but we also forget that it's happening right
now in a lot of places, and we're seeing more
and more climate conflict. On one hand, you have the
idea of whole areas being underwater as some future type
thing where you can imagine communities might be lost and
cultures might be lost, and that haunts me. But on
(07:35):
the other hand, you're seeing real conflicts, and conflict can
lead to very real things like genocides and and other
horrendous things where you see other beautiful cultures and peoples
potentially wiped out. We forget that there are rural people
all over the world who are not only suffering the
impacts of climate change now, but are really extremely vulnerable
(07:56):
to worsening effects or maybe things we haven't even thought
of down the road.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So Somalia and other rural communities are experiencing some of
the worst impacts of a climate crisis, and maybe the
most gut wrenching parties that it's not their fault. It's
rich developed economies for the pumped out a vast majority
of pollution that is causing global heating.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It's a complete injustice of the world and so wholly
unfair that someone who can contribute so little to this
issue can be affected so devastatingly. And I see it
all the time. You know, people do think that it's
coming ten years down the road, or you know, twenty
years down the road. But like we said earlier, people
are living through it now. People are being affected now
(08:44):
and also feeling that injustice. You know, we're not just
talking about crops or livestock. We're talking about people's lives
when we're talking about loss and damages. And you know,
I find it hard to find an argument against.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Okay, I want to pause right there on that concept
loss and damages. It's a hot topic in the environmental
community right now, and it brings us to a segment
we call what the.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
Fuck are you talking about? What the fucking you target about?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Across the world, we are all trying to figure out
how to adapt to the climate crisis. In the United States,
the government recently passed the Inflation Reduction Act. This historic
bill contains at least four hundred billion dollars in climate
related spending. That's billion with a B. And this is
a great thing because Transitioning to clean energy and mitigating
(09:42):
the impacts of a hotter world is going to be expensive,
so this money is going to be really helpful. But
here's the thing, not every country has that kind of money.
To use Somoli as an example, their whole GDP is
only about eleven and billion dollars. To match the investment
of the Inflation Reduction Act adjusted for population, Somalia would
(10:07):
still have to spend roughly seven years of their entire
economic output or for a problem they didn't even cause.
This has led to an effort to make rich countries
like the US compensate poorer countries for the losses and
damages caused by the climate crisis, and this could go
a long way in helping these poorer countries recover from
(10:28):
these crises and adapt to a hotter world. If we
want place is like Somalia to continue to exist, we're
going to need to pay up for the harm we've caused.
And that's what the fuck we're talking about. What the
fuck are you're talking about? Sabrina believes that paying loss
and damages to poorer countries is the absolute least we
(10:51):
can do to make things right.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
So much of the narrative in so many different parts
of the world has become about there's lots of talk
about migrant issues and oh, who's welcome and who's not welcome?
But why do people leave? You know, so many people
wouldn't have left Somalia if there wasn't conflicts. So people
leave because there's a reason they can't stay. And if
more frequently that's becoming climate we're causing in the global north.
(11:16):
How are we then going to turn around and say, well,
we're sorry that your homeland is getting destroyed. There's no
opportunities there because of either drought or family or whatever flooding,
but no, you can't come in here either. It's a
very kind of ignorant way of thinking when we don't
think holistically about issues. So I hope that people look
at issues like the ones that we're talking about as
(11:39):
global issues rather than a them problem versus an US problem.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Unfortunately, that's something we're seeing more and more. Climate change
knows no borders. When the climate changed in the past,
you moved. But nowadays we have these pesky borders and
they're limiting movement and opportunities for people affected by climate change.
The UN International Organization for migration says that as many
(12:05):
as one billion people will be environmental migrants in the
next thirty years. The question is not whether this will happen,
but how we will respond to it. So far, the
reaction for countries that have caused for climate crisis, and
I should mention for countries that have historically benefited from migrants,
has been to make migration difficult for people seeking safety.
(12:28):
But I also want to point out that climate migration
isn't just an international issue. Even in the United States,
people are leaving low lying and fire prone areas for
places with stronger climate resilience, but that doesn't change that
the global self is facing the harshest symptoms of climate change,
and we're seeing a huge number of migrants fleeing their
(12:50):
homelands because of climate related issues, and those numbers are
only increasing. But migration doesn't have to be the only solution,
and it shouldn't be. People shouldn't be forced to flee
their homeland, and so right now we need to help
support resiliency efforts in the areas but they're on the
front lines of a climate crisis.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
We also put this I think expectation on rural communities
to scale up to the same way that the global
North can, and to move quick to change over to
renewable energies when it's like they you know, it takes time.
It takes time. How are you expected to to fight
climate change if you can't you don't even have an
(13:34):
accurate reading device or the weather. You know, like simple
technologies to adapt to changing climate are so important, but
even these technologies are so underfunded for rural people. How
can we put these expectations on people.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
We're on fucking the future. We're on fucking the future.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
The good news is there are people working hard to
solve this problem. Loss and damages was a big issue
at a recent COP twenty eight climate summit, and I
was slightly relieved to see several wealthy countries put up
money for the Loss and Damage Fund, but their contributions
amounted to less than half a percent of what is needed.
(14:24):
I'm a hopeful person, but honestly, really it's a drop
in the ocean, which is why we have to focus
on the many different avenues and approaches to solving for
global saff's climate crisis.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Sabrin has been working with e FAD, the International Fund
for Agricultural Development is a UN agency that focuses on
projects related to agriculture and rural communities.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
I wouldn't have thought that I would ever be doing
work in agriculture. I mean, if someone said that to me,
I probably wouldn't, well, what are you talking about? But
there might have been maybe a couple of things about
my identity and my beliefs that I shared with my
husband that kind of influenced us to work with EFAD
in the first place. And one of those was that
we looked at the AID model and the general aid model,
(15:13):
and I, look, there's a time and place for AID.
I think it's super important, but I do think it
can be really shortsighted if you're offering a band aid
over a band aid over a band aid, not really
getting to the root cause of an issue. And when
I learned about the work that EFAD was doing and
how they not only teach people how to live off
(15:35):
the land they live on by providing them with education
around agriculture and giving them a sense of entrepreneurship as
well as food security, I was blown away because I
realized that that model was meant to actually make people
more independent rather than on an agency. And I thought Wow,
(15:57):
what a great model. You know. It goes to show
that actually the majority of impoverished people live in rural communities,
and what they do have is land, and in that
land is opportunity.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Places that aren't economically developed often have large regions of
unspoilt land, forests and important natural resources.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
They're also technically the custodians of this planet. Imagine the
potential if they were given the appropriate tools and education
and investment that they deserve, because it is an investment
in ourselves, particularly when you translate that to the climate conversation,
because then you're talking about people who are protecting the
biodiversity of areas, who are adapting communities to the climate
(16:39):
changes that are happening in real time.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Sabrina's witnessed firsthand for benefits of empowering rural communities in
the fight against global heating, and it gives a hope.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I'll never hear this image of this swamp land in
sire Leone that was converted into rice farms, and seeing
them before and after, I could not believe that nine
that was so degradated and so turned into this like,
you know, massive community with women farming. And I always
thought that was so amazing, and it just goes to
show like even things like land degredation, like we need
(17:12):
rural people to restore the world through nature based solutions.
Nature based solutions are such a big part of it.
And who else is going to protect these areas? Like
I said that, the genuine custodians of our planet rural people.
And I'm endlessly amazed, endlessly amazed, and also endlessly touched.
(17:33):
I think seeing programs change people's lives with such simple
technology and such simple you know, climate resilien seeds for instance,
or you know, different kinds of fertilizers, it just makes
a huge, huge difference in people's lives. And at the
end of the day, that's really what it's about.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
After some time working with EFAT on their projects with
agricultural communities for you and approach Sabrina and about becoming
official good Will ambassadors. It was a surreal moment, especially
because her mother had connected her with EPHAD in the
first place.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I remember calling my mom and being like, mom, they've
asked me to be an ambassador. It's so cool. And
the first ambassadors that they've had on this scale, and
actually the first couple ever asked to be new and
good Will ambassadors, which is kind of interesting.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Serving as good Will ambassadors has given Sabrina and Idris
a totally new platform to raise awareness about the challenges
rural communities are facing. And one of the ways they've
been using at platform is to empower women and girls
in these communities.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
So the ties between gender and agriculture became so intertwined
for me in a way that I didn't know that
I just it became so much of my passion to
see that women are historically at a disadvantage and that's
amplified and sort of, you know, made extreme when you're
in situations around climate because you realize if you already
(19:02):
at a dispantage and you're trying to get land rights
or access to finance, it only makes it harder for
you to adapt or make the changes you need to change.
And EFAT does a lot of work in gender and
it's you know, it's all of these different touch points
that they've been able to expand their work into that
really made me passionate about the work they that they do.
(19:25):
Once people understand by empowering women or girls, you empower
a community, you actually see communities buy into it because
it works, and a lot of them field visits I do,
and like, you know, no shade to men, but men
are often in the city at the bars, and I
see women in the fields you just do, with babies
(19:45):
on their back or children on their back, farming all day,
sending their kids to school, and not spending the money
you know, at a bar on their friends, but at
home and building their home and building women around them.
And women give back, you know, in a way that's
(20:05):
so much more community led than men do. That the
statistically true, and I think, look, it's a good thing.
It just means we just need to empower women.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Women make up nearly half an agricultural labor force in
developing countries. They're often also the ones who actually have
to feed their families, but as farmers, they have lower
yields on their land than men, and that's because of
unequal access to resources like fertilizer, credit and good quality land.
One UN study found that if women who were afforded
(20:38):
the same access as men, their agricultural yields would increase
by up to thirty percent. This could even reduce world
hunger by twelve to seventeen percent. That would mean pulling
one hundred and fifty million people out of hunger. That's
a population in Mexico and Australia combined.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
If you empower women, they'll be able to do that,
you know. So food security, if we're empowering women, they'll
help feed their families. And it's been shown and proven
time and time again. If you support women and girls,
you change communities, you change countries, and I feel the
world really needs to step up to that. ePAT is
doing its part, and that's where I'm hopeful is there
(21:22):
are amazing programs. There are such amazing grassroots programs, and
e FAT does go through government to support grassroots projects
as well, and so there are all of these different
ways to support rural women and girls. It's just about
the funding. The funding isn't there. I mean, look at
food security funding or climate funding even and of itself,
(21:42):
only one percent goes to something like adaptation, which is
one of the biggest hurdles of your community.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
We're on fucking the future. We're on fucking the future.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
One of the big takeaways from this conversation, and I
imagine a lot of the conversations will have on this show,
is that it's not always technical fixes that will help
us unfuck the future. One big discovery in the lab
of the newest startup is not going to get us
out of this mess on its own. It's about how
we live as a society, and in this case, it
(22:23):
means giving rural communities for resources they need to thrive,
not just survive. Rural people deserve to be compensated for
the losses and damages caused by the climate crisis, and
by investing specifically in rural girls and women, we can
make progress on climate issues as well as related problems
like food insecurity. But those are big government level solutions.
(22:48):
So what can we do as individuals sitting at home
listening to its podcast.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
One of the most important things that we can do
is use our voices. And I say that a lot
because the conversation around food systems and rural people and
climate it needs to be sort of frontline. Like I
sometimes I'm looking at headlines and we're flooded with information
that feels so, look, if we're not talking about our survival,
(23:15):
which is really what it is as a human race,
then I don't see why we would be talking about
anything else. But I think conversation is so important. I
think you inspire change by being the change that you
want to be. If you're mindful of these issues, other
people will be inspired, and then maybe that'll lead to
more people reaching out to their leader. It's more people
voting and also kind of understanding and being able to
(23:40):
combat the misinformation that's thrown at us all the time.
I always say, being a You and Goodble ambassador is
about access. It's about speaking with voices who can't get
into the rooms that I'm so fortunate to be able
to have access to. People want their stories shared, people
want their struggles shared, because you see change when people
galvanize together. And I said, unless we have these conversations,
(24:02):
So using your voice, I would say, is the most
important thing.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
And it's it's a face to be almost like stories.
We're telling our stories and that's how we relate to
one another, isn't it with physically with storytellers, the.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Shortest distance between two people as a story. I heard
that somewhere. It's not my own quote.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
But I thought it was always which brings us to
how we can help Maggie bed take it away?
Speaker 4 (24:26):
What fuck can I do?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Maggie? What did you take away from my discussion with Sabrina.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
So Sabrina isn't only a U and Goodwill ambassador, She's
also the European board chair of an organization known as
Global Citizen, an organization I also know and love. Global Citizen,
also known as Global Poverty Project, is an international education
and advocacy organization that seeks to catalyze the movement to
(24:55):
end extreme poverty and promote social justice and equity through
the lens of intersectionality. My kids, Billy and Phineas, have
been big supporters of Global Citizen, performed in the amazing
concerts Safe Given, and just really try to lend their
support to incredible work that Global Citizen does to get
(25:15):
people involved to take action that is effective in so
many ways, and anyone can join Global Citizens for free.
Once you're part of their network, they'll bring you different
actions that you can take to fight global poverty and
defend the planet, because of course, poverty and climate change
are inextricably entwined. Some of the actions they recommend are
(25:36):
super easy, like tweeting at government officials, for example, which
is actually very effective. But they'll also connect you with
opportunities to march, to volunteer, and to be part of
a community, because you know, to be clear, it's maybe
not quite enough to send emails and tweets. Like Adam
McKay told us last episode, we need to show up
(25:59):
in real life, not just on social media. I mean,
social media is great, but Global Citizen is a great
platform to start your journey into climate action and then
find like minded people who care about this issue just
as much as you do. You can sign up at
global citizen dot org.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
That's brilliant, Maggie, And let's say thanks for the great idea.
It's all about being a global citizen and one community
and for everyone listening out there, that's what the fuck
you can do?
Speaker 4 (26:28):
What the fuck can I do?
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Well, look, thank you again, Sabrina, just for joining us
on the show. It's so grateful for all your time
and helping us understand the urgent work that needs to
be done to support our communities, not just in Somalia
and in Africa, but but around the world.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Thank you so much. It's been brilliant talking to you.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
No, it's been such a pleasure. Thank you for having me,
and thank you for doing the working that you do.
I mean you are spreading awareness and conversations in every episode,
so thank you.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Oh fucked.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
That's all for this episode. Next time I'm Fucking the Future,
we'll be talking with Tom Steyer. He went from investing
in the coal and oil industries to leading the fight
for clean climate.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
Friend the investments, well.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
You know, capitalism scales, profitability scales. It's somewhat cynical of
me to say, but unfortunately I think it's realistic for
me to also say. Altruism doesn't scale. It's capitalism can
be good. Capitalism is basically, we're going to produce what
you want so you'll pay us money. That's capitalism, Like,
(27:41):
you tell us what you want and we'll produce it
if you'll pay us for it. And the idea is okay,
So my self interest is to produce something you want.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
You're just gonna get whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
You tell me and I'll make it.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
How can you make a mint while saving a world?
You'll have to tune in to find out. Until then,
I'm Chris Turney signing off from Sydney, Australia.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Thanks for joining me in Unfucking the Future.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Weird Fucking the Future.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I'm Fucking the Future is produced by Imagine Audio and
awfully nice for iHeart Podcasts and hosted by me Chris Turney.
The show is written by Meredith Bryan. I'm Fucking the
Future is produced by Amber von Shassen and Rene Colvert.
Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Carl Welker, and Nathan Chloke are
the executive producers from Imagine Audio. Jesse Burton and Katie
(28:34):
Hodges are the executive producers from Awfully Nice. Sound design
and mixing by Evan Arnette, original music by Lilly Hayden
and producing services by Peter McGuigan. Sam Swinnerton wrote our
theme and all those fun jingles. If you enjoyed this episode,
be sure to rate and review Unfucking the Future on
Apple Podcasts or whether you get your podcasts
I think it's a complete injustice of the world and
so wholly unfair that someone who can contribute so little
to this issue can be affected so devastatingly. And I
see it all the time. You know, people do think
that it's coming ten years down the road, or you know,
twenty years down the road. But like we said earlier,
people are living through it now.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Fucked.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Welcome to I'm Fucking the Future. I'm your host, Chris Turney.
I'm a climate scientist based in Sydney, Australia. I've been
missearching climate change from the poles to the tropics for
almost thirty years, and I'll be the first to admit
that we've royally fucked up our planet. Well, I believe
that we can still turn things around. That's what this
(00:50):
show is all about. We'll talk to people making a
real difference in fighting against global heating, and then how
we can make a difference too. So let's get started.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Fucking the future.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
We fight with those who have been forgotten. We fight
with those who have been neglected, millions of rural people
who starve feeding the world, people who depend on their
land for independence, but whose land suffers the effects of
climate change, not in some near future, but today, people
who remind me of my mother who once depended on
(01:26):
that land as well and is now here with me today.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
That's our guest today, Sabrina Elba accepting the Time one
hundred Impact Award. She and her husband, the actor Idris Elba,
are you and Goodwill ambassadors. They've been focusing on an
often overlooked aspect of a climate crisis, the impact on
the rural of developing world. It's important work for two reasons. First,
(01:54):
these areas are often the most vulnerable to the effects
of global heating. And second, these populations have not caused
the mess we're in. They've produced so little greenhouse eating gases,
but they've been at the forefront of a climate crisis
four years.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
It's just not right.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
It's also a personal passion for Sabrina because of her background.
While she was born in Canada, her family is from
Somalia in Eastern Africa, and her Somali heritage was a
big part of her life growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
My mom left in the early eighties, and she says
she thinks she was one of three Somali people in Canada.
I cannot guarantee those numbers are cracked, I mean, but
that's what she says, so we'll take her word for it.
She came to Canada, she was pregnant with my older sister.
She had so many dreams, you know, she wanted to
finish school, she wanted to do all these exciting new
things that were new to her, obviously being in a
(02:46):
different country. But she quickly had five kids before she
knew it. And she was a stay at home mom,
and I always saw that as powerful because she did
so many things in one day. I couldn't imagine how
she could do all these things and you know, drive
me one place and cook dinner and you know, take
care of my dad.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Even though she had a lot on her plate. Sabrina's
mum marry him, made sure her kids understood their cultural heritage.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
There is a very strong identity attached to the country itself,
and I carried that with me. You know, the language,
the food is a big part of it. Family over
all the time. And I loved it. I loved growing
up in my Somali Canadian household. And my mom made
sure that, you know, we understood our culture and went
back to visit as often as we could. So I
(03:32):
was super thankful to be growing up two languages and
two identities, and I think it only made for good,
you know, conversation, especially in Canada where cultures are welcome.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
It was through her mom's example, but Sabrina found her
passion for activism.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
She's always been a humanitarian, which I don't know if
I quite appreciated when I was younger, because she left
a lot to go help when she could. She'd go
to Somalia, she started a water project, she'd distribute water
to rural areas that didn't have much, and she'd, you know,
she'd help families in whatever way she couldn't. When I
was younger, I remember thinking, why do you have to
keep leaving? You know why I can't do you stay
(04:08):
with us? And when I was younger, I didn't understand
why she was so passionate, but she always did say,
you know, this is what I want to change, this
is why I'm doing what I do. I want to
go back one day and see the beauty that I remember,
and actually in my advocacy and my humanitarian work. As
I get older, I start to realize a lot of
my passions have aligned with hers.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
As a kid, Sabrina's Mum would take her to Somalia
and what she saw was a country full of pristine,
natural beauty. But that was changing and fast.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
My visits when I was younger. The difference between visiting
back then and visiting you know last year was my
most recent visit. It's astronomically different, just in terms of
I feel, you know, the weather. You notice a big
change when we were younger. I don't know if I
quite noticed it because I only noticed like, oh my gosh,
Camel's exciting, sad, how exciting. But the older I got
(05:04):
and the more i'd go back, I'd realize that, you know,
these people really are trying to rebuild from massive amounts
of not only physical but cultural destruction.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Somalia suffers from some of the worst effects of global heating.
While you might just think that means rising temperatures, the
situation goes far beyond that, which brings us to our segment.
Holy fuck. Less than two percent of Somalia is productive farmland. Meanwhile,
(05:37):
that tiny portion generates seventy five percent of the country's economy,
so that means having productive growing seasons every year is
critical in Somalia. Unfortunately, Somalia has had five years of drought.
No rain means no crops, and no crops means famine.
There's seven point eight million people in Somalia who experience
(05:59):
food into security, and one point four million of them
are children under five years old who are suffering from malnutrition.
It's absolutely heartbreaking. And to make matters even worse, Somalia
actually did get rain this year, so much rain that
it's caused catastrophic flooding and displaced more than seven hundred
(06:20):
thousand people. The country is experiencing one climate extreme event
after another. This kind of crisis has another terrifying side effect.
It creates political instability and enables violent extremism. And that's
exactly what's happening in Somalia. The country is in the
middle of a decade long civil war between the federal
(06:41):
government and al Qaeda aligned militants. The causes of a
what are complex, but the climate crisis is contributing to
famine and therefore to the political instability. It's just one
example of the enormous and far reaching impacts of global heating. Okay,
(07:03):
back to Sabrina. As she discovered, but climate crisis is
not just about bad weather. It creates a risk of
war and of cultural destruction.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
We do think of it as being a sole an
environmental issue, but we also forget that it's happening right
now in a lot of places, and we're seeing more
and more climate conflict. On one hand, you have the
idea of whole areas being underwater as some future type
thing where you can imagine communities might be lost and
cultures might be lost, and that haunts me. But on
(07:35):
the other hand, you're seeing real conflicts, and conflict can
lead to very real things like genocides and and other
horrendous things where you see other beautiful cultures and peoples
potentially wiped out. We forget that there are rural people
all over the world who are not only suffering the
impacts of climate change now, but are really extremely vulnerable
(07:56):
to worsening effects or maybe things we haven't even thought
of down the road.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So Somalia and other rural communities are experiencing some of
the worst impacts of a climate crisis, and maybe the
most gut wrenching parties that it's not their fault. It's
rich developed economies for the pumped out a vast majority
of pollution that is causing global heating.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It's a complete injustice of the world and so wholly
unfair that someone who can contribute so little to this
issue can be affected so devastatingly. And I see it
all the time. You know, people do think that it's
coming ten years down the road, or you know, twenty
years down the road. But like we said earlier, people
are living through it now. People are being affected now
(08:44):
and also feeling that injustice. You know, we're not just
talking about crops or livestock. We're talking about people's lives
when we're talking about loss and damages. And you know,
I find it hard to find an argument against.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Okay, I want to pause right there on that concept
loss and damages. It's a hot topic in the environmental
community right now, and it brings us to a segment
we call what the.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
Fuck are you talking about? What the fucking you target about?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Across the world, we are all trying to figure out
how to adapt to the climate crisis. In the United States,
the government recently passed the Inflation Reduction Act. This historic
bill contains at least four hundred billion dollars in climate
related spending. That's billion with a B. And this is
a great thing because Transitioning to clean energy and mitigating
(09:42):
the impacts of a hotter world is going to be expensive,
so this money is going to be really helpful. But
here's the thing, not every country has that kind of money.
To use Somoli as an example, their whole GDP is
only about eleven and billion dollars. To match the investment
of the Inflation Reduction Act adjusted for population, Somalia would
(10:07):
still have to spend roughly seven years of their entire
economic output or for a problem they didn't even cause.
This has led to an effort to make rich countries
like the US compensate poorer countries for the losses and
damages caused by the climate crisis, and this could go
a long way in helping these poorer countries recover from
(10:28):
these crises and adapt to a hotter world. If we
want place is like Somalia to continue to exist, we're
going to need to pay up for the harm we've caused.
And that's what the fuck we're talking about. What the
fuck are you're talking about? Sabrina believes that paying loss
and damages to poorer countries is the absolute least we
(10:51):
can do to make things right.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
So much of the narrative in so many different parts
of the world has become about there's lots of talk
about migrant issues and oh, who's welcome and who's not welcome?
But why do people leave? You know, so many people
wouldn't have left Somalia if there wasn't conflicts. So people
leave because there's a reason they can't stay. And if
more frequently that's becoming climate we're causing in the global north.
(11:16):
How are we then going to turn around and say, well,
we're sorry that your homeland is getting destroyed. There's no
opportunities there because of either drought or family or whatever flooding,
but no, you can't come in here either. It's a
very kind of ignorant way of thinking when we don't
think holistically about issues. So I hope that people look
at issues like the ones that we're talking about as
(11:39):
global issues rather than a them problem versus an US problem.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Unfortunately, that's something we're seeing more and more. Climate change
knows no borders. When the climate changed in the past,
you moved. But nowadays we have these pesky borders and
they're limiting movement and opportunities for people affected by climate change.
The UN International Organization for migration says that as many
(12:05):
as one billion people will be environmental migrants in the
next thirty years. The question is not whether this will happen,
but how we will respond to it. So far, the
reaction for countries that have caused for climate crisis, and
I should mention for countries that have historically benefited from migrants,
has been to make migration difficult for people seeking safety.
(12:28):
But I also want to point out that climate migration
isn't just an international issue. Even in the United States,
people are leaving low lying and fire prone areas for
places with stronger climate resilience, but that doesn't change that
the global self is facing the harshest symptoms of climate change,
and we're seeing a huge number of migrants fleeing their
(12:50):
homelands because of climate related issues, and those numbers are
only increasing. But migration doesn't have to be the only solution,
and it shouldn't be. People shouldn't be forced to flee
their homeland, and so right now we need to help
support resiliency efforts in the areas but they're on the
front lines of a climate crisis.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
We also put this I think expectation on rural communities
to scale up to the same way that the global
North can, and to move quick to change over to
renewable energies when it's like they you know, it takes time.
It takes time. How are you expected to to fight
climate change if you can't you don't even have an
(13:34):
accurate reading device or the weather. You know, like simple
technologies to adapt to changing climate are so important, but
even these technologies are so underfunded for rural people. How
can we put these expectations on people.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
We're on fucking the future. We're on fucking the future.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
The good news is there are people working hard to
solve this problem. Loss and damages was a big issue
at a recent COP twenty eight climate summit, and I
was slightly relieved to see several wealthy countries put up
money for the Loss and Damage Fund, but their contributions
amounted to less than half a percent of what is needed.
(14:24):
I'm a hopeful person, but honestly, really it's a drop
in the ocean, which is why we have to focus
on the many different avenues and approaches to solving for
global saff's climate crisis.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Sabrin has been working with e FAD, the International Fund
for Agricultural Development is a UN agency that focuses on
projects related to agriculture and rural communities.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
I wouldn't have thought that I would ever be doing
work in agriculture. I mean, if someone said that to me,
I probably wouldn't, well, what are you talking about? But
there might have been maybe a couple of things about
my identity and my beliefs that I shared with my
husband that kind of influenced us to work with EFAD
in the first place. And one of those was that
we looked at the AID model and the general aid model,
(15:13):
and I, look, there's a time and place for AID.
I think it's super important, but I do think it
can be really shortsighted if you're offering a band aid
over a band aid over a band aid, not really
getting to the root cause of an issue. And when
I learned about the work that EFAD was doing and
how they not only teach people how to live off
(15:35):
the land they live on by providing them with education
around agriculture and giving them a sense of entrepreneurship as
well as food security, I was blown away because I
realized that that model was meant to actually make people
more independent rather than on an agency. And I thought Wow,
(15:57):
what a great model. You know. It goes to show
that actually the majority of impoverished people live in rural communities,
and what they do have is land, and in that
land is opportunity.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Places that aren't economically developed often have large regions of
unspoilt land, forests and important natural resources.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
They're also technically the custodians of this planet. Imagine the
potential if they were given the appropriate tools and education
and investment that they deserve, because it is an investment
in ourselves, particularly when you translate that to the climate conversation,
because then you're talking about people who are protecting the
biodiversity of areas, who are adapting communities to the climate
(16:39):
changes that are happening in real time.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Sabrina's witnessed firsthand for benefits of empowering rural communities in
the fight against global heating, and it gives a hope.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I'll never hear this image of this swamp land in
sire Leone that was converted into rice farms, and seeing
them before and after, I could not believe that nine
that was so degradated and so turned into this like,
you know, massive community with women farming. And I always
thought that was so amazing, and it just goes to
show like even things like land degredation, like we need
(17:12):
rural people to restore the world through nature based solutions.
Nature based solutions are such a big part of it.
And who else is going to protect these areas? Like
I said that, the genuine custodians of our planet rural people.
And I'm endlessly amazed, endlessly amazed, and also endlessly touched.
(17:33):
I think seeing programs change people's lives with such simple
technology and such simple you know, climate resilien seeds for instance,
or you know, different kinds of fertilizers, it just makes
a huge, huge difference in people's lives. And at the
end of the day, that's really what it's about.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
After some time working with EFAT on their projects with
agricultural communities for you and approach Sabrina and about becoming
official good Will ambassadors. It was a surreal moment, especially
because her mother had connected her with EPHAD in the
first place.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I remember calling my mom and being like, mom, they've
asked me to be an ambassador. It's so cool. And
the first ambassadors that they've had on this scale, and
actually the first couple ever asked to be new and
good Will ambassadors, which is kind of interesting.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Serving as good Will ambassadors has given Sabrina and Idris
a totally new platform to raise awareness about the challenges
rural communities are facing. And one of the ways they've
been using at platform is to empower women and girls
in these communities.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
So the ties between gender and agriculture became so intertwined
for me in a way that I didn't know that
I just it became so much of my passion to
see that women are historically at a disadvantage and that's
amplified and sort of, you know, made extreme when you're
in situations around climate because you realize if you already
(19:02):
at a dispantage and you're trying to get land rights
or access to finance, it only makes it harder for
you to adapt or make the changes you need to change.
And EFAT does a lot of work in gender and
it's you know, it's all of these different touch points
that they've been able to expand their work into that
really made me passionate about the work they that they do.
(19:25):
Once people understand by empowering women or girls, you empower
a community, you actually see communities buy into it because
it works, and a lot of them field visits I do,
and like, you know, no shade to men, but men
are often in the city at the bars, and I
see women in the fields you just do, with babies
(19:45):
on their back or children on their back, farming all day,
sending their kids to school, and not spending the money
you know, at a bar on their friends, but at
home and building their home and building women around them.
And women give back, you know, in a way that's
(20:05):
so much more community led than men do. That the
statistically true, and I think, look, it's a good thing.
It just means we just need to empower women.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Women make up nearly half an agricultural labor force in
developing countries. They're often also the ones who actually have
to feed their families, but as farmers, they have lower
yields on their land than men, and that's because of
unequal access to resources like fertilizer, credit and good quality land.
One UN study found that if women who were afforded
(20:38):
the same access as men, their agricultural yields would increase
by up to thirty percent. This could even reduce world
hunger by twelve to seventeen percent. That would mean pulling
one hundred and fifty million people out of hunger. That's
a population in Mexico and Australia combined.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
If you empower women, they'll be able to do that,
you know. So food security, if we're empowering women, they'll
help feed their families. And it's been shown and proven
time and time again. If you support women and girls,
you change communities, you change countries, and I feel the
world really needs to step up to that. ePAT is
doing its part, and that's where I'm hopeful is there
(21:22):
are amazing programs. There are such amazing grassroots programs, and
e FAT does go through government to support grassroots projects
as well, and so there are all of these different
ways to support rural women and girls. It's just about
the funding. The funding isn't there. I mean, look at
food security funding or climate funding even and of itself,
(21:42):
only one percent goes to something like adaptation, which is
one of the biggest hurdles of your community.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
We're on fucking the future. We're on fucking the future.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
One of the big takeaways from this conversation, and I
imagine a lot of the conversations will have on this show,
is that it's not always technical fixes that will help
us unfuck the future. One big discovery in the lab
of the newest startup is not going to get us
out of this mess on its own. It's about how
we live as a society, and in this case, it
(22:23):
means giving rural communities for resources they need to thrive,
not just survive. Rural people deserve to be compensated for
the losses and damages caused by the climate crisis, and
by investing specifically in rural girls and women, we can
make progress on climate issues as well as related problems
like food insecurity. But those are big government level solutions.
(22:48):
So what can we do as individuals sitting at home
listening to its podcast.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
One of the most important things that we can do
is use our voices. And I say that a lot
because the conversation around food systems and rural people and
climate it needs to be sort of frontline. Like I
sometimes I'm looking at headlines and we're flooded with information
that feels so, look, if we're not talking about our survival,
(23:15):
which is really what it is as a human race,
then I don't see why we would be talking about
anything else. But I think conversation is so important. I
think you inspire change by being the change that you
want to be. If you're mindful of these issues, other
people will be inspired, and then maybe that'll lead to
more people reaching out to their leader. It's more people
voting and also kind of understanding and being able to
(23:40):
combat the misinformation that's thrown at us all the time.
I always say, being a You and Goodble ambassador is
about access. It's about speaking with voices who can't get
into the rooms that I'm so fortunate to be able
to have access to. People want their stories shared, people
want their struggles shared, because you see change when people
galvanize together. And I said, unless we have these conversations,
(24:02):
So using your voice, I would say, is the most
important thing.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
And it's it's a face to be almost like stories.
We're telling our stories and that's how we relate to
one another, isn't it with physically with storytellers, the.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Shortest distance between two people as a story. I heard
that somewhere. It's not my own quote.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
But I thought it was always which brings us to
how we can help Maggie bed take it away?
Speaker 4 (24:26):
What fuck can I do?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Maggie? What did you take away from my discussion with Sabrina.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
So Sabrina isn't only a U and Goodwill ambassador, She's
also the European board chair of an organization known as
Global Citizen, an organization I also know and love. Global Citizen,
also known as Global Poverty Project, is an international education
and advocacy organization that seeks to catalyze the movement to
(24:55):
end extreme poverty and promote social justice and equity through
the lens of intersectionality. My kids, Billy and Phineas, have
been big supporters of Global Citizen, performed in the amazing
concerts Safe Given, and just really try to lend their
support to incredible work that Global Citizen does to get
(25:15):
people involved to take action that is effective in so
many ways, and anyone can join Global Citizens for free.
Once you're part of their network, they'll bring you different
actions that you can take to fight global poverty and
defend the planet, because of course, poverty and climate change
are inextricably entwined. Some of the actions they recommend are
(25:36):
super easy, like tweeting at government officials, for example, which
is actually very effective. But they'll also connect you with
opportunities to march, to volunteer, and to be part of
a community, because you know, to be clear, it's maybe
not quite enough to send emails and tweets. Like Adam
McKay told us last episode, we need to show up
(25:59):
in real life, not just on social media. I mean,
social media is great, but Global Citizen is a great
platform to start your journey into climate action and then
find like minded people who care about this issue just
as much as you do. You can sign up at
global citizen dot org.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
That's brilliant, Maggie, And let's say thanks for the great idea.
It's all about being a global citizen and one community
and for everyone listening out there, that's what the fuck
you can do?
Speaker 4 (26:28):
What the fuck can I do?
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Well, look, thank you again, Sabrina, just for joining us
on the show. It's so grateful for all your time
and helping us understand the urgent work that needs to
be done to support our communities, not just in Somalia
and in Africa, but but around the world.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Thank you so much. It's been brilliant talking to you.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
No, it's been such a pleasure. Thank you for having me,
and thank you for doing the working that you do.
I mean you are spreading awareness and conversations in every episode,
so thank you.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Oh fucked.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
That's all for this episode. Next time I'm Fucking the Future,
we'll be talking with Tom Steyer. He went from investing
in the coal and oil industries to leading the fight
for clean climate.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
Friend the investments, well.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
You know, capitalism scales, profitability scales. It's somewhat cynical of
me to say, but unfortunately I think it's realistic for
me to also say. Altruism doesn't scale. It's capitalism can
be good. Capitalism is basically, we're going to produce what
you want so you'll pay us money. That's capitalism, Like,
(27:41):
you tell us what you want and we'll produce it
if you'll pay us for it. And the idea is okay,
So my self interest is to produce something you want.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
You're just gonna get whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
You tell me and I'll make it.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
How can you make a mint while saving a world?
You'll have to tune in to find out. Until then,
I'm Chris Turney signing off from Sydney, Australia.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Thanks for joining me in Unfucking the Future.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Weird Fucking the Future.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I'm Fucking the Future is produced by Imagine Audio and
awfully nice for iHeart Podcasts and hosted by me Chris Turney.
The show is written by Meredith Bryan. I'm Fucking the
Future is produced by Amber von Shassen and Rene Colvert.
Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Carl Welker, and Nathan Chloke are
the executive producers from Imagine Audio. Jesse Burton and Katie
(28:34):
Hodges are the executive producers from Awfully Nice. Sound design
and mixing by Evan Arnette, original music by Lilly Hayden
and producing services by Peter McGuigan. Sam Swinnerton wrote our
theme and all those fun jingles. If you enjoyed this episode,
be sure to rate and review Unfucking the Future on
Apple Podcasts or whether you get your podcasts
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