Photos of the people resisting the reality of the climate crisis
- Text by Ben Smoke
- Photography by Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Niger Delta
For the last 10 days, all eyes have been on Glasgow as the world’s leaders meet to discuss solutions to the climate crisis. From milquetoast announcements that lack the ambition to fully contend with the scale of the crisis to the usual media circus around leaders and celebrities, it can become easy to view the fight against the climate crisis in the abstract.
The reality, however, is very different. Communities across the world are already on the front lines of climate breakdown. Many of them are marginalised and indigenous peoples, who have contributed least to the causes of devastating climate change. Time and time again, these communities, and the inspiring fight back they are leading, are absent from discussion.
That’s why Friends of the Earth have curated From Scotland to Sarawak, a new exhibition at Tramway in Glasgow, showcasing the stories of those resisting the reality of an overheated planet. The pictures, which show the very real impact of climate change happening now, portray communities and struggles across the world, marching and organising in unison against climate change.
Shaunna Lee Rushton, curator of From Scotland to Sarawak, told Huck: “These stories act as a reminder that the only solutions to the climate crisis are the ones that work for us all, which is especially pertinent as world leaders gather less than two miles away.
“From Scotland to Sarawak, and across the 18 countries represented in this exhibition, the drastically unfair impacts of climate breakdown are recognised. But despite these trying and varying circumstances, resistance is happening in local communities right across the world. Our connectedness is what offers us hope.”
The exhibition contains images showing the Doevi Kope community in Togo mobilising to prevent oil exploitation, Palestinian women running renewable energy projects, Indigenous Peoples of Sarawak protecting Malaysian forests and the Falkirk community-led campaign against petrochemical giant Ineos in Scotland, amongst others. In stark contrast to the stage-managed climate talks happening in Glasgow, the exhibition shows the hope and power that comes when communities and people come together to fight.
Below are a collection of some of the images on display for the duration of the COP26 summit.
© Luka Tomac/Friends of the Earth International Sundarbans, Bangladesh. In the Sundarbans, children are lighting up the forest through an inspiring solar initiative by the Bangladesh Environment and Development Society (BEDS). “We somehow created a social energy grid. As the village is not electrified, children everyday bring their batteries and lamps to school and charge them on our central solar system. They go home with full batteries and bring light and energy to their families” – Maksudur Rahman, BEDS
© John Fitzgerald / Friends of the Earth Scotland Grangemouth, Scotland. Anti-fracking protests outside Grangemouth plant in 2015. The presence of the fossil fuel industry and community resistance against it is a familiar story in the town of Grangemouth, in Scotland’s central belt, where community opposition successfully helped stop plans to drill for fracking.
© Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands Milamba community, Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique. In May 2020, 37 families sent another complaint to Total about the loss of their land and lack of compensation. As of October 2021, this letter remains unanswered.
Luka Tomac/Friends of the Earth International Sundarbans, Bangladesh. The largest coastal mangrove forest in the world is the Sundarbans forest. It has sustained local communities for generations, but now it is under threat from the coal-based Rampal power plant. In the same area of the Sundarbans where Rampal will damage the ecosystem and people’s livelihoods, community-based renewable energy is thriving.
Photograph: © Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Milamba community, Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique. In May 2020, 37 families sent another complaint to Total about the loss of their land and lack of compensation. As of October 2021, this letter remains unanswered.
© Luka Tomac/ Friends of the Earth International Kalimantan, Indonesia. “Farming food next to a coal plant caused big loss to my income. I want my children to have a future better than this, so that’s why I resist the new coal plant!” Ibu Rumsiah, on resisting the Indrumayu coal fired power plant.
© Luka Tomac/Friends of the Earth International, Warsaw. One day before the scheduled conclusion of the COP19 in Warsaw, hundreds of climate activists, including Friends of the Earth, walked out in protest at the lack of ambition at the talks, and in solidarity with people affected by climate change.
Ⓒ Amelia Collins/Friends of the Earth. London, 29 November 2015. Ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris activists and civil society groups came together as part of The People’s March for Climate, Justice and Jobs. The largest protest was in London, with 50,000 people taking part.
Ⓒ Edgardo Mattioli/Real World Radio, Santiago, Chile. COP25 was supposed to take place in Santiago, Chile, but was moved to the Spanish capital Madrid at very short notice by the Chilean Presidency. This was due to civil unrest in the country, where tens of thousands of peoples took to the streets to protest widening inequality.
© Carol Ferraz/Friends of the Earth Brazil Brazil. An indigenous woman holds a poster saying: “Women’s resistance in Amazonia”. She joined a march to denounce violence and violations of women’s rights, led in Altamira, in the state of Pará, for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2020.
From Scotland to Sarawak: Global stories of climate resistance is on show at Tramway, Glasgow, until 12 November 2021.
COP26 takes place between 31 October – 12 November 2021. Keep an eye on Huck’s live coverage of COP on our Twitter and Instagram, and read more about our climate takeover here.
You might like
As salmon farming booms, Icelanders size up an existential threat
Seyðisfjörður — The industry has seen huge growth in recent years, with millions of fish being farmed in the Atlantic Ocean. But who benefits from its commercial success, and what does it mean for the ocean? Phil Young ventures to the remote country to find out.
Written by: Phil Young
How Japan revolutionised art & photography in the ’60s and ’70s
From Angura to Provoke — A new photobook chronicles the radical avant-garde scene of the postwar period, whose subversion of the medium of image making remains shocking and groundbreaking to this day.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Artifaxing: “We’ve become so addicted to these supercomputers in our hands”
Framing the future — Predominantly publishing on Instagram and X, the account is one of social media’s most prominent archiving pages. We caught up with the mysterious figure behind it to chat about the internet’s past, present and future, finding inspiration and art in the age of AI.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The lacerating catharsis of body suspension in Hong Kong
Self-Ferrying — In one of the world’s most densely packed cities, an underground group of young people are piercing their skin and hanging their bodies with hooks in a shocking exploration of pain and pleasure. Sophie Liu goes to a session to understand why they partake in the extreme underground practice.
Written by: Sophie Liu
What we’re excited for at SXSW 2026
Austin 40 — For the festival’s 40th anniversary edition, we are heading to Texas to join one of the biggest global meetups of the year. We’ve selected a few things to highlight on your schedules.
Written by: Huck
In photos: The boys of the Bibby Stockholm
Bibby Boys — A new exhibition by Theo McInnes and Thomas Ralph documents the men who lived on the three-story barge in Dorset, giving them the chance to control their own narrative.
Written by: Thomas Ralph
