“The future is hotter than my imaginary boyfriend.”
“Clean up: It’s our future, not uranus.”
“Why go to school if we don’t have a future?”
The clever and creative signs featured at the Montreal Climate Strike focussed on protecting ‘our future.’ Even the #FridaysForFuture movement, started by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, is about striking now to survive later. This rhetoric, however, can be alienating, especially for Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour (BIPOC). For many individuals, the present day is hotter than any ‘imaginary boyfriend.’ For example: My family lives in Kuwait where it has already reached dangerous temperatures. This summer, the country reached 52.2 degrees Celsius, and 63 degrees Celsius under direct sunlight. Kuwait is one of the hottest places on Earth, and temperatures are only continuing to rise. In this way, many BIPOC are striking for today, not tomorrow.