As climate activism shifts to highlight connections with issues like cost of living, how has this reframing affected engagement and impact?
Grace Vegesana: I think it can be overwhelming thinking of climate change as an isolated, big, global [threat]. But it really does impact every part of our lives…everything is connected and deeply intersectional.
Throughout the federal election, we saw the cost-of-living and energy debates playing out…but what was really missing is the underlying [fact] climate change is impacting these things and is why we’re experiencing increasing house prices – there’s less places that are safe for people to live, less homes that are climate ready and climate resilient…The economy deeply interacts with climate change. Same with energy prices rising, because gas corporations are ripping off everyday consumers. They export so much of their gas production not to be taxed, not to go back to the regular Australian person’s pocket. It’s very much for-profit.
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We’re seeing these trends happen in Australian society, but we’re not actually talking about what the root cause is, which is often climate change.
You’ve been an organiser in the climate justice space for almost 10 years; how have you kept the energy up all this time?
Grace Vegesana: It’s a long time! Like, it’s wild to be 17 and throw yourself headfirst into a social movement and to learn, grow and be brought up in that environment. But I also think it’s a special experience. It’s taught me so much about the world. It’s brought me closer to people who I otherwise would have never met. It’s given me opportunities to have conversations with people I probably never would have run into if I had stayed in my own bubble.
What keeps me going is seeing young people step up into leadership. Through my own journey with AYCC, I’ve had a lot of people invest heavily in my development. I feel like now I get to pay it forward and build up the next generation who are going to keep this fight going. The world that young people are growing up in is increasingly uncertain and unstable, so be able to equip the next generation as much as we can to have the skills and capability and confidence to [keep fighting] is important.
Many POC, especially South Asians, are at the forefront of climate movements. What do you think drives this advocacy?
Grace Vegesana: South Asians are on the frontlines of climate change in so many ways. In our own homelands, one of the biggest populations in the world will experience the brunt of climate disasters – forced displacement, loss of homes and infrastructure – purely because of concentration and how the region is changing.
In Australia, we have a huge South Asian population and often these communities live in places like Western Sydney (where I grew up) where you are experiencing climate change already. The urban heat island effect, where the combination of increasing concrete, lack of tree coverage and incredibly hot environments without the ability to self-regulate themselves mean that there are huge concentrations of more affordable housing – South Asian communities tend to find themselves concentrated in [such] areas.
I think there’s a twofold [effect] of experiencing the crisis in your own [town] but also feeling that connection to your homelands and communities overseas who are also experiencing it.
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It’s great to see South Asians leading the climate movement. I think it comes from a place of wanting to make sure our people are being heard and are at the forefront of creating solutions.
What’s something that you’re currently listening to/reading/playing/watching?
Grace Vegesana: I’m currently reading a book called The Open Veins of Latin America [by Eduardo Galeano], which is about how five centuries of colonialism, occupation and extraction has shaped the continent. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly interesting, it’s almost like a textbook, it’s quite intense. I started reading it when I was travelling around Latin America – I wouldn’t recommend it to people doing that because it’s a bit boring! But it’s left quite a mark on how I see the long-term histories of extraction; I find it so hard to conceptualise in my own little brain as a 25-year-old what 500 years of colonisation looks like, and yet we carry that history with us every day.
What’s a word that you like in a South Asian language, and what does it mean?
Grace Vegesana: I really like the word ‘pilli’ which in Telugu means cat. It’s not very deep, but I think it’s really cute. Whenever I see a cat I go, ‘oh, a pilli’ – that’s my go-to word in my mind, it doesn’t default to English which is usually what happens. Also, it’s not a swear word, which is the only other things that came to mind, terrible!
And finally: Soan Papdi or Papdi Chaat?
Grace Vegesana: I love chaat in any format – genuinely, I’m a fiend. I’ve got to go with Papdi Chaat.
Cutting Chai with Lakshmi Ganapathy is a monthly series of bite-sized interviews with prominent South Asians showcasing their career and personality and celebrating their South Asian Australian identity.
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