Image of Dr. Adelle Thomas, Director of the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Centre (CCARR) at the University of the Bahamas. Photo courtesy of Dr. Adelle Thomas.

By Nana Brantuo

Bahamian human-environment geographer Dr. Adelle Thomas shares her expertise on the impact of climate change and injustice on Caribbean nations. This interview is a part of the second installment of our Caribbean Feminisms Series, which focuses on Environmental and Climate Justice, and is co-curated by Nana Brantuo and Dr. Andrea N. Baldwin.

For over 15 years, Dr. Adelle Thomas, a Bahamian human-environment geographer, has worked at the intersections of climate change adaptation, disaster risk management and sustainable development. Thomas is Senior Fellow of the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Centre at University of The Bahamas and Senior Caribbean Research Associate with Climate Analytics. She researches the impacts and leads efforts towards the resolution of climate injustice in the Caribbean region, small island developing states (SIDS) at-large, and Black communities throughout the United States. She also leads efforts in addressing gender inequality in climate resilience development and advocates for debt-for-climate swaps for SIDS.

Currently, Dr. Thomas is at the forefront of advocacy for Caribbean nations and other small island developing states (SIDS) at the 2021 United Nation Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, which will last until November 12th.

Ahead of her trip to Glasgow, Caribbean Feminisms co-curator Nana Brantuo spoke with Dr. Thomas to learn more about the impact of climate change on her life and home country, the need to address and plan for community-based migration, and why solidarity is necessary - now more than ever.

Nana Brantuo (NB): Can you share your most vivid memories of your girlhood in The Bahamas, as related to the geography and climate? How are these memories connected to, and how do they motivate, your work?

“The inequalities and disparities pushed me to focus on bigger issues. Not just tourism, but how communities and small islands in general are placed at a disadvantage when it comes to climate change.”

Adelle Thomas (AT): My most vivid memory is during Hurricane Andrew, which was in 1992. We had been through hurricanes before, but it was shared on the news that this was going to be a big one. I remember the electricity going off. I remember the rain, the noise, the wind. I remember us having to go into the bathroom, my sisters and I, and sit in the tub with a loaf of bread. That’s where we were told to go because it was the safest place in the house for us. My grandmother wasn't there because she was at work and it was just us. It was so scary.

We fell asleep in the tub, and we woke up the next morning, and the storm had passed, and everything was calm. My grandmother had come back from work, and we surveyed the damage. I remember feelings of being so afraid, but then coming out on the other side and things being okay. I think that has really informed the work that I do on climate change, especially as these storms intensify. The storms that we're facing now are much more intense than they used to be, and many people have not come out on the other side. We saw this with Hurricane Dorian.

NB: What brought you initially to the field of civil engineering and what motivated your transition, years later, to human-environment geography?

AT: I entered engineering because I came from a background of limited means. I was relying on scholarships and grants to go to college and said, “Okay, what is going to make me the most money with a bachelor's degree?” I would have loved to pursue art, but I was always good at math and physics and picked engineering and went into the field. I was working in Minnesota and it's a very white male dominated field. I didn't feel any passion. I did not feel as if I was making a difference. I started looking at issues at home in The Bahamas as related to environmental issues and tourism. Hurricanes weren’t big on my mind then, but I was still motivated by this need to be doing something that makes an impact at home. That’s how I became interested in human-environment geography as a space where I could do meaningful work for my community.

NB: When you recall your doctoral research on the implications of global environmental change and globalization for Caribbean tourism and your time overall as a graduate student, what did you envision for yourself and your work moving forward? How have things sustained or evolved since that time?

“I’m equally, if not more of an expert on these issues but at home too, we still have this conception that foreign knows better. There needs to be recognition that we have home grown people that have this expertise and that really have our best interests at mind. We exist and we deserve to continue to exist. ”

AT: I thought that I was really going to be focused on making the tourism industry more sustainable and adaptable. My dissertation focused on small operators. I focused on people from The Bahamas and from other small island states capitalizing on tourism in a changing environment, and that dissertation experience was so disheartening to me. I saw the extreme injustices and inequities in opportunities and resources provided for people from the country, as opposed to international companies. International companies can come in and they can get acres of land free just on the promise that they will develop it and extract all the profits.

But for people that are from the country, it's like pulling teeth to even get concessions, to bring in supplies duty free. The inequalities and disparities pushed me to focus on bigger issues. Not just tourism, but how communities and small islands in general are placed at a disadvantage when it comes to climate change.

NB: Your work places you at the intersections of governance, research and development, civic engagement, and education. What are the joys and the challenges of navigating these spaces (and the points in which they intersect) as a Black Bahamian woman?

Image of Dr. Adelle Thomas. Photo Credit: The University of the Bahamas.

AT: The joys of this work are very few and far in between. It is a heavy field to be in, knowing the science behind these risks that really can result in communities no longer being where they are. It can be frustrating, fighting on so many different levels, especially in the international space where the white male voice is “the expert.” I'm equally, if not more of an expert on these issues but at home too, we still have this conception that foreign knows better. There needs to be recognition that we have home grown people that have this expertise and that really have our best interests at mind. We exist and we deserve to continue to exist.

The joys come from seeing more young people and more young Black women being engaged in this work. Opening the Climate Change Research Center at the University of The Bahamas and having the opportunity to work with and mentor young women who were interested in this research has been a joy. Being able to guide them so that they can go on and do big things has been a joy. We need more and more people in this and there's space for everyone.

NB: What has community looked like for you as an advocate motivated by ethical, personal, and political commitments to the Caribbean and SIDS in general?

AT: I think we need more space for community. I was so happy to be on the panel you all put together. That was the first panel honoring the work that we do, recognizing the work that we do and that it is a challenge. We need more of that. This is an emotional field, and it can become taxing and we don't want people to burn out. We need safe spaces. The space you all created was needed and it's very much appreciated.

NB: Based on your research and work throughout the Caribbean and SIDS at-large, what should be the immediate priorities of governments, inter-regional governing bodies, NGOs, and INGOs in terms of climate resiliency? What are larger barriers/inhibitors to the region’s mitigation and adaptation interventions?

Watch the first event in the second installment of the Caribbean Feminisms, which focuses on Environmental and Climate Justice titled “At the Vanguard: Honoring Caribbean Climate and Environmental Activists and Researchers.” Panelists included Marjahn Finlayson, Dr. Adelle Thomas, Dr. Angelique Nixon, and Phylicia Alexander.

AT: We need to start addressing the need for migration. Both internal migration and global migration. It's becoming increasingly clear that limiting global warming to 1.5 is not going to be possible. It's becoming increasingly clear that we're not going to be able to save all of our communities. We really need to start being serious about having community-based plans for relocation that considers the needs of communities, where they want to move, what would get them to move, and having them understand the need for them to possibly move.

We keep having these hurricanes, we keep trying to rebuild each community, and it's just not going to be sustainable for us to do that, which is related to debt. These storms cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage, which we then use money to try and rebuild in the same places, which is more expensive because we have to rebuild to mitigate climate damage, but we just don't have the money to keep doing this. There have been calls out to the international community, to the international development banks, to forgive debt, in part, so we can use money to adapt.

We need to figure out where we can focus our limited resources. That's a very long process that requires communities to be engaged and involved. We need to start on it now, in anticipation that this may happen in as soon as a decade. We need to start now.

NB: When you think of the future of climate resilience, what makes you cautious and what makes you hopeful?

“It’s the spirit of Caribbean people that makes me hopeful. We have the spirit; we’re not going to go down without a fight. We’ve shown over and over again that we will bounce back.”

AT: The work that I do is trying to strike this balance between identifying risks that we face and not giving up completely. We're facing some serious risks. We're facing some serious challenges, but how can we address these? When engaging with communities and engaging with people, I don't want to scare them to the point of them being immobilized, but I want to provide information in a way that empowers people to act. I’m always cautious about that.

It’s the spirit of Caribbean people that makes me hopeful. We have the spirit; we're not going to go down without a fight. We’ve shown over and over again that we will bounce back. In some ways, that's been used to our detriment, with the international community often engaging us as resilient. “You all are resilient. You can just come back from this.” We're not going to keep doing that, and we need to use this spirit, this gumption that we have to move into a better space so we can thrive. So it's 1.5 to stay alive. We need to be thriving. We need to put that spirit into not just bouncing back to this bare minimum of existence, but to developing ourselves into someplace where it really is a paradise to live in. It's not this constant struggle for most of us. If we come together, I think that we can do it. And I think we can do it in as joyful of a way that is possible.

NB: Do you have any last thoughts, hopes, or love notes you’d like to share?

“We are in the last times where we can act and have this planet look how we are somewhat accustomed to. Millions of people’s lives are at stake.”

AT: I’m going to Glasgow for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) negotiations next week. This is a big COP. It's expected that this will be the biggest one since Paris. The focus has really been on mitigation, trying to get countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with 1.5. I think that this COP is also a huge one to show commitments and show solidarity with developing countries that are experiencing so much loss and damage now, further exacerbated by COVID. We're at a time, during the pandemic, where we are seeing the inequalities that have persisted through the pandemic. This is a time to change the narrative on climate change, to see that we really need to come together and stop this fighting between developed versus developing. We are in the last times where we can act and have this planet look how we are somewhat accustomed to. Millions of people's lives are at stake. Solidarity is what I’m going into this COP with: a message of solidarity, changing the narrative and dealing with impacts of climate change on a global scale.

For more information about Dr. Adelle Thomas and her work, please visit here.

“We exist and we deserve to continue to exist!” An Interview with Dr. Adelle Thomas, Bahamian Climate Change Scientist and Advocate