A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis

by Vanessa Nakate

A manifesto and memoir about climate justice and how we can—and must—build a livable future for all, inclusive to all, by a rising star of the global climate movement

Leading climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate brings her fierce, fearless spirit, new perspective, and superstar bona fides to the biggest issue of our time. In A Bigger Picture, her first book, she shares her story as a young Ugandan woman who sees that her community bears disproportionate consequences to the climate crisis. At the same time, she sees that activists from African nations and the global south are not being heard in the same way as activists from white nations are heard. Inspired by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, in 2019 Nakate became Uganda’s first Fridays for Future protestor, awakening to her personal power and summoning within herself a commanding political voice.
 
Nakate’s mere presence has revealed rampant inequalities within the climate justice movement. In January 2020, while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as one of five international delegates, including Thunberg, Nakate’s image was cropped out of a photo by the Associated Press. The photo featured the four other activists, who were all white. It highlighted the call Nakate has been making all for both environmental and social justice on behalf of those who have been omitted from the climate discussion and who are now demanding to be heard.
 
From a shy little girl in Kampala to a leader on the world stage, A Bigger Picture is part rousing manifesto and part poignant memoir, and it presents a new vision for the climate movement based on resilience, sustainability, and genuine equity. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Africa, Climate Change, Politics, Feminism, Memoir

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 2, 2021

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic environmental activism report from Uganda. I appreciated Nakate's personal and national struggles to create/represent/grow an Ugandan climate activism channel in a place where you can be jailed for protesting. She figured out a way to navigate a system to allow her to make a real impact and build solidarity with the people who need climate change plans now.

[Rosamund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nakate combines a personal story with a view of the climate emergency from the Global South making this a valuable book.

[Britta Böhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vanessa Nakate is a young climate activist from Uganda. As she was graduating from college, she became aware of the impact of climate change on her local community, her country, and her region. She recognized that she could start taking steps to bring attention to the issue in her home community and was inspired by the work of other activists from around the world. Like many others in the Global North, I first heard about Nakate’s work to bring attention to the climate emergency when she was cropped out of a picture with 4 white activists at a conference in Switzerland. The fact that the AP felt that it was ok to remove her from the photo highlights both the intersection of climate activism with other social justice issues from around the world as well as represents how often the Global South is left out of media attention to climate change. Despite having a lesser impact on the warming of the planet than many parts of the world, the Global South feels a disproportionate amount of the consequences. I appreciated Nakate’s fact-based approach to discussing climate change and it’s impact on the Global South. This is well-researched and she supports her assertions. There was a great deal in here I wasn’t aware of - information that isn’t being discussed in much of the media in the US. I also appreciated the way she incorporated the intersectionality of climate activism and other issues of social justice — again, an area where I learned a lot. This is an excellent read for anyone interested in learning more about the worldwide impact of climate change along with concrete ideas on how you can make a change. Excellent read from an important voice and perspective.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was introduced to Vanessa Nakate last year, as she entered the world stage as the activist who was cropped from the photo at the World Economic Forum at Davos, whilst her white peers were celebrated. She was the only Black woman, and also the only activist from Africa.

A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis by Vanessa Nakate is a
memoir, as well as an insight into how climate activism takes place in Africa. I read the book as the UK prepares for the arrival of world leaders to COP 26, and hope that the calls from Nakate and other activists in what we call the Global South are met with the urgency these activists require.

***Thank you Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.***

Read my other reviews on my blog: https://www.elaineadupoku.com

[Leo_Liek · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is what it wants to be: a bigger picture. Vanessa invites the reader to take all the different perspectives on climate crisis by telling her own story. It includes the fact that the climate crisis is everywhere, but not everyone is affected the same way, it tells us about courage and fears, about how exhausting activism can be and it also puts a lens on women as especially affected by the climate crisis but at the same time shows their strength in fighting it. I feel as if I forgot to mention so many things that this book is about.

I can really recommend to read this book to get an impression of all the different topics regarding the climate crisis that are interconnected, while you’re reading an impressive story of a young women.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vanessa Nakate is a young Ugandan woman who became concerned about the effect of climatic conditions and change on her country and in particular the knock on effect floods, crop destruction would have on women and girls, disproportionately affected, as explained in her book.

She decided to organise a strike, just herself, her two younger brothers (14 & 10), two visiting cousins (11 &9) and another cousin her age. It would be the six of them, holding up a few placards they made, and they would stand in four busy locations in Kampala, moving from each place after 30 minutes when her alarm went off.

"What shall we write?" Varak, the nine-year-old asked.
I wanted us to express something positive, and to ensure that my younger family members held placards they themselves would understand. We decided to pick slogans we thought wouldn't be too threatening, and so wrote several, in English.
Trees Are Important For Us
Nature Is Life
When You Plant A Tree, You Plant A Forest
Thanks For The Global Warming (that was our sarcastic one) and
Climate Strike Now
We also drew some trees next to the letters.

Nothing dramatic happened, no one told to stop, but it was the beginning of an interest, of a young woman finding her cause and taking an action, that would lead her to learning and discovering more, to connecting with others, to finding local solutions and developing a presence and a new voice, on an international stage.

One woman stopped and told them of some trees being cut down to make way for a school, that they should be stopped. Each time Nakate went out and had the opportunity to engage or had a response on social media, it would often lead her to the next idea, it would put her in touch with others who genuinely wanted something to be done, their voices to be heard.

It is an excellent read, because it follows her personal journey, as a young person with little knowledge about activism and from this small spark of quiet daring (despite her anxieties, insecurities and fear of judgement), she shares her perseverance, her growing knowledge, the first invitations to attend international conferences and events, to a tipping point, when many more (including me) would hear about her - after she was cropped out of a photograph of young climate change activists including Greta Thunberg at Davos, Switzerland during the WEF (World Economic Forum) in January 2020.

My message was, and is, straightforward: People in Uganda, in Africa, and across what's called the Global South, are losing their homes, their harvests, their incomes, even their lives, and any hopes of a livable future right now.

What makes her message and her actions all the more interesting is that she takes a quiet methodical approach to doing things in her own authentic way, in a country where she is aware of both dangers and expectations, so does nothing foolhardy, acting responsibly. However, when there is the opportunity for advancement of her cause and for manageable solutions she can implement herself, she steps up to those and has helped make life more amenable for many families already, while continuing to pursue the wider message, especially to young people, future leaders, for whom it will be better if they encounter this knowledge through their early education, than as adults already fixed in their opinions or influenced by position or power.

Since I'm always looking for solutions that reflect reality and the need to get the message out, I decided that instead of suggesting that students walk out of classes, I'd try to take the climate strikes into schools - where they could form part of the curriculum in a way that I'd wished climate change had been when I was a young girl.

The first school she approached in this way was open to this collaboration, the teachers assembled 100 students inside the compound, Vanessa Nakate gave a short speech explaining what the strike was about, in a way that could relate to and then lead them in a chant, the teachers encouraging the children to chant even louder.

What do we want? Climate justice. When do we want it? Now.

In 2019 she received an email from the UN Secretary General's office in New York, an invitation to attend the Youth Climate Summit. Understandably, she and her parents didn't think it was real, but it was, she would be the first person in her family to travel outside of Uganda and that would signify a new beginning in her self-appointed role.

The first half of the book is about the development of her role, the logistics of trying to attend events and to becoming involved in meaningful solutions at home, such as the Vash Green Schools Project (supports the installation of solar panels and building clean cooking stoves in primary schools) and to realising the need for self-care due to overwhelm; while the second half gives a bigger picture of the wider issues, sharing information from others she interviewed and has been inspired by, including the late Wangari Maathai, the inspiring Kenyan woman who created the Green Belt Movement and made much progress (often hindered by men in power) who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for sustainable development, democracy and peace. See her autobiography Unbowed here.

Coincidentally COP28 is happening right now in Dubai and Vanessa Natake is there with others trying to get their message across to world leaders who have the power to phase out fossil fuels and support equitable and safe renewable energies.

[Gi Serra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[Cath Y. (riso.allegro) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Bigger Picture, Vanessa Nakate

🌍 climate action in Africa
🌍 invisibility of the Global South
🌍 how to be an activist

The Bigger Picture details Vanessa Nakate’s journey as a youth climate activist and draws attention to some of the most pressing climate issues afflicting Africa.

In 2020, Vanessa Nakate attended the World Economic Forum as a young African climate activist. As the only non-white activist, she was later cropped out of a photo taken by the Associate Press (AP). Understandably, this felt like a negation of Vanessa’s personal worth and a dismissal of the whole African continent. Africa not only continues to suffer from legacies of colonial exploitation, but also experiences extreme climate events largely caused by carbon emissions in the Global North. Yet most of it is completely unknown to people from more developed countries, sometimes overlooked even by Africans themselves.

How much do we hear about deforestation in the Amazon or wild fires in Australia and North America? But how much do we hear about the destruction of the Congo rainforest or extreme draughts and floods in Africa? This disproportionate coverage says a lot about the way African lives continue to be sidelined. By raising awareness and writing this book, Vanessa shows the bigger picture and asserts the importance of the least visible regions in the Global South. Climate action shouldn’t just be ‘white people shit’.

In addition to geography, there’s also a bigger socioeconomic picture. Vanessa clearly outlines how climate issues, gender inequality, economic hardship, food insecurity, and lack of access to education are all interconnected, and must be addressed together.

I really appreciate how Vanessa always keeps the local context in mind when she promotes climate action. For example, education is not free in Uganda, so FFF-style climate strikes for schoolchildren could be counterproductive. Instead of organising students to walk out of classes, Vanessa brought climate education into schools, installing cleaner stoves to reduce pollution and planting fruit trees to supplement students’ diets.

Particular attention is paid to girls and women, since they tend to be disproportionately affected by climate disasters given their close connection to the land. For example, when harvests are bad, young girls might be taken out of school to help at home, or even married off in exchange for food and money.

On a more personal level, Vanessa also talks about the nitty gritty of becoming an activist: how to defy convention and speak out as a young Ugandan woman, how to organise climate protests, how to use social media to spread the message. She also shares her experience of coping with vicious voices online and recovering from activist burnout.

Overall, this book is clear, informative, and offers a unique perspective. Thank you @panmacmillan for the digital ARC.

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book by the Climate Activist Vanessa Nakate from Uganda called A Bigger Picture. If you are interested, I have attached two chapter highlights here. I found these chapters in particular very well written, providing a succinct overview and the human context (social) around topics such as climate change mitigation and adaptation and impact investing. It is not at all financial in content, but I thought you may be personally interested.



Chapter 6: Uganda, climate change impacts, solar power, community effort, energy poverty, food poverty, education – Gives a great overview of the privileges we have in the western world when it comes to abstractly talking about implementing solar power and educating people about climate change.



Chapter 7: Women, abuse, education, gender norms, education – Gives an overview of how privileged we are as women in the western world and many challenges women have to face in countries with cultural and societal barriers to women.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fact that this book is written from the perspective of a young African female climate activist is almost enough to recommend reading it as one that we have rarely seen or heard from in the past. Vanessa Nakate writes about the way in which Africa and other Global South countries are sidelined from conversations about climate change, the way in which they will often bear the brunt of its consequences, but are denied a voice at the table to help devise solutions and bring awareness to the problem. Social media has made it so a greater variety of voices can be heard and information shared but still those who are from rich, white majority countries have the greatest social profile and representation.

She relates how she got started in climate activism as a young girl often standing alone with a sign in a country where you can be arrested for protesting and how for a woman, this is particularly frowned upon. She talks about her eventual invitation to significant meetings in American and Europe and the infamous photo of young activists where she was cropped from the photo as the only black activist.

What I found most interesting however, was her discission of environmental destruction and environmental movements in Africa including catastrophic flooding and cyclones, the destruction of the Congo rainforest and the drying out of the Lake Chad Basin, events that are barely a blip on the mainstream news of the West. We hear plenty about the California wild-fires or flooding in Germany but little about Global South countries who are experiencing similar if not far worse catastrophes. She also writes about the role and treatment of women and children around the world and how greater equality and education can benefit every one of us as Project Drawdown has noted. www.drawdown.org/solutions/table-of-s... and of the other African activists she has been inspired by such as Wangari Maathai.

The book seems to speak for a younger audience than I am part of and so fell a little flat for me in the reading experience itself despite much of what she writes being of interest. It is also hard for someone much older than Vanessa to not be entirely cynical about the desires of our governments to actually do much to combat the environmental destruction that surrounds us. Term limits though essential mean that long term consequences are rarely part of the equation however much election promises and virtue signaling may declare and special interests pay the ‘bills’ not people who live in poverty and suffer from environmental catastrophes. Nevertheless, with individuals such as Vanessa and many others from the Global South standing up and trying to make themselves heard and inspire others to follow, perhaps there is hope that some positive change will occur.

[Wesley Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an essential story in the fight for our planet. It squarely places those most at threat in the forefront of the discussion; the people of the Global South, and in particular women. The Global South is already experiencing the dramatic effects of anthropogenic climate catastrophes, which are largely the consequence of activities in the Global North, while women's lives are upended and more severely restricted due to decreasing opportunities for independence. Vanessa Nakate centers the issues of race and gender in this incredibly well written exposé of survival in a rapidly changing world in the face of a seemingly indifferent and slow to change Global North. She also offers a variety of resources from around the world for how anyone can begin to do something to help hold on to the only home we have.

[Aylin Kuhls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein so wichtigtiges Thema! Danke für diese Stimme!

[M.liss · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book is as boring as it is important. it's a shame because nakate's story is interesting and her perspective deserves to be elevated, but the writing is just so dry and boring, almost clinical.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

finished a while ago, finally getting to review!

Here we are, it's January and I've already read one of the most important books of this year. Vanessa Nakate is a Ugandan climate activist who I became aware of (like a lot of people) after the incident where the Associated Press cut her out of a picture with other climate activists in Davos. She was the only Black activist in the picture and the only one from Africa. In this book she uses this act of erasure and turns it into a an amplification of her voice, exploring how she became an activist, the issues that her local community as well as Africa as a whole are facing with regards to climate change, and how it is all connected to other social justice issues and global structures of inequality.

Following Nakate on social media, I realized that apart from generally knowing that the Global South was contributing the least to climate change but facing its impact the harshest, I didn't really have an idea of what the realities of people living in these most affected countries and areas was actually like. Vague abstract knowledge bits only get you so far. I wanted to actually be informed. How do people live in Uganda, what are they facing? And this book was so good at helping me recontextualize a lot of my knowledge about climate change in general, but also made me see a lot of relations of issues much more clearly and in more detail. And it also, as sappy as it may sound, made me think about the interconnectivity of all of us and the resilience of the human spirit and the ways in which I actually still have faith despite it all, and what I can do to help.

First off I just want to say that the structure of the book was really well thought out, as it starts small with Nakate's journey to becoming an activist, which helps you get an authentic picture of the circumstances of her life. It then branches out to how this daily life of people is already affected by climate change in various ways, and then it widens out to a global perspective and to all of the other issues the climate crisis intersects with and the many ways and areas in which change needs to happen. It was very impactful to read, and Nakate's clear and concise way of exploring these questions is extremely well written. I also just gained a lot of admiration for her as a person. At the beginning she was literally out on her own striking in a country where demonstrations can be very dangerous, started doing climate education in elementary schools, then went to various foreign countries also all on her own and gave interviews and talks, and on top of that had to deal with all the bigotry and structural exclusion. And altough she has no problem admitting the toll activism sometimes takes on her, she still transports so much hope and such a bright vision of justice and a good future for all that it is practically impossible to read this and not be motivated - even with all the horribly bleak information in it!

Of course, that information is also crucial. I'll just list a couple of things that this book explored that impacted how I think about climate change now:

Most people in Uganda and other African countries rely on agriculture for their livelihood and their literal survival, so the state of the environment impacts them in the most direct way possible. Floods and droughts can destroy someone's basis for survival in the shortest amount of time. What is still a sort of distant threat to us is literal life and death for these people.

Education isn't free in Uganda, so the first thing families do when they lose income because of e.g. environmental catastrophe, is stop sending their kids to school. So the right for education, which is so important for so many reasons, is also directly threatened by climate change.

This issue is also directly related to women's rights, because another way to get money to get your family to, once again, literally survive, is the dowry for marriage. So underage girls getting married, most likely never getting an education and never being able to live independently, is what will happen more with future crises.

The facts about the Congo rainforest and how quickly it's shrinking, mostly due to deforestation and mining of minerals, was shocking. There were many more instances when seeing dates like "by 2025" connected to some alarming fact made me realize time and again that this kind of large-scale devastation is just around the corner.

Equally shocking though is the fact that I don't think I even heard of this forest before, and that non-information is a systemic problem. The dominance of the West regarding media focus and attention was starkly highlighted in the book. It actually shocked me when she mentioned that in 2020, even in Uganda's own media there was more of a focus on the wildfires in Australia and California than the (numerous!) disasters that were happening in their own country. I think that that is just such a strong illustration of how this cultural hegemony expresses the different values that are assigned to different lives, and the insidious ways white supremacy works through institutions like the media.

Speaking of which, Nakate mentions how we need to re-think what "development" even means, and that made so many things click for me. Right now the model for development that a lot of leaders in African countries are following is "be like the West", which basically means rely on the exploitation of natural resources to create wealth. When Westerners are now calling for African countries that that is wrong and they need to "go green", it basically sends the message "we get to fuck up the world for our gain but not you!" Of course that doesn't mean that sustainability is not a goal that needs to happen everywhere, and Nakate calls on her own government to accept responsibility and act quickly multiple times. But it also means that Western countries have the responsbility to transfer resources, money, and technology to the Global South, because our systems created this crisis and also created the inequalities in who has the means to fix it. This was even written in some UN resolution but it's still not really acted upon.

There was also this one example of an oil pipeline that is planned to cut through protected forest land, that some governments in Africa struck as a deal with a French oil company and a Chinese firm. That really illustrates well how the intersection of personal interest of local government elites and the interests of foreign investors create climate destruction (and also the direct destruction of the livelihoods of thousands of people.) It's this entanglement of global capitalism, structural inequality, and short-sighted self-interest.

Amidst all these hard facts, though, there were also quotes from interviews that Nakate held with other climate activists from all around the world, most from the Global South, and these voices of hope and resilience mixed with the devastation of the reality of the situation really did something with how this book worked on me. Like I said earlier, it's motivating, but not in a cute inspirational way, more like.....a cry for action. Fists raised. Let's go, we only have this one chance.

5/5, this is one of those books I would recommend to absolutely anyone without any qualifications. I can guarantee that you'll want to read this, to see the most pressing issue of our time from the perspective of someone who intimately knows what's at stake, and what needs to be done to secure a future.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Bigger Picture is well and passionately written. I first heard about this book because I learned a young Black woman had attended the climate change conference at Davos as a representative of Uganda, but because she was Black and didn't fit the "white savior" image, she had been cropped out of a photo that was used by the Associated Press. People of Africa have contributed to climate change only in a minuscule way compared to affluent whites, yet the Africans are among the people already suffering the most because of climate change. This book addresses all the ills of humanity (including climate change, poverty, human rights) with compassion and hope and educated me where I was ignorant, so I deem it to have been well worth my time.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is powerful reading about a climate activist from Africa. Vanessa Nakate becomes distressed over the effects of climate change in her home country of Nigeria. Her persuasive and passionate writing is excellent.

The reader learns about her growing involvement in the climate debates going from a virtual unknown girl to a powerful social media influencer. The author also documents her constant frustration with the global north ignoring their actions towards the global south. She laments the few activists from Africa and how marginalized the few African activists feel. She also documents racism attitudes visited upon her. I felt the most constructive information for readers was the last chapter documenting ways any single individual can influence their friends, neighbors and governments toward positive changes to reduce global warming.

[A_Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had so much potential. Vanessa has an incredible story and is one of many Global South voices urgently needed in the climate crisis. Unfortunately, it was so dull and a challenge to get through. I don’t need a play by play of every trip she took, I want to hear about what she spoke to international audiences about, what she was hearing at these meetings as one of the few Black women in attendance, and I want to hear more about her reflections on climate change and the future. I didn’t feel like I heard her unique voice throughout this at all. Perhaps a result of an editor from a western publishing house?

[Chris Aylott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Climate activist Nakate describes the path she has followed and the increasingly dire effects of the climate crisis on her native Uganda. She's brave, she's thoughtful, and she's already accomplished more than I'm ever likely to, but it's hard to feel optimistic about the climate movement's odds against the deeply entrenched interests that oppose them. Nakate's information is important, however, since even her fellow Ugandans are desperately short of information of what is going on all around them.

[Louisa Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend everyone read this book! Modern societies do not teach us enough about the climate crisis.

This book above all highlights how Africa or the ‘Global South’ seem to be forgotten in the midst of this global climate emergency & how the ‘Global North’ are portrayed as those that will come to rescue the ‘Global South’ in this matter. Nakate underlines how every social problem is interlinked(sexism, racism & global warming) as well as detailing her attempts at climate activism in Uganda, a country not wanting to accept its very real threats.

[Ellie Hanjian · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who studies climate & environmental justice, much of the information in this wasn’t new to me. However Nakate’s perspective and voice is incredibly important. 4 stars instead of 5 because the work invokes a lot of binary thinking about gender and Nakate simps over Greta thunberg in a way that is more obvious/cringe than I think she thinks it is. Definitely a good starting point for those who want to learn more about climate activism and climate justice from a majority world perspective (although the way she talks about justice can also be applied to the global north)!!!

[PiaReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am amazed by Vanessa Nakate‘s ability to connect the climate crisis with systemic change and thinking intersectionally. There can’t be climate justice without social and racial justice. The climate crisis is just overall bad for everyone especially in marginalised communities and the global south. I was also very impressed by her openness concerning her mental health as an activist and after the cropped photo incident.
It’s an all encompassing and well-rounded non-fiction i can recommend to everyone.

[Lieke Van Eekelen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nakate managed to write a clear and comprehensive book about the climate emergency from a Global South perspective. A perspective that is too often marginalized and rendered invisible. Therefore, this book is a valuable read for everyone.

[Håvard Eide · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. A very brave and eye-opening account about what is facing us and how we can take action.

[Kab · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lecture tres importante pour mieux comprendre tous les enjeux de l'urgence climatique !

[Nikki Omes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super inspiring! A great look inside the environmental movement and its growth towards including more voices of those affected most by climate change, still severly underrepresented in global policy making. Vanessa is a trailblazer! Also loved the last chapter on what we ourselves can do to join the movement and all the resources she added at the end. 💫

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This next generation of young adults are doing great things!

[Emma Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vanessa Nakate is a must read for all climate activists in the Global North.

[Tamsin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I hoped to gain from reading this book was a better idea of a blind spot (in certain countries) in the climate crisis conversation: Africa. The book does provide that to an extent, but also has a lot of detail about issues that anyone vaguely engaged with environmentalism will be most familiar with already (especially the start) and so may feel like preaching to the converted for some.

That being said, there was a point made about UK carbon emissions targets that I haven't heard or considered before: in meeting its own targets, the UK may be simply shifting its carbon emissions elsewhere, such as by sending its old diesel vehicles overseas to poorer countries. Naturally that wouldn't resolve anything, but look good for the government.

I would recommend this book primarily for a young audience from teenager to early adulthood.