Student fighting for countries in the global south after discovering injustice risk posed by climate change

Through King’s Geography course, Marianne learnt about the risk of injustice to countries in the global south, which led her to continue her studies at King’s on the MSc Environment, Politics and Development course, which she hopes will prepare her for a career in developing and managing realistic development projects that prioritise environmental protection.

Growing up, Marianne was always interested in Geography, specifically in climate change and was heavily concerned with what the changes in the physical world upon which we depend would mean for us. This led her to study Geography at King’s.

‘My course taught me many things that helped me to make sense of my passion, the most relevant being:

• Despite the consensus among scientists that the rise in global temperature since the pre-industrial era is a result of human activity, little has been done to solve this and in fact, global emissions have continued to increase;
• The effects of climate change will be experienced differently across regions, in part due to geographical variations, however, largely a result of the uneven nature of development and the way different regions are embedded into the modern capitalist economy;
• The global pursuit of continued economic growth, promoted as necessary to reach human development goals by the UN and other international institutions, is antithetical to environmental protection, yet the condition of the environment is so central to development that the environment has been classified as a ‘meta-capability’ (Breena Holland)’.

Marianne’s passion has also influenced her extra-curricular activities and she has enjoyed participating in Citizens UK’s Fair Energy campaign, which is fighting to end exploitation in the energy market. The campaign believes that everyone deserves access to clean energy and fair pricing, as today many people cannot afford the price of energy bills. As part of Citizen’s UK’s Fair Energy Campaign, student society, King’s 4 Change has organised Fair Energy Switch Days to help students, staff, alumni and members of the wider community learn more about the benefits of switching to cheaper, fairer and greener suppliers, and to encourage and support them in their switch to renewable energy.

Marianne has been part of King’s for Change, a student society committed to running campaigns on social issues, and has also volunteered as a Student Environmental Auditor as part of the Sustainability Team’s annual audit of each department at King’s. As part of this role, Marianne attended IEMA approved Introduction to Auditing and Evaluating Behaviour Change training.

Marianne shared her hopes for the future following COP26:

‘I want to see the countries come to an agreement that will tackle climate change more aggressively. Just 100 companies are responsible for around 71% of global emissions so this should include an articulation of how they are going to regulate big business and hold them to account for historic emissions. I also want to see a heavier emphasis on plans for adaptation, especially in the global south where people are already suffering the impacts of climate change. ‘

Find out more:

• Get involved in climate action at King's
• Get involved in other Sustainability opportunities
• Discover more about Climate research and education at King’s
• Discover campaigns led by King’s 4 Change