OPINION: Systems of colonization and capitalism are failing us after decades of exploitation

Five years ago, millions of young people took part in climate strikes across the globe.

In New Mexico, a newly founded Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA) partnered with schools, families, businesses and organizations for a youth-led climate strike that mobilized over 4,000 community members who descended on the state capital, demanding urgent action on climate.

We articulated five demands to save our future, while educating our communities and exposing the corrupting influence of industry on our decision-makers.

Despite tireless work alongside movement elders and front-line community members to defend our health and sacred spaces — turning out thousands to committee hearings, protests, and advocacy meetings — the violence has continued.

Extraction has grown, and with it, public health crises, environmental devastation and climate disruption. Oil production in New Mexico has risen from 817,000 barrels per day in fiscal year 2019 to an estimated 1,876,000 in fiscal year 2024, making New Mexico the second-highest oil-producing state in the United States and extremely reliant on oil and gas revenue. With 73,000 active oil and gas wells, it’s no wonder our state is home to two of the largest methane hotspots in the U.S.

Often, climate policy is approached with the ultimate goal of potential emission reductions, with as little systems change as possible. The conversations circle around how to best keep the engines of capitalism and colonization running — will this investment protect the Global North’s right to comfort amidst the climate crisis? Will the military’s use of our tax dollars to perpetuate violence and genocide allow the United States to remain at the top of the global pecking order?

In this conversation, there are plenty of arguments put forth about why change is impossible, and why we cannot challenge the arrangements of power. This narrative asserts that jobs and health are mutually exclusive, that money reigns supreme, and that those harmed by this system should not bite the hand that feeds us.

However, such an approach not only prevents meaningful action but adds to the long legacy and painful reality of colonization. A more equitable and just future requires climate justice rather than the broad umbrella of climate action.

That requires us to look honestly at where we are and how we got here. And when we accept the factual reality — of U.S. genocide, slavery, Indian boarding schools, systemic racism, the criminalization of the poor and people of color, incarceration, and the state of food security, housing, and mental health — we can see that the systems that have emerged from colonization and capitalism are failing us.

We are told to sit and wait patiently for our crumbs here in New Mexico after decades of exploitation, experimentation, and contamination in the name of U.S. militarism, the labs, extractive industry, big agriculture, big business.

Yet, our state remains one of the poorest in the nation, with childhood poverty rates exceeding 28% and food insecurity affecting nearly 15% of households. Moreover, the incarceration rates in New Mexico are alarmingly high, disproportionately impacting communities of color.

Conquest, exploitation, and injustice don’t work.

Seneca Johnson is the co-founder of YUCCA. For more information about their climate justice movement, go to www.yuccanm.org.