Tori Tsui on being a climate activist
Following her previous interview about being EurAsian and lack of representation, Viv Yau talks to Tori Tsui (she/her/they), friend and long-term support of besea.n about her important work as a climate activist.
As a climate activist, you've obviously talked a lot about environmentalism and how it needs to be more inclusive for BIPOC and marginalised folk. Right now, there's a lot of spotlight on white environmentalism - why does this cause issues?
I think one of the first things that I always maintain is that climate justice is racial justice.
A lot of people will just use that as a sort of buzz term that they throw around at protests and a lot of white climate activists chant 'climate justice'. But do you actually know what that means?
“Because the same systems of oppression that have led to the climate crisis are exactly the same systems that have oppressed marginalised people through racism and through forced colonisation and imperialism of different communities.”
When I'm thinking about the climate movement and how often we spotlight white activists, it is a form of privileged activism in many ways that just doesn't have the nuance to see how these systems interplay, because unfortunately, a lot of white people are colour-blind. They don't have these experiences, they don't see them, and they don't represent the voices of marginalised folks from the Global South and also marginalised communities within the Global North. And so for me, when I think about climate activism as being inclusive, it's not just for visual representation, but it's also for bringing forward these perspectives, stories and answers as well that will help us mitigate this climate crisis. It's no surprise that a lot of memes that I see about sustainability right now are of these zero waste, vegan, white environmentalists that are using these steel tin boxes to make sure that they're not using plastic. Whereas my Asian auntie for generations has been scrounging and saving and being as eco-friendly as possible without it being called 'zero wasting'. But it's always white people who get the centre stage and who pioneered these movements.
And how do you think we can tackle white environmentalism?
The first step in anything is representation, visual representation. And so spotlighting more Asian activists would be very, very good because representation within the climate movement in itself is so poor for them. So spotlighting, but then also giving people an opportunity to shape processes and be part of these panels and talk about the sort of environmental racism that exists in East and South East Asia. One of the things that I find incredibly frustrating is that I always have to mention to people when they say that environmental racism disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities, I think yes, it does, but where do you think most of our goods are manufactured?
I lived on the border of Shenzhen and the amount of pollution that would come in from mainland China into Hong Kong due to rampant manufacturing for places like the USA and the UK and other parts of Europe was extortionate. But no one ever mentions the fact that China is extremely polluted because of the demands that we're putting on for manufacturing. There are so many controversies - slave labour, poor working conditions and all of these sorts of things, yet no one's talking about it. I've had to be like, ‘Guys, it's not just Black and Brown communities that are being affected by environmental racism. Please be mindful of this.’ And this, again, ties into the whole problem with us not having a colour and not being seen as people of colour.
What can we do to help our environment more?
It's interesting because when people think of the environment, they think of the physical environment, and I'm starting to really believe that environments are social as well. Environments are places that we work, eat, sleep, pray and operate in. Environments cannot be condensed into one physical space; they're also the sort of nuanced interplays of how our social interacts with our physical. And so for me, whenever I think about how you can be more environmentally conscious it's to not only advocate for the planet, but to advocate for its people as well, and the creatures that live on it. One of the things that I always maintain is that, yes, you can do all these individual things like go plant based a couple of times a week or try and fly less, take public transport, all of these things that really shift things onto individual level responsibility, (which I have a lot of issues with in many respects) but I really think that one of the best things you can do to be an environmentalist is listen. Listen to the communities that are around you, educate yourself on social struggles as well and where these systems come from. Really try and dig deep and think about what messages that you're pushing out. If you want to go to a direct action thing and do some protesting, what are you actually also doing to advocate for communities who don't have the access? What are you doing to make sure that people are part of a conversation when they feel excluded? How are you preventing the gatekeeping of the environmental movement to make sure that everyone's included?
You've worked with Stella McCartney closely as a climate activist model for their fashion campaign in 2019 and you also attended a roundtable with them at Paris Fashion Week. How do you think the modelling and the fashion industry can be more inclusive?
It's something I think about a lot. One of the things that we've had a brief discussion about is I want to move into that realm of being more visually represented in those spheres. I think that in terms of diverse representation, in the fashion industries there is some degree of diversity in models. But I'm also asking where the East and South East Asian designers who are getting centre stage? Why the majority of designers who have big fashion brands are white? We have to also ask these sorts of questions. And thinking about the modelling industry as a whole, it upholds very, very toxic white perceptions of beauty in many respects. Why are most models all over a certain height and a certain size?
“I'm not saying that you don't have tall Chinese people because that's not true, but we are also perpetuating things that have stemmed from white standards of beauty. Taller, leaner, longer legs - these sorts of body ideals we're trying to push them onto POC as well; and some POC do fit into those things, but where are my friends who are shorter than five foot seven? Where are the people who are not all size six? Where are the people who are disabled or queer or non binary? Where are the people who are trans? Why is it that this industry is one of the last to actually step the hell up and be more inclusive?”
Fashion is just one of those things where I just I've been at odds with it for a long time because when I was younger, growing up in Hong Kong, if you were mixed, you were always scouted for modelling. I was a child model and I did some modelling when I was also a bit older as well, and then it got to a certain point where you can't be a child anymore and they tell you to lose weight, and they tell you that you have to look a certain way. These are the patriarchal and the sexist standards and the racist standards of beauty that are perpetuated through the fashion industry.
So I want to see more visual representation of East and South East Asian people for who they are authentically, not who they are in terms of fitting into these very, very slim boxes of what they require for the fashion industry. I've mentioned it myself, I'm more or less 5”7, and I'm considered short, which is just ridiculous, because in Hong Kong I'm a giant. How have we gotten to a point where we're pitting people against each other for their height for representation? I hate to say it, but go to the Netherlands - more people fit the bill of being a model there than if you go to Hong Kong. I want to move into those industries to tear shit up a little bit.
Do ethical brands really equal inclusivity?
No. Ethical brands have so much to learn in many ways, and I feel like you're not going to get everything right, but yes, you're moving in the right direction. But one of the things I see so often with ethical brands is that any form of advocacy is tokenism, whether you're tokenising people, whether you're tokenising your values, whether you’re tokenising causes that you're supporting...it happens all the time. What about behind the scenes? Are you paying your workers fairly? Are you employing people from diverse backgrounds? Are you making sure that you work with advocates within these realms who are championing inclusivity and also pushing for system change? So for me, the answer is no - you can be ethical and extremely exclusive. I've worked with brands before or had opportunities for brands before who have used me and my voice to some degree, but never compensated me for my actual work and never compensated me in the form of understanding the nuance of what actually means to be visually represented.
Tori Tsui (she/her/they) is a EurAsian women who utilises her platform on Instagram to talk about intersectional climate activism and mental health. She has previously worked with Stella McCartney to model as a climate activist for their FW19 campaign, and also attended a roundtable with them at Paris Fashion Week - the likes of Amber Valletta and Jonathan Safran Foer were also present. Subsequently, Stella sponsored her to sail across the Atlantic Ocean with an initiative called Sail To The COP. This then led to Unite For Climate Action – a project Tori is working on with LAC youth climate experts to share their stories and experiences with German government officials in late 2020. Tori launched a podcast called Bad Activist, in which she co-hosts with her two friends, navigating the pressures of perfect activism in an imperfect world.