Tori Tsui: an Intersectional Approach to the Climate Crisis 🇭🇰🇬🇧

The climate crisis has finally begun to gain the traction it deserves in recent years. International conventions such as the yearly Conference of the Parties (COP) and increasing national policy frameworks illustrate the growing awareness of the matter. However, very few view the climate crisis through the lens of intersectionality. The concept of intersectionality highlights the interconnected and overlapping nature of social frames (such as gender, race, and class), and thereby sees injustices towards frontline communities and natural ecosystems as intertwined. The lack of intersectionality and multiple perspectives has resulted in a lack of conversations on climate justice, an issue that activists like Tori Tsui strive to change.

Born in New Zealand and raised in Hong Kong, Tori is an intersectional climate justice activist, author and spokesperson based in the UK. She is proudly Eurasian with an ancestry of Cantonese, Taiwanese, Macanese, Vietnamese, English, Welsh, Finnish and Turkish heritage. She is recognised globally for her outspoken advocacy for systemic change to tackle the escalating crisis. Despite the limitations imposed by the pandemic, she is still actively involved in various movements, namely Unite for Climate Action, Pass the Mic, and most recently, the #StopCambo Campaign. She is also the co-founder of the Bad Activist Collective, which pushes for more intersectional approaches to environmentalism while dismantling the guise of perfectionism within the activist space. She is also a climate justice advisor for Brian Eno, appeared on the front cover of Vogue with Billie Eilish and works on the climate justice speaker fund.

While climate activism only became her full-time pursuit in 2019, Tori’s desire to be an environmentalist began from a young age, when she began learning about the effects of climate change. That awareness has translated to actions in the years to come. Tori started her journey with more rudimentary entries into environmentalism, focusing on the conservation field on shark finning and wildlife trafficking trade – issues that are (still) sadly ignored by the Hong Kong government and people. Her love for environmentalism contended with the reality that she pursued a medical degree at Oxford before withdrawing and studying Natural Sciences at University College, Durham. She worked as a Cetacean researcher for the National University of Singapore before following a postgraduate degree in Conservation, Ecology, and Evolutionary science, working at the Natural History Museum. She kept her career options wide and ventured into the wildlife filmmaking industry where she was encouraged to pursue presenting.

However, it didn’t take long before she realised a mismatch in values between herself and the industry – that the red tapes in the filmmaking industry directly contradicted Tori’s enthusiasm for racial and social justice. She is now a full-time activist and is utilizing her platform of over thirty thousand followers to amplify the voices of those most affected.

“I just thought, you know what? Screw my career. There’s a climate crisis.”

Sailing across the Atlantic Ocean: Sail for COP25

While doing wildlife presenting work, Tori made content about the biodiversity crises featuring content from shoots in Svalbard in the Arctic. The creative director of Stella McCartney and Stella McCartney herself then invited her to model McCartney’s Winter ‘19 campaign ‘Agents of Change’ - an ode to the planet. This event subsequently led to Stella McCartney sponsoring Tori the opportunity to sail across the Atlantic Ocean for the Sail to the COP project to the United Nation Climate Conference; the project aims to raise awareness on sustainable travel and the need for youth representation at climate conferences. Halfway through sailing, civil unrest broke out in Chile, causing COP25 to be relocated to Madrid.

Undeterred, Tori helped develop another project called Sail for Climate Action, which centred the voices of Latin American, Caribbean, and indigenous youth.

Two months in the middle of the ocean, disconnected from society, turned her world upside down. Ironically, Tori found herself spending more time thinking about her mental health than the climate crisis on the boat. She couldn’t help but notice how intertwined both matters are, saying:

“Mental health is incredibly linked to the climate crisis, in part because the systems of oppression that have given rise to the climate crisis are also the ones that are making us mentally unwell and sick. Capitalism does not favour our mental health.”

Tori has carried the importance of mental health with her throughout her climate activism, highlighting how both issues share a root cause. She believes that her most powerful accomplishment lies within her personal growth as an activist. In the past, Tori was preoccupied with thinking about how she as an individual could lower her impact in the crisis without considering the deep-rooted history that continues its legacy today.

As she hopes to learn from her mistakes and inspire others, Tori is currently working on her upcoming book ‘It’s Not Just You.’ The book is all about climate anxiety through an intersectional lens. The book covers larger conversations around mental health, climate justice and the crisis itself.

“I realised that it’s not just me and that it’s not just about me. In this movement, we uphold single individuals as the solution to a crisis, which is not the solution we need. We need community; we need coalition building; we need people from all walks of life to take part and care about this movement.”

Use Your Voice

As a Eurasian woman of colour, Tori understands how many don’t value the voices of those who are not from a white, privileged background. She described encountering some of the “worst racism I have ever experienced in my life” in the UK, as well as how she is often branded as an ‘angry, difficult person’ online. As a result of her own experience, she advises Asian environmentalists to use their voices and fight the negative stereotypes associated with Eastern and Southeast Asian people – that they should be docile and quiet instead of speaking their minds.

“People are powerful; each person is a vehicle for change. Far too often, people don’t feel that they have the right or the need to be in a space, and I completely disagree. I wish to see more of us speaking up and being centered.”

Similarly, Tori wishes to see more people giving up their power and passing it to those who have worked in the climate movement relentlessly. Akin to a project she is heavily involved in, Pass the Mic, she hopes to see influential people lend their platform to frontline activists to amplify the voices of those who have had different, often more marginalized, experiences.

Back to her roots

On a more personal note, Tori yearns to return home to Hong Kong once the pandemic subsides. Having sailed across the Atlantic, lived in Colombia for four months, and taken part in countless projects, a home trip is indeed overdue! While Tori’s short-term goal is not directly linked to climate activism, reuniting with her family is essential to her happiness because ultimately, she is human first.

With dedicated and outspoken activists like Tori Tsui, I am confident that conversations on climate justice and mental health will receive the recognition it deserves. I look forward to getting myself a copy of Tori’s new book in early 2022.

Written by Chanel Ng

To connect with Tori and follow her journey, visit her website at toritsui.com.