Q&A with Charlotte Lim

Charlotte Lim is an advocate of climate justice and animal rights. She spends her spare time volunteering at NSW Hen Rescue, an animal sanctuary dedicated to the liberation of all animals, especially caged hens.

In Earth Cries, Charlotte shows us a photographic journal of her time spent protesting climate change alongside Greta Thunberg in Stockholm, Sweden. Alongside her photography, she shares her passionate decision to not have children, because of the great burden humans are on the environment, in her piece ‘Clearing the air: childfree by choice’.

What are your photographs about?

My photographs are snapshots of (the most memorable) protest I attended in Stockholm. The photos are my keepsakes and act almost like my own secret talismans when I think of climate change/justice inaction. 

What is your favourite natural environment? 

I’ve included a photo from Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve! It’s about an hour’s drive from Canberra and is a sanctuary for all sorts native wildlife and is so incredibly peaceful to hike through.

What, if any, experiences have you had relating to climate change?

When I arrived in Lund in 2019 there was a small sliver of snow on the streets in January and February. When I left a year later there was nothing but a light drizzle. The contrast between those two experiences of Swedish winter are quite haunting when I think about melting ice-caps on a planetary scale. 

Why is climate change and the environment important to you? 

Access to a safe, healthy and stable environment in my eyes is a fundamental right for all species. Climate change threatens this right and therefore threatens a community’s access to justice (whether that be class, racial or eco-justice) and achieving a just and secure society for all beings matters so much to me. 

Earth Cries is a climate change anthology dedicated to a world burning. Tackling all aspects of climate change, Earth Cries is bold in exploring the damage caused by the Black Summer bushfires and even in imagining cold futures drowning below the ever rising sea. Featuring a foreword by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, Earth Cries is now available at sydneyuniversitypress.com.au.