Epistemic Justice and Climate Knowledge Systems

Sor Juana's intellectual framework valued diverse forms of knowledge while confronting the patriarchal gatekeeping of her era. Epistemic justice in climate action means recognizing that Indigenous peoples, frontline communities, and Global South nations hold sophisticated understanding of ecological systems developed over centuries. Western scientific epistemology alone has failed to prevent climate catastrophe; we need pluralistic knowledge systems. This concept challenges who gets to define climate solutions and whose voices count as authoritative. Sor Juana demonstrated that challenging dominant knowledge hierarchies strengthens intellectual discourse. In climate justice, this means funding Indigenous-led conservation, centering frontline community expertise in policy, and decolonizing climate science. It requires humility from privileged researchers and equitable power-sharing in knowledge production. Justice emerges when we stop treating marginalized communities as subjects of study and instead honor them as knowledge holders and solution architects.