Right to Question Authority Structures

Sor Juana's most dangerous act was questioning whether male ecclesiastical authorities deserved unchallenged obedience, particularly regarding intellectual matters. In climate governance, the right to question authority means creating spaces where Indigenous communities can contest mega-dams, where workers can demand green jobs instead of accepting pollution, where activists can interrogate why corporations define climate solutions. Currently, billionaires and fossil fuel executives dominate climate discourse while affected communities are treated as problems to be managed. This concept demands inverting that power: those most impacted by environmental destruction must have institutional platforms to question and refuse the authority of financial elites, governments complicit in extraction, and even well-meaning NGOs. Sor Juana teaches that intellectual independence—the right to ask 'why should I accept this?'—is foundational to justice. Climate responsibility requires structurally protecting dissent from below against normalized hierarchy.