Epistemic Justice in Climate Science

Sor Juana's work was systematically devalued despite its brilliance because she was a woman and a colonial subject. Epistemic justice means recognizing and correcting these patterns where certain people's knowledge counts while others' testimony is dismissed. In climate science, this injustice manifests when Indigenous communities' observations about ecological change are ignored, when workers' understanding of industrial pollution is dismissed, when frontline communities' lived experience of climate impacts is excluded from research and policy. Epistemic justice requires valuing diverse testimonies, funding community-led research, and reshaping institutions to recognize all people as knowers. Sor Juana's struggle against epistemic injustice—her fight to be heard and credited—models how marginalized groups resist knowledge erasure. For climate justice and global responsibility, epistemic justice means centering those most affected, validating traditional ecological knowledge, and building science that is accountable to communities. It transforms who gets to define problems and solutions, ensuring that those facing injustice shape their own liberation.