Fight for environmental protections.
It's Friday! And we're rounding out this week's content with a call for environmental protections, written by Renée. This was a hot topic in the third U.S. Presidential debate last night, the first time the topic of environmental justice was discussed directly. And each candidate had different views on the subject.
Tomorrow is Study Hall, our weekly Q+A. I've had a ton of questions this week but send in yours anyway; we've got quite a growing list in the works and I hope to whittle them all down soon.
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Nicole
TAKE ACTION
Follow and learn from Black environmental journalists like Talia Buford, Justin Worland, and Brenton Mock.
Look around your community/neighborhood. Where do you see an influx of coal plants, factories, or refineries? Before reading, did you ever question why low-income areas or Black communities had more pollutant producers? If not, why not?
How do you (or will you) advocate for environmental protections for communities of color?
Review how the Presidential candidates stand on the environment and global warming.
GET EDUCATED
By Renée Cherez (she/her)
If the first presidential debate was any indication of how the current administration is tackling climate change --then we’d better get ready for what’s to come. With only eleven minutes spent on the global issue, it was the first time a moderator presented the climate crisis on a presidential debate stage in twenty years (The Guardian).
Understandably, the general American public is confused, disinterested, and polarized on the climate crisis. Climate change, said to be the biggest crisis of our lifetime by scientists, is rarely presented as fact, but rather an issue for debate. It is also seldom presented as a social and racial justice issue. However, communities of color bear the weight of the crisis with significant health issues, limited food supply, and contaminated water (Green America).
The American south is not new to fighting for environmental justice. As a reaction to discriminatory environmental practices, including toxic dumping that negatively affects communities of color, the environmental justice movement was born (AVoice). Coined by Dr. Benjamin Chavis in 1982, “environmental racism” was born after an electrical transformers manufacturer emptied tons of cancer-causing PCB waste along 240-miles of North Carolina highways (The Guardian).
When the time came for cleaning the waste, the North Carolina government chose the predominantly Black town of Warren, North Carolina, to become home to a toxic waste facility (The Guardian). Decades later, Black and Brown communities are still home to deadly pollutants. Polluters actively seek low-income areas to dump their waste and often decide based on race rather than class (Green America). Multi-millionaires at the fossil fuel industry’s helm and politicians who hold their interests earn millions of dollars while marginalized communities are poisoned with pollutants.
Fenceline communities-- communities located closest to oil and natural gas refineries are disproportionately African-American (ColorLines). A joint report by the NAACP, Clean Air Task Force (CATF), and the National Medical Association (NMA) found that nearly 7 million African Americans live near oil refineries and pollution operations, causing 9 million tons of pollutants emitted annually. These emissions are responsible for 138,000 asthma attacks a year for school-aged children (CATF).
These communities are composed of predominantly low-income people of color. Consequently, African-Americans are 75% more likely to live in fence-line communities and are exposed to 38% more polluted air than white Americans (CATF). Also increasing: the number of African-Americans who live within a half-mile of an existing natural gas facility. With over one million residents and counting, we can expect exposure to toxic air emissions will likely turn to cancer risks for many African-Americans in these communities (CATF).
"Racism is “inexorably” linked to climate change...because it dictates who benefits from activities that produce planet-warming gases and who suffers most from the consequences.”
Penn State meteorologist Gregory Jenkins, via Washington Post.
African Americans make up 14 percent of the U.S. population, yet 68% live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant compared to 56% of white people (Green America). Latinos make up 17% of the U.S. population, but 39% live within a 30-mile radius from a coal plant. Native lands have been stolen and are home to coal reserves resulting in tribes across North America experiencing the toxic effects from plants and coal mines (Green America).
Over the last four years, we’ve seen significant environmental protections put in place to protect our right to clean air and water stripped by the current administration. Since his 2017 inauguration, Trump has rolled back 100 of the most major climate and environmental protections (NYT). Perhaps the most significant to African American communities is his deregulation of methane emissions (CATF). Methane, the leading cause of climate change, is a greenhouse gas that traps 86 times more heat than carbon dioxide, which accelerates global warming (ACS). The Trump administration has canceled an Obama-era policy that required oil and gas companies to report their emissions, making it easier to pollute Black and Brown communities (EPA).
When we think about places like Flint, Michigan, Newark, New Jersey, and Standing Rock, they are perfect examples of BIPOC reaping the dire benefits of environmental racism, even in a pandemic (Vox).
An Obama-era clean water regulation that curbed the amount of pollution and chemicals in the country’s rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands was also repealed by the Trump administration (CNBC). The goal: to protect 60% of the country’s water from contamination, but with it repealed, polluters can discharge toxic substances into waterways without a permit, which harms sources of safe drinking water and habitats for wildlife (CNBC).
Last month, federal judges pushed back against Trump’s fossil fuel agenda, citing they downplayed potential environmental damage in lawsuits over oil and gas leases, coal mining, and pipelines to transport fuels across the country (AP News).
As one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, America's choice to use fossil fuels over cleaner and healthier energy disproportionately affect communities of color. As these communities continue to fight for environmental protections, white people and those with privilege must challenge their local and state officials about new pipelines, plants, and refineries in communities of color. These communities have been fighting for the most basic needs – clean air and water –for decades, and it’s time for the privileged to join their fight.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Fenceline communities – communities located closest to oil and natural gas refineries – are disproportionately African-American.
The Trump administration has rolled back 100 of the most major climate and environmental protections.
68% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant.
RELATED ISSUES
10/11/2020 | Support climate justice.
9/29/2020 | Learn about climate migration.
7/25/2020 | Study Hall! How to be a better ally, petitions, and plastics.
7/24/2020 | Reduce your plastic consumption.
7/12/2020 | Learn how air pollution exacerbates COVID-19.
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