How the Climate Crisis and Pollution Disproportionately Impact Marginalized Communities
By: Tanushree Jain
Over the past decade, it is evident that the proliferation of the fossil fuel industry has exacerbated the climate crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that human activities have caused global temperatures to rise about 1℃. This poses a great threat as scientists have deemed the point of no return to be an average temperature increase of 1.5℃.
We have seen the effects of global warming through the wave of mass extinction, natural disasters, and massive amounts of devastation. Yet, climate change has also unveiled the systemic racism ingrained into this country’s DNA.
Insider reports show over half of the population that live near toxic waste facilities are people of color. Additionally, researchers from the EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment study describe how POC are more likely to live in polluted areas, especially those in poverty. In fact, the effects that environmental racism has can be seen with the area of land stretching between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisiana. This 85-mile region of land is predominantly populated by Black Americans. The surrounding area is filled with oil and petrochemical plants, leaking harmful pollutants that result in the residents being 50 times more likely to get cancer.
Time and time again corporations have misused legislation to disproportionately impact minority communities. It was seen with the lack of accountability to clean up toxic waste from the uranium plants near Navajo Nation, poisoning Indigenous people living there. Another instance of environmental racism was when the courts allowed for Exide Technologies to abandon their battery recycling plant in Vernon, California — directly exposing many middle-class Latino families to face the hazardous lead contamination.
These are not simply isolated instances of pollution having a greater impact on marginalized communities. Robert Bullard, regarded as the Father of Environmental Justice, describes how, “Today, zip code is still the most potent predictor of an individual’s health and well-being”.
In 1991, the first convention for the People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit took place. During this summit, 17 Principles of Environmental Justice were outlined.
These principles have helped to define the steps that must be taken in order to create a more just and safe society to ensure that no person’s health is jeopardized due to their ethnicity, race, income, or gender. However, even after 3 decades, the fundamental problem of environmental racism has not been addressed, making the principles more important than ever.
Nonprofits looking to support environmental justice movements can turn to working to address the outlined steps in the 17 Principles. Furthermore, We Act for Environmental Justice defines additional work that nonprofit and philanthropic organizations can do to fight against environmental racism. It is crucial that nonprofits ensure diversification and establish anti-oppression efforts to help more toward a more environmentally just society.
