CLIMATE CHANGE AND AFRICAN AMERICANS
Compiled by Robert D. Bullard
Climate Justice Now – Getting a Seat at the Table
Global climate change looms as a major environmental justice
issue of the 21st century. Climate change poses special environmental justice
challenges for communities that are already overburdened with pollution and
environmentally-related illnesses. As seen in Hurricane Katrina that hit the
Gulf Coast, the environmental effects of climate change are real. The adverse
impacts fall heaviest on the poor. This deadly pattern occurs disproportionately
among African Americans and other people of color across the U.S. who are
concentrated in urban centers, coastal regions, and areas with substandard
air quality—including ground level ozone.
Mounting scientific evidence documents that human activities
are altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup
of greenhouse gases—primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
Changing climates are expected to raise sea levels, alter precipitation and
other weather conditions, harm fish and many types of ecosystems, and threaten
human health with a . broad set of problems, including heat stress and heart
failure, increased injuries and deaths from severe weather such as hurricanes;
more respiratory problems from drought-driven air pollution; an increase in
waterborne diseases including cholera, and increases vector-borne diseases
including malaria and hantavirus; and mental health problems such as depression
and post-traumatic stress.
Those most affected must have a voice at the table in shaping
the solutions. The following links represent recent articles that have been
written on environmental justice and climate change.
Understanding Climate Change: An Equitable Framework
By Serena W. Lin,
August 25, 2008
PolicyLink
http://www.policylink.org/documents/climatechange_final.pdf
When the hurricanes hit in 2005, more than 1,500
people died in New Orleans alone. There is no doubt that better
disaster management practices will be needed to respond to the impacts
of climate change, including increased flooding, drought, wildfires,
and stronger hurricanes. The destruction wrought by these storms
reveals how the interaction of forces—energy use, environmental
degradation, climate change and financial vulnerability—puts low-income
communities of color at greatest risk. As the world grapples with
other effects of climate change and global warming, the need to
understand the embedded issues associated with these complex ecological
transformations becomes clear. This report contributes to a deeper
understanding of the issues, and considers the equity consequences and
implications associated with global warming.
House Majority Whip: Climate Change Hurts
Blacks More:
Clyburn says African-Americans 'disproportionately impacted'; study
recommends 'fee, tax or allowance auction on polluters.'
By
Jeff Poor
for
July 29, 2008
Business and Media Institute
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080729130950.aspx
Climate change is no longer just an environmental
issue. It’s now an issue of race, according to global warming
activists and policy makers.“It is critical our community be an
integral and active part of the debate because African-Americans are
disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change
economically, socially and through our health and well-being,” House
Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said July 29.Clyburn spoke at the
National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to help launch the
Commission to Engage African-Americans on Climate Change, a project of
the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The launch came
on the heels of a separate report by the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC), which claims African-Americans are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
U.S. blacks face harsher climate change impact
By Deborah Zabarenko
Environment Correspondent
July 29, 2008
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN2933881420080729?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
American blacks are likely to suffer
disproportionately from climate change and they are willing to pay to
combat it, a commission aimed at raising awareness about global warming
said on Tuesday."There is a fierce urgency regarding climate change
effects on the African-American community," said Ralph Everett, the
co-chair of the Commission to Engage African-Americans on Climate
Change said. "People need to understand what is at stake -- our very
health and well-being."Blacks are more than twice as likely as whites to
live in cities where the so-called heat island effect is expected to
make temperature increases more severe, the newly formed group said at a
briefing.More blacks also will be "fuel poor" as energy demand rises
due to higher air-conditioning loads, population growth and
urbanization, commission said.
Global warming more harmful to low-income minorities
By Lea Radick for
Medill Reports
July 24, 2008
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=95563&print=1
Blacks are more likely to be hurt by global
warming than other Americans, according to a report issued Thursday.
The report was authored by the Environmental Justice and Climate Change
Initiative, a climate justice advocacy group, and Redefining Progress,
a nonprofit policy institute. It detailed various aspects of climate
change, such as air pollution and rising temperatures, which it said
disproportionately affect blacks, minorities and low-income
communities in terms of poor health and economic loss. Heat-related
deaths among blacks occur at a 150 to 200 percent greater rate than
for non-Hispanic whites, the report said. It also reported that asthma,
which has a strong correlation to air pollution, affects blacks at a
36 percent higher rate of incidence than whites.
Climate Change Brings Health Risks: CDC Official Predicts Health Impacts From Climate Change
By H. Josef Hebert
April 9, 2008
The Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=4619666
A top government health official said Wednesday
that climate change is expected to have a significant impact on health
in the next few decades, with certain regions of the country — and
the elderly and children — most vulnerable to increased health
problems. Howard Frumkin, a senior official of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, gave a detailed summary on the likely health
impacts of global warming at a congressional hearing. But he refrained
from giving an opinion on whether carbon dioxide, a leading
greenhouse gas, should be regulated as a danger to public health.
Poor left out of environmental loop: Those
with low incomes will be most affected by climate change, but often
are least informed
By Julie A. Varughese
April 7, 2008
Times Union
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=678647&category=REGION&newsdate=4/7/2008
When you're struggling with bills, the last thing on
your mind is global warming. Or your carbon footprint. About 14
percent of residents in the Capital Region live in poverty, according
to the U.S. Census. In 2007, the poverty threshold was defined by the
federal government as a person with an income of just over $10,000 a
year. Experts say climate change is going to take a much greater toll
on poorer populations who tend to live in locations vulnerable to
floods and who are less likely to hear warnings of natural disasters.
And while that may not apply directly to the Capital Region, poor
living conditions coupled with rising temperatures can also pose
problems for residents here.
Rich, Poor and Climate Change
By Rachel Oliver
February 18, 2008
CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/02/17/eco.class/
The general dialogue on adapting to a world affected by climate change
by definition excludes the world's poorest people. And yet it's the
world's poorest who are often put forward as the ones who are likely
to feel the affects of climate change the most and are likely to be
able to deal with them the least. Around half of the world's
population -- slightly fewer than 3 billion people -- survives on less
than $2 a day. None of them are likely to go shopping for an
automobile any time soon in a bid to reduce on their greenhouse gas
emissions; and investing in photo voltaic solar panels to put on their
rooftops probably won't be a priority, either.
Thinking Green Engineering a Cooler Planet
By Pamela R. Bingham, NSBE-AE Environmental Engineering Special Interest Group
February 8, 2008
The National Society of Black Engineers
http://national.nsbe.org/NSBEMedia/NSBEMagazines/CareerEngineer/CareerEngineerJanFeb2008TableofContents/
ThinkingGreenEngineeringaCoolerPlanet/tabid/429/Default.aspx
There is an urgent need for engineers to engage in the
responses to climate change, or "global warming." Global warming is the
gradual worldwide rise in surface temperature observed across the
entire planet in recent decades. This phenomenon, scientists now know,
is being caused by the unprecedented buildup of the "greenhouse gas"
carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, as a result of mankind's
burning of fossil fuels. Why does it matter? If left unchecked and
uncorrected, global warming could lead to rising sea levels; flooding of
low-lying areas such as New Orleans, Miami and Manhattan; significantly
increased storms; more frequent and severe droughts; an increase in the
number and effects of diseases and harmful insects; and the loss of
many species of animals and plants.
Climate conversation
By Larry Gabriel
October 24, 2007
Metro Times
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=11951
The environmental movement is no longer a suburban and white
movement. Environmentalism has moved to the city. It first arrived through
the environmental justice movement, which focused on such things as urban
pollution and lead paint. Now issues of climate change and the green economy
have charged up the discussion. And it's going to get louder. Saving the planet
from global warming and saving Detroit converge very nicely. If we are going
to re-create the city and its economy we need to create a green, sustainable
culture. That means everything from energy generation and use to the auto
industry to food delivery and more. It means recycling and reusing materials.
It means green buildings and homes.
Protecting Vulnerable Communities from Impacts of Climate
Change is Moral Imperative
Press release by US Rep. Hilda Solis
October 19, 2007
http://blog.thehill.com/2007/10/19/protecting-vulnerable-communities-from-impacts-of-climate-change-is-moral-imperative-rep-hilda-solis/
Calling climate change the “defining issue of our time,” witnesses
urged Congress and the Administration to take swift action to reduce emissions
in a manner which protects vulnerable communities in the United States and
abroad on a hearing held by the House Select Committee on Energy Independence
and Global Warming on October 18, 2007. Rep. Solis stated the current administration
denial of the science is particularly damaging to environmental justice communities
who are already on the front lines of cumulative environmental exposures.
For example, five and one half million Latinos and 68 percent of all African
Americans live within the range where health impacts from power plants are
the most severe. More than 70 percent of African Americans and Latinos live
in counties that violate federal air pollution standards. Climate change poses
additional, significant risks to the health and economic security of these
communities.
Joint Center forms Partnership to bring more African
American voices into Climate Change Debate
September 28, 2007
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies,
http://www.jointcenter.org/index.php/news_room/press_releases/
joint_center_forms_partnership_to_bring_more_african_american_voices_into_climate_change_debate
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (Joint Center)
is launching an effort to engage the African American community on the issue
of climate change. The move is being funded by the Bipartisan Policy Center
which is providing the Joint Center with a $500,000 grant to expand its capacity
to conduct climate change research and outreach. Energy and climate change
policies are vitally important to African Americans. Black communities are
likely to be disproportionately affected by the health effects of climate
change – particularly those related to extreme weather events like Hurricane
Katrina and further The Joint Center has a long history of tackling issues
of concern to African Americans and other communities of color. This grant
will allow the Joint Center to build on the work it is already conducting
in the environmental, health, education, and governance arenas. The funds
will enable the Joint Center to hire a senior research associate, as well
as to form a distinguished national advisory committee to provide policy direction
and point the way to opportunities to build a broader coalition.
Climate Change Refugees: As large areas of the planet
become unsuitable for human life, the sad stream of climate refugees will
become a torrent
By Terry J. Allen
In These Times
September 4, 2007
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3289/climate_change_refugees/
Climate refugees around the world are fleeing regions beset
by violent storms, extreme temperatures, melting glaciers, spreading deserts,
swelling oceans and other escalating effects of global warming. Billions of
people are at risk and the number is growing. Environmental stress forced
more than 25 million to migrate in 1998, according to a Red Cross and Red
Crescent study—roughly the same number that fled armed conflict.
The poor are hit hardest by climate change, but contribute
the least to it.
Randy Poplock
August 19, 2007
Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/328065_firstperson20.html
Low-income and minority populations will bear the brunt of health
consequences caused by global warming, mainly because they tend to have limited
access to health insurance. One recent study of Seattle residents reported
that white populations had an 89 percent health insurance rate compared with
75 percent for black and 61 percent for Latino populations. Split by income
level, one recent King County report shows a strong correlation between health
insurance rates and income. According to published reports low-income populations
are hit the hardest by climate change, yet they contribute the least to climate
change on a per-capita basis. Lower-income populations generally have smaller
carbon footprints than higher-income populations as they (usually) buy fewer
goods, own smaller homes and drive and fly fewer miles. A recent CBCF study
showed that black populations nationwide contributed about 20 percent less
in carbon-dioxide emissions per-capita than white populations.
Green Market Hustlers
By M. K. Dorsey
June 19, 2007
Foreign Policy in Focus
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4313
Climate injustice is the idea that harm from the deleterious
effects of climate change and the production and materialist processes associated
with it is unevenly distributed and deliberately falls disproportionately
on the marginalized and the disadvantaged. Beyond specific non-market proposals,
an increasing polyphony of actors is going further still and demanding climate
justice. The demand for climate justice is thus a subset of a wider set of
discussions and demands for environmental justice. These demands are not just
positions against authority. To the contrary, demanding climate justice is
an expression of hope -- indeed, desire and love -- and a demand for objectives
rooted in collective decision-making that are well beyond the provisional
scope of power as presently conceived. The climate justice movement is therefore
one of liberation as well as economic and ideological sovereignty. Prophetically,
the struggle for climate justice dares to demand changing the world without
reproducing hierarchical state or market power.
Adapt or Die
By Mark Hertsgaard
April 19, 2007
The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070507/hertsgaard
Orleans, like Bangladesh, will be looked back on as one of the
first great casualties of climate change. Not because global warming can definitively
be blamed for Katrina or the Bangladesh floods; the earth's weather system
is too complex to attribute any one event to a single cause. But these events
fit a larger pattern: Extra-strong hurricanes and floods are exactly what
scientists expect to see--along with fiercer heat waves, harsher droughts,
heavier rains and inexorable sea level rise--as global warming intensifies
in the years to come. Bangladesh and New Orleans thus offer a glimpse of the
global warming future all humanity is entering.
Leaders of African-American, Hispanic, and Religious
Groups Take Global Warming Message to Capitol Hill
By Rosanne Skirble
May 3, 2007
Voice of America
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-05/2007-05-03-voa66.cfm?CFID=209024481&CFTOKEN=73494407
Global warming has become a hot topic in the U.S. Congress.
Several bills now pending with lawmakers address how to reduce the carbon
emissions responsible for climate change. A coalition of leaders from Latino,
African-American and faith communities recently came to Washington to urge
lawmakers to incorporate their concerns into proposed climate-change legislation.
On the Front Lines of Climate Change
By Mark Hertsgaard
March 29, 2007
Time
http://www.climos.com/articles/onthefront.htm
For years, global warming was discussed in the hypothetical--a
threat in the distant future. Now it is increasingly regarded as a clear,
observable fact. This sudden shift means that all of us must start thinking
about the many ways global warming will affect us, our loved ones, our property
and our economic prospects. When climate scientists use the word adaptation,
they are referring to actions intended to safeguard a person, community, business
or country against the effects of climate change. Its complement is mitigation--any
measure that will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, such as drawing power from
a wind turbine rather than a coal-fired power plant. Mitigation addresses,
if you will, the front end of the global-warming problem; by cutting emissions,
it aims to slow rising temperatures. Adaptation is the back end of the problem--trying
to live with the changes in the environment and the economy that global warming
has and will continue to generate.
Earth Day Network launches ‘Earth Day on the Hill’
Brings Diverse Voices to the Global Warming Discussion
April 17, 2007
Earth Day Network
http://www.earthday.net/news/04-17-07_release.aspx
On Tuesday, April 17, 2007, Earth Day Network (EDN) sponsored
'Earth Day on the Hill,' a platform for diverse voices and perspectives on
the most critical environmental issue of our time: global warming. The launch
event included Earth Day Network President Kathleen Rogers, Step It Up's Bill
McKibben, William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI) President Antonio Gonzalez,
Dr. Robert Bullard of the Environmental Justice Resource Center, and Rev.
Peter Moore-Kochlacs of the Religious Coalition on Creation Care. Participants
in 'Earth Day on the Hill' visited Congress, pushing for programs to help
those most vulnerable cope with the impacts of climate change. They also urged
legislation to speed up our transition to renewable energy and help economically
disadvantaged individuals participate in the new green economy. In addition,
Earth Day Network called on Congress to require that companies purchase emission
permits, and not to allow any permits to be "grandfathered" or given
away.
National Youth Polls: Climate Change and Environmental
Issues Poll
Hamilton College
January 2007
http://www.hamilton.edu/news/polls/Climate/HCClimateChangePoll.pdf
African-American students are 12 percent more likely to believe
that climate change is very likely to affect them personally in the future
than students from any other ethnic and racial background. However, African-American
students answer correctly fewer questions about climate change than students
of other races or ethnicities. This difference holds after controlling for
additional characteristics such as gender, political preference, and parents’
education, among others.
Changing the Social Climate: How Global Warming Affects
Economic Justice, the Future of the Progressive Movement, and Whether Your
Child Walks to School
October 2006
Redefining Progress
http://www.rprogress.org/publications/2006/Changing-the-Social-Climate.pdf
The public debate about whether or not global warming is real
is officially over. The pressing need to do something about dramatic climate
change has reached a critical mass across the globe and across the country.
And it is an issue that has also reached into every aspect of our lives. Global
warming is not simply an environmental issue. It is an economic issue, a social
justice issue, a lifestyle issue. It’s about race, class, and democratic
participation. It’s about globalization and global democracy. It’s
about national security and global security. Interview between Redefining
Progress Executive Director Michel Gelobter and Catherine Lerza.
Who Will Be Hit Hardest by Climate Change? Minority
communities will be the first casualties of global warming, according to a
new study.
By Julie Johnson
July 19, 2006
New America Media
http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Careers/news/pns_minorities_weather_0706.asp
As reports of climate change predict its likely effects on business
and nature -- from California's wine industry to the Siberian permafrost --
what's missing in the discussion is who bears the brunt of the negative impact
of global warming. Ethnic and low-income communities will be hit hardest by
the economic costs of climate changes, reports the nonprofit research group
Redefining Progress, unless energy policies take into account the impact on
those in the lowest income brackets.
Africans, African-Americans and Climate Impacts: Top-down
vs. Bottom-up Approach to Capacity Building
Michael H. Glantz
Fragilecologies
7 July 2006
http://www.fragilecologies.com/jul07_06.html
African Americans already are suffering disproportionately from
the impacts of today's climate variability and extreme events, such as Hurricane
Katrina's impacts in New Orleans in 2005 and Hurricane Floyd's impacts in
North Carolina in 1999. Only by getting involved directly in climate impact
studies related to climate change --- whether public health, disaster preparedness,
political and legal aspects, risk assessments, and so on --- will African
Americans be prepared to do their own bidding in political circles, for the
greater protection of the African-American community, not only from global
warming but from other climate and weather extremes as well, such as hurricanes,
floods, vector-borne diseases (e.g., mosquitoes), and other climate-related
problems.
Climate Change, Justice And Future Generations
(Book)
Edward A. Page
July 2006
http://www.amazon.com/Climate-Change-Justice-Future-Generations/dp/184376184X/ref=sr_1_1/105-9574415-6080439?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193331498&sr=1-1
From Amazon.com:
Global climate change raises important questions of international and intergenerational
justice. In this important new book the author places research on the origins
and impacts of climate change within the broader context of distributive justice
and sustainable development. He argues that a range of theories of distribution
– notably those grounded in ideals of equality, priority and sufficiency
– converge on the adoption of the ambitious global climate policy framework
known as ‘Contraction and Convergence’.
Climate Justice for Black New Orleans
Eric Mann
Getting Ready for Change: Green Economics and Climate Justice. Vol. 13 No.
1 Summer 2006
Urban Habitat/Race Poverty and the Environment. Oakland, CA
http://urbanhabitat.org/files/Mann.Climate.Justice.pdf
While most of the post-Katrina discussion has been on the fragile
condition of the levees, the under-funding of levee repairs, and the fiasco
of the Bush dismantling of FEMA, instead of focusing on how the destruction
of the wetlands through corporate development has undermined one of nature’s
ways of mitigating the impact of hurricanes. A climate justice approach to
the matter should begin with a demand for regulation of corporations and their
“individual choice” to pollute; mandated increases in auto fuel
efficiencies; (reductions in the use of toxic substances; expansion of public
transportation systems; and transparency about the chemicals and greenhouse
gases produced by corporations and institutions. Climate justice proponents
should demand dramatic reductions in emissions from Louisiana’s oil
refineries in Cancer Alley, from the grain elevators, and steel plants. They
should call for the preservation of the wetlands, and a moratorium on highway
expansion, coastal development, and gambling boats that come inland to set
up coastal enclaves.
Overcoming Structural Racism
Maya Wiley
Getting Ready for Change: Green Economics and Climate Justice. Vol. 13 No.
1 Summer 2006
Urban Habitat/Race Poverty and the Environment. Oakland, CA
http://urbanhabitat.org/files/Mann.Climate.Justice.pdf
Often, when we talk about global warming, issues of racial inequity
are left out. We focus on “dirty” energy, our government’s
failure to regulate corporate polluting and reluctance to create incentives
for clean and renewable energy alternatives. We criticize our consumer culture
with its insatiable appetite for SUVs, and our preference for suburban living
with its long commutes. All of these are, of course, important factors in
creating and perpetuating a climate crisis that is finally being acknowledged
in the U.S., thanks to the hard work of environmental activists. While no
one can say for sure that global warming caused hurricane Katrina, the science
strongly suggests that storms are getting fiercer and more destructive because
of carbon emissions.
Katrina Reveals Environmental Racism's Deadly Force
By Beverly Wright
New America Media
September 21, 2005
New America Media
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=74fb2e18f6e1c829ae73181353442a61
Hurricane Katrina is a test of how America should respond to
the effects of global warming. It is a test that we are largely failing. Environmental
scientists and activists have warned that warming ocean waters will increase
the frequency and intensity of these storms. They have also warned that the
working poor and people of color would bear the brunt of climate change impacts,
at home and abroad. To address these issues, we need to begin reducing our
reliance on fossil fuels. We must learn to build cities and towns that are
less environmentally vulnerable and more sustainable. We need to address the
root cause and protect against the impacts that are already coming.
Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events: An Unequal
Burden on African Americans
Redefining Progress
Center for Policy Analysis and Research, Congressional Black Caucus
Oakland, California. No.2
September 2005
http://www.cbcfinc.org/pdf/climatechange_issuebrf.pdf
According to this study African Americans are already disproportionately
burdened by the health effects of climate change. Specifically, health effects
include upper respiratory problems as a result of the degradation of air quality,
deaths from heat waves and extreme weather events, and the spread of infectious
diseases. Globally, climate change already causes an estimated 160,000 deaths
annually, and this number will only worsen as the rate of change increases
over the coming decades. Also, the changes in temperature extremes are likely
to result in increased crop and livestock losses, higher energy use for cooling
and lower for heating, and increased human morbidity and heat-stress-related
mortality. Despite the heavy burden of climate change that African Americans
carry, they are less responsible for climate change than other Americans;
historically and at present, African Americans emit 20 percent less greenhouse
gases per household.
Climate Equity for All
Chris Huntingford and John Gash
September 16, 2005
Science, Vol. 309. no. 5742, p. 1789
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/309/5742/1789
Recent natural catastrophes have catapulted climate into the
headlines again. As we witness the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina,
we are also reminded of numerous floods, droughts, and storms seen across
the world in recent years. Questions about climate change, its global effects,
and whether and how we can tackle this issue can no longer be avoided. Fortunately,
at the G8 Summit in Scotland, the leaders of the world's major industrialized
nations agreed on the need to reduce carbon emissions; and although there
is argument about the mechanism and timing, the case for moving to a low-carbon
economy is essentially won. But we are faced with a rapidly changing global
economy. As developing countries industrialize--China and India in Asia and
Brazil and Mexico in Latin America--greenhouse gas-related climate stresses
are expected to increase. At the same time, the environments, economies, and
societies of the least-developed countries, such as those in Africa, are the
most vulnerable to climate change because their ability to adapt is poor.
Reaching international agreement on actions to minimize the dangerous impacts
of climate change requires not only negotiations among developed nations but
dialogue with the developing world.
Equity and justice in climate change adaptation amongst
natural-resource-dependent societies
An article from: Global Environmental Change
By D.S.G. Thomas (Author), C. Twyman
July 1, 2005
http://www.amazon.com/justice-climate-adaptation-natural-resource-dependent-societies/dp/B000RR2G76/ref=sr_1_2/105-9574415-6080439?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193331454&sr=1-2
From Amazon.com:
Issues of equity and justice are high on international agendas dealing with
the impacts of global climate change. But what are the implications of climate
change for equity and justice amongst vulnerable groups at local and sub-national
levels? We ask this question for three reasons: (a) there is a considerable
literature suggesting that the poorest and most vulnerable groups will disproportionately
experience the negative effects of 21st century climate change; (b) such changes
are likely to impact significantly on developing world countries, where natural-resource
dependency is high; and (c) international conventions increasingly recognize
the need to centrally engage resource stakeholders in agendas in order to
achieve their desired aims, as part of more holistic approaches to sustainable
development. These issues however have implications for distributive and procedural
justice, particularly when considered within the efforts of the UNFCCC. The
issues are examined through an evaluation of key criteria relating to climate
change scenarios and vulnerability in the developing world, and second through
two southern African case studies that explore the ways in which livelihoods
are differentially impacted by (i) inequitable natural-resource use policies,
(ii) community-based natural-resource management programs. Finally, we consider
the placement of climate change amongst the package of factors affecting equity
in natural-resource use, and whether this placement creates a case for considering
climate change as 'special' amongst livelihood disturbing factors in the developing
world.
African Americans and Climate Change: An Unequal Burden
Redefining Progress
July 21, 2004.
http://www.rprogress.org/publications/2004/CBCF_REPORT_F.pdf
There is a stark disparity in the United States between those
who benefit from the causes of climate change and those who bear the costs
of climate change. According to this report African Americans are already
disproportionately burdened by the health effects of climate change, including
deaths during heat waves and from worsened air pollution. Similarly, unemployment
and economic hardship associated with climate change will fall most heavily
on the African American community. Also African Americans are less responsible
for climate change than other Americans. Both historically and at present,
African Americans emit less greenhouse gas.
Climate Change and the African American Community: CBCF
FACT SHEET No. 1
July 2004
Center for Policy Analysis and Research, Congressional Black Caucus
http://www.cbcfinc.org/pdf/Climate_Change_Factsheet.pdf
According to this study African Americans contribute significantly
less to greenhouse gas emissions than others in the U.S. in both direct emissions
of carbon dioxide from energy use, and indirect emissions, or emissions generated
during the production or delivery of consumed products. Also, there are large
differences between patterns of energy use in urban and rural communities,
both with respect to direct fuel consumption, and the purchase of other goods
and services. Urban populations have approximately 8% higher carbon emissions
than rural populations for both African Americans and Whites. African Americans
in rural areas have the smallest carbon footprint of any other group at about
23 percent below the national average. Conversely, African Americans spend
a higher fraction of their income on carbon-intensive purchases. Consequently,
African Americans are more likely to be affected by changes in the price of
energy or carbon. In particular, low-income African Americans are among the
most vulnerable populations in society to sudden increases in the price of
energy. The lowest income groups reported spending 13% of total expenditures
on direct energy purchases, relative to just 9% of total expenditures for
other Americans.
A Human Face to a Human Problem: Climate Justice Summit
By Nadia Khastagir
India Resource Center
November 1, 2002
http://www.indiaresource.org/issues/energycc/2003/humanfacehumanproblem.html
The effects of climate change are felt hardest in a country
like India. The fact that India has a large rural population who are dependent
on the cycles of the seasons, fishworkers who work the rivers and seas, farmers
who need the seasonal monsoons, and a large and varied indigenous population
who live in harsh climatic regions of mountains, desert and river delta, make
India especially susceptible to a changing climate. In 2002, while the Conference
of the Parties-8 (CoP8) meet in a sterile air conditioned building, an altogether
different group of people were meeting at the Climate Justice Summit, organized
by the Indian Climate Justice Forum meet under a pandal tent. This is the
human face of the rising movement for Climate Justice.
Climate Change: Breaking the Cycle of Denial
By Shantilal P. Bhagat
Ecumenical Eco-Justice Network
CorpWatch India (Nov. 2002)
http://www.ecojusticenetwork.org/winter2002/win2002_front.html
Climate is the average weather of a given area over an extended
period of time. One of the foundations of human societies and economies is
a stable climate. The Earth’s climate is driven by a continuous flow
of energy from the sun. This energy arrives mainly in the form of visible
light. Ever since life first appeared, natural emissions of water vapor, carbon
dioxide and other gases have helped maintain the temperature of the Earth
within a range at which life can exist. They act like a glass greenhouse to
trap the sun’s heat in the atmosphere, as an essential part of keeping
the planet warm and habitable. But global warming gets dangerous when the
greenhouse we live in gets so hot that it affects the Earth’s natural
climate system, causing oceans to swell, storms to brew, glaciers to melt,
and tropical diseases to spread.
Air of Injustice: African Americans & Power Plant Pollution
Black Leadership Forum
October 2002
http://www.cleartheair.org/fact/injustice.pdf
This report chronicles how African Americans are affected by
the air pollution emitted by our nation's biggest polluters: coal-fired power
plants. These plants release millions of pounds of a wide variety of chemicals
to the air, water and landfills. This report describes the relationship between
power plant pollutants like sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, nitrogen
oxides and carbon dioxide and environmental health issues that have the most
impact on African Americans: pediatric asthma, infant death rates, emergency
room visits and hospitalizations, fish contamination and climate change.
Exploring the Nexus: Bringing Together Sustainability,
Environmental Justice and Equity
Julian Agyeman; Robert D. Bullard; and Bob Evans
April 1, 2002
Space and Polity
Volume 6, Issue 1 April 2002, pages 77 – 90
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a713697794~db=all~order=page
In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that the
issue of environmental quality is inextricably linked to that of human equality
at all scales. This article examines the differing traditions and approaches
of environmental justice and sustainability, and explores some of their theoretical
bases. It also briefly reviews human rights and environmental security issues
in order to discern the potential for common ground between the two main traditions.
The authors argue that there are indications of convergence between these
traditions and that this convergence is happening primarily through the activities
of progressive NGOs, academics and local community organizations world-wide.
What is now needed is for governments at local, regional, national and international
levels to learn from these organizations and to seek to embed the central
principles and practical approaches of environmental justice within emerging
sustainable development policy.
Environmental Justice Forum: Speak Out!
August 25, 2001
Hosted by groundWork, South African Exchange Programme on Environmental Justice,
and International Possibilities Unlimited
http://www.groundwork.org.za/Pamphlets/EJ%20Forum.htm
The Speak Out is being held in advance of the World Conference
Against Racism (WCAR) and will feed into both the NGO Forum and the governmental
proceedings. The concepts of environmental racism and environmental justice
have their origins in the U.S.A. but respond to a global phenomenon. With
these concepts people of color around the world recognize our common experience
and can build links across race, class and gender lines. Many of the pioneers
of the movement are here and this meeting, with people from eleven countries,
comes out of working these debates over the past two decades. At the heart
of the experience of environmental injustice is the abuse of power. Poor people,
and particularly people of color, live in damaged environments which damage
their health. So the struggle for environmental justice is a struggle about
relations of power. This is the common theme to the range of diverse struggles
against various forms of inequitable development, from shrimp farming to uranium
dumping, that we will hear about today.
Climate Justice and People of Color
Robert D. Bullard
November 21, 2000
Environmental Justice Resource Center
Clark Atlanta University
http://www.ejrc.cau.edu/climatechgpoc.html
The environmental and economic justice movement was born in
response to these injustices and disparities. Not surprising, resistance to
reigning in climate-altering activities through the Kyoto Protocol has come
largely from the fossil fuel lobby. The adverse impacts of global warming
fall heaviest on the poor. This deadly pattern occurs disproportionately among
people of color in the U.S. who are concentrated in urban centers in the Southern
United States, coastal regions, and areas with substandard air quality.
A Fair Climate for All
Ansje Miller with Paige Brown
November 2000
Redefining Progress
http://www.rprogress.org/publications/2000/afairclimateforall.pdf
Climate Change is a life and death issue for the poor and communities
of color. As the Environmental justice movement has demonstrated, the effects
of pollution often fall disproportionately on the health of minorities and
low income communities. Climate change is expected to affect human health
in three major ways: new and increased rate of infectious diseases from insect
and rodents, respiratory illnesses related to increased air pollution, and
death and illnesses related to thermal extremes.
What's Fair? Consumers and Climate Change
Ansje Miller, Gautam Sethi and Gary Wolff
Redefining Progress (April 2000).
http://www.rprogress.org/publications/2000/wf_consumers.pdf
Climate change itself will have significant impacts on U.S.
consumers. Several studies have suggested that climate change policy will
impose financial burdens on consumers, but none of them have compared the
impacts of unabated climate change to the impacts of climate change policy.
With or without policy efforts to limit it, climate change will affect the
health, social, and financial conditions of most Americans. Consumers need
a more full comparison and understanding of who is affected before they take
a position in favor of or against some particular climate change policy proposal.
Greenhouse Gangsters vs. Climate Justice
Kenny Bruno, Joshua Karliner & China Brotsky
CorpWatch
November 1st, 1999
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=1048
Climate change has the potential to radically damage entire
ecosystems, agriculture, and the inhabitability of whole countries. Changing
the climate affects everyone and everything. Despite the efforts of a few
transnational oil corporations (as well as their cohorts in the coal, chemical
and car businesses) to dupe the public into thinking that global warming is
not a real threat, the vast majority of the world's climate scientists and
a growing body of evidence say it is. No longer does the scientific debate
focus on if global warming will happen, but rather on how soon it will occur
and on how bad it will be. The ranks of those fighting for Climate Justice
are filled by democracy movements struggling against oil interests around
the world. They include communities polluted by refineries and working for
environmental justice in the United States, as well as Indigenous people trying
to maintain their cultures and their lands. Residents of smog-filled cities,
and students seeking to reign in unaccountable university investments all
can be advocates for Climate Justice.
Breathing Polluted Air: Minorities are Disproportionately Exposed
Wernette, D.R. and L.A. Nieves
EPA Journal 18 March, 1992.
http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=7202599
At Argonne National Laboratory, scientists have been studying
the relative potential for exposure of minority population groups to substandard
outdoor air quality. The studies have focused on areas identified by EPA as
failing to attain national ambient air quality standards. Under the Clean
Air Act, EPA has established standards for ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide,
sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, and particulate matter and annually
identifies areas having excess levels of these pollutants. These so-called
nonattainment areas generally consist of counties of many square miles, and
residents` exposure to air pollution surely varies depending on where individuals
live and work within an area. Nevertheless, the racial and socio-economic
makeup of the population in these areas can imply differences in potential
exposure to pollutants and may suggest directions for research and remedial
action. So far, scientists have examined these differences for African Americans,
Hispanics, and whites (non-Hispanic)
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