Environmental Justice Advocates Say Climate Change isn’t a ‘White Thing’

It is critical that African American, if they aren’t already, become aware of all of the ways climate change shows up in their lives.

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia

The climate crisis is real.

From the devastation of extreme weather events made worse by climate change to the public health implications of increased pollution like heightened asthma attacks, communities are feeling the impact of this crisis first and worst.

Experts said real solutions to the climate crisis is needed now to protect the long-term well-being of communities, and for future generations.

“With the Trump administration rolling back environmental and public health safeguards, I am deeply concerned that we are running out of time to do something about this crisis,” said Dana Swinney, a New York-based public relations expert who works with several green organizations across the country.

Information provided by Swinney’s firm noted additional climate crisis health impacts on African Americans, including:

Number of African Americans that report having asthma: 2.6 million.

Black children are 4.5 times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma than white children.

Black children are ten times more likely to die from asthma than white children.

The increased health burden of particulate air pollution on African Americans compared to the American population overall: 54 percent.

Sixty-eight percent of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant.

7 million African Americans live within a county that is home to a refinery.

“There is a familiar phrase that goes something like this: if you’re not at the table then you’re on the menu,” said Michelle Mabson, a staff scientist for the Healthy Communities Program at Earthjustice.

Mabson is also a volunteer chief advocacy officer for Black Millennials for Flint.

“Far too often it is our communities – Black and Brown communities – that are not prepared enough, resilient enough, or adaptive enough when climate disasters hit,” Mabson said. “We look at the devastating impacts from Hurricane Katrina, and more recently Hurricane’s Maria, Harvey, and Dorian, and we see communities that look like ours, nearly destroyed,” she said.

“It is imperative for us to be at the table when decisions, like rebuilding and increasing adaptive community capacity, are discussed so we can get the resources we need to be prepared for the impacts from the next storm. Make no mistake, the next one is on its way, and we can no longer afford to react once it’s here – we’ve got to be prepared,” Mabson said.

African Americans must heavily engage in climate justice and environmental conversation taking place globally, said Heather McTeer Toney, the national field director at Mom Clean Airforce.

More than half of the African American population live in the south, where they’re four times more likely to be hit with catastrophic flood, hurricane or other extreme weather-related event, Toney said.

“As the impacts of climate change increase, more and more of our communities are devastated. Moreover, an NAACP study found that African