A:Welcome….

-
I: “Environmental destruction cannot be fought without fighting racism and the violence
associated with it: they are two sides of the same coin.”
-
A: With people of colour in LICs experiencing the worst consequences of climate change,
despite contributing to it the least, it is clear that climate justice is also racial justice…
-
One of the most noticeable effects of climate change is the occurrence of natural disasters.
As global temperatures rise, more water vapor is stored in the atmosphere, resulting in more
rain and powerful storms. Warmer air, another factor of rising temperatures, also causes
faster wind speeds during tropical storms. After a natural disaster hits a community,
government aid is typically sent to the area to rebuild infrastructure and restore the city.
However, the dispersal of aid is one way in which minorities and low-income communities
are hurt by natural disasters.
I: In a study done by Rice University and the University of Pittsburgh, it was found that white
counties saw an increase in average wealth after natural disasters while predominantly
minority counties saw a wealth decrease. The study notes that white communities saw
higher levels of reinvestment in their communities after natural disasters in comparison to
their minority counterparts.
A: low-income Americans are more likely to suffer from the consequences of tropical storms
due to inadequate infrastructure and lack of proper insurance.
I: Low-income and minority populations are also more likely to live near industrial facilities
and are therefore at a higher risk for chemical spills and toxic leaks resulting from tropical
storms. For example, 60% of African Americans in Baltimore live within one mile of a Toxic
Release Industry, and 70% percent of African Americans live within two to four miles of one.
-
A: In 2005. Hurricane Katrina roared ashore on the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,000
people (the true death toll may never be known). From the start, the tragedy had a powerful
racial component – images of poor, mostly black New Orleans residents stranded on
rooftops and crowded amid fetid conditions in what was then the Louisiana Superdome.
I: Initial reactions to the government’s response to the crisis were starkly divided along racial
lines. In a national poll conducted a week after the storm made landfall, African Americans
delivered a scathing assessment of the federal government’s relief efforts. Two-thirds (66%)
said that “the government’s response to the situation would have been faster if most of the
victims had been white.” whereas 77% of white people said the race of the victims would not
have made any difference
A: Hurricane Katrina highlighted the legacy of unequal flood protection in New Orleans,
where racially biased distribution of government funding resulted in subpar levee protection
for Black neighborhoods.
I: Over 80% of the homes that were lost belonged to Black people. Even after Black people
bore the brunt of impacts of Katrina, initial plans for redevelopment of New Orleans
privileged white communities. Subsequent hurricanes have exemplified the racial disparity
in disaster recovery aid issuance and prioritisation, with Black people being significantly less
likely to have access
-
A: From this graph it is clear, black people made up over half of total fatalities- 58.5%. Could
this be racially motivated?
-
I: the black poverty rate in New Orleans of 35% was the highest among all large cities in the
country. At the time of the disaster, New Orleans was ranked the 2nd most unequal city in
the USA. By 2016 there are still clear disparities with the average income of an African
American household in New Orleans being $25,800- in comparison to $64,400 for white
households. By December 2006, 58% of pre-Katrina residents had returned to the city;
however 42% remained displaced.
-
A: 96, 000 . That’s how many fewer African-Americans are living in New Orleans now than
prior to Hurricane Katrina. A study conducted 5 years after the disaster discovered that 49%
of black people never returned to New Orleans, whereas only 29% of white people didn’t
return. This is a perfect example of systemic racism, whereby ethnic minorities are
discriminated against with regards to their standard of living and support they receive.
-
I: This brings us on to the next topic we want to discuss- Covid-19 which is a perfect
example of how systemic racism is ingrained in our healthcare system. While this isn’t
necessarily climate justice, it illustrates how racial justice needs to be implemented
everywhere, even where you least expect it.
-
A: Before we show you the statistics on the next slides, we just wanted to give you the
reminder that there is no evidence that the genes used to divide people into races are linked
to how our immune system responds to viral infections. So bear that in mind when you hear
the shocking information we are about to tell you and try and think what the actual reasons
are for this.
-
I: From looking at the relationship between COVID-19 death statistics and UK population,
people’s ethnic group clearly plays a role. White people make up 86% of the Uk’s population
whereas they make up 83% of COVID deaths. Black people make up 3.3% of the UK’s
population however they make up 6% of COVID deaths
A: Even though this may seem like very little differences, if there was no racial inequality
then surely % COVID deaths by race should be the same as the % of population that they
make up. It is clear that black people are making up a higher percentage of COVID deaths
than they should be when consider they make up much less of the UK’s population
-
I: The data shows that individuals from Asian/Asian British background were 4.8 times more
likely to test positive to COVID-19 than people of White ethnicity
A: research by the Office of National Statistics found that those males categorised as black
were 4.6 times more likely to to die than their white counterparts from the virus.
I: In the UK, of the first 2,249 patients with confirmed Covid-19, 35% were non-white. This is
much higher than the proportion of non-white people in England and Wales – 14%,
according to the most recent census.
A: Clearly COVID-19 has impacted ethnic minorities the most due to the disparities in deaths
in comparison to white people.
-
I: So, now that we’ve demonstrated systemic racism, we want to link back to another climate
issue. Pollution. Dr Beverley Wright- “[Communities of color] are in double jeopardy” from the
climate crisis,” she says. “First, if you’re a person of color, particularly Black or Latino, you’re
more likely to live near toxic facilities, like petrochemical companies here in Louisiana,
producing toxins that shorten and impact quality of life.”
-
A: From this graph, it is clear that Black Americans are exposed to more pollution from every
type of source, including industry, agriculture, all manner of vehicles, construction, residential
sources and even emissions from restaurants. People of color more broadly, including Black
and Hispanic people and Asian-Americans, are exposed to more pollution from nearly every
source.
-
I: In the U.S. alone the median white family has 41 times more wealth than the median Black
family. The legacy of racial segregation looms large. People of color, often in the lowest-paid
jobs, are forced into the cheapest housing, which tends to be next to the busiest streets, in
communities closer to polluting industries and hazardous waste sites.
A: Research has also highlighted that race has a stronger influence on exposure to
pollutants than poverty. This means it is likely that polluters not only site their activities in low
income areas, but in some cases are actively selecting locations where there are high
percentages of Black people in particular.
-
I: Environmental racism in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’, must end, say UN human rights
experts. Originally dubbed “Plantation Country”, Cancer Alley, which is located in the
southern state of Louisiana along the lower Mississippi River where enslaved Africans were
forced to labour, serves as an industrial hub, with nearly 150 oil refineries, plastics plants
and chemical facilities. 
A: The ever-widening corridor of petrochemical plants has not only polluted the surrounding
water and air, but also subjected the mostly African American residents in St. James Parish
to cancer, respiratory diseases and other health problems.
I: According to the experts, federal environmental regulations have failed to protect people
residing in “Cancer Alley”. In 2018, St. James Parish Council approved the industrialization
of toxic chemical development through the “Sunshine Project” – a subsidiary company of
Formosa Plastics Group that would create one of the world’s largest plastics facilities – and
the building of two methanol complexes by other manufacturers.
A: Formosa Plastics' petrochemical complex alone will more than double the cancer risks in
St. James Parish affecting disproportionately African American residents, flagged the
experts.
I: According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency's National Air Toxic
Assessment map, the cancer risks in predominantly African American Districts in St James
Parish could be at 104 and 105 cases per million, while those threats in predominantly white
districts range from 60 to 75 per million.
A: The UN experts also sounded the alarm over possible violations of cultural rights, as at
least four ancestral burial grounds are at serious risk of being destroyed by the planned
construction.
I:“The African American descendants of the enslaved people who once worked the land are
today the primary victims of deadly environmental pollution that these petrochemical plants
in their neighbourhoods have caused”, they said.
I:“We call on the United States and St. James Parish to recognize and pay reparations for
the centuries of harm to Afro-descendants rooted in slavery and colonialism.”
-
A:On the board we can see 2 maps of Louisiana. The map on the right shows the risk of
cancer out of 1 million, with the darker red the area, the higher the risk of cancer. The map
on the right shows race and ethnicity by county subdivision with the darker the area, the
higher the % on white people. Clearly we can see a trend between the two in the Cancer
Alley area where the risk of cancer is the highest. Interestingly, this same area where risk of
cancer is the highest is where the lowest % of white people live. For example, St James’
Parish, where the risk of cancer was highest at 360 per million had only 7.5% of it being
white people. The further away we move from Cancer Alley, the lower the risk of cancer and
unsurprisingly the higher the % of white people. Just look at the area compared to the
national average. It is obvious that there is a relationship between areas with the worst
pollution and the ethnic groups that live there, causing detrimental health impacts.
-
I: Another way pollution can affect POC is through water pollution. A Natural Resources
Defense Council report issued last year, Watered Down Justice, found that race is the factor
that bears the strongest relationship to slow and ineffective enforcement of the federal
drinking water law in communities across the United States.
-
A: Look at these photos. Would you want to drink and wash in this water?
I: Well the people of Flint Michigan did, for 18 months.
-
Flint is a predominantly black area, with nearly 60% of people being black
Flint used to be a prosperous place, being the birthplace of General Motors, providing
homes for 200,000 people. However in the 1980s, deindustrialisation, rising oil prices and
auto imports, put a break on this period of prosperity .The city found itself in decline: Flint’s
population has since plummeted to just 100,000 people, a majority of whom are
African-American, and about 45 percent of its residents live below the poverty line. Nearly
one in six of the city’s homes has been abandoned.
A: In 2011, a new governor was appointed to cut city costs. This precipitated the tragic
decision in 2013 to end the city’s practice of piping treated water for its residents from Detroit
in favor of a cheaper alternative: pumping water from the Flint River. Although the river water
was highly corrosive, Flint officials failed to treat it, and lead leached out from aging pipes
into thousands of homes.
I: Soon after the city began supplying residents with Flint River water in April 2014, residents
started complaining that the water from their taps looked, smelled, and tasted foul. Despite
protests by residents lugging jugs of discolored water, officials maintained that the water was
safe.
A: The incidence of elevated blood-lead levels in children citywide had doubled since 2014,
affecting 9,000 children. The damage from lead can reverberate for a lifetime, reducing IQ
and physical growth and contributing to anemia, hearing impairment, cardiovascular disease,
and behavioral problems. Large doses of lead exposure in adults has been linked to high
blood pressure, heart and kidney disease, and reduced fertility. An outbreak of Legionnaires’
disease (a severe form of pneumonia) killed 12 and sickened at least 87 people. This
outbreak was due to failures in adding chlorine to kill bacteria. Ironically, the city’s corrective
measure—adding more chlorine without addressing other underlying issues—created a new
problem: elevated levels of total trihalomethanes (TTHM), cancer-causing chemicals that are
by-products of the chlorination of water.
I: In early 2016, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced an independent review
to “determine what, if any, Michigan laws were violated” during Flint’s drinking water disaster.
Over the course of his investigation, 15 people have been charged as criminally responsible
for causing or contributing to the crisis.
A: We are not suggesting that those making decisions related to this crisis were racists ...
but the disparate response is the result of systemic racism that was built into the foundation
and growth of Flint. Would the Flint water crisis have been allowed to happen in Birmingham,
Ann Arbor or East Grand Rapids? We believe the answer is no, and that the vestiges of
segregation and discrimination found in Flint made it a unique target. The lack of political
clout left the residents with nowhere to turn, no way to have their voices heard.
-
I: There is so much more to say about Flint, but we don’t have all the time in the world but if
you want to find out more, here are some interesting things you can watch and read.
-
A: Now we have touched on the ever-growing issue of pollution. We now want to raise your
attention to the impacts of deforestation on indigenous people and specifically Indonesian
indigenous people
I:“In recent years, Indonesia’s forests have been razed at an astonishing rate to make way
for oil palm plantations. This deforestation has irrevocably changed the lives of millions of
Indonesia’s Indigenous people who live in these forests and depend on the environment for
food, water, and shelter”
A-Indonesia is home to the world's third-largest expanse of tropical forest cover, but rampant
deforestation since the 1960s has seen half of the country's forests cut down by illegal
loggers and to make way for commercial plantations such as palm oil.
-
I- Quite obviously here is an image of the United Kingdom. But what if I was to say that
between 2001-2017 Indonesia alone lost 24 million hectares of tree cover which is almost
the size of the United Kingdom.
-
A- Currently Indonesia is home to about 50 to 70 million Indigenous people, which is about a
quarter of the country’s population, however deforestation is causing great struggle for these
communities due to the astounding rate of which it is occurring at. For over 11,000 years,
indigenous people have managed the South-East Asian countries however recently they
have largely lost this control.
I- Discriminatory policies and armed conflict is the main reason for this as the Indonesian
government does not fully accept the concept of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples in
Indonesia are increasingly experiencing criminalisation and violence, often related to
investments in indigenous territories
A- In 2002, the Indonesian Government reserved 600,000 hectares of forest for indigenous
communities, but by 2008, that number had dropped to 230,000 hectares.
I- Clearly indigenous people are having very little say regarding their land rights. Many
governments like Indonesia’s are not considering the impact deforestation is having on these
people
-
I: To round off, we wanted to explore why climate change is racist as a general idea.
Statistically speaking, people of colour are far more likely to experience the
catastrophic effects of climate breakdown: flooding, heat waves, drought, wildfires,
and rising sea levels. This has been the case for some time and will only get worse
as the crisis intensifies.
-
A: There is on average one climate disaster occurring worldwide every week,
according to the UN. And most of those are happening in developing countries like
Indonesia, Columbia and Kenya, often referred to as the global south. And here’s the
real injustice – the people most affected are also much less likely to have contributed
to the problem in the first place.
I: Researchers at Oxfam found that someone in the UK will take just five days to emit
the same carbon as someone in Rwanda does in an entire year. By 12 January of
every year, the average Brit’s emissions will have overtaken the annual per capita
emissions of a further six African countries: Malawi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Madagascar,
Guinea and Burkina Faso.
A: Why is this happening? Corporations and governments in the global north, have
long been (and continue to be) responsible for people of colour paying the price for
the climate emergency. This inequality is down to racism going back hundreds of
years. Many countries in the global south have long histories of colonial rule, during
which their resources, land and labour were stolen by European colonisers. Thriving
societies and economies across South America, Africa and Asia were reshaped to
benefit European empires.
I: The legacies of colonialism are still alive and well today. Global trade systems are
set up to favour western countries, and multinational corporations continue to exploit
people and the environment in the global south through extractive industries like
mining and fast fashion. This exploitation leaves countries in the global south less
able to deal with climate disasters when they happen. They have worse
infrastructure, weaker economies and are often unable to borrow the money needed
to deal with the climate crisis.
A: In 2017 the Carbon Majors Report identified 100 companies that had contributed
to 71% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. Unsurprisingly, most of
these companies are run for the profit of shareholders in the global north.
Colonialism was motivated by the desire to exploit the global south’s people and
natural resources irrespective of damage caused to people’s lives or the
environment. Corporations and governments are continuing to do this today.
-
I: This is a graph that shows ethnic inequality across the world. And this is a graph
that shows areas at most risk due to climate change. There is a strong correlation
between the continent of Africa on both maps, highlighting that Africa has the most
ethnic inequality, and is also at the highest risk to climate change. Europe is at little
risk to climate change and also has less ethnic diversity. If you look at specific
countries that are dark on this map, they are also dark on the other map. For
example, Afghanistan on both maps is dark. The same with Burma. Clearly, there is
some sort of link with ethnic inequality and climate change.
-
A: The six most vulnerable places in the world to the impacts of climate change are
Lagos Nigeria- with it’s rapidly expanding population and rising sea levels
Haiti- with extreme vulnerability to hurricanes
Yemen- with war, water shortage, famine and malaria
Manila- with earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and especially hurricanes
Kiribati- with rising sea levels that could wipe them off the map entirely
UAE- with extreme water stress
I: When you look at all of these photos, what is the common theme between all of
these people? They are all people of colour. These are the people paying for the
mistakes of the global north. In the West, we are not acting quick enough because it
isn’t affecting us, and we will only take enough action when it is the white west
affected. But how can we continue the way we are, knowing that these are the
people that are suffering as a consequence?
-
A: What is to be done? While people of colour in the global south are at the frontline
of climate-related impacts, they are also the first to resist environmental destruction.
Supporting environmental defenders who are people of colour is a really effective
way to stop the unequal impacts of climate change. For example, Indigenous
Peoples live on about one-quarter of the world’s land – home to 80% of the world’s
remaining biodiversity, showing that Indigenous knowledge is a crucial defence
against environmental crises like climate change.
I: For thousands of years, people of colour have lived in harmony with nature, by
practising sustainable farming, and effective fire and waste management techniques
– solutions which are often more friendly to the planet than industrial fixes.
People of colour hold answers to many of the problems of climate change, so we
should make sure that they are given the resources and freedom to implement these
solutions!
I: Fundamentally though, we can’t win the fight against climate chaos without dealing
with racism. We must call on governments and corporations to tackle the climate
emergency urgently – and in doing so, help to correct ingrained racial inequalities to
create better, more equal societies.
-
A: We hope that you learnt something today, and gained a new perspective on the
climate disaster that we are facing.
I: It is very evident that in order to obtain environmental justice, we must also fight for
racial justice. Thank you for listening.