Climate Change and Equity
September 4th, 2008 by Dan Lavoie
This post was written by Chione Flegal, a PolicyLink Senior Associate working to ensure public investments promote social, economic, and environmental equality.
We hear about climate change all the time now. The Olympics have gone green. Car commercials tout their MPG rating the way they used to tout heated seats. And even a Texas oilman is going on TV to promote clean energy.
But don’t be fooled. Just because “being green” has entered the mainstream doesn’t mean that climate change affects us all equally — or that the 
costs and benefits of addressing climate change will be shared fairly. In fact, while we all lose if climate change advances unabated, some of us risk losing a whole lot more. Similarly, how we address climate change has the potential to create clear winners and losers.
A recent report published by the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC) notes that African Americans have 19 percent lower carbon emissions per capita than Anglos. This is striking considering that African Americans already spend an estimated 25% greater share of their income on energy than the national average. Unfortunately, while African Americans may contribute less to climate change, African Americans, and other people of color and low-income people will bear the lion’s share of the costs associated with a warming planet. Increased exposure to toxic air pollutants, economic hardships related to rising fuel costs, and heat-related deaths are just the beginning of the many climate hardships that these communities will face.
In fact, these communities are ALREADY experiencing many of these problems. One study found that 80 percent of Latinos and 65 percent of African Americans live in areas that fail to meet federal EPA air quality standards, as compared to 57 percent of whites. Not surprisingly this has huge health impacts. According to researchers, Latinos, African Americans and Asians in California’s South Coast Air District, have a lifetime cancer risk from exposure to ambient air toxics, that is nearly 50 percent higher than the cancer risk for Anglos.
The solutions we use to address climate change will profoundly impact people of color and low-income communities. In fact, in many ways, these communities will serve as a measure of how effective our solutions really are. As we continue to debate the question of how to address climate change, we must reframe our thinking. Fundamentally, climate change is not simply another environmental problem. Climate change is an equity problem. Only by viewing it in these terms can we develop climate policy that serves us all.
For more information on climate change as an equity issue, please see the new PolicyLink report, “Understanding Climate Change: An Equitable Framework”
Tags: climate change, environment, equity, global warming, green
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Good morning Mrs. Flegal-Valeri,
I do appreciate your astute observations regarding the equity issues that develop as a result the impacts of Global Warming, Climate Change and Racially influenced health disparities. I, essentially, agree with the main tenets of your proposition. However, I do not think it is as compelling as it should be to the general public. I hesitate to generalize here but if I may I think Americans are so isolated in various cultures of capitalism that they simply remain oblivious to equity issues until an economic or environmental disaster occurs.
It is important to note that the research you cite does get out to the public. I have coauthored a couple papers that may serve as a reference for you and your readers. Here is the link: http://www.jointcenter.org/climate/. The title of the paper is “Global Warming and African Americans: The Fierce Urgency of Now.” Also my colleagues, Tom Athanasiou and Paul Baer, at EcoEquity (http://www.ecoequity.org/) have highlighted the equity issues to broaden the discussion on international scale.
More to the point I think you have highlighted key issues that focus on the race and class analysis that somehow falls within the void that the “traditional environmental groups” seem to overlook. That analysis is as important as any recommendations are generated by the “the Enviros.”
Somehow we need to bridge the gap and make the links between poor in the US and the Global South.
Please keep up the good work and find ways to provide access to useful data sources for the public.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Ms. Flegel makes very good points which are backed by other studies and data. I hope more people in the environmental field learn that people of color are not only the “front line” victims of of climate change and pollution but are also often the ones that pay a greater amount for there remedy. We need to find progressive ways to solve environmental issues. I hope Ms Flegel and others like her are the ones that policy makers go to when they develop laws or programs to address our environmental problems.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
How great that Policy Link is looking at this issue. I completely agree with Chione’s observations. I’m also very proud to see a Latina representing on the AB 32 EJ advisory committee. Please use this powerful platform to advance positive equitable solutions for La Raza in the context of climate policy. Write the Latino version of the report and keep our community informed! Hermana, please keep in mind that many great reports like this are written but if you can’t turn science into popular consciousness and public policy, then nothing will change at all.
-Rafa
September 12th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Is there a reason why the order in which each racial group of color is listed is switched, though the following quote is nearly verbatim of the EHP study?
This entry wrote:
‘According to researchers, Latinos, African Americans and Asians in California’s South Coast Air District, have a lifetime cancer risk from exposure to ambient air toxics, that is nearly 50 percent higher than the cancer risk for Anglos.’
But the EHP research wrote on page 151:
‘Asians, African Americans, and Latinos have the highest population cancer risk estimates, with risks nearly 50% higher than that for for Anglos.’
In an article that already barely notes Asian Pacific Americans (and there are tremendous populations of APAs in LA!), it’s disappointing to see reference of APAs relegated to the end of listing as well.
APA communities deal with problems as well, and are a part of the national community. And are also people of color– who are systematically underprivileged and discriminated against as well– albeit in different ways.
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
This is a social equity of environment