Ignoring climate change and how air pollution disproportionately impacts communities of color is risky business.
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People of color in America are more likely to appear on the news as victims of police brutality, but they face an equally severe problem when it comes to existing on the planet that isn’t typically covered in the mainstream: the damage being done to their lung tissue due to the disproportionate amount of smog/polluted air in low-income communities.
And while it may seem that little can be done to stop the attacks to black and brown bodies by police officers – outside of having them wear body cameras and passing a police brutality zero tolerance law – when it comes to solving smog and addressing their quality of life, communities of color have multiple weapons to defend themselves, most notably their votes, voices and visions.
Votes
Low-income communities populated primarily by people of color should form a powerful constituency by uniting block-by-block and electing climate-literate candidates who can do more than just speak to the issue of air pollution and how its accelerating climate change, but can develop econological solutions that slows down the warming and creates revenue that’ll let tax-payers off the hook for repairs to infrastructure caused by weather disasters.
Voices
Communities of color should apply the same rigor to speaking out about environmental racism as they do when addressing stop-and-frisk, what they perceive to be black-on-black crime and the downright horrid conditions of their schools.
Visions
Communities of color, which more often that not are food deserts, need a tangible plan to create walk-able communities that reduce the need for residents to drive or utilize public transpiration – which decrease emissions – to access basic amenities like supermarkets, banks and gyms.
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this week sent governments a final draft of its 127 page synthesis report, which used the word risk 351 times. The report didn’t reveal any new groundbreaking information, instead reiterated that climate change is man-made and it’s no joke.
According to The Huffington Post, Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann wrote the following in an email:
“If there is one take home point of this report it is this: We have to act now.”
There are many issues, from climate change to police brutality, which need to be addressed immediately.
A debate shouldn’t ensue about which problem to solve first, instead I recommend communities of color take a full assessment of the talent and resources within their neighborhoods and begin to implement easy solutions, including but not limiting to biking instead of driving, recycling instead of littering, investing dollars instead of spending and engaging politics instead of dismissing it.
The world belongs to the impact players, are you game?
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
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Photo: AP/David J. Phillip