“Climate change is happening now and to all of us. No country or community is immune,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “And, as is always the case, the poor and vulnerable are the first to suffer and the worst hit.”
Of course, climate change affects everyone, but it disproportionately affects minority and low-income communities in the United States. These communities are often least able to prepare for, or recover from, heat waves, poor air quality, flooding, and other impacts, according to EPA administrator Michael S. Regan. Race is —even more than class -- the number one indicator for the location of toxic facilities in this country hit by climate change.
You might want to watch an extremely effective video (released in 2017 by ProPublica) on this subject, detailing our history of environmental justice.
This section, CLIMATE JUSTICE, explores “the climate crisis through a human rights lens”, emphasizing the need for climate justice to be recognized as an integral part of the fight against climate change. In order to create long lasting change to support the environment for future generations, we need to accept environmental injustice in our country as a significant part of the problem.
“Insist on a shift from a discourse on greenhouse gases and melting ice caps into a civil rights movement with the people and communities most vulnerable to climate impacts at its heart,” said Mary Robinson who is no stranger in the world of politics and human rights.
CREDIT: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
