The Undeniable Connection Between Climate Change and Environmental Justice

Climate disasters often pose the greatest risk to poorer communities

The national discussion about climate change has taken on new urgency in 2021. In just the first half of the year, the Biden administration has rejoined the Paris Agreement, committed to aggressive new carbon emissions goals, and included several climate-related initiatives in a pending infrastructure package. Simultaneously, the U.S. has straddled the line between protecting oil and gas industries while ramping up climate change policy. All of this action – the good and the bad – communicates a clear message – climate change is an existential threat to us all.

However, this point of view lacks some very necessary nuance. While it’s certain that everyone everywhere should treat climate change like the global emergency that it is, there should also be greater acknowledgment that not everyone is being, or will be, affected in the same ways.

In 2018, a federal report assembled by 300 government and private sector experts showed that low-income communities would bear the brunt of climate change-related disasters. This is largely due to existing inequities. Poor communities are already overexposed to hazardous environmental conditions and have a harder time recovering after severe weather events. Climate change only stands to exacerbate these issues, resulting in worsened health and disconnection from city centers and their resources.

For proof of this, look back no further than Hurricane Maria, one of the deadliest storms to hit the U.S. in recent memory. Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, taking lives, destroying homes, schools, and hospitals, and dismantling the local economy. The damage was so devastating that many on the island are still recovering, almost four years later. But perhaps what’s most troubling about Hurricane Maria – and most indicative of the link between climate change and environmental justice – is the reaction from Puerto Rico’s wealthiest and poorest residents.

Those with means fled or tapped into their financial reserves to rebuild. Poor families, on the other hand, had to wait for federal relief payouts, which have been consistently and critically underfunded.

This discordance perfectly illustrates why climate change policies and initiatives must also address environmental justice. While it’s true that climate disasters don’t discriminate, often striking communities across the socioeconomic spectrum (as was the case when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston in 2017), the disparities arise in the recovery. If we continue to treat climate change as an equal threat to all, we fail to address the unique needs of poor communities. We enable and uphold a system in which the wealthy can bounce back with ease while the poor lose their livelihoods.

Thus, climate change and environmental justice are not mutually exclusive. As a nation, and even as part of a global coalition, we cannot address environmental justice without acknowledging climate change and vice versa. And we must stop thinking of climate change as a single issue when its effects stretch into so many other categories.

We can’t only dream of a future powered by wind and solar; we must also create a future in which everyone has an equal chance of survival.

Recovering and rebuilding can’t be reserved for a privileged few.

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Chappell, Carmin. (November 26, 2018). Climate change in the US will hurt poor people the most, according to a bombshell federal report. Retrieved from: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/26/climate-change-will-hurt-poor-people-the-most-federal-report.html

Acevedo, Nicole. (September 20, 2020). Puerto Rico sees more pain and little progress three years after Hurricane Maria. Retrieved from: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-rico-sees-more-pain-little-progress-three-years-after-n1240513

McCarthy, Joe. (February 19, 2020). Why Climate Change and Poverty Are Inextricably Linked. Retrieved from: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/climate-change-is-connected-to-poverty/

Hispanic Federation. (2019).  Almost Two Years After Hurricane Maria Devastated Puerto Rico, Funds and Support Needed from Congress and the Federal Government Are still Lacking While Government Drowns in Debt Repayment. Retrieved from: https://hispanicfederation.org/media/press_releases/almost_two_years_after_hurricane_maria_devastated_puerto_rico_funds_and_support_needed_from_congress_and_the_federal_government_are_still_lacking_while_government_drowns_in_debt_repayment/

Turkewitz, Julie and Burch, Audra D. S. (August 31, 2017). Storm With ‘No Boundaries’ Took Aim at Rich and Poor Alike. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/us/hurricane-harvey-houston-homes-flooded.html