The Climate Crisis, one of our most critical and rapidly devastating global threats. For decades, the impact of climate change has greatly affected all individuals around the world, slowly but surely. Its effects are evident through dozens upon dozens of critical changes and natural disasters around the world. The annual California fires, destroying over 10,000 homes. Millions of acres are burning in Australia. The rapidly rising sea levels with the Arctic slowly disappearing. The list goes on. Each and every disaster has a direct correlation to climate change. However, what many people do not realize is that the Climate Crisis will have a disproportionate effect on minorities all around the world.
Around the globe, minorities are experiencing various different consequences of the current Climate Crisis. Many activists, due to the disproportionate effects of Climate Change, “call environmental racism the new Jim Crow.” In the U.S., people of color are more likely to live near factories and oil refineries, thus being exposed to more air pollution than other communities.
Natural Disasters have occurred more and more frequently, with climate change having a direct correlation. There have been more powerful storms, high wildfire risks, droughts, higher wind speeds, and so much more. Yes, all people will be affected by natural disasters, however, the white and wealthier communities will not face the true terrors of climate change for years later. White communities have actually experienced reinvestment due to natural disasters, thus increasing the wealth they hold. Additionally, lower-income families, especially BIPOC families, struggle with proper insurance coverage for repairs, and their communities tend to have sub-par infrastructure along with a lack of resources. These, and many other variables, make reconstruction and restoration a nearly impossible task.
For regions whose economy is based on agriculture, climate change has had a critical effect on them, the people, and their lifestyles. Communities, ranging from Ghana to Mexico, are experiencing droughts and are unable to obtain water to grow their crops and support their communities. Water quite literally means life to these communities as they utilize it for everything they do in everyday life. The impact that droughts have is detrimental to thousands of lives, thousands of lives that those with privilege never even think of.
Although those of us who live lives of privilege may not see the immediate effects of climate change, others have been experiencing them for years. Our experiences with first-world climate change are incomparable to what the rest of the world has been living through. Learn about the effects of the climate crisis on BIPOC families, low-income families, indigenous communities, third-world countries, farmers, the list goes on. Participate in boycotts for companies that profit off of climate change and/or directly fuel it. Sign petitions and reach out to government officials.
The time to act is now.
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