Environmental racism and why it matters

Environmental racism is the (highly substantiated) idea that environmental risks are allocated disproportionately along the lines of race, often without the input of the affected communities of color.

Here are some articles that helped us dive deeper into this issue:

1. The Guardian on Environmental Racism and Climate Change (Read more about Cancer Alley here)
2. Grist.org on Fracking Waste More Likely to be Located in Poor Communities and Neighborhoods of Color
3. The Atlantic on Trump Administration's EPA Confirming Environmental Racism

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You'll learn that:

• 🏭 When corporations pollute, they often dump their waste in impoverished communities. To this day, big oil companies pollute poor communities in Louisiana. They've literally created a place called Cancer Alley.
  
• ⛏️ Fracking technology has improved greatly over the last decade, which is extra-bad news for communities of color. Oil and gas disposal wells are 2x more likely to be placed in areas with high minority concentrations. Fracking has serious implications for groundwater contamination, air quality, and health, and has outsized effects on minority communities.
  
• 🫀More highly segregated areas suffer higher levels of exposure to particulate matter, which contributes to to several lung conditions, heart attacks, and possible premature death. It's serious, especially for communities of color.
  
• ‍💨 The 2018 EPA report found that race has a stronger effect on exposure to pollutants than poverty. Let that sink in.
  
• 🧪 To top it off: strong racial disparities are suspected in the prevalence of lead poisoning.

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People of color continue to be at risk of the environmental hazards and health burdens. When raising awareness of environmental issues and the overall climate crisis, we must acknowledge the intersection between race and environment.

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Environmental racism continues to perpetuate the disproportionate impacts of many environmental crisis we're facing today—from water access, to toxic waste dumping, to pollution...

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How do we bridge these gaps and start thinking about environmental justice? For the two videos below, we're giving you a choice based on what you need: 1) lighthearted commentary about a specific issue or 2) a broad visualization of environmental justice.

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Option 1: Trevor Noah on The Dakota Access Pipeline

What you do have to know is so many major crises, like this pipeline protest, Flint water poisoning, and even something as natural as Hurricane Katrina have deep roots in environmental justice.

Trevor Noah gives his funny take on it, and if that's what you need right now, watch the video!

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* Woke laughter *

When you're feeling up to it, you can watch Trouble the Water for free. It's a documentary of failures of the government to respond properly to the Hurricane Katrina — failures influenced by environmental racism.

Option 2: Our favorite video explaining environmental justice

We love this video by Grist. It's only 3 minutes long, the visualizations are great, and it distills a complicated concept into understandable terms. Here's the description, straight from Grist:

The harm that comes with rising seas and contaminated water systems isn’t evenly distributed. To the contrary: Those who are already disadvantaged by race, wealth, and income are usually the most affected by environmental disasters. Without recognizing that inequality, we’re not always solving the problems with our water, air, and soil in ways that serve the people who need it most — which is why environmental justice is a critical part of planning a green future that’s good for everyone.

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Watch it here!

You'll see in the video there's a reference to race-based zoning and housing. In the US, this is commonly known as redlining. According to writer Michael Harriot, "almost every calculable form of economic inequality that still exists can be tied to redlining." You've got to check out his Twitter thread on redlining. It changed the way we see American society.

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The following actions focus almost exclusively on questions our Soapbox community members sent in about how to create environmental justice within our communities, and create systemic change.

Here's the thing about humans:

1. We rarely think about where our money goes when we're not using it. Most Americans don't even know the basics of banking.
2. We don't care about local elections even though these have the largest direct impact on our communities.
3. We love trends. We donate based off those trends - but recurring donations are 440% more valuable.

The good news—everything we said above can be solved in baby steps. Here's what you can do:

1) Move money to a different bank
Sophia Wagner, one of Soapbox's community members, is the founder of Mighty Deposits, a bank comparison site to help you find banks that are good for people & the planet according to public data, not ads. She reached out to us saying, "Many of the biggest contributors to fossil fuels and exploitation are the most popular banks in the country. Opening savings/checking accounts with sustainable banks or Black-owned banks can be a really effective way to take action and contribute to systemic change."

We've spent more time on the Mighty Deposits website than we'd like to admit. Here are some amazing things about it:

• You can see what % of money your bank uses to support the community (spoiler alert: Chase only invests a quarter of its money—YOUR money—in communities)
• You can find banks relevant to your location
• You can choose issues you're interested in!

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We're obsessed with how easy Sophia's making it to shift power from corporations to communities. If you're not ready to switch banks today, just start with something as simple as opening an account!

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2) Understand and VOTE on local policy

One of our readers asked "how to participate in environmental reform in your city." It really comes down to understanding what the heck is going on in your city in the first place. Our founder, Nivi, used to live in San Francisco, and she began understanding how important local politics were when she dialed into weekly Chamber of Commerce meetings. Nivi got to weigh in on things like marijuana legislation and safe injection sites.
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Here's a general approach:

• Follow your city leaders on platforms like Twitter.
• Participate in whichever department or committee is in charge of environmental policy. Get on their mailing list.
• Keep up with updates from your local news publication!

If you're looking for a tool that shows you what bills might be coming up for a vote, check out ProPublica's database of environmental protection bills and this search tool by GovTrack. Bookmark them so you can come back to them during eleciton season.

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3) Donate! (Make it recurring!)

Finally, a few of you asked about where to donate. We're plugging The Human Utility. Your donation will literally be helping people get access to water in cities like Detroit and Baltimore. It's a real shame that people in the US are going without WATER, but you can chip in as little as $5 a month to help them with their water bill. This is what direct impact looks like.

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Creating systemic change can seem like a daunting task, but know that taking those baby steps can have ripple effects.

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Before we go any further, it's time for you to pledge your commitment. It takes less than 30 seconds to pledge and we can bother you about it in a friendly way, so we can hold each other accountable. Pledge here!

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🎯 Action step 4 of 4: REFLECT — what can you commit to? What fresh perspectives can we look at?

When corporations pollute, they often dump their waste in impoverished communities. To this day, big oil companies pollute poor communities in Louisiana. They even created a place called Cancer Alley.

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Of course, these communities are not only impoverished—they're racially segregated. Previously we discussed how redlining and housing discrimination play a huge part in environmental and systemic racism. Knowing what you know now, we want you to reflect on this article NBC put out: "In 'Cancer Alley,' a renewed focus on systemic racism is too late."

Here's the lowdown:

• ☣️ Cancer Alley has gone from plantations to petrochemicals. Reserve, Louisiana, one of the places in Cancer Alley, used to be home to a sugar refinery when the land was comprised of plantations. Now, it's home to the densest concentration of petrochemical plants in the country. It's also now a predominantly Black community.
  
• 🏠 It's not just about income. It's about race. Black Americans are twice as likely to be exposed to air pollution and more likely to be exposed to the most toxic pollution. Even African Americans with higher incomes are exposed to more toxic air than white Americans with lower incomes.
  
• 💊 Cancer Alley's got hella COVID, and it disproportionately affects its majority-Black population. The parish where Reserve is located has recorded one of the highest death rates from COVID-19 in the entire state, and at one point the whole country. Black Americans are dying from COVID-19 at more than double the rate of white, Latino and Asian Americans. If Black Americans were dying at the same rate as white Americans, at least 14,400 people would still be alive, the research calculated.
  
• ⚖️ This is how injustices compound. Air pollution and COVID-19 are clearly linked. According to Harvard researchers, long-term exposure to air pollution increases vulnerability to experiencing the most severe COVID-19 outcomes.
  
• 🏛️ The government's response worsens the environment people of color live in. "Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would allow major construction projects such as fossil fuel infrastructure and highways — projects that disproportionately impact communities of color — to bypass environmental protections."
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When combatting climate change, we can make the most change by tackling the most affected areas. In the US, that's often communities of color.

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‍🏁 Checkpoint: This is the end of action step 4 of 4: REFLECT.

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Check out our membership community for more resources like free weekly events with social justice experts, sustainable product discounts, pre-written email templates, a social impact job board, and in-person hangouts with new friends. Thanks for taking action with Soapbox Project!