Nexus Media - Phil Newell*
Marginalized groups are acutely threatened by rising temperatures.
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| Source: Pexels |
Intersectionality
is a big word with a simple meaning: social, economic and political
issues are all connected. Climate change is emblematic of this truth.
Though it’s usually regarded as a technological or scientific issue,
climate change’s
disproportionate impact on minority communities makes it an issue of
racial inequality. The fact that those who have the fewest resources are the least capable of rebuilding after a disaster renders it an issue of
economic inequality. Climate change also disproportionately hurts
women, people with
disabilities, the
elderly and the
very young.
Furthermore, widespread discrimination mars efforts to study the rise
in temperature and advocate for solutions. Dealing with climate change
means dealing with inequality and intolerance.
Prejudice undermines science
Last month, Nexus Media
reported
on a study that found that in the years after Barack Obama took office,
white Americans were less likely to see climate change as a serious
problem. The finding held even after controlling for partisanship,
ideology, education, church attendance and employment. The study further
noted a link between racial resentment and climate change denial. While
this research leaves many questions unanswered, its findings accord
with the experience of many people of color who work on climate change.
Dr. Marshall Shepherd, the second African-American President of the American Meteorological Society (AMS),
recounted in
Forbes how
fellow scientists
critical of his work “channeled their disagreement into direct or
subtle insults involving my race or credentials.” As Shepherd noted,
racially charged attacks are not only a form of harassment, they are
distract from the substance of scientific research. Further, such
attacks discourage capable young people of color from joining the ranks
of climate scientists and meteorologists at precisely the moment when
their talents are needed most. Currently, just
2 percent of AMS members are African-American. Even fewer are Hispanic or Native American.
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| Marshall Shepherd. Source: Wingate Downs/University of Georgia |
A lack of diversity undermines advocacy
Like scientific bodies, large environmental groups are guilty of a
lack of diversity.
These organizations are largely bereft of the talents and perspectives
of people of color. For years, advocates have focused on threats to
polar bears while ignoring the more immediate and disturbing threats
that air pollution and climate change pose to marginalized communities.
African-American children, for example, die from asthma attacks at
ten times the rate of their white peers, and yet Americans are
more likely to see climate change as an environmental issue than a public health issue.
University of Michigan sociologist Dorceta Taylor explained how green groups should address this disparity in a recent
interview
with Yale360. “One of the things they should be doing is stop being so
afraid of people of color, and meet them, interact with them, cultivate
them, and start recruiting them,” she said. “If all the people I talked
to, and knew, and interacted with were black, no one would take me
particularly seriously — I have to engage multi-culturally.”
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| Dorceta Taylor. Source: University of Michigan |
Xenophobia obscures the suffering of climate refugees
It is impossible to ignore the allegations of
drugging,
water contamination, and
physical and mental abuse of children at the hands of the American government. The separation of immigrant families will likely have long-term
psychological ramifications on these children. This is a crisis of humanity and, like most everything else, it too has a climate connection.
One of the
tent cities
erected to house children in Texas has faced temperatures upwards of
100 degrees F, offering little respite for the imprisoned. Many of those
immigrants are coming from the
Dry Corridor of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, where the climate change
fueled both drought and deluge,
wreaking havoc on subsistence farmers. Combined with years of horrific violence
stemming from US policies, climate change is leaving vulnerable populations with little choice but relocation.
As climate change worsens, more and more people will leave their homes to start somewhere new, which is why, as Kate Aronoff of
In These Times recently
argued,
abolishing ICE is good climate policy. As climate change creates more
refugees, Aronoff argues that the just response is compassion, not
militarism, that we should open our arms and our borders to those who
are seeking to escape from an increasingly hostile homeland.
Climate scientist Kate Marvel
wrote in
Scientific American that
adapting
to climate change means learning empathy. “Climate change happens in
the world we build for it,” she explained. “Climate adaptation requires
seawalls and drought-tolerant crops; it also needs institutions, laws,
and the basic ability to recognize humanity in others. We’ll need new
infrastructure and technology, to be sure, but I doubt we can innovate
our way to decency.”
Misogyny and heteronormativity hamper our responses to climate change
Just
as racism and xenophobia impair our ability to respond to climate
change, so do misogyny and heteronormativity. Recently, the former
president of Ireland Mary Robinson
argued
that “climate change is a man-made problem and must have a feminist
solution.” She added, “Feminism doesn’t mean excluding men, it’s about
being more inclusive of women and — in this case — acknowledging the
role they can play in tackling climate change.”
One woman
leading that charge is University of Washington paleoclimatologist Sarah Myhre, who has
written about
the abuse she has faced as a scientist, a systemic problem that
discourages more women from entering the field. “As a student and then a
professional scientist, I have been assaulted, raped, harassed,
demeaned, belittled, and threatened on the job,” she
wrote in
The Stranger.
“That is right. Every single professional gig that you might read on my
CV comes with a litany of backstories of abuse and violence.” Myhre
counts herself among numerous women researching climate change who
regularly face
sexist attacks from climate change deniers.
The LGBTQ+ community also faces prejudice that will
make it difficult
to deal with climate disruption. Gay youth are more likely to be
homeless than straight youth, and they are more likely to see
discrimination at church-run shelters, for example. Ironically, numerous
far-right religious leaders have
blamed homosexuality for natural disasters.
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| Sarah Myhre. Source: UC Davis |
No
issue exists in a vacuum, including climate change. That the issue is
so multifaceted may seem overwhelming, but it is good news for climate
advocates. It means they can fight on more fronts and and with more
allies. That’s a deal they should be happy to take.
*Phil Newell writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture.
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