Hurricane Katrina seemed to awake America to the relationship between climate change and social justice. Katrina, fueled by the warm Gulf, devastated mainly black and low-income populations that couldn't avoid harm's way. It should be understood that environmental justice crises are happening across the world in developing countries, with much more extreme effects than in poorer areas of the US, but for the sake of this class, I am sticking specifically to environmental justice as it pertains to the US.

Here in Asheville, we rarely have hurricanes, but climate change will still negatively impact low-income and minority populations disproportionately. We are not exempt from the "climate justice" issue. In the South, climate change is expected to bring us more extreme summer heat waves and winter floods. Human health implications include heat-related illness and mortality, mold-triggered respiratory ailments and possibly increased West Nile virus. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, hotter temperatures likely will increase urban smog levels and rural wildfires, triggering asthma attacks in those areas. Low-income and minority populations will bear the brunt of those human health consequences, mainly because they tend to have limited access to health insurance. The video below shows how Camden, NJ residents are affected by the pollution caused by neighboring cities, a case study of a phenomena that is happening in poorer and minority areas all around our country.

Heat waves are of particular concern to low-income and minority residents, who tend to lack air-conditioning, live in higher crime areas (where doors and windows remain closed for security reasons, cutting air circulation) and congregate in highly urbanized neighborhoods (where temperatures usually exceed surrounding areas because of the "urban heat island" effect). One study by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation showed that under extreme heat wave situations black populations were twice as likely as white populations to die from the heat wave.

But at least summer heat waves are predictable. Floods and wildfires are not. Unfortunately, low-income populations are less mobile, often lack access to warning systems (like the Internet) or don't understand English warnings, making them more susceptible to catastrophe. Low-income populations also tend to lack adequate property or homeowners insurance, making wildfire and flood damage that much more devastating. As proved in Katrina, poor communities don't have the resources necessary to bounce back from natural disasters.

Another environmental issue affecting poorer citizens is climate change. It could cause price increases for various necessities. In the summer, shrinking water supply combined with higher water demand (residential and agricultural) could increase summer water rates. Electricity rates could go up, as we are highly dependent on hydropower for electricity. Food prices could increase as irrigation costs rise and farms suffer global warming-induced drought, wildfire and pest damage. All those scenarios will have a disproportionate impact on low-income populations.

The ironic part about climate justice is this: Low-income populations are hit the hardest by climate change, yet they contribute the least to climate change on a per-capita basis. Lower-income populations generally have smaller carbon footprints than higher-income populations as they (usually) buy fewer goods, own smaller homes and drive and fly fewer miles. A recent Congressional Black Caucus Foundation study showed that black populations nationwide contributed about 20 percent less in carbon-dioxide emissions per-capita than white populations. How has this escaped the public's notice? I watch and read the news regularly and haven't heard of even one story that suggested issues like environmental justice were on the media's agenda as issues that needed salience.

The problem for this issue, as well as every single other issue I've blogged about this semester, is that there is no easy fix. Added onto that, there isn't even a feasible solution for anytime in the near future. There are articles galore on how wrong it is that minorities and poor are suffering from higher pollution and toxicity levels than the more well-off citizens, but nobody seems to be able to come up with a working solution. The best plan I could find is called the Plan EJ 2012, and is recommended by the United State's Environmental Protection Agency. A verrrry long summary of their plan can be found here http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/resources/policy/plan-ej-2014/plan-ej-overview.pdf.

Again, plans like this are not likely to take any serious root or effect without funding and support by both the media and the public's agendas. Since this issue does not seem to be as pressing to many people as issues such as poverty, education, stopping violence, etc. plans to stop pollution of areas that mainstream society does not even has to see, I am hesitant to believe any changes will happen soon. I fear this issue is going to have to get much much worse before it gets any mainstream attention.