In the United States, the effects of climate change are overwhelmingly concentrated in communities of color. The lasting implications of segregation and redlining mean that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) are more likely to live near freeways, oil and gas drilling sites, and other pollutants, and their communities have higher rates of air pollution. Resultantly, BIPOC experience more chronic diseases such as asthma and lung disease. Environmental harms such as the Dakota Access Pipeline, which cuts across Indigenous land, and the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, are stark examples of the danger that already befalls Americans of color due to climate change and pollution. The continuing climate crisis will only exacerbate this ruin. On an international scale, climate refugees are set to become the largest class of refugees on the planet as climate change progresses.
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As climate change reduces resource availablity and increases the prevalence of natural disasters worldwide, existing inequities are being exacerbated. When a climate change-induced hurricane destroys schools in underserved communities, or when water scarcity means that residents must walk for miles every day to collect clean water, women and girls are the first to be impacted. Girls' educations are sacrificed. As food security declines, many agricultural workers will be forced to move to other fields to support their families; women are likely to be exploited or be forced into dangerous jobs such as prostitution. Women who are already marginalized face danger and oppression due to the rapidly changing conditions of the planet; as we battle climate change, we must keep in mind the vitality of this fight for women and girls across the world.
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Climate change is an issue of classism. As with the racial and gender issues, the implications of climate change will be most devastating for those with the fewest resources. It is an issue that is driven by corporations and wealthy individuals who use their influence to demand a lack of regulations in favor of their own profits; time and time again, the powerful prioritize the success of their capital at the lofty expense of subordinate communities. The consequences of changing climate will leave the poor behind. Who is it that can afford to move out of seaside communities? Who is it that can afford medical care for pollution-related chronic disease? Who will be most impacted by job loss and rising prices of resources? Ultimately, climate change will allow the wealthy to become even more so while everyone else is left to struggle. It will exacerbate class differences. It is more than simply a campaign to save the turtles--it is a campaign for the very survival of so many across the Earth.
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