This episode of Warm Regards focuses on the intersections, but also the disconnects, between environmental justice and climate justice movements. First, Jacquelyn and Ramesh talk with Dr. Sacoby Wilson about his work with communities throughout the United States who are facing the consequences of environmental racism, and his beliefs that scientists’ publications are not enough to enact meaningful change for communities struggling with environmental injustice. We then shift to a more global frame, speaking with Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò on climate colonialism, and how climate change is inextricably linked with the histories of colonialism, and how we can avoid continuing that legacy in a warming future.
To view a transcript of this episode, see our Medium page:
https://ourwarmregards.medium.com/environmental-justice-and-climate-justice-with-dr-sacoby-wilson-and-dr-dr-ol%C3%BAf%E1%BA%B9%CC%81mi-o-t%C3%A1%C3%ADw%C3%B2-4c9ac0a8587d
Show Notes
Environmental justice factsheet from the University of Michigan:
http://css.umich.edu/factsheets/environmental-justice-factsheet
World Resources Institute report on the largest emitters:
https://www.wri.org/blog/2014/11/6-graphs-explain-world-s-top-10-emitters
Why climate change is an environmental justice issue:
https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/09/22/climate-change-environmental-justice/
What is climate justice?
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/07/what-is-climate-justice/
Climate change is also a racial justice problem:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2020/06/29/climate-change-racism/
The US is the richest country in the world, with the largest wealth gap:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/business/united-states-is-the-richest-country-in-the-world-and-it-has-the-biggest-wealth-gap.html
For more about how the response to Hurricane Katrina caused gentrification in New Orleans:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-12/new-orleans-gentrification-tied-to-hurricane-katrina
We still don’t know how many people died in Hurricane Katrina:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/we-still-dont-know-how-many-people-died-because-of-katrina/
Don’t repeat the mistakes of the Katrina recovery:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/opinion/hurricane-katrina-irma-harvey.html
For more about how communities of color are marginalized in terms of solar power:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solar-powers-benefits-dont-shine-equally-on-everyone/
To read more about Dr. Sacoby WIlson’s work, visit his University of Maryland website:
https://sph.umd.edu/people/sacoby-wilson
Dr. Wilson directs the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health Lab
https://sph.umd.edu/laboratory-resources/community-engagement-environmental-justice-and-health-ceejh
The Lab can also be found on Medium and Twitter:
https://ceejhlab.medium.com
https://twitter.com/ceejhlab
Fumes Across the Fenceline
https://www.naacp.org/climate-justice-resources/fumes-across-fence-line/
Coal Blooded
https://www.naacp.org/climate-justice-resources/coal-blooded/
Toxic Waste and Race (1987)
https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1310/ML13109A339.pdf
Toxic Waste and Race at Twenty
https://www.ucc.org/environmental-ministries/environmental-ministries_toxic-waste-20/
Yessenia Funes's story on Earther
https://earther.gizmodo.com/im-scared-study-links-cancer-alley-air-pollution-to-hi-1843484042
To learn more about Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò and his work, see his website:
http://www.olufemiotaiwo.com
You can also follow him on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/OlufemiOTaiwo
Selected publications by Dr. Táíwò:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/10/10/case-for-climate-reparations-crisis-migration-refugees-inequality/
https://theconversation.com/how-a-green-new-deal-could-exploit-developing-countries-111726
“The Great Climate Migration,” an article by ProPublica and the New York Times, recommended by Dr. Táíwò
https://www.propublica.org/series/the-great-climate-migration