The RACE Report - Reflections
Written by Alex Irwin, Trustee
The impacts of climate change are not borne equally. People of colour in the Global South are those who will be most affected by climate change even though people in the Global South have done little to cause it. In the past 12 months we have seen snowstorms in India, devastating floods in Pakistan, cyclones in Mozambique. In many instances the impacts of climate change have been most damaging to countries which are still affected by the legacy of racism and oppression following colonialism.
Even in the Global North there are numerous examples of the climate change disproportionately affecting people of colour. Both Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Harvey caused more damage in predominantly black neighbourhoods. Climate activist Elizabeth Yeampierre explains that “You cannot say that with Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans the loss of lives was simply because there was an extreme weather event. The loss of life comes from a legacy of neglect and racism.” People of colour are also more likely to be negatively affected by air pollution, with the first person to have air pollution listed as a cause of death in the UK was a person of colour.
Following the murder of George Flloyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, the links between racial inequality and climate change has rightly become a prominent part of the conversation around climate justice. It has been increasingly recognised that meaningful solutions to the climate crisis must address systemic racism. A UN expert recently stated “There can be no meaningful solution to the global climate and ecological crisis without addressing systemic racism, and particularly the historic and contemporary racial legacies of colonialism and slavery”.
However, there are real challenges, for a start the environment and conservation sector is one of the least diverse in the UK and many organisations in the sector have been criticised for a lack of diversity. One of the actions 2050 Climate Group has taken is signing up to the RACE Report which seeks to speed up the diversification of the environmental sector and to accelerate climate justice by driving transparency within organisations. We are also committing to giving more training on power structures, race and climate justice to our staff, volunteers and trustees.
2050 Climate Group x The RACE Report
As we at 2050 Climate Group seek to empower young people we are committed to ensuring that the voices of young people in marginalised communities are amplified and that we equip young people from all backgrounds, abilities, ethnicity and gender with the skills they need to become climate leaders. Racial equality needs to be at the heart of climate activism and we need to make sure that we listen to the voices of people of colour - not just because people of colour are bearing the worst of climate change now, but also because diversity leads to better decision making and there are big decisions to be made in order to find the right solutions to tackle climate change.
We aspire to lead the way in making the environmental sector more diverse, accessible and welcoming to groups that have traditionally been excluded by implementing a human rights based approach to our work and learning to be actively anti-racist.
Further Reading
If you want to learn more about the links between race and climate change the following resources may be helpful:
Books
The Intersectional Environmentalist by Green Girl Leah
Not that Radical by Michaela Loach
There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous & Black Communities by Ingrid R. G. Waldron
Consumed: The Need For Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate and Consumerism by Aja Barber
A Bigger Picture: My Fight To Bring a New African Voice To The Climate Crisis by Vanessa Nakate
Podcasts:
Yikes Podcast
Hot Take Podcast
Articles: