This week is Black Climate Week, part of Black History Month / #BlackFuturesMonth, and Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) would like to share some facts about Black folks and climate change:
- African American communities are more vulnerable to severe weather and floods. This is a holdover of redlining and housing segregation.
- Polluted air can trigger asthma, putting African Americans at higher risk, since they have an almost three times higher chance of going to the hospital or dying from an asthma attack than whites.
- Environmental justice communities have been led by Black, indigenous and immigrant folks for decades. The communities have always been there, but the story hasn’t been told.
- Climate justice is racial justice, and racial justice is climate justice. It’s communities disproportionately affected (by climate change and inequity) who will understand the problems more holistically and know how to solve them.
ACE builds the power of communities of color and low-income communities in Massachusetts to eradicate environmental racism and classism, create healthy, sustainable communities, and achieve environmental justice.
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