What is environmental and climate justice?

What is environmental and climate justice?

When some people think of environmentalism or climate change, they might envision protecting endangered species, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and a warming planet.

These are all critically important aspects in the fight to protect our planet, but here at CREDO, we go a few steps further.

Instead of just considering the effects on the physical environment, we understand that a changing climate has a disproportionate impact on communities of color, low-income people and other marginalized communities here in the United States and across the world.

Because climate change causes drought, extreme weather, and flooding that can lead to famine, forced migration and even armed conflict, the first communities to feel the effects of a changing climate are the world’s most vulnerable.

Here in the United States, communities of color and low-income communities are also the hardest hit by climate change and the fossil fuel industry’s relentless exploitation of natural resources.

Take, for example, recent hurricanes in the Gulf, whose strengths were intensified by a changing climate, that destroyed homes and displaced tens of thousands of low-income people and people of color. Or the toxic coal, oil and gas plants and infrastructure projects that pollute our air and water and cause disproportionate adverse health effects on vulnerable communities.

That’s why our activism to slow climate change and protect the environment always considers the racial and economic impact on marginalized communities. And it’s why we’ve donated more than $19 million to progressive organizations fighting for climate justice.

If you’d like to learn more about our climate justice activism and take action, please visit credoaction.com.

Join CREDO in the Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice march on September 8. Learn more.