Climate change disproportionality effects black and low-income communities

Environmental racism refers to the unequal access to a clean environment and basic environmental resources based on race. Communities of color are disproportionately victimized by environmental hazards and are far more likely to live in areas with heavy pollution. People of color are more likely to die of environmental causes, and who live close to hazardous waste are people of color. Some activists call environmental racism as it subjects communities of color to inequitable living conditions. This goes back to beliefs initially perpetuated by the institution of slavery when enslaved Africans were considered “disposable” because they were sent to work in conditions deemed too dangerous for white workers. The authorities in the United States, as well as the institutions in place, often treat areas that are home to minority residents as of less value than wealthy and predominantly white neighborhoods. The burdens of pollution, toxic waste, and poisoned resources are not distributed equally across society.

is a social justice movement that seeks to dismantle the flawed environmental policies that have long harmed low-income communities and communities of color, and instead pursue policy and development that work to create a sustainable, cooperative, and equitable future for the environment. It rests on the principle that everyone has a right to a clean and healthy environment, and the environmental justice movement strives to attain that. It also seeks to remedy the ills of environmental racism and to give everyone a liveable future. This movement initially began in the late 1980s, when a report was published () that proved communities of color were subject to environmental degradation and dangerous pollution. 

Annually, the United States Oil and Gas Industry releases about tons of methane gas and other toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. African American and low-income communities are disproportionately affected by air pollution in the United States. For example, more than one million African Americans live within a half-mile of natural gas facilities, over one million African Americans face a “cancer risk above EPA’s level of concern” due to unclean air, and more than 6.7 million African Americans live in the 91 US counties with oil refineries. In total, African Americans are 75% more likely than White people to live in “fence-line” communities (areas near commercial facilities that produce noise, odor, traffic, or emissions that directly affect the population). Additionally, exposure to poor air quality can cause numerous health problems such as asthma. Approximately 13.4% of African American children suffer from asthma as compared to only 7.3% of White children. 

Government response to concerns over air quality is also vastly different between communities of different races and ethnicities. October 2015 to February 2016, the affluent, suburban Los Angeles neighborhood of Porter Ranch experienced the worst reported methane leak in the United States.” Porter Ranch is a predominantly White neighborhood with house prices in the $400,000 range and above. Shortly after the leak, a state of emergency was declared and over 4,000 homes were evacuated. Additionally, the city of Los Angeles ordered the gas company to provide temporary housing for the evacuated individuals. On the other hand, Jefferson Park, a neighborhood in south Los Angeles, is located near an oil drilling site and contains a population that is over 90% African American or Latinx. “The AllenCo drilling site in Jefferson Park...was finally closed in 2013” after EPA officials became sick after investigating the site. However, since the site's opening in 2010 up until its closing, 251 complaints have been filed to the South Coast Air Quality Management by community members. In response, only 15 citations were filed by the agency against AllenCo.