Last month, Syria announced its agreement to sign the Paris climate accords (COP21), making the United States the only country in the world to reject the treaty. The United States has the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions of any country, yet Trump and other Republican politicians refuse to act, rejecting evidence from the scientific community concerning the reality and severity of climate change. But Trump’s decision is about more than abandoning polar bears and coral reefs; Trump’s climate change denial is a matter of racism.
Perhaps when we’re all underwater without breathable air Republican officials will recognize the legitimacy of climate change. For now, however it is the poorest communities and the poorest countries in the world – those in which minority populations are particularly concentrated – that will bear the burden of the environmental degradation encouraged and created by U.S. inaction.
While sea level rise is caused mainly by the greenhouse gas emissions of large, western, industrialized countries like the U.S., small developing island nations are those that feel its impact most immediately. In the Pacific, in fact, five of the islands of the Solomon Islands are already entirely submerged.
The Maldives, a tropical island nation in the Indian Ocean, is the first country expected to be entirely flooded. Indeed, for many, the question is no longer if but when these islands will be wholly submerged (some scientists say within the next 30 years, and general consensus confirms that they will be gone within the century). Composed of over one thousand coral islands, the Maldives is the world’s lowest-elevation country, with an average elevation of four feet above sea level and a high point of only eight feet. The government of the Maldives has announced their intention to buy islands from India or Australia and relocate their entire population. This plan is yet to be realized, and the Maldives are failing to beat back rising tides. Many of its citizens are soon to become climate refugees, most likely seeking asylum in neighboring India, already the most densely populated country in the world.
In the United States, the racist undertones of continued unsustainable practices are just as apparent. Polluting factories, power plants, and landfills are disproportionately located in poor minority communities, and cause severe health problems. They are the reason black and Hispanic populations in America have the highest rates of asthma. Poorer areas also cannot afford to update their water pipes, and a person of color in the U.S. is twice as likely to suffer from lead poisoning than a white person. Lack of government intervention on these issues is clear. For the last three years, for example, the city of Flint, Michigan – an impoverished city with a 57% African American population – has not had safe drinking water.
Devastating certain U.S. coastlines, hurricanes also have significantly different impacts on different communities. Major international scientific studies have concluded that climate change will precipitate future hurricanes of higher intensities (and has already begun to do so, as evidenced by 2017’s extreme hurricane season) as warmer ocean temperatures allow storms to grow unchecked. When Hurricane Irma hit in September 2017, responses from different communities in South Florida were worlds apart. This part of the country is used to being pummeled by storms and has developed solutions such as hurricane-proof windows, built-in generators, or constructing homes on artificial hills away from storm surges. These innovations, however, require money and time, and thus exclude all populations that cannot afford them.
While most of Miami was bracing itself for apocalyptic conditions, in Liberty City (a predominantly African American area of Miami where half of the population lives below the federal poverty level) only one in five homes put up shutters or another form of storm protection. Generators and window glass replacements were out of the question as well as, in many cases, pieces of plywood to cover windows. Many in South Florida could not afford to stock up on food and water, as was recommended. In areas told to evacuate, healthy and accessible shelters were not provided for those without cars or who couldn’t afford enough gas to drive through traffic for hours to places away from the threat of catastrophe. Miami’s wealthy were scared but prepared; they could ride the storm out. Just miles away, Liberty City was left to hope for the best, unable to prepare for the worst. Research suggests that this is a widespread phenomenon: while wealthier individuals have the resources to move away from natural disaster-prone areas, many poorer people are unable to do so. This effectively establishes a population that is disproportionately poor and concentrated with minorities.
Because of racist socioeconomic conditions, natural disasters serve to widen the gap between rich and poor, as impoverished communities of color are less able to adapt and to rebuild. The current American administration’s refusal to cut greenhouse gas emissions is exacerbating these inequities. Trump’s withdrawal from COP21 makes sense if we consider that it is not him who has the most to lose from inaction, but rather economically disadvantaged populations of color. Tragically, the actions of today’s administration are not hard to predict, as they come in response to a simple question: “How will I profit?”