Can we solve the climate crisis without confronting global inequities?
A recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA found that white residents in the USA produce more climate pollution than black or hispanic residents, but black and hispanic people are exposed to more air pollution.
And that is just the USA! Think about the global inequities in the "haves" and the "have nots".
And how are we going to lift people out of poverty without making the climate crisis even worse?
If you are a resident in a wealthy country, is it your responsibility to address both problems at once? And what would that look like in terms of national and international policy?
Environmental Justice >
holding company's accountable for environmental damages
We need to start holding companies accountable for damages they've made to the environment like cleaning up their own oil spill, deforestation, fires caused by the compony and so on. So far, a majority of them who do cause these problems NEED to take care of the problem by helping the aftermath and reflecting on what caused it and how they can prevent it in the future. They should check that equipment is safe and in working condition, there are no present and possible danger to us people and the environment and so on.
I think this is especially important in light of the recent oil spill off the California coast. Companies are continually making risky and sometimes devastating decisions for the sake of profit. Without holding out on companies' profits or major incentive changes we won't be able to help to stop their threats to the environment. One way is to move away from oil dependency as a nation by switching to renewable energy, as well as putting into place harsher laws and repercussions when devastating accidents do occur.