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 >
The rich and wealthy
6
I think that sustainability can come naturally to those who can't go around tossing money down the drain. I find families with less money tend to use items that would otherwise go in the garbage or find creative solutions that don't involve buying more products. For example: reusing Ziploc bags, using plastic bags as garbage bags, using bread bags to store food in the fridge, keeping plastic takeout cutlery and containers and unused condiment packets. I can't imagine most of the ultra-rich do this as well.
I definitely agree with this, I think being in the upper middle class, I don't tend to see the luxuries of having unlimited supplies of single use practice but having that never ending supply makes reusing it seem not necessary which causes me to use more. I think it hard to get this through the upper classes head, the thought of finding alternate uses for what they see as "garbage" would probably go against their lifestyle which most have been taught their entire lives.