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 >
Environmental Justice
I believe we as people who live on earth need to care more about our involvement in making decisions for all humanity and take positive actions to produce environmental justice for everyone, not just only for a few people's benefits. A good example to support my reasoning would be from an article/writing by Joe Romm called "5 quotes from Teddy Roosevelt That Exemplify What It Means To Be A Progressive" this shows President Roosevelt uttered words in his famous speech "The New Nationalism." In his speech, Roosevelt said "Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even better land for our descendants than it is for us, and training them into a better race to inhabit the land and pass it on. Conservation is a great moral issue for it involves the patriotic duty of ensuring the safety and continuance of the nation." Personally, these words show me the importance of environmental justice and how to be a good progressive figure.