Why Diversity

People’s Climate March, New York City, 2014

Climate change affects people of all races and classes, but in the United States, people of color are disproportionately impacted:

  • More than 72% of African Americans live in counties that exceed federal air pollution standards, compared to 58% of Whites (Lyon & Madrid, 2011).

  • African Americans are exposed to 38% higher levels of nitrogen oxide outdoor air pollution compared to White people (Clark, Millet, & Marshall, 2014).

  • African Americans are more likely to live in places with more dangerously hot temperatures (above 105 degrees Fahrenheit) and are twice as likely to die from dangerous heat compared to other groups ((Morello-Frosch et al., 2009).

  • Latinos are three times more likely to die from asthma than other racial or ethnic groups in the United States. (Hennelly, 2014).

People of color are more worried about climate change:

  • 69% of Latinos and 57% of African Americans say that they are alarmed or concerned about climate change compared to 49% of Whites (Ballew & Maibach et al., 2020).

  • More than one in three Latinos (37%) and African Americans (36%) say they would “definitely” or “probably” join a campaign fighting climate change, compared to about one in five Whites (22%) (Ballew & Maibach et al., 2020).

Diversity brings strategic advantages to environmental organizations:

  • Diversity helps environmental organizations appear more connected to communities

  • Increase creativity

  • Bring in additional fundraising networks

  • Increases productivity

  • Creates a more genuine meritocracy

  • Produces better management-employee relations (Beasley, 2017)

Diversity benefits the environmental movement:

  • Diversity helps attack environmental problems from multiple perspectives

  • Increases focus on environmental justice

  • Helps brand the movement by making it appear more heterogeneous

  • Increases support for the movement by widening its constituents (Beasley, 2017)

  • Lack of diversity is a brain drain, leading to talented people leaving organizations and the environmental movement when they feel that they are “undervalued, unappreciated, burned out, and pressured to conform to organizational cultures that do not allow them to be who they are or do their best work” (Park, 2007, p. 42).

The climate movement needs a broad coalition to be successful:

  • People of color are projected to make up more than 50% of the U.S. population by 2045 (Frey, 2018).

  • Communities most affected by climate change are also the source of solutions needed by communities that will be affected in the future.

  • People of color bring essential skills to the fight on climate change, including understanding of non-White cultures, indigenous knowledge of land and wildlife, and cultural resources such as art and spirituality.

  • A more diverse and inclusive climate movement is a stronger one that can mobilize people in numbers needed to win politically and socially.

References

Ballew, M. T., Maibach, E., Kotcher, J., Bergquist, P., Rosenthal, S., Marlon, J., & Leiserowitz, A. (2020, April 16). Which racial/ethnic groups care most about climate change? Climate Note. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/race-and-climate-change/

Beasley, M. (2017). Beyond diversity: A roadmap to building an inclusive organization. Green 2.0. https://www.diversegreen.org/beyond-diversity/

Clark, L. P., Millet, D. B., & Marshall, J. D. (2014). National patterns in environmental injustice and inequality: Outdoor NO2 air pollution in the United States.” PLOS ONE, 9(4), e94431. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094431

Cox, B. (2018, March 13). Environmental racism has left black Americans three times more likely to die from pollution. Quartz. https://qz.com/december-jobs-report-wage-growth-unemployment-down-1849958010

Moms Clean Air Force. (2019, September). Climate Change in the African American Community. https://www.momscleanairforce.org/resources/climate-change-in-the-african-american-community/

Frey, W. H. (2018, March 14). The US will become ‘minority white’ in 2045, Census projects. Brookings.   https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/14/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045-census-projects/

Hennelly, L. (2014, April 22). Why Latinos are disproportionately affected by asthma, and what we can do. Environmental Defense Fund.   https://www.edf.org/blog/2014/04/22/why-latinos-are-disproportionately-affected-asthma-and-what-we-can-do

Hoerner, J. A. & Robinson, N. (2008). A climate of change: African Americans, global warming, and a just climate policy for the US. Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, 1, 1-59. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8001.003.0008

Lyon, S., & Madrid, J. (2011, May 3). Fighting asthma and cleaning up our air. The Grio. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2011/05/03/9630/fighting-asthma-and-cleaning-up-our-air/

Morello-Frosch, R., Pastor, M., Sadd, J., & Shonkoff, S. (2009). The climate gap: Inequalities in how climate change hurts Americans & how to close the gap. University of Southern California. http://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/sites/242/docs/ClimateGapReport_full_report_web.pdf.

Park, A. (2007). Mission critical: A new framework for diversity and environmental progress. In E. Enderle (Ed.), Diversity and the future of the U.S. environmental movement (pp. 35-49). Yale School of the Environment Publication Series. https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/fes-pubs/1/

Patnaik, A., Son, J., Feng, A., & Ade, C. (2020, August 15). Racial disparities and climate change. Princeton Student Climate Initiative. https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/8/15/racial-disparities-and-climate-change

Tessum, C. W., Paolella, D. A., Chambliss, S. E., Apte, J. S., Hill, J. D., & Marshall, J. D. (2021). PM2.5 polluters disproportionately and systemically affect people of color in the United States. Science Advances, 7(18). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf4491

U.S. Census Bureau. (2021). QuickFacts. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045221