WEBVTT

00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:02.540
[Music]

00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:04.650
what do you think of when you hear the

00:00:04.650 --> 00:00:07.170
words climate change chances are you

00:00:07.170 --> 00:00:09.389
might think of sad nature somewhere far

00:00:09.389 --> 00:00:12.030
away but climate change also affects

00:00:12.030 --> 00:00:13.769
humans in every corner of the world

00:00:13.769 --> 00:00:15.960
including the corner where you live and

00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:18.390
where I live it impacts the people in

00:00:18.390 --> 00:00:20.670
places we see every day and it will

00:00:20.670 --> 00:00:28.650
impact some of us more than others the

00:00:28.650 --> 00:00:30.960
2017 Atlantic hurricane season was one

00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:32.790
of the most active seasons in history

00:00:32.790 --> 00:00:35.640
with 17 named storms and ten hurricanes

00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:37.980
six of those hurricanes had winds more

00:00:37.980 --> 00:00:40.559
than 110 miles per hour and while it's

00:00:40.559 --> 00:00:42.210
hard to know if any single weather event

00:00:42.210 --> 00:00:44.940
is due to climate change we do know that

00:00:44.940 --> 00:00:46.620
it will make conditions more extreme

00:00:46.620 --> 00:00:48.300
we're seeing what that future could look

00:00:48.300 --> 00:00:51.239
like in Cape Town South Africa there a

00:00:51.239 --> 00:00:53.039
drought has stressed local reservoirs

00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:55.289
leading to water rationing as the city

00:00:55.289 --> 00:00:56.940
prepares for the day when the taps run

00:00:56.940 --> 00:00:59.070
dry and when you take a community that's

00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:01.379
already facing these disparities and add

00:01:01.379 --> 00:01:03.539
in extreme weather caused by climate

00:01:03.539 --> 00:01:05.760
change it can make it even harder for

00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:08.100
those communities to recover not every

00:01:08.100 --> 00:01:09.869
community experiences these climate

00:01:09.869 --> 00:01:11.939
changes in the same way some communities

00:01:11.939 --> 00:01:13.369
have more resources better

00:01:13.369 --> 00:01:15.840
infrastructure or more political capital

00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:18.000
than other communities there's a concept

00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:19.979
to deal with these inequalities it's

00:01:19.979 --> 00:01:22.290
called environmental justice and the

00:01:22.290 --> 00:01:24.450
idea is pretty simple communities

00:01:24.450 --> 00:01:25.650
shouldn't be forced to suffer

00:01:25.650 --> 00:01:27.720
disproportionate environmental effects

00:01:27.720 --> 00:01:29.880
or deal with more pollution than others

00:01:29.880 --> 00:01:31.409
because they belong to a certain race

00:01:31.409 --> 00:01:34.409
national origin or income bracket people

00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:36.329
in wealthy communities often think these

00:01:36.329 --> 00:01:39.150
concerns are far away but even in a

00:01:39.150 --> 00:01:41.189
place like the US where we tend to think

00:01:41.189 --> 00:01:42.720
we're ahead of the curve on protecting

00:01:42.720 --> 00:01:45.000
all people the execution has been spotty

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:46.890
we can still find lots of environmental

00:01:46.890 --> 00:01:49.259
disparities right in our backyard as

00:01:49.259 --> 00:01:51.420
Miami cleaned up after Hurricane Maria

00:01:51.420 --> 00:01:53.340
officials dumped debris next to a

00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:54.840
community with lots of low-income

00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:56.969
residents and people of color definitely

00:01:56.969 --> 00:01:58.860
close enough to see and smell it and in

00:01:58.860 --> 00:02:01.290
Houston residents who couldn't afford or

00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:01.760
work

00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:03.680
physically able to evacuate before

00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:05.690
hurricane Harvey had no choice but to

00:02:05.690 --> 00:02:07.610
stay behind as the city flooded Porto

00:02:07.610 --> 00:02:09.619
Rico has faced budget shortages and a

00:02:09.619 --> 00:02:11.540
lack of infrastructure for decades and

00:02:11.540 --> 00:02:13.760
after a spate of hurricanes residents

00:02:13.760 --> 00:02:15.560
there had trouble finding clean drinking

00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:17.690
water and large portions of the island

00:02:17.690 --> 00:02:19.460
remained without electricity for months

00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:21.920
it's more than extreme individual events

00:02:21.920 --> 00:02:24.530
in many places days that were already

00:02:24.530 --> 00:02:26.450
hot are getting even hotter and there

00:02:26.450 --> 00:02:28.430
are more of them this heat can be

00:02:28.430 --> 00:02:29.960
especially deadly in homes without

00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:32.420
air-conditioning for example the heat

00:02:32.420 --> 00:02:34.880
index inside public housing in Harlem

00:02:34.880 --> 00:02:37.100
stays dangerously elevated overnight

00:02:37.100 --> 00:02:39.800
even when it cools off outside and as

00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:41.480
climate change brings the average

00:02:41.480 --> 00:02:44.090
temperature up systemic inequalities

00:02:44.090 --> 00:02:46.400
like this will become more obvious it's

00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:48.290
not that the United States hasn't tried

00:02:48.290 --> 00:02:51.380
to fix these problems before the fight

00:02:51.380 --> 00:02:53.060
for environmental justice in the u.s.

00:02:53.060 --> 00:02:55.700
traces its roots to 1982 in Warren

00:02:55.700 --> 00:02:57.709
County North Carolina when residents

00:02:57.709 --> 00:03:00.020
mounted mass demonstrations against a

00:03:00.020 --> 00:03:02.150
plan to put contaminated soil in a

00:03:02.150 --> 00:03:04.640
nearby landfill the US Environmental

00:03:04.640 --> 00:03:07.250
Protection Agency or EPA found that

00:03:07.250 --> 00:03:09.020
similar landfills in southern states

00:03:09.020 --> 00:03:11.390
were all located in black or low-income

00:03:11.390 --> 00:03:13.790
neighborhoods several years later a

00:03:13.790 --> 00:03:15.680
report found this was a pattern around

00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:18.170
the country hazardous waste facilities

00:03:18.170 --> 00:03:19.670
were more likely to be located in

00:03:19.670 --> 00:03:22.340
minority communities the proof was

00:03:22.340 --> 00:03:25.670
undeniable so in 1992 President George

00:03:25.670 --> 00:03:27.739
HW Bush found at the office of

00:03:27.739 --> 00:03:30.800
environmental justice inside the EPA two

00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:32.510
years later Bill Clinton signed an

00:03:32.510 --> 00:03:34.160
executive order that told federal

00:03:34.160 --> 00:03:35.600
agencies to consider environmental

00:03:35.600 --> 00:03:38.300
justice in all policies and effectively

00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:40.250
included environmental protections under

00:03:40.250 --> 00:03:42.320
civil rights law sounds like things were

00:03:42.320 --> 00:03:44.110
going pretty well right well

00:03:44.110 --> 00:03:46.400
environmental justice policies stalled

00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:48.890
when George W Bush shifted the focus of

00:03:48.890 --> 00:03:51.019
the office of environmental justice from

00:03:51.019 --> 00:03:52.459
protecting low-income and minority

00:03:52.459 --> 00:03:55.250
communities to protecting all people

00:03:55.250 --> 00:03:57.950
that sounds good but in practice it

00:03:57.950 --> 00:04:00.200
meant those efforts no longer focused on

00:04:00.200 --> 00:04:01.790
protecting the people who needed it most

00:04:01.790 --> 00:04:04.160
at the same time many environmental

00:04:04.160 --> 00:04:06.019
civil rights claims were delayed for

00:04:06.019 --> 00:04:08.840
years or downright rejected after Barack

00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:09.930
Obama's election

00:04:09.930 --> 00:04:11.640
his administration recommitted to

00:04:11.640 --> 00:04:13.500
environmental justice Democrats

00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:15.299
controlled the House the Senate and

00:04:15.299 --> 00:04:17.880
White House for two years but guess how

00:04:17.880 --> 00:04:19.199
many bills they file to strengthen

00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:21.570
environmental justice protections zero

00:04:21.570 --> 00:04:24.990
today EPA funding itself is under threat

00:04:24.990 --> 00:04:26.850
so these vulnerable communities remain

00:04:26.850 --> 00:04:29.340
at risk it's easy to assume that climate

00:04:29.340 --> 00:04:31.199
change will affect us all equally

00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:33.300
but the truth is that communities all

00:04:33.300 --> 00:04:35.340
around us including the one you're in

00:04:35.340 --> 00:04:37.860
may be forced to bear an unequal brunt

00:04:37.860 --> 00:04:40.740
of our changing world if we want to

00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:43.020
change this we have to recognize those

00:04:43.020 --> 00:04:44.820
disparities and engage with those

00:04:44.820 --> 00:04:47.490
communities that way as we find

00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:49.889
solutions everyone has a seat at the

00:04:49.889 --> 00:04:53.099
table thanks for watching hot mess if

00:04:53.099 --> 00:04:54.570
you like what you see please head over

00:04:54.570 --> 00:04:57.060
to our patreon page your support will

00:04:57.060 --> 00:04:59.310
help us make more videos and offset the

00:04:59.310 --> 00:05:01.680
climate impact of those videos and

00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:03.090
you'll get some exclusive stuff while

00:05:03.090 --> 00:05:05.099
you're at it click the patreon button to

00:05:05.099 --> 00:05:07.460
learn more