WEBVTT

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♪ (music) ♪

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<i>What do you think of when you hear
the words climate change?</i>

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<i>Chances are you might think
of sad nature somewhere far away,</i>

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<i>but climate change also affects
humans in every corner of the world,</i>

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including the corner where you live
and where I live.

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It impacts the people
and places we see every day,

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and it will impact some of us
more than others.

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♪ (drum beat music) ♪

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<i>The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season</i>

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<i>was one of the most active
seasons in history,</i>

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<i>with 17 named storms and 10 hurricanes.</i>

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<i>Six of those hurricanes had winds
of more than 110 miles per hour,</i>

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and while it's hard to know
if any single weather event

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is due to climate change,

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we do know
that it will make conditions more extreme.

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<i>We're seeing
what that future could look like</i>

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<i>in Cape Town, South Africa.</i>

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<i>There, a drought
has stressed local reservoirs,</i>

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<i>leading to water rationing</i>

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<i>as the city prepares for the day 
when the taps run dry.</i>

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<i>And when you take a community
that's already facing these disparities</i>

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<i>and add in extreme weather
caused by climate change,</i>

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<i>it can make it even harder
for those communities to recover.</i>

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<i>Not every community
experiences these climate changes</i>

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<i>in the same way.</i>

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<i>Some communities have more resources,
better infrastructure</i>

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<i>or more political capital
than other communities.</i>

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<i>There's a concept
to deal with these inequalities.</i>

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<i>It's called</i> environmental justice.

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And the idea is pretty simple.

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Communities shouldn't be forced to suffer

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disproportionate environmental effects,

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or deal with more pollution than others
because they belong to a certain race,

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national origin or income bracket.

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People in wealthy communities
often think these concerns are far away.

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<i>But even in a place like the US,
where we tend to think</i>

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<i>we're ahead of the curve
on protecting all people,</i>

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<i>the execution has been spotty.</i>

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<i>We can still find lots of environmental
disparities right in our back yard.</i>

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<i>As Miami cleaned up after Hurricane Maria,</i>

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<i>officials dumped debris
next to a community</i>

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<i>with lots of low-income residents
and people of color.</i>

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<i>Definitely close enough
to see and smell it.</i>

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<i>And in Houston,
residents who couldn't afford</i>

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<i>or weren't physically able to evacuate
before hurricane Harvey,</i>

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<i>had no choice but to stay behind
as the city flooded.</i>

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<i>Puerto Rico has faced budget shortages</i>

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<i>and a lack of infrastructure for decades.</i>

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<i>And after a spate of hurricanes,</i>

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<i>residents there had trouble
finding clean drinking water,</i>

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<i>and large portions of the island
remained without electricity for months.</i>

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<i>It's more than extreme individual events.</i>

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<i>In many places, days that were
already hot, are getting even hotter,</i>

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<i>and there are more of them.</i>

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<i>This heat can be especially deadly
in homes without air-conditioning.</i>

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<i>For example,the heat index
inside public housing in Harlem</i>

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<i>stays dangerously elevated overnight,</i>

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<i>even when it cools off outside.</i>

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<i>And as climate change
brings the average temperature up,</i>

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<i>systemic inequalities like this
will become more obvious.</i>

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It's not that the United States
hasn't tried to fix

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these problems before.

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<i>The fight for environmental justice
in the US</i>

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<i>traces its roots to 1982
in Warren County, North Carolina,</i>

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<i>when residents mounted mass demonstrations</i>

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<i>against a plan to put contaminated soil
in a nearby landfill.</i>

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<i>The US Environmental Protection Agency,
or EPA,</i>

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<i>found that similar landfills
in Southern states</i>

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<i>were all located in black
or low-income neighborhoods.</i>

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<i>Several years later, a report found
this was a pattern around the country.</i>

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<i>Hazardous waste facilities</i>

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<i>were more likely to be located
in minority communities.</i>

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<i>The proof was undeniable,</i>

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<i>so in 1992, President George H. W. Bush</i>

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<i>founded the Office
of Environmental Justice inside the EPA.</i>

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<i>Two years later,
Bill Clinton signed an executive order</i>

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<i>that told federal agencies to consider
environmental justice in all policies,</i>

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<i>and effectively included
environmental protections</i>

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<i>under civil rights law.</i>

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It sounds like things
were going pretty well, right?

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Well, environmental justice policies
stalled

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<i>when George W. Bush shifted the focus</i>

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<i>of the Office of Environmental Justice</i>

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<i>from protecting low-income
and minority communities</i>

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<i>to protecting all people.</i>

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That sounds good, but in practice,

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it meant those efforts no longer focused

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on protecting the people
who needed it most.

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<i>At the same time,
many environmental civil rights claims</i>

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<i>were delayed for years
or downright rejected.</i>

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<i>After Barack Obama's election,</i>

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<i>his administration recommitted
to environmental justice.</i>

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<i>Democrats controlled
the House, the Senate,</i>

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<i>and White House for two years,</i>

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but guess how many bills they filed
to strengthen

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environmental justice protections?

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Zero.

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Today, EPA funding itself is under threat,

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so these vulnerable communities remain

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at risk. It's easy to assume 
that climate change

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will affect us all equally,

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but the truth is that communities

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all around us including the one you're in,

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may be forced to bear an unequal brunt

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of our changing world. If we want

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to change this, we have to recognize

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those disparities and engage 
with those communities.

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That way, as we find solutions,

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everyone has a seat at the table.

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Thanks for watching Hot Mess.

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[Music]