Graphic by Karina Wu ’22
By Catelyn Fitzgerald ’23
Environmental Reporter
Climate change is a global issue, seeping through every layer of the living world and impacting ecosystems across the Earth. Despite its universality, the burdens of climate change fall disproportionately on communities of color.
Scientific studies have found that Black Americans are more likely than their white counterparts to be exposed to pollutants that have long-term negative health impacts. According to a 2008 study in the National Health and Nutrition Examination, Black and Mexican Americans are exposed in higher concentrations to harmful pollutants than white Americans. A study by the EPA National Center for Environmental Assessment found that Black Americans are also exposed to higher levels of particulate matter than white Americans, and that the disparities in exposure between Black and white people is more significant than the disparities based on poverty status.
Hazardous waste dumps across the country are more likely to be located in communities with high minority populations. A study conducted by the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice found that three out of every five Black and Hispanic Americans live in communities where uncontrolled toxic waste sites are present. This is a result of the intentional and unintentional neglect of communities with high minority populations. The lack of representation of people of color in town governments, which make decisions regarding zoning, waste management, and environmental concerns, leads to the neglect of these communities. Low land costs also lead to the placement of dumping sites in communities of color.
Many efforts to build dumping sites and waste facilities in communities of color have been fought against by their residents, sometimes with success. Dr. Olivia Aguilar, director of Mount Holyoke’s Miller Worley Center for the Environment, points to the case of a group of high school students in Baltimore who were able to bring the construction of a waste incarcerator in their community to a halt by protesting and enlisting the help of nonprofits. This win is not a common outcome, however, as these communities often lack “the political efficacy to do this with their resources,” Dr. Aguilar said.
An ever-growing body of scientific knowledge is finding that Black communities are hit the hardest by the effects of climate change and pollution. This aligns with a heightened concern about climate change among people of color. Research conducted by Yale and George Mason Universities measured how the prioritization of environmental issues varies across race, finding that 57 percent of Black respondents were alarmed or concerned about climate change as opposed to 49 percent of white respondents.
Despite the higher levels of concern about climate change among people of color, there is a lack of diversity in many environmental careers.
Data collected by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System found that just under 3 percent of environmental science degrees from colleges and universities across the country were awarded to Black students. According to Green 2.0, a group that promotes inclusivity in environmental science, environmental NGOs also lack diversity, with 73 percent of full-time staff at the top 40 NGOs in America being white.
The disparity between those most affected by climate change and those making decisions to solve it can be explained by the systematic barriers present in education as well as general racial inequality. The lack of diversity in environmental science education is “something that the field has been working on for at least the past decade,” Dr. Aguilar said. According to Dr. Aguilar, the environmental field is “narrowly defined by predominantly white and middle-class values” making it less than welcoming to the experiences and ideas of people of color. Even when working in the field, people of color struggle to be heard, she added.
Progress has been made in the field, Dr. Aguilar said, through the use of social media for “spreading awareness and bringing attention to the kind of environmental work being done by people of color.” Minority voices can be heard with “more representation and more strength in numbers,” which is achieved when “people of color in the field are able to find each other and build a community.” At the Miller Worley Center for the Environment, their everyday work aims to portray that the field of environmental studies is for everyone, and equity and inclusion are key values of the Center. “My hope is that all of our programming attracts people of color as well as others,” Dr. Aguilar said. “I firmly believe that there is no sustainable way of living without justice and there is no real justice without a sustainable way of living.”
The Miller Worley Center strives to make all students feel welcome to their programs, but it must be acknowledged that they currently lack programs specifically meant to get students of color involved in environmental studies.