All Hands On Deck
The Parallels Of Pandemic And Climate
This last month has been unlike any we have ever experienced. The COVID-19 crisis has been wrought with high emotions and fear, as well as remarkable human sacrifice.
To all of our healthcare workers, police and fire, grocery employees, construction and waste service employees, a heartfelt thanks goes to you and what you do every day to keep us safe and keep our basic needs met. You are heroes, as are our teachers who have had to figure out new and effective ways to teach remotely, along with anyone who has to go to work every day because you are considered an essential service. We are all indebted to you.
This global health emergency has wreaked havoc on our local businesses, our neighbors’ ability to pay rents or mortgage and the ability for many to retain employment. The effects will be long term and will certainly change all of our lives.
Many fear that as businesses shutter their doors, properties will be purchased by wealthy developers and people of means, potentially leaving hardworking and marginalized Americans behind. The tragedy of this virus is not only the unthinkable amount of lives lost but the overreaching impact to those who financially will not be able to ride out the storm.
On the front lines
Statewide testing data has confirmed that the COVID-19 outbreak is disproportionately affecting communities of color. People of color are often on the front lines, and therefore suffer more medical problems, have less ability to access health care, and have poorer outcomes.
We know this is also true when it comes to the climate crisis. We can think of Flint, Mich. to be reminded of this reality, or of our neighbors here in Denver – in Globeville, Elyria and Swansea living next to I-70. Lower-income communities, especially black, Hispanic and Native Americans, live next to areas with higher rates of pollution. Historically, this has not been by accident.
During this pandemic, stay-at-home orders have resulted in reduced pollution and a return to blue skies in large cities and metropolitan areas around the globe. This is only temporary, but shows us that it is possible to change. It also shows us we must implement smart and thoughtful public policy in order to help communities that are under the greatest risk.
While the country has been overwhelmed by the pandemic, the Trump Administration has wasted no time veering off in a quite different direction – ratcheting up policies that are destructive to the climate. Among its more appalling moves, the administration has lowered fuel economy and emissions for the auto industry. It has also loosened some compliance regulations for other affected businesses and rolled back clean water rules designed to protect us from pollution.
“The agency (EPA) is looking to weaken rules that allow states and Indigenous tribes to deny fossil fuel companies permits when their pipelines, wells, and other projects discharge dangerous chemicals into local water supplies,” noted the Climate Reality Project in April.
Tatiana Schlossberg’s book, Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have, notes “the disproportionate effects of air pollution in the U.S. can be attributed to government-sanctioned discriminatory housing policies, which kept African Americans and other minority groups from living in white neighborhoods, often ensuring that they would be near major roads or industrial facilities.”
The richest 1 percent
Rev. William J. Barber II, a Protestant Minister who re-started Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign, has also focused on inequalities regarding climate change.
The Poor People’s Campaign notes they “recognize the implications of the climate crisis and are clear that the evil of ecological devastation is directly connected to the evils of systemic racism, poverty and inequality, militarism and the war economy, and the distorted moral narrative that prevents us from adequately addressing these issues.”
Specific to Colorado, the organization highlights the following:
• The richest 1 percent of Colorado residents are expected to receive 26 percent of the benefits of the new federal tax law. Their average tax cut in 2027 is expected to be $6,720, while the poorest 20 percent are expected to have to pay $60 more.
• Colorado has spent at least $295 million in public subsidies for corporations over the past five years without doing as much as they could to ensure funds are used to create good green jobs for low income communities.
• 42,389 tons of NOx are annually emitted in Colorado. NOx is a leading cause of respiratory problems.
• 21.9 percent of census tracts in Colorado are at-risk for being unable to afford water.
The organization is conducting a digital nationwide call to action on June 20, designed to ignite people and ensure those most affected by poverty and its interlocking injustices are able to participate fully. (Sign up and join in at poorpeoplescampaign.org)
As we will need all hands on deck to flatten the curve and create a vaccine for COVID-19, we also need those same hands working together to fix this climate emergency, and to level the playing field and correct economic inequalities.
Tracey MacDermott is chair of the board of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. She was trained as a Climate Reality Leader in 2017, and is currently the Statewide Co-Chair of the Climate Reality Project for the 100% Committed Campaign. Contact her at chair@greaterparkhill.org.
Mowing Down Pollution
Charge It, Push A Button, And Go
By Mark Kuhl
For the GPHN
Recycle your gas powered lawn tools this summer during the Regional Air Quality Council’s annual “Mow Down Pollution” event.
The organization provides new cordless mowers and other lawn tools at a deep discount, and encourages you to bring in your old gas powered equipment for a $50-plus rebate. The goal is to remove small gas engines from the Colorado landscape as these machines have a significant impact on air quality – not to mention carbon emissions.
Get your new cordless lawn tools by registering at mowdownpollution.org/residential/ and you’ll be impressed with the power and convenience of these modern lawn tools. It’s a relief to not have to deal with gasoline, oil, flooded spark plugs, and they’re quiet too! Simply charge the battery, push a button and go.
(Note: As of press time, details about this year’s program have not been posted, but the Regional Air Quality’s website promises updates for 2020 will be available soon.)
Mark Kuhl is an environmental advocate who lives in Park Hill. Check out his tips about recycling household items every month in these pages. A directory of his past columns is at greaterparkhill.org/sustainability/recycling-directory/.