Written by Thea Elmsley
Intersectional Environmentalism is the idea that climate justice and racial justice are completely inseparable--neither one is achievable without the other. This more inclusive version of environmentalism involves protecting both planet and people, with the acknowledgement that the injustices that are happening on the earth are directly impacting marginalised communities the most. Basically, Intersectional Environmentalism is the most effective way to combat climate injustice as it encourages the meaningful involvement of every single person on the planet, especially those who are regularly left out of the conversation.
There are a number of ways in which people of colour are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis and also prevailing environmental policies. Dr Benjamin Chavis first coined the phrase ‘environmental racism’ during his research in the 1980s, looking at the correlation between racial demographics and toxic waste locations[1]. Forty years on, in the United States, 55% of people who live within 3 kilometres of hazardous waste facilities are people of colour[2]. Furthermore, in 2012 the NAACP released the Coal Blooded study showing that communities of colour are likely to breathe in 40% more polluted air than white communities across the United States[3]. They have aptly stated that in America:
“Race is the number one indicator for the placement of toxic facilities” [4]
Inequalities in Climate Change Vulnerability
One of the most obvious visual demonstrations of climate change is the vast increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. In a classic tale of bitter irony, it is often the communities that contribute the most to climate change that are least affected by these events and their economic consequences. Smaller communities that produce little to no damaging emissions are often at the front line of weather disasters. Indigenous communities and communities of colour are disproportionally affected by freak weather accidents, especially in smaller societies that directly rely on the farming industry and therefore struggle to economically recover after their land is destroyed. The case of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, a cyclone that caused over $125 billion damage and over 1,200 deaths, involved an incredibly slow and ineffective response from the United States Federal Government[5]. Many African Americans in the New Orleans area, where the hurricane hit, were impoverished due to the local prevailing structural racism. As a consequence, many of the places they were made to live in were unsafe and made them incredibly vulnerable to the floodwaters. The US government’s negligence in maintaining infrastructure and the poor execution of evacuation plans explicitly show how racial discrimination played a huge part in the vulnerabilities and lack of protection of the African American New Orleans community. In a national poll following the disaster, the strong racial component of the tragedy was acknowledged, with over 66% African Americans voting that “the government’s response to the situation would have been faster if most of the victims had been white”[6]. As environmental disasters continue to increase due to climate change, it’s vital to consider how race comes into play when governments deal with these events in the future.
Racism Issues in the Fast Fashion Industry
In the last couple of years, fast fashion has really started to be called out for the mess that it is. The fast fashion industry is the second-largest polluter in the world, closely following the oil industry. But what people are less aware of is that fast fashion is ultimately a race issue. Around the world, only an estimated 2% of fashion workers are paid a proper living wage and of the 74 million textile workers worldwide, 80% of them are women of colour[7]. According to Oxfam, it takes on average 4 days for a major fashion CEO, usually male and white, to earn a garment worker’s entire lifetime income[8]. Activist collective Fashion Revolution spoke out about the colonised frameworks of the fashion industry, writing that
“large fashion houses operate just as colonisers by creating wealth through occupying space, taking resources, exploiting cultures, people, knowledge and communities on various levels for their own disproportionate gains”[9].
What’s more, in the last couple of weeks the Black Lives Matter movement has finally reached the forefront of everyone’s consciousness following the tragic death of George Floyd. However, many fast fashion companies are using it as a media opportunity to ‘show solidarity’ with the black community by creating performative content without acknowledging the prevailing racism within their own companies. Terribly unsustainable brands such as Nasty Gal, Urban Outfitters, boohoo.com and Forever21 have committed tokenism on social media, showing shallow support for black lives whilst allowing their entire brand infrastructure to be built on the exploitation of people of colour.
How Can we Achieve Intersectional Environmentalism?
So now we know all about how intertwined the battles for racial and climate justice are, what steps can be taken in order to champion Intersectional Environmentalism? At a grassroots political level, it is important to try and challenge violations of environmental policies happening in vulnerable communities. Follow platforms such as the Sunrise Movement (@sunrisemvmt) and Climate Justice Alliance (@cjaourpower) to point you in the direction of vital petitions to sign and information about politicians and non-profit organisations who are trying to combat environmental injustices. If you haven't yet, now is truly the time to boycott fast fashion brands and instead research black-owned sustainable fashion brands such as Maison Archives London (@maisonarchiveslondon) and vintage store BMUSE (@shopbmuse). Finally, it’s also worth checking out and following the work of young climate activists of colour who are equally as impressive as Greta Thunberg. Xiye Bastida (@xiyebeara) is an 18-year-old member of the indigenous Mexican Otomi-Toltec nation and won the Spirit of the United Nations Award 2018. Isra Hirsi (@israhirsi) is a 17-year-old black Muslim activist and you can watch her in action in her TedX Talk Angry Black Girl on YouTube[10]. These lists are small, so I hope that after reading this you can expand them and continue the pursuit of Intersectional Environmentalism!
References
[1] Dr Benjamin Chavis, Toxic Waste and Race in the United States of America, (the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice: 1987)
[2] Phil Brown, Toxic Exposures, (Columbia University Press, New York: 2007)
[3] NAACP, Coal Blooded, http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2012/11/26/coal-blooded/, Date Accessed 23rd June 2020
[4] NAACP, Environmental and Climate Justice, https://www.naacp.org/issues/environmental-justice/, Date Accessed 23rd June 2020
[5] Pew Research Centre, Remembering Katrina: Wide Racial Divide over Government’s Response, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/08/27/remembering-katrina-wide-racial-divide-over-governments-response/, Date Accessed 24th June 2020
[6] ibid
[7] Fashion Revolution, Do you know how much garment workers really make?, https://www.fashionrevolution.org/usa-blog/how-much-garment-workers-really-make/, Date Accessed 24th June 2020
[8] Quartz, https://qz.com/1186813/top-fashion-ceos-earn-a-garment-workers-lifetime-pay-in-just-four-days-oxfam-says/, 24th June 2020
[9] Fashion Revolution, https://www.fashionrevolution.org, 24th June 2020
[10] Isra Hirsi, Angry Black Girl TedX, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHvH6ArQV4o, Date Accessed 24th June 2020