Download Climate Justice Workshop Objectives • Review the function of

Climate Justice Workshop
Objectives
• Review the function of greenhouse gases and how they make the earth warmer.
• Learn the ways that humans contribute to the amount of greenhouse gases in our
atmosphere.
• Learn about how climate change disproportionately impacts minority communities
Materials:
• Scrap paper for islands
• Articles (students should have their copies, one copy of each in facilitator folder)
• Projector/computer to show poem
Key Term:
Climate Injustice: Climate injustice refers to the uneven contribution to and effects of climate
change. It is often said that those that have contributed the least to the problem are affected the
most. This is not only in reference to the developed versus developing world slip, but also to the
within and among sub-national units.
Environmental Injustice: “Environmental injustice, often in the form of environmental racism,
occurs when local governments or companies build environmentally detrimental infrastructure in
minority communities. Environmental injustice also refers to the failure of providing the necessary
resources (like healthy food) in minority or low- income communities which hurts their ability to live
healthy lives.
Frontline Communities: Communities that face the biggest risks such low-income, racial minorities,
indigenous communities and youth.
Developed countries: Wealthier countries, average resident enjoys a high living standards
Developing countries: Poorer countries, living standards for average resident is low.
Climate Change 101 (4:33) 7 minutes
Review the science behind climate change with Bill Nye the Science Guy. Click on Climate Change
101 . (Optional)
Processing:
• What did you think of that video?
• Do you think it did a good job at explaining the science of climate change? Why or why not?
• Do you guys have any questions about the science of climate change?
• Why do you think some people still deny climate change?
Segue: Tell participants “climate change is a global crisis, but does it impact everyone in the same
way?” Allow participants to comment
Islands (25 min.)
1. Procedure (10 min):
2. Divide participants into two groups.
3. Within each group, explain that the newsprint is an island and assign one group to be group
A and the other group to be group B
4. Tell the participants that the entire group must stand on their island so that no body part
touches the sea. Tell students that you will read statements that can be either beneficial or
harmful to their group. This will be the basis for losing or not, part of their land.
5. In a brown bag or envelope hand Group A --- and Group B ---. Tell students that with the
resources in their bag they may be able to buy pieces of “land” for their group.
Facilitator note:
-Group A should be smaller than group b
-Group A represents global north and should have a bigger island to begin with
-Group B represents the global south
-Have the number of students in mind when deciding the size of the land
Processing:
1. What do you think of this activity?
2. What do you think your groups represented?
3. What do you think was the purpose of this activity?
4. How does this activity contrast with the lilypads activity?
Main Activity 2: The Ism in Climate ( 30 minutes)
Procedure:
1. Break students into 4 groups
2. Assign each group a climate/environmental and isms reading. Tell students they have 20
minutes to review the article and prepare a presentation for the rest of the group that
answers the following questions:
• How is your group impacted disproportionately from other groups?
• What system of oppression makes the climate or environmental burden in your group
disproportionate?
• Define climate/environmental injustice (depending on your case) and propose a how the
government and community groups can work to make justice
Processing
1. Did anything surprise you from your groups article or presentation?
2. What frontline community are you a part of?
Closure: Poem (7 minutes)
Those who are impacted the most, locally and globally, are also the most resilient, and they are
leading the climate justice movement. To close we are going to watch a short video of a climate
activist from the climate frontline community speaking to the last year’s UN climate summit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc_IgE7TBSY
MATERIALS
Main Activity 1: Statements
1. One of the main consequences of global warming is rising sea level. Some 40 percent of the
world's population lives within 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the ocean, putting millions of
lives and billions of dollars' worth of property and infrastructure at risk to rising sea levels.
The world's 52 small island nations lose trillions of dollars annually due to increased
vulnerability. For example, the government of Kiribati, a low-lying islands nation says the
intrusion of salt water caused by rising sea levels has contaminated fresh water supplies and
crop soil, some predict that the country will become uninhabitable in 30 to 60 years. -Group
B lose 2 pieces of land, Group A lose 1 piece of land.
2. In 2014, 50m tonnes of e-waste was generated worldwide. These are electronic
goods...containing toxic substances such as lead and mercury. Once in a landfill, these toxic
materials seep out into the environment, contaminating land, water and the air. Although it
is legal to export discarded goods to poor countries if they can be reused or refurbished,
much is being sent to Africa or Asia under false pretenses, says Interpol. 250,000 tonnes and
1.3m tonnes of used electrical products are shipped out of the EU every year, mostly to west
Africa and Asia. -Both Group B lose a piece of land
3. Long before the existence of scientific evidence, group B has led movements to protect the
environment.
4. Residents of Canada, the United States, and Russia emit more than double the global average
per person. Almost half of emissions come from just from the United States, China,
European Union and Russian Federation.- Group A & B lose a piece of land
5. The Amazon river basin, which covers about 40% of the South American continent is home
to the largest rainforest on earth. The land is being cleared for cattle ranches, mining
operations, logging and sustenance agriculture. 20% of the area has already been destroyed
threatening the livelihood of indigenous people who live there and wildlife in the region
(more than 90 tribes have been destroyed since the 1900s). Some forests are being burnt to
make charcoal to power industrial plants. If nothing is done to protect it, the Amazon
Rainforest may disappear entirely in another 50 years. -Group B lose two pieces of land
6. The Amazon represents more than half of the world’s rainforests. The Amazon Rainforest
produces about 20% of the earth’s oxygen. -Group A lose a piece of land.
7. During the industrial revolution, group A generated and accumulated great wealth but also
fasten carbon emissions. Group B and A lose a piece of land.
Isms Activity Articles:
Group 1:
The South Bronx waterfront which borders Randall’s Island, is lined, in part, with a 5000-ton-perday waste transfer station, a power plant, and the New York Post and Wall Street Journal printing
and distribution centers. Because of its industrial past, the area already has some of the highest
asthma rates in the country, and rates of death from asthma are approximately three times the
national average. It also suffers from elevated obesity rates and is an acknowledged food desert.
At the same time, the South Bronx has gone through two rezonings in the last 20 years to reform
the area from being strictly industrial to more residential, mixed-income, and mixed-use. There is
only one real park in the vicinity, according to Johnson (community resident and activist), St. Mary’s,
and several supposed parks that are all covered in asphalt. There is no shortage of basketball hoops;
they simply blend into the dense urban landscape with little of the relief one expects from a
recreational space.
So they want to move 1,000 diesel trucks to an area already suffering a health crisis?
“So they want to move 1,000 diesel trucks to an area already suffering a health crisis?” said Johnson.
“Where else would that be OK? There’s some environmental racism going on here.”
As of 2010, the South Bronx represented the poorest congressional district in the country, according
to a Center For American Progress breakdown, with 256,544, or 38 percent, of its residents living
below the poverty line. Since then it has been redistricted and is now part of New York’s 15th
Congressional District. The median household income for the district is $25,801 according to the
U.S. Census Bureau. The median household income for the nearby 12th District, which stitches
together the east side of Manhattan with parts of Brooklyn and Queens, has a median income of
$91,628. It includes the current Long Island City-headquarters of FreshDirect.
Johnson worries that another major storm could cause a local electricity substation to fail and leave
vulnerable people without power in many of the area’s large public housing edifices. The waterfront
exists in flood zones 1 and 2 according to FEMA maps, and flooded substantially during
SuperStorm Sandy.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/09/3574768/battle-for-new-york-green-space/
Group 2:
(December 2012) Like many rural women worldwide, Leucadia spends hours each day hauling water
for her family to drink and wash, as well as for their livestock and crops. The glaciers that used to
provide generous amounts of clean water to Bolivian mountain communities have shrunk
dramatically over the past 20 years, and Leucadia now must collect water farther away, reports the
United Nations Population Fund in a publication that tells her story.1
Studies have shown that women disproportionately suffer the impacts of disasters, severe weather
events, and climate change because of cultural norms and the inequitable distribution of roles,
resources, and power, especially in developing countries.
Poverty and Limited Education Are Barriers - Women make up the majority of the world's poor
and are more dependent than men on natural resources for their livelihoods and survival. Women
tend to have lower incomes and are more likely to be economically dependent than men. When
drought or unseasonable rain, for example, threatens agricultural production, men can use their
savings and economic independence to invest in alternative income sources or otherwise adapt. In
times of food scarcity and drought, women will often give priority to their husbands—his nutritional
needs will be met before hers.
Women are also more vulnerable because they have less access to education and information that
would allow them to manage climate-related risks to agriculture and livestock. In India, many
women have considerably less access than men to critical information on weather alerts and
cropping patterns, affecting their capacity to respond effectively to climate variability.3
Childbearing Increases Women's Vulnerability - In much of the world, women are still engaged
in traditional roles as mothers and family caregivers. Men may be able to migrate for economic
opportunities, but women are more likely to remain home to care for children and elderly or sick
family members.
Climate change has a significant impact on securing household water, food, and fuel—activities that
usually are the responsibility of women and girls. In times of drought and erratic rainfall, women and
girls must walk farther and spend more of their time collecting water and fuel. Girls may have to
drop out of school to help their mothers with these tasks, continuing the cycle of poverty and
inequity. Changing climates also affect the health of crops and livestock, and women, who are often
responsible for producing the food eaten at home, must work harder for less food.
Lack of Power Plays a Role - Lack of independence and decision-making power constrain
women's ability to adapt to climate change. Women often have limited or no control over family
finances and assets. In many communities, women are underrepresented in community politics, and
thus have little influence over community strategies for adapting and over policies that support
women's rights and priorities. Without participation by women, programs to replace traditional
crops with those better suited to the changing environment might focus only on the needs of men's
fields and not address the problems women face with household gardens.
Cultural restrictions on mobility can impede women's access to information and services. In addition,
during extreme weather events, women may not be able to relocate without the consent of a male
relative.
A 2007 study found that, on average, natural disasters kill more women than men and lower the life
expectancy of women more than men. The stronger the disaster, the stronger the impact on the
gender gap in life expectancy. In the Asian tsunami of 2004, survival was much higher among men
than women. This inequity can be attributed to many possible and interrelated causes, but the fact
that this effect is most pronounced where women have lower socioeconomic status and power leads
experts to believe that the causes are more cultural than biological or physiological.5
http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2012/women-vulnerable-climate-change.aspx
Group 3:
Extreme high air temperatures contribute directly to deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory
disease, particularly among elderly people. In the heat wave of summer 2003 in Europe for
example, more than 70 000 excess deaths were recorded..
Pollen and other aeroallergen levels are also higher in extreme heat. These can trigger asthma,
which affects around 300 million people. Ongoing temperature increases are expected to increase
this burden.
Increasingly variable rainfall patterns are likely to affect the supply of fresh water. A lack of safe
water can compromise hygiene and increase the risk of diarrhoeal disease, which kills
approximately 760 000 children aged under 5, every year. In extreme cases, water scarcity leads to
drought and famine. By the late 21st century, climate change is likely to increase the frequency
and intensity of drought at regional and global scale1.
Floods are also increasing in frequency and intensity, and the frequency and intensity of extreme
precipitation is expected to continue to increase throughout the current century1. Floods
contaminate freshwater supplies, heighten the risk of water-borne diseases, and create breeding
grounds for disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes. They also cause drownings and physical
injuries, damage homes and disrupt the supply of medical and health services.
Rising temperatures and variable precipitation are likely to decrease the production of staple
foods in many of the poorest regions. This will increase the prevalence of malnutrition and
undernutrition, which currently cause 3.1 million deaths every year.
Patterns of infection
Malaria is strongly influenced by climate. Transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, malaria kills
almost 600 000 people every year – mainly African children under 5 years old. The Aedes
mosquito vector of dengue is also highly sensitive to climate conditions, andstudies suggest that
climate change is likely to continue to increase exposure to dengue.
Who is at risk?
All populations will be affected by climate change, but some are more vulnerable than others.
People living in small island developing states and other coastal regions, megacities, and
mountainous and polar regions are particularly vulnerable.
Children – in particular, children living in poor countries – are among the most vulnerable to the
resulting health risks and will be exposed longer to the health consequences. The health effects
are also expected to be more severe for elderly people and people with infirmities or pre-existing
medical conditions. Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will
be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs266/en/
Group 4:
WASHINGTON — The contaminated water disaster flowing through one of Michigan’s poorest,
blackest cities is tainted by poverty and racism. Since April 2014, residents of Flint, a city that is
almost 57 percent black and incredibly poor, have been drinking and bathing in water that contains
enough lead to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of “toxic waste.”
Thanks to widespread mismanagement a largely black and brown community now faces the
disproportionate effects of systemic neglect. And to many, Flint’s water crisis fits into a historical
trend of environmental racism in the U.S., which for decades has allowed polluters to prey on
communities of color, in part because of weak environmental regulations.
“There’s a philosophy of government that has been writing these places off — places like Flint get
written off,” Flint’s Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) told The Huffington Post.
The legacy of environmental injustice and racism in the once-thriving city stretches far beyond lead
pipes and discolored tap water.
In 1966, Flint’s automotive industry was booming. Buick City, a 235-acre factory that produced
Buicks for General Motors, churned out thick clouds of smoke, which floated over Flint’s povertystricken, predominantly black North End neighborhood.
At a state Civil Rights Commission hearing on the environmental impact of the plant, which opened
in 1904, North End resident Aliene Butler testified to the horrid conditions residents faced.
“The houses in this district are eaten up by a very heavy deposit, something like rust,” she said.
“You can imagine what we go through down there breathing when this exists on just material things.”
That same year, Buick City dumped 2.2 million gallons of waste per day into the Flint River. The
year before, the eight GM plants around Flint had dumped about 26.5 million gallons of industrial
waste into the river each day.
The city used the Flint River for its water supply until 1967, when it began buying water from
Detroit and treating it with an anti-corrosive agent. A December 1966 EPA study showed that the
water quality in Flint was poor decades before people were talking about lead pipes and poisoning.
It’s both a class and race issue. When you have companies there, they dump everything into
the water and into poor communities.
Carl S. Taylor, a sociology professor at Michigan State University who built a national reputation as
an ethnographer of poor communities, said the pattern had been there for some time.
“It’s both a class and race issue. When you have companies there, they dump everything into the
water and into poor communities,” he told HuffPost. “You can’t go dump it into affluent
communities. They wouldn’t tolerate it on their land.”
“Those large rivers, during the industrial age, particularly manufacturing, it’s not unusual to see that
damage that’s done to the land or to dump them on poor communities,” he added. Buick City didn’t
close until 1999.
In December 1992, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approved a permit to build
Genesee Power Station, an $80 million incinerator slated for construction beside a poor black
community on the city’s north side.
The incinerator opened for business in 1995 and sits to the east of an elementary school. The plant
would release lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other chemical compounds into the air,
all products of burning wood covered in lead-based paint. In 1994, several community members
filed administrative complaints with the EPA, citing Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which
occurs when state environmental agencies allow polluting industries disproportionately in
communities of color. They maintained that the plant would be a danger to public health in a
community already exposed to large amounts of pollution.
Environmental racism happens nationwide, but Paul Mohai, a professor who founded the University
of Michigan’s environmental justice program, said Flint is unique.
Adding that agent would cost $100 a day, according to CNN, and 90 percent of the problems with
Flint’s water could have been avoided. Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech corrosion expert who helped
expose the high lead levels, in Flint’s water, told HuffPost that not implementing corrosion control
was not an honest mistake.
Sources:
Statements:
1.http://www.unep.org/newscentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=2791&ArticleID=10879#sthash.fd
IDMqBg.dpuf and www.nytimes.com/.../03/.../climate-rising-seas.html
http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-effects/sea-level.html
2.http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/dec/14/toxic-ewaste-illegal-dumpingdeveloping-countries
4. http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/11/6-graphs-explain-world’s-top-10-emitters
5&6.http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/best_place_species/current_top_1
0/amazon_rainforest.cfm
Definitions:
Environmental Injustice: http://sites.duke.edu/docst110s_01_s2011_sb211/what-isenvironmental-justice/
Climate Injustice:
https://ugecviewpoints.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/climate-injustice-and-cities/