Shondaland hopes to shed some light on the urgency of climate change through thoughtful deep dives that explore the systems and industry practices that exacerbate the problem and explore their social and ecological impacts. Within the series, you might also find some inspiring ways you can start to help make Earth more green and, hopefully, begin to turn back the clock on climate change.

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In January of 2020 — before the pandemic — I was arrested for occupying a Chase bank on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. I was there with a handful of fellow activists to launch Stop The Money Pipeline, an effort to get to the root of the climate crisis — the money that props up the fossil fuel industry. Jane Fonda was outside the bank, rooting us on. Seriously.

The police didn’t rough me up (this time) before putting us into a city jail cell. My brother Bill McKibben — one of the climate movement’s most effective advocates — was locked up with me. He pointed out that the city jail is a much different place than the relatively comfortable holding rooms that the Capitol Hill police use.

We were sharing a cell with three young Black men who weren’t more than 20 years old. I was the only Black person among the climate activists, and with all the other activists being white, it was not a collection of people you typically see in Washington D.C. central booking.

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We had been in the jail cell for several hours before the three young men in there with us asked, “So, why are y’all in here?” I told them that we had protested at a bank in Southeast. Their jaws dropped.

Then I went into why. We were protesting JP Morgan Chase’s lending to oil and gas companies. JP Morgan Chase is the largest investor in fossil fuels in the world, and fossil fuels are causing the climate crisis. Black, Brown, and Indigenous people in the U.S. and around the world are first and worst impacted by climate pollution and climate disasters, while being least responsible for the causes.

They felt what I was saying, but committing an act of civil disobedience with the intent to get arrested was unfathomable to them. And that I understand. Because engaging with the police and the criminal justice system as a Black person in this country can be deadly. In this moment of uprising for the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless others — many more people in this country are finally waking up to this fact.

My activism for racial justice and my activism for climate justice are one in the same.

The climate crisis and environmental injustice play out within the same systems of white supremacy and structural racism that are at the root of police brutality.

Communities who are most impacted by police brutality are the same communities that are most vulnerable to climate change. People of color have been dying and suffering because of environmental racism and the pollution from dirty fossil fuel infrastructure in our communities at the same time we have been dying at the hands of racist policing.

Racism is the common denominator.

When Eric Garner was killed by police in New York in 2014, he cried out the same words that George Floyd cried out just a few weeks ago in Minneapolis, “I can’t breathe.”

Here’s the thing, Eric Garner had asthma. So did his children, including his late-great daughter Erica, who died after suffering an asthma-induced heart attack and a broken heart fighting for justice for her father. The borough Eric lived in received an "F" for ozone pollution, per the American Lung Association’s 2018 report.

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You see, there are many ways our communities can’t breathe. Sixty-eight percent of Black people live within thirty miles of a coal-fired power plant. Disproportionate pollution in our communities cause higher-rates of lung and heart disease, which right now is making us more vulnerable to Coronavirus. Further, according to new research that looked at 32 million births in the United States, African American mothers and their babies face harm — such as low birth rate, premature births, or stillborns — at a much higher-rate due to exposure to high temperatures and air pollution.

Racial justice, health, safety, and the environment are deeply interconnected.

Polling consistently shows that voters of color actually want more action on climate than white voters. Communities of color deeply understand the urgency of the climate crisis because we are living it.

Centuries of systemic racism and oppression have led to unfair and unjust policies in everything from housing, urban development, to industry practices — making communities of color more vulnerable to climate impacts, amongst others. The old saying can be used to explain climate impacts — when white America gets some rain, Black America floods.

Take for instance, hurricanes. Rising global temperatures from climate change have created warmer oceans and higher sea-levels. This has made hurricanes more intense and destructive. Communities of color are in the crosshairs of these supercharged storms and bearing the brunt of them. Look no further than the destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina, Maria, Harvey, and Superstorm Sandy. Our communities were left behind.

I encourage you to look at the climate crisis and racism through the same lens, for it truly is the same problem.

Not only were these massive storms, they hit communities who are systematically neglected, under-funded, and under-resourced. The federal government acknowledged their shotty engineering with the levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. August 29, 2020 was the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, when Black people were left to die in the richest country in the world. People and communities in New Orleans are still not fully recovered to this day.

In the last few months, we’ve seen what happens when elected leaders ignore, deny, and wait to respond to global crises. The cost is people’s lives, our economic security, and our way of life as we know it. COVID-19 has shown us this in a matter of months, but leaders in government have been ignoring the reality of the climate crisis for decades.

As racial justice activists are courageously organizing in ways that can no longer be ignored, the work that everyone should be doing right now is examining their own role in upholding racism and white supremacy. When you do this work, I encourage you to look at the climate crisis and racism through the same lens, for it truly is the same problem. Seek out people of color, especially young people, who are leading in the climate movement, and follow them. We highlight these leaders on Hip Hop Caucus’ Think 100% podcast, The Coolest Show, each week. Tune in to listen to and learn from people of color on the frontlines of the climate justice movement.

We cannot achieve climate justice without racial justice, and we cannot achieve racial justice without climate justice. The right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, access healthy and safe food, and live in a safe environment, is the civil and human rights struggle of this century. We must get it right, for the sake of our children and future generations. And we can get it right, if we fight for justice and our climate at the same time.


Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is President & Founder of Hip Hop Caucus and host of Think 100% 's climate justice podcast, The Coolest Show. Listen to the weekly episodes for a masterclass on the intersections of race, climate, gender, and justice. Find @RevYearwood, @HipHopCaucus, and @Think100Climate on Twitter.

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