Environment: Ensuring Climate Justice
Supported by Seattle Foundation, powerful coalitions work together to lift up the people most impacted by climate change
June 17, 2019
By Jane C. Hu. Read this story and more in Volume 6 (pdf) of Seattle Foundation's Heart & Science magazine.
When Risho Sapano arrived in Seattle
nearly two decades ago and began
working as an advocate for victims of
domestic violence, she heard people in the African
community talk about needing help to access services
and to advocate for health, employment and educational
opportunities.
In response, Sapano founded Mother Africa, a
community-based organization dedicated to supporting
and connecting African refugee and immigrant women
with resources, services and leadership opportunities.
The group’s latest focus may surprise some: raising
awareness about climate justice. But Sapano, who is
originally from Sudan, quickly connects the dots.
“Refugees displaced from their home country didn’t
have a choice where they settled,” she says. “Many are
funneled towards certain communities, without realizing
that those are the areas struck by pollution, in food
deserts, or high in crime.”
Scads of recent studies add data to what many
communities in Seattle and King County have
experienced firsthand: that communities of color are
disproportionately affected by environmental burdens, making them more vulnerable and at risk from climate
change impacts, like air and water pollution, flooding,
drought and wildfires. Exposure to these environmental
hazards diminishes both quality of life and lifespan. And
the impacts are significant: an analysis of the South
Park and Georgetown neighborhoods, the most polluted
in Seattle, shows that residents have a life expectancy
eight years shorter than the city average and 13 years
shorter than residents of Laurelhurst, one of Seattle's
most affluent neighborhoods.
Climate change and climate justice
It’s research and statistics like these that led Seattle
Foundation to create its Climate Justice Impact
Strategy. In the state and region, low-income people
and communities of color are suffering first and worst
from the impacts of climate change and pollution. The
Foundation’s climate justice strategy is designed to
ensure that the communities in Seattle most impacted
have the resources and support to create their own
solutions.
Long the center of Seattle’s heavy industries, the Duwamish River continues to be an industrial and shipping corridor. (Photo courtesy of DRCC)
That includes supporting advocacy organizations that
work in neighborhoods like South Park and Georgetown
to push policies that decrease the pollution burden
on residents and increase their resilience to climate
change. Located next to the Duwamish River as well
as heavy industries, major highways and port facilities,
these areas have a history of inequitable conditions,
including high pollution, disinvestment and unfair bank
lending practices. Their lower property values and rents
attract many lower-income people, including refugees
and those who speak a language other than English
at home. These residents are often less likely to have
the time, resources or connection to advocate for their
environmental needs with influential groups, lawmakers
and other decision-makers.
Building new power
Advocacy groups across the region are organizing to
change that, working towards equitable environmental
and climate change solutions. A key leader, and an
organization that Seattle Foundation supports through
its strategy, is Front and Centered, a statewide coalition
of more than 60 organizations led by people of color
tackling environmental and climate disparities.
“Environmentalism has traditionally been a pretty white
field, and issues have historically been siloed,” says
Deric Gruen, Front and Centered’s program director.
“There was a sense that we could solve environmental
problems if scientists could just understand how to fix
pollution, but the reality is we live in a complex society,
and we need to really pay attention to the complexities of
who’s affected.”
Members of Front and Centered gathered to show support for I-1631, the statewide ballot initiative to increase clean energy, decrease pollution and strengthen the leadership of communities of color in decision-making. (Photo courtesy of Front and Centered and Hanna Letinich)
Front and Centered recently hosted a summit of 225
leaders from around the state for the largest gathering
of people of color on environmental and climate justice.
“The work is to focus on how can these communities
– people who are directly and personally impacted
by climate change – be engaged in the conversation
in which they have a huge stake?” said Aiko Schaefer,
director of Front and Centered.
The group also launched a groundbreaking interactive map that displays environmental disparities and related
health risk factors by neighborhood. It’s the first time
that the cumulative impact of those risk factors across
the state have been quantified, making it a valuable tool
to inform policy decisions to improve access to clean
air, clean water and a healthy environment throughout
the state.
Schaefer said that climate justice is really about people’s
ability to shape the lives they want to lead. “That can
mean a clean and healthy neighborhood, and a child free
from asthma or the ability to drink clean water, as much
as it is about casting your ballot or being able to drive
your car down the highway and not be worried about
someone pulling you over because of the way that you
look,” she said.
Moving policies forward
Front and Centered is a leading member of the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy, a coalition of more than 250
Washington organizations that led the charge on the
statewide Initiative 1631. The initiative proposed the
nation’s first carbon fee on greenhouse gas polluters to
reinvest the proceeds into communities, clean energy
and jobs. It earned support from a broad spectrum
of corporate and government leaders, including REI,
Microsoft, Expedia, Bill Gates and Governor Jay Inslee,
as well as a majority of voters in King County. While
it did not pass, the coalition that united around it is
optimistic about where the movement will go.
“We built a policy which didn’t pass this time around, but
the most durable and important thing we did was come
together and create a structure with shared governance,
where decisions were made through partnership with communities of color and labor organizations,” says
Becky Kelley, president of the Washington Environmental
Council, a leading member of the Alliance.
The Alliance and Front and Centered are charting a
path together and moving forward with 2019 legislative
goals, including the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL)
Act (SB 5489), which acknowledges environmental and
health disparities and declares that state policy must
incorporate environmental justice principles.
Grassroots actions
Beyond big-picture, state-level initiatives to acknowledge
and mitigate climate and equity issues, individual
members of the coalition continue their local,
grassroots work.
For instance, Sapano’s Mother Africa, a member of
Front and Centered, recently hosted a listening session
for 15 Arabic-speaking women from eight countries to
discuss what they know about climate change. Working
with the King County Department of Natural Resources
and Parks, they are creating an infographic in Arabic
about climate change to increase the community’s
understanding of the issue.
Another group that brings community expertise to the
movement is the Duwamish River Clean-up Coalition/Technical Advisory Group (DRCC/TAG). The group
empowers the Duwamish Valley community to build
a healthier, more just environment by improving water
quality, creating more green spaces, and connecting
neighbors to green job opportunities and training. The
nonprofit also leads community engagement efforts
around the long-term cleanup of the river, which was
declared a Superfund site in 2001.
“We need to keep pushing the government, but we also
need to be doing some mitigation as a community,” says
Paulina Lopez, the DRCC/TAG’s executive director. “We’re
working at being better stewards of our community, and
educating ourselves better about what we can do.”
Paulina Lopez, executive director of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, leads community efforts to make the Georgetown and South Park areas cleaner and healthier, and to advocate for effective cleanup of the river. (Photos by Danielle Motif Photography)
The balance between environment and economy
The Coalition hosts community cleanup days,
collaborates with area businesses on projects and plays
a critical role in educating the community. Despite the river’s heavy pollution, it remains a popular
place for residents to catch fish and crab. “There’s lots
of people fishing on the river, for cultural practices, or for
business — some tribes have access, and the immigrant
community fishes there as well,” says Lopez.
Though the DRCC/TAG and other local groups have
tried to spread the word about the polluted waters, that
message doesn’t always reach anglers. Even when it
does, it can be difficult to dissuade residents who fish as
a cultural practice, or cannot afford to do so elsewhere.
“We’re working with them to make sure their voices are
heard, and to help provide alternative spaces for them,”
Lopez said.
Leading the way
It will take those kinds of grassroots efforts and groups
working together in committed coalitions to ensure that
the communities most affected by climate change lead
the way to solutions.
As Front and Centered’s Schaefer says: “This is a time
when we need everybody leaning in, when we need every
idea coming forward, everyone figuring out how we can
address climate change and ensure a just future.”
Heart & Science Magazine
Read Heart & Science magazine Vol. 6 for more on how philanthropists, community organizations and Seattle Foundation are working to create a healthy community through supporting the environment and arts & culture.
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