Fighting Energy Injustice and Coronavirus in African American Communities

On this week’s Political Climate, we look at how COVID-19 and climate change are affecting African American communities and how these issues can be tackled in tandem.

Julia Pyper April 30, 2020

Julia Pyper

Senior Editor
Greentech Media

Julia Pyper is a Senior Editor at Greentech Media covering the energy transition. She is also the host and producer of the Political Climate podcast. She previously reported for E&E Publishing, and has covered clean energy and climate change issues across the U.S. and abroad, including in India, Haiti, Israel and the Maldives. She holds degrees from McGill and Columbia Universities. Find her on Twitter @JMPyper.

African Americans are struggling with a disproportionate death toll from COVID-19 and severe financial strain from the economic downturn. This crisis has exposed preexisting racial disparities created by deep-seated social, economic and political factors.

These same underlying issues make African Americans more vulnerable to health damage from pollution, as well as from heat waves, storms and other effects of climate change.

Meanwhile, African Americans are missing out on wealth-creation opportunities in the clean energy economy, which could be an effective solution to some of these underlying issues — bringing jobs and environmental benefits to communities that need it the most.

In this episode of Political Climate, the fifth in our "Path to Zero" series with Third Way, we look at how COVID-19 and climate change are affecting African American communities, and how these issues can be tackled in tandem.

We speak to Jared DeWese and Akunna Cook at Third Way about the multiple crises facing African Americans today. We also hear from Naomi Davis, a grassroots leader and green-village builder in Chicago’s Southside, who succeeded in shaping a landmark clean energy bill in Illinois.

Finally, we speak to Tony Reames, assistant professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, about the issue of “energy injustice.” We also discuss takeaways from preliminary research on how African Americans are thinking about climate and energy issues in 2020.