Will There Someday Be an Environmental Version of Juneteenth?

Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of the last group of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, 2.5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. 

It is both a celebration of the end of slavery and a reminder that justice is often delayed for Black people in America.

So while the ranks of people stepping up to curb climate change increases daily, now is the time to remind ourselves of three basic facts: 

First, the effects of climate change will be felt disproportionately by marginalized communities and people of color: 

  • 71% of African Americans live in counties in violation of federal air pollution standards compared to 58% of non-Hispanic whites. And climate change is making air quality worse for everyone. 

  • Black Americans are 34% more likely to live in areas with the highest projected increases in childhood asthma. This rises to 41% with climate change. 

  • African Americans are more than 2X as likely to die during a heat wave than whites. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of heat waves. 

Second, without strategic actions to chart a very different course, there most likely will be an environmental equivalent of Juneteenth - a further delay in palpable relief from the impacts of climate change for communities of color.  

Lastly, we can’t successfully address climate challenges with the same thinking and expertise that led us to this point. We must broaden the scope of the knowledge and expertise at the table and work collaboratively to develop effective and beneficial solutions, or we will continue to fail.

Our corporate and NGO sustainability and resilience work must respond to these three basic facts. Our potential to make a meaningful impact is not directly connected to our size or balance sheet. When businesses collaborate on Environmental Justice (EJ) efforts, the impact is multiplied.

How?   

  1. All change starts with awareness: 

    1. Ask a broad set of stakeholders to identify how your work impacts them 

    2. Actively look for the impact of environmental racism around you

  2. Next comes commitment: 

    1. Weave your commitment to environmental justice into your purpose, mission, vision, and values 

    2. Connect the dots between EJ and your business imperatives for employees and shareholders 

    3. Expand current sustainability commitments to be ESG commitments 

  3. Then comes putting it into action: 

    1. Start with who is at the table: Who is and isn’t at the table when gathering information and assessing problems?  Solving problems and decisions? 

    2. Identify potential collaborators: employees & their families; local communities you operate in; like minded businesses; suppliers & vendors; climate justice activists; policy-makers

    3. Work together to identify strategies to shift to more equitable and regenerative practices 

  4. Sustain the change: Any change effort will dissipate with time unless the change is “baked” into the organization. Simple things you can do to bake environmental justice (EJ) into your practices: 

    1. Create an Environmental Justice Advisory Board for the organization

    2. Weave EJ into your sustainability goals and practices and measure progress with concrete metrics 

    3. Hire staff with EJ experience 

    4. Ensure all staff understand the connection between the business goals, their own work plan, and EJ

    5. Incorporate EJ into employee performance and development processes 

    6. Ensure all staff understand how their unique strengths can contribute to EJ efforts 

For more in-depth resources, check out: 

Jake Nicholas