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BIPOC Voices in the Climate Change Discussion
Photo by Ron Lach
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”

― Dr. Angela Y. Davis
BIPOC Voices: Missing from the Climate Change Conversation
Brought to you by Gaby Rojas

Welcome to the WIN Digest and welcome to the inaugural Racial Justice Community centered WIN Digest. 

Last week, we focused on Indigenous People’s Day and resources based around assisting Indigenous people in gaining autonomy toward liberation. With climate change setting us on a breakneck speed toward larger and more frequent natural disasters, the need to listen to Indigenous voices, and BIPOC voices as a whole, is more important than ever. 

Over the centuries Indigenous people have seen colonizers destroy, not only their culture but the health and well-being of the land they cared for so well.

Whether it's Indigenous people protesting ecological disasters like the Line 3 pipeline or Black activists in Flint Michigan fighting for clean drinking water, marginalized groups are often the ones most affected by climate change. 

So why are we ignoring their cries for help?
Why is there not a place for oppressed people in the climate change discussion?
What is our fight for equity if not to uplift the voices of those most in need? 

No more.

BIPOC voices not only deserve but NEED a place in the climate change discussion.

This issue we dedicate to those voices, left in the dark but still refusing to allow our planet go down quietly. May we all learn from their strength.
Articles
Photo by Jakayla Toney

People of Color on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis

"If you’re a person of color, particularly Black or Latino, you’re more likely to live near toxic facilities."

—Dr. Beverly Wright, CEO of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University

This article from Green America outlines just how important it is to listen to BIPOC voices when it comes to climate change.
Photo by Jos Speetjens

Seven Years After Flint Water Crisis, Another Michigan Community Faces Water Issues

Despite Flint, Michigan’s highly publicized water crisis, another Michigan town is facing similar issues.

Benton Harbor, a predominantly Black community less than three hours from Flint, has documented high lead levels in their water supply since 2018 due to lead pipes carrying their drinking water.

You can learn more about Benton Harbor’s struggles below.
Artwork to Build Well-Being
Courtesy of El Franco Lee
This painting from El Franco Lee depicts a scene from post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.

Not only does this perfectly portrays not only the need for community amongst BIPOC groups, but also how marginalized people are so often left alone to deal with the after effects of climate change. While El Franco Lee passed away in 2016, his legacy of truth telling and equity lives on.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

People, Parks, and Power: A National Initiative for Green Space, Health Equity, and Racial Justice, is a joint effort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, led and managed by Prevention Institute.

Through this new initiative, $7 million in funding is available for community-based organizations and base-building groups working to advance park and green space equity in urban areas across the U.S. through local policy and systems change. 

You can read more about by clicking below!
PODCAST
Outside Voices

Outside Voices is a podcast focusing on BIPOC relationships to nature. This podcast gives voice to marginalized groups whose bonds with nature are often severed by colonization and enslavement. With this podcast, Outside Voices seeks to give a new definition to what it means to be "outdoorsy".
VIDEOS
'Climate change comes as a means of equity': 

RAND senior policy researcher Benjamin Preston describes areas where climate change and equity intersect, which communities are affected most by a changing climate, and the importance of considering issues of equity when developing climate change interventions.
TOOLS TO BUILD WELL-BEING
Photo by djvstock/iStock

Black Eco-Poets to add to your reading list

While it’s vital to listen to BIPOC voices when it comes to climate change, it can be hard to know where to start.

The Sierra Club compiled this guide of Black Eco-poets to support and uplift.
Photo by Guy Bowden

Equitable policies for well-being

This resource list for equitable environmental action is brought to us by our friends at Community Commons, including equitable environmental policies to advocate for.
Bright Spots
Giving the future of environmentalism to the youth

In a rare moment of positive and equitable climate change news, a Native-led nonprofit is helping empower Indigenous teens to fight climate change.

Native Conservancy is an Alaskan land trust teaching Indigenous youth to create their own kelp farms with three goals in mind: creating economic opportunities, supporting the health of the ocean, and connecting people to a traditional food source.