PSR-LA: PSR-LA’s Leap LA Coalition is focused on the implementation of a new Climate Emergency Mobilization Office (CEMO) in the City of Los Angeles. While the jurisdiction of the CEMO covers the entire city, the priority communities are the frontline, fenceline, low-income, Indigenous, and communities of color which face multiple, synergistic and cumulative stressors that result from living in areas that are heavily polluted due to the presence of freeways and industries, and thus are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The hazardous exposures created by these toxic conditions — combined with existing health vulnerabilities created by poverty, housing instability, and the inability of undocumented people to seek assistance — lead to adverse health consequences and health disparities which are now being significantly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These intersecting issues of climate change, health, and equity are at the heart of our plan for a Just Climate Transition and COVID-19 Recovery. Some of the most pressing challenges we already face are only compounded by COVID-19, with many people losing their jobs and homes, and many more not having reliable access to digital tools that allow for communication in the current environment. We also face the challenge of having to fight to safeguard the city funding that we had already won for the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, Commission, and Community Assemblies, which has been under threat as elected officials grapple with the competing economic challenges created by COVID-19.

Doors have been opened for new ways of thinking and the possibility for changes that people previously could not envision. The public now has a greater understanding and recognition of environmental racism and a greater appreciation for how climate injustice makes communities vulnerable to public health crises. There is now more understanding of how these challenges affect everyone, and the current catastrophic wildfires have also made the climate impact and its intersecting problems much more threatening for some

UPROSE: Like many environmental justice communities across the nation, Sunset Park residents are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to the long-term exposure to air pollution and historic health disparities. Our community is a multi-generational frontline working-class community of color that suffers from disproportionately high rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. As a result, we have experienced devastating health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing and isolation have made it more difficult to connect with each other. It is harder to have community meetings and provide input in community visioning and the political decisions making process. A significant number of our residents have limited or no Internet and computer access, and we have many elders in our community who, despite access, do not have the capacity to engage online. Many public meetings are now virtual, therefore it has been harder to actualize an inclusive policy-making process. We planned to conduct door-to-door surveys for our CCHE project, but because that is no longer feasible, we have switched to conducting our surveys by phone and mail. So far we have been successful in reaching hundreds of Sunset Park residents. Initially, our survey was focused on the impacts of climate change and pollution, but we added several COVID-related questions about access to health care, medication, and cooling centers. The opportunity to check in on community members and have conversations about their experiences has allowed us to stay connected in a time where so many of us are isolated. The results of this survey will better position us to advocate for resources for our community.

WE ACT:  The COVID-19 crisis has opened the door to implement equity-focused environmental justice policies. Elected representatives are paying more attention to environmental justice. This is in part due to the research that has linked exposure to poor air quality to more severe COVID-19 cases. And we know it is people of color who are exposed to poor air quality due to racist environmental policies that placed industrial sites, highways, bus depots, and other hazardous spaces in their neighborhoods. Our community is low-income and people of color living in Northern Manhattan, which includes the neighborhoods Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood.

Our community is hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic economically, socially and psychosocially. Therefore, the work we do with the community has had to pause, or shift, in order to meet their most pressing needs. This has led us to scale back some of our projects. We have paused all in-person meetings, which has been  one of our primary tools for building community power to fight for environmental programs and policies that can protect us. We have also had some great opportunities that arose as a result of the pandemic. For example, concerns about public health finally led both New York City and State to delve into deeper discussions about healthy housing and energy efficiency. New York City launched a program to hand out 74,000 free A/C units to low-income seniors. The Home Energy Assistance Program extended its cooling benefit program, and New York State is currently debating expansions for energy efficiency programs.

PSR-LA: The main thing we want people to know is that a Just Recovery from COVID-19 and a Just Transition off of fossil fuels are possible and that these bold plans are the best way to address the intersections of climate change, health, and equity. In addition, we want people to know that the processes we use to bring about change are as important as the changes that are implemented. Our work aims to drive new systems within policy-making and governance that integrate a far more community-oriented and collaborative perspective which ensure the people most impacted by the policy have a seat at the decision-making table. Our work helps develop tools for deliberative democracy that help ensure a public-led process for advancing our intersectional solutions that are needed to adapt to the current challenges of these times and the changing climate. By co-powering with communities to co-design climate policies that are restorative, and producing real health improvement as metrics of success, we not only repair existing damage, but we also provide a new model for cities that want to seriously address the climate crisis and systemic disparities in terms of climate and health.

UPROSE: Whether it is communities of color New York, Detroit, Native Nations, Appalachian Communities, or The Gulf South, all of us are threatened by climate change-driven extreme weather events; events that people of color did not create. People of color are more likely to live within their carbon footprint, yet, we are more vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Climate change is a result of an extractive economy. Not just fossil fuel extraction, but the extraction of our labor.  We require a system change and Just Transition to a regenerative economy. It is important for people to know the complexities and nuances of “health” that transcends physical health. Health is infrastructure, social cohesion, living-wage jobs, housing and food security, and access to resources. In order to successfully promote “health” we need to be intentional, innovative, and collaborative. True health cannot be addressed in silos, or without the leadership and decision-making of those most impacted by historic health disparities and neglect.

WE ACT: There is no better time to take a deep look at these inequities and find systematic solutions that will not only protect our most vulnerable communities now in the short-term, but that can help us prepare for pandemics and disasters that are impending due to our unsolved climate emergency.

For so long, environmental justice activists have been highlighting the impact that environmental hazards have on public health. Particularly, that due to systematic and institutional racist practices, environmental hazards are disproportionately and intentionally placed in low-income communities and communities of color not only in the United States, but around the world in the Global South.

The disparate exposure to environmental hazards has resulted in intergenerational health impacts on the communities subjected to environmental racism. It is vital for people to understand how the environment is linked to health, and how the increasing climate crisis is only going to lead to more public health crises like the coronavirus pandemic. And within that, it is vital for people to understand that it is communities of color around the world that have and will bear the biggest brunt of the public health implications of our climate crisis. In the United States, we are seeing the health impacts of environmental racism, as well as other historic racisms, play out under the microscope of the COVID-19 pandemic. What we are seeing now is shedding a light on how we will see other health crises from climate change play out inequitably. Covid-19 is killing Black/African American and Latinx people in the United States at a disproportionately high rate. Latinx people represent about 30% of Covid-19 deaths, and Black/African American people account for about 31% of Covid-19 deaths in New York City. These statistics are also based on undercounted data, only accounting for 37% of non-hospitalized cases.

PSR-LA: Our vision is to restore our communities from the soil to the soul through collective action that creates the power to change what is politically possible and do what is necessary to address climate justice and health. Our work seeks to decarbonize, detoxify, and democratize the city of Los Angeles in regard to its response to the climate crisis. Our plan to achieve this is on a dual track, with immediate attention being paid to the Just Recovery from COVID, and a long-term plan for a Just Transition off of fossil fuels, which is our work to establish a fully functioning Climate Emergency Office, including the Commission and Community Assemblies. We also plan to engage with and support Black Lives Matter along with other anti-racism and justice efforts and organizations in Los Angeles, with a strategy to promote participatory budgeting which will  realign city priorities to match real community needs.

UPROSE: Building resilience makes it possible for communities to embrace cultural practices and traditions that have worked to ensure their ability to survive and thrive. Our vision is to ensure that regardless of economic, health or climate disruption, we help create sustained local space for building and sharing local knowledge and strength. We strive to provide opportunities to embrace different economic and governance models and develop and support local leadership prepared to engage in intergenerational power and community building. We are driven by our understanding of North American based African and Indigenous practices to overcome existential threats. These practices depended on social cohesion, creativity, and resourcefulness- they built confidence and redefined success.

WE ACT: We envision Northern Manhattan to be a healthy space for people to live, work, play, pray and learn. Right now, we are in a politically ripe time to pass some policies that equitably address environmental injustices. Particularly, we envision using the just transition framework to guide our work. In the transition away from fossil fuels, we want to ensure communities that are hit hardest by the climate crisis are not left behind but are at the forefront of the decision-making process. For one, that means having our city, state, and eventually country gets its energy from renewable sources. We want communities to access renewable energy through community power and energy democracy, in which the people control their own power. WE ACT is currently working on expanding community solar in Northern Manhattan, and also training people in the community on solar installation so that people of color are equipped to participate in the industry. Expanding renewable energy use, increasing energy efficiency, and getting good jobs are three key pieces to creating healthy communities. We are leading advocacy for a number of city and state laws that take major steps towards this goal, such as the expansion of Local Law 97 with Introduction 1947 at City Council, and the Energy Efficiency, Equity, and Jobs Act at the State. Paired with this work, as we prepare for the increasing threat of extreme heat in New York City, we envision a system in which the government heavily subsidizes retrofitting costs for low-income renters and homeowners. This will allow more efficient home energy use and reduce high utility bills, which are a major burden for low-income people. Not only will subsidizing these costs help low income and vulnerable populations adapt to the heat, but it will help mitigate the issue through increasing efficiency.

As we move into the final quarter of the year, immense concern and uncertainty remains around public health, safety and racial equity. While it is unclear what the coming months will look like, it is painstakingly obvious that we must be steadfast and resolute in our work to advance solutions that bridge the intersection of climate change, health and equity.