Why Are Climate Justice and Racial Justice Inextricably Linked?

On this episode of Biophilic Solutions, we talk to Jacqui Patterson, the Senior Director of the NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program, about why we cannot separate our fight for planetary health from the fight for racial justice. Why is race, even more so that socioeconomic status, the single biggest indicator for placement of toxic facilities in the United States? Why do we silo issues like public health, race, and climate, when they are so closely related? Why is campaign finance reform essential as we move toward a greener and more equitable planet? We’ll address all of these questions and more. 

Show Notes

• Environmental and Climate Justice (NAACP)
• At the Intersections by Jacqueline Patterson in All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, ed. by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson, 2020
• Just Energy: Reducing Pollution, Creating Jobs Toolkit (NAACP)
• 20 Things We Can Do to Advance a Just and Sustainable Planet by Jacqueline Patterson
• The Necessity of Harmony for a Sustainable Planet by Jacqueline Patterson (Humans & Nature), 2013
• Q&A with Jacqueline Patterson, director of the NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program by Holly Bowers (Arcadia), 2021
• Move to Amend
• Democracy Initiative
• Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ): A home for white people working for justice