FULL DRAFT:

Being A Person Of Color During Global Warming…

“Planet Earth is the one thing that all humans share. We are often at its mercy. We take its majesty for granted. We forget that we merely hold it in trust for our children’s children, for all those who’ll come after us” (The New York Times) How do you think the future generation will overcome Global Warming? There may be more organizations that will support them start from the beginning again or to help them pick up from where they started but better and safer. However, right now we have many of these kinds of organizations but not enough success. This has to do with the rates of environmental inequality that exist deep in the system of the government. When political leaders see families go through natural disasters, they fix their problems instead of putting their country as a priority. Continuing this lack of support towards communities, especially POC, will just keep increasing the devastating rates of health issues. 

Environmental Inequality should be brought more awareness to because sometimes it feels like people forget that there have been multiple wildfires around the world that have wiped out hundreds of homes, that there are communities that are suffering from common effects of heat strokes or hyperthermia because they do not have the proper resources to live. Fewer-income families of color have it the most difficult because of how little attention they get from the public. Hispanic and Black communities and white communities have never shared the same advantages of benefiting opportunities due to the economic racism that exists within society. The wealth gap in economic inequality is most noticeable within the measures used to distribute income and wealth throughout the world. This disparity is noticed between countries and states, but in some cases, there are specific and important types of economic inequality between different communities of people. Adding to this conflict adds to the health issues that are rising over the years and could end up decreasing the time of human evolution. The color of your skin, the language(s) you speak, your name, or your ethnic background should not be allowed to limit you from the resources that should be fully available to you. This includes all sorts of valuables; homes, occupancies, and investments.

“…The past six years were the six hottest years on record. We now live in a world of warmer, more violent weather. Stronger storms, longer droughts, heavier floods, larger fires. Lowlands are being lost to the oceans. Drylands are being lost to the desert…” (The New York Times) People are seeing and living through these changes happening quickly in the world. Families have to move for their safety. It can be for reasons of not wanting to be home when it collapses or gets flooded with water or because the heat will cause heat strokes and the coldness can end up giving someone hypothermia. Why is that the last resort you may ask? Accessibility of medical care. Not many have the ability to have it covered, some have to stay home with their remedies that can only do so little as the world advances and viruses catch up with us. One day we will start to notice that the place we called home as kids will look nothing like it used to and it is because the government just decides to keep adding to the harm, to the problem. Building dams, new buildings, and closing the area tighter for more pollution to have the opportunity to roam schools and higher institutions, hospitals, and your home. 

Another article, linked with the first, states, “The odd weather phenomenon that many blame for the suffering here… is expected to become more frequent as the planet warms.” (New York Times) Families and individuals having to forcefully feel like they have to move out of their house are painful to hear and difficult for them to do. As generations of people of color move from their country and try to cross the border, or migrate to other countries for safety, this loses the continuity of culture. There may be no more people in certain regions of the world to make up Hispanic, Black, Asian, and other communities. 

Many of these families, especially in parts of the world outside of the United States do not have much but the clothes on their back and necessities for their children to make it longer than the parents. So, imagine having to move from the crops that you have fully dedicated your entire life to, with hundred dollars worth of crops but because of drought and heat, you have to seek the next living stability. It is not easy. In the United States, the government would just recommend you into an organization where you can get mental and emotional help for a time interval, and then what? Unless you have started with money, you won’t see these organizations try to keep in touch with you. White communities are much more privileged to access everything because of the internal discrimination that exists in society. They have money for medical care, transportation, and their skin lets them have a voice in terms of what political leaders’ next step is. People of color will not have this privilege as we are all trying to make a living with all we have, all made from scratch. 

WE should all keep up the awareness of how unequal the system is while Global Warming advances. Low-income communities and families outside of America should be educated on the dangers rising and why they have rights to better support when things are becoming more difficult to withstand. We should help to provide health-related information, to policymakers, advocates, and individuals to understand the conditions and try to prevent them from happening. Take into consideration organizations like Bring Back Better, which is being said to use towards communities that are suffering from the natural disasters that happen. They are “providing” their support for the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of all people. (The White House) WE ACT, their mission is to start building communities by ensuring that people of color and low-income residents participate in the environment, health, and protection policies and practices. (WeAct) All of us, black, brown, or white should try our best to survive and live stably in the comfort of our own homes. 

FINAL DRAFT:

Being A Person Of Color During Global Warming…

“Planet Earth is the one thing that all humans share. We are often at its mercy. We take its majesty for granted. We forget that we merely hold it in trust for our children’s children, for all those who’ll come after us” (The New York Times) How do you think the future generation will overcome Global Warming? Currently, and hopefully moving forward, some organizations will continue to keep the future generation safe and grow as a community while combating natural conflicts. Hopefully, with better guidance educationally, socially, and all, we can all learn to be more aware of what is happening within global warming. However, right now we have many of these kinds of organizations but not enough success. This has to do with the rates of environmental inequality that exist deep in the system of the government. When political leaders see families go through natural disasters, they fix their problems instead of putting their country as a priority. Continuing this lack of support towards communities, especially POC, will just keep increasing the devastating rates of health issues.

Environmental Inequality should be brought more awareness to because sometimes it feels like people forget that there have been multiple wildfires around the world that have wiped out hundreds of homes, that there are communities that are suffering from common effects of heat strokes or hyperthermia because they do not have the proper resources to live. Fewer-income families of color have it the most difficult because of how little attention they get from the public. Hispanic and Black communities vs. white communities have never shared the same advantages of benefiting opportunities due to the economic racism that exists within society. The wealth gap in economic inequality is most noticeable within the measures used to distribute income and wealth throughout the world. This disparity is noticed between countries and states, but in some cases, there are specific and important types of economic inequality between different communities of people. Adding to this conflict adds to the health issues that are rising over the years and could end up decreasing the time of human evolution. The color of your skin, the language(s) you speak, your name, or your ethnic background should not be allowed to limit you from the resources that should be fully available to you. This includes all sorts of valuables; homes, occupancies, and investments.

A place very close to my roots and the place I call home, the South Bronx, experiences environmental inequality drastically. According to the census statistics, in Bronx Community District 4, we are placed on the 7.7 annual average of having bad air quality. The majority of the community is 66 percent Latino and 28.6 percent Black people who are struggling with this issue and are most likely to have a 79.6 life expectancy. (DATA2GO.NYC) In comparison with Staten Island Community District 3, they are dated as 6.2 annually averaging with their air quality. The majority of their population is 83 percent white people, who have an 81.3 life expectancy. (DATA2GO.NYC) Although they are not far apart from the environmental issue, why is an area of New York City, which is predominantly people of color, ranked higher to have this conflict? Thinking about how in the end, it depends on who it is, the government will be picky and will make decisions off of the numbers. Continuing, whether it is from sewer overflows, people smoking, or transportation that pollutes gas in the air, it is affecting us all and they can cause health problems like asthma, chest pain, and even cancer. With no proper health resources, we are ultimately allowing global warming to harm humans and their ability to move forward in life.

By Census Tract, on the same website, Bronx District 4 ranked 12% highest in having no health insurance. Nothing like Manhattan District 8, where most likely the 75.3 percent of white people all have health insurance and resources left and right to rely on when needed. All these numbers end up leading to people leaving their homes. People have to work twice or triple as hard to make a stable living for themselves and/or their families. And POC knows they have to move from ‘impoverished-like zones’ to have better opportunities. Not just from a borough to another borough but it goes as far from the state to the other side of the country as well now.

“…The past six years were the six hottest years on record. We now live in a world of warmer, more violent weather. Stronger storms, longer droughts, heavier floods, larger fires. Lowlands are being lost to the oceans. Drylands are being lost to the desert…” (The New York Times) People are seeing and living through these changes happening quickly in the world. Families have to move for their safety. It can be for reasons of not wanting to be home when it collapses or gets flooded with water or because the heat will cause heat strokes and the coldness can end up giving someone hypothermia. Why is that the last resort you may ask? Accessibility of medical care. Not many have the ability to have it covered, some have to stay home with their remedies that can only do so little as the world advances and viruses catch up with us. One day we will start to notice that the place we called home as kids will look nothing like it used to and it is because the government just decides to keep adding to the harm, to the problem. Building dams, new buildings, and closing the area tighter for more pollution to have the opportunity to roam schools and higher institutions, hospitals, and your home.

Another article, linked with the first, states, “The odd weather phenomenon that many blame for the suffering here… is expected to become more frequent as the planet warms.” (New York Times) Families and individuals having to forcefully feel like they have to move out of their house are painful to hear and difficult for them to do. As generations of people of color move from their country and try to cross the border, or migrate to other countries for safety, this loses the continuity of culture. There may be no more people in certain regions of the world to make up Hispanic, Black, Asian, and other communities.

Many of these families, especially in parts of the world outside of the United States do not have much but the clothes on their back and necessities for their children to make it longer than the parents. So, imagine having to move from the crops that you have fully dedicated your entire life to, with hundred dollars worth of crops but because of drought and heat, you have to seek the next living stability. It is not easy. In the United States, the government would just recommend you into an organization where you can get mental and emotional help for a time interval, and then what? Unless you have started with money, you won’t see these organizations try to keep in touch with you. White communities are much more privileged to access everything because of the internal discrimination that exists in society. They have money for medical care, transportation, and their skin lets them have a voice in terms of what political leaders’ next step is. People of color will not have this privilege as we are all trying to make a living with all we have, all made from scratch.

WE should all keep up the awareness of how unequal the system is while Global Warming advances. Low-income communities and families outside of America should be educated on the dangers rising and why they have rights to better support when things are becoming more difficult to withstand. We should help to provide health-related information, to policymakers, advocates, and individuals to understand the conditions and try to prevent them from happening. Take into consideration organizations like Bring Back Better, which is being said to use towards communities that are suffering from the natural disasters that happen. They are “providing” their support for the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of all people. (The White House) WE ACT, their mission is to start building communities by ensuring that people of color and low-income residents participate in the environment, health, and protection policies and practices. (WeAct) All of us, black, brown, or white should try our best to survive and live stably in the comfort of our own homes.

References

Community District. (2018). Air Quality. DATA2GO.NYC. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://data2go.nyc/map/?id=204*36005006300*air_qual_cd!undefined!ns*!other_pop_c d_506~ahdi_puma_1~sch_enrol_cd_112~age_pyramid_male_85_plus_cd_20~median_h ousehold_income_puma_397~median_personal_earnings_puma_400~dis_y_perc_puma_ 102~poverty_ceo_cd_417~une

The Editorial Board. (2021, December 31). Opinion | Scenes From a World on Fire. The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/opinion/climate-change-glasgow-united-states.html

Lustgarten, A. (2020, July 23). The Great Climate Migration Has Begun. The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/23/magazine/climate-migration.html