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Organizing for Environmental Justice

About the Campaign

The climate crisis is well underway. While climate change affects all people, its impacts are not evenly distributed. The experience of CPD Action affiliates, as well as other research, have shown that those most affected—referred to as “frontline communities”—are low-income communities and communities of color, who have often been segregated in areas that are more polluted and/or more at risk for natural disasters such as...

The climate crisis is well underway. While climate change affects all people, its impacts are not evenly distributed. The experience of CPD Action affiliates, as well as other research, have shown that those most affected—referred to as “frontline communities”—are low-income communities and communities of color, who have often been segregated in areas that are more polluted and/or more at risk for natural disasters such as hurricanes, serious rain storms, coastal flooding, and wildfires. These communities are also often less equipped to prepare for and recover from these disasters because of historic disinvestment, poor infrastructure, and lack of resources. It is imperative that we reduce emissions to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis and that we adequately adapt in preparation for future disasters. To ensure that these large-scale changes are equitable and sustainable, the powerful social change organizations rooted in frontline communities must play a central role in devising solutions to the crisis. Without a movement powerful enough to win bold, transformative interventions in the climate crisis, low-income communities and communities of color will continue bearing the brunt of the greatest man-made disaster the world has ever known.

In states across the country—including Florida, Pennsylvania, and New York—and at the national level in Washington, D.C., CPD and our network of affiliates are organizing around this critical issue, driving action at the scale and rate needed to address the crisis we face. 

Solutions to avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis and build a new, more just economy in the process are within reach. What we need is a movement powerful enough to win them. Together with CPD affiliates and allies, we are building the power needed to face this enormous crisis. 

 

Campaign Blog

CPD Network Supports Landmark Climate & Economic Justice Plan

On February 7, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York introduced resolutions in their respective...

Thanks to CPD Affiliates, FEMA Grants Extended Vouchers to Hurricane Victims

During the week of April 20, the CPD Network organized a set of actions focused on impacting federal housing policies for Puerto Rican families...

Seven Months After Maria, Puerto Rican Communities Rally to Demand Aid for Displaced Families

On the 7 month anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rican communities held rallies across the country and pressured elected officials to support...

Puerto Rican Families Demand Action on Six-Month Anniversary of Hurricane Maria

On March 20, on the six month anniversary of Hurricane Maria which devastated Puerto Rico, hundreds of Puerto Rican families traveled across the...

LA City Council Unanimously Votes to Divest from Wells Fargo

On June 27, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to divest $40 million from the city’s security investment portfolio with Wells Fargo.

facts & figures

  • 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018: The five hottest years in recorded history

  • 4,645: Deaths in Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Maria and related injustices. 

  • Poor people are more likely to die, be injured, experience more psychological trauma, have higher material losses relative to their income and wealth, and face more obstacles during response, recovery, and reconstruction in the wake of natural disasters.

  • A quarter of the Black population of the U.S. live in the five Southern states most vulnerable to hurricanes (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas).

  • Hurricane Harvey’s catastrophic flooding of the Houston area in 2017 caused an enormous amount of pollution to be released from petrochemical plants and refineries, including at least 100 spills of dangerous materials and damage to 14 toxic sites. Many of these toxic sites were located near low-income Latinx and Black communities.

media

News

News

11.14.2019

WASHINGTON -- Today, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative...

11/14/2019

03.27.2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In response to the Senate vote today on the Green New Deal...

03/27/2019

That attention to "frontline and vulnerable communities" has rallied backers such as Jennifer...

02/11/2019 | Common Dreams

By contrast, the groups leading the charge on a Green New Deal, such as the Sunrise Movement and...

02/8/2019 | Climate Nexus

Sunrise Movement is a youth climate organization that aims to “stop climate change and create...

12/5/2018 | Common Dreams

Other groups like the Sierra Club, Demos, 350.org, the Center for Popular Democracy, the Labor...

12/3/2018 | Counterpunch

"The members of Congress do not think of Puerto Rico as a part of their constituency and...

05/2/2018 | Al Jazeera

Several weeks ago, Puerto Rico avoided a direct hit from Hurricane Irma, which shifted north at...

09/25/2017 | In These Times

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico Wednesday morning, destroying homes as rain,...

09/21/2017 | Anith