Sweating under the summer heat, President Barack Obama announced that he will use his executive power to enact several policies that will prevent and reverse the effects of climate change.
Obama’s three-part plan seeks to cut carbon pollution in America, prepare the country for the impacts of climate change and act as a global example to fight climate change.
In a speech at Georgetown University on Tuesday, Obama said that he would advise his administration to introduce plans that would allow the government to regulate and limit the amount of carbon dioxide that power plants can emit into the air. This would be the first time that power plant emissions would be federally regulated. He also hopes to double the amount of energy produced from the wind and the sun to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 6 million homes by 2020.
With his plan, Obama said, “Three billion tons of carbon pollution will be reduced” in the next decade. However, he warned that these changes would not happen immediately, because carbon pollution has been building in the atmosphere for decades.
These mandates could prove to be particularly important to communities of color, which, according to a study conducted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in 2004, are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of climate change.
“African-Americans are already disproportionately burdened by the health effects of climate change, including deaths during heat waves and from worsened air pollution,” the study reads. “Similarly, unemployment and economic hardship associated with climate change will fall most heavily on the African-American community.”
Obama emphasized the importance of building a stronger infrastructure that would be much more “resilient” to recent catastrophic weather, like the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma and Hurricane Sandy. He did not, however, acknowledge the specific importance of this to neighborhoods that have the hardest time recovering post-disaster, which are largely low-income African-American and Latino areas.
According to Dr. Robert Bullard, dean of the School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University and author of several books that address so-called “environmental racism,” the issue of recovering from said disasters is still Black and white.
“Racial disparities exist in disaster response, cleanup, rebuilding, reconstruction and recovery,” Bullard wrote on his website. “Race plays out in natural disaster survivors’ ability to rebuild, replace infrastructure, obtain loans and insurance, and locate temporary and permanent housing.”
Bullard said in a statement emailed to the AmNews that Obama’s executive decision is a “good first step.”
“It is important that we have the president speaking forcefully to the environmental and climate justice issues that disproportionately impact the poor, people of color and vulnerable communities and move quickly to develop policies and action plans to address them,” he said.
Environmental organizations like Environment New York, a statewide advocacy group, are also praising the president’s plans as a big step in the right direction.
“Environment New York and our thousands of members and supporters stand ready to assist the president in taking ambitious steps to cut global warming pollution,” said field organizer Erich Whalen in a statement. If no plans for prevention are put in place, according to the organization, the effects of global warming will result in unhealthier air quality and more dangerous storms for future generations.
“Protecting our children from even more devastating consequences requires bold leadership. President Obama realizes this, and we hope his plan will truly begin to safeguard our children’s future,” said Whalen.
In the last few minutes of his speech, Obama said he is depending on the younger generations to help spread awareness about the effects of climate change.
“This is not just a job for politicians,” he said. “Speak up at town halls, church groups, push back on misinformation and speak up for the facts. Convince those in power to reduce our carbon pollution.”