“I’m hopeful for our future and proud of our world leaders for taking steps toward creating a healthier, happier planet #COP21,” tweeted Pharrell Williams.
Saturday, Dec. 12, world leaders from 193 nations attending the United Nations-sponsored climate conference, known as COP21, signed what is being termed a historic agreement that some observers say marks the end of the fossil-fuel era.
Experts and pundits of all stripes have lined up since then to explain why the COP21 agreement is, or is not, a success. Some point to the famous 2-degree Celsius warming target, or question how legally binding the agreement will be and whether this agreement is a signature accomplishment for the Obama administration.
However, there have been no headlines or national analyses concerning the footprint at CPO21 left by the 50-member HBCU delegation and local organizations such as the Harlem-based WE ACT for Environmental Justice, with two staff and a community member attending COP21.
“Grass Roots organizations wanted the agreement to include a plan that stopped temperature rising above 1.5 degrees,” writes Aurash Khawarzad, policy advocacy coordinator for WE ACT in an email message to the AmNews. “Unfortunately it does not do that, and because of this, coastal communities like New York will be vulnerable to the increased temperatures and rising sea levels. Moving forward, we must intensify efforts around local planning that creates a plan that prepares our most vulnerable for these impacts. Currently, WE ACT has already begun this process with our Northern Manhattan Climate Action Plan.”
“The 1.5C is an important accomplishment,” explains Dr. Robert D. Bullard, dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey LeLand School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston. “COP21 will be felt for the next 25 to 30 years.”
Bullard, known as the father of environmental justice, and Dr. Beverly Wright, director of the Dillard University Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, coordinated the HBCU delegation’s participation at COP21.
“What we wanted was for these millennials to see how a U.N. global treaty conference is conducted,” stated Bullard. “We didn’t just go to only observe. The group had policies they wanted included in the agreement, to have their viewpoints heard.” According to Bullard, students must be in a better place to keep government officials focused on climate change and environmental justice.
Another long-time activist in the Black environmental injustice movement is Dr. Henry Clark, Ph.D., founder of the California-based West County Toxics Coalition in Richmond, Calif. He didn’t attend COP21, but he was aware of what was occurring at the conference. He told the AmNews that having a delegation such as the HBCU contingent was of great importance, given that the “international face of environmental racism” is people of color, who are disproportionately impacted by fossil-fuel and greenhouse emissions.
For more than 30 years, Clark has been fighting the powerful Chevron oil refineries in Richmond, which cough out periodic clouds of ash and smoke, and fiery explosions of pungent fumes. After years of fighting against Chevron and greedy government officials, the WCTC forced the oil giant to invest $100 million in community development. The organization is a member of the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Justice Health Alliance.
Dorothy Felix was born and raised in the all-Black community of Mossville, La., which was founded 150 years ago by former slaves. Her Mossville Environmental Action Now, Inc. is a member of the alliance. Felix did not go to Paris for COP21. However, she is very much aware of what the agreement means to communities such as Mossville.
“So many of my neighbors and relatives are suffering from cancers, endometriosis and asthma caused by the industrial pollution from the 14 chemical companies that surround our little town,” Felix told the AmNews. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has documented that dioxins released into the air, water and land are linked to Mossville’s health problems.
Felix says that what is needed from COP21 is an agreement that understands what communities such as Mossville face from the scourge of greenhouse emissions. “People need to know that we are all connected in this fight for climate justice,” argues Felix.
Eboni Cochran of REACT out of Louisville, Ky., agrees with Felix. “We have to force our way into the conversation,” Cochran explained to the AmNews. “Toxic issues, global warming affects Black folks across the board.” She says that her West Louisville community is known as “Rubbertown,” a reference to the 12 rubber plants in the area. “And now they are proposing to build a methane plant, that will be as close as 125 feet from homes,” she said. “The discussion in Paris must come to the home front. It is good that we have international allies, but we have to muster up the strength locally to fight back.”
Clark argues that we need some immediate actions now and don’t have the luxury of waiting 10 to 15 years. “Climate change is a human rights issue,” he said.
“In my humble opinion, the Paris/UN COP21 is an empty acknowledgement and a false apology by the criminal corporate/government/military terrorists of the United States and Europe who are chiefly responsible for the increasing climate chaos, environmental destruction and human catastrophes,” writes Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at, who participated in the November Northern California climate justice mobilization, in an email to the AmNews. “Their voluntary commitments to cut-back on fossil fuels are a farce, as is their pledge to pay a portion of their climate debt.”
“We went to Paris to argue for loss of damage, responsibility and compensation, and we learned that these rich nations have not and are not taking responsibility for climate injustice,” Bullard said, adding, “What came out of Paris was probably the best deal available. Now we must take the fight to our government here.”
The HBCU delegates came from Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Clafin University, Dillard University, Florida A&M University, Grambling State University, Howard University, Huston-Tilloston University, Lincoln University, Morehouse College, North Carolina A&T University, Southern A&M University, Spelman College, Tennessee State University and Texas Southern University.