MARCH 2024: In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) Do You Know What Difference a Degree Makes? According to the EPA, if the planet warms by 2 degrees C, 40% of African Americans will die.
Globally, people of African descent are on the margins and our communities have been heavily disregarded through disinvestment.
In a world that’s 1.5 C/2.7 F warmer than in pre-industrial times, storms, heat waves, and droughts will be even more extreme than they are today. More homes, coastal communities and urban communities in flood plains will be lost to sea level rise, flooding/fresh water pollution, extreme heat and wildfire.
This means more living beings on planet earth are going to suffer from heat-related illnesses, infectious diseases, and starvation onset by a shifting climate. When these living beings, that also are embedded in our oral traditions, proverbs, rituals, gathering spaces, wholistic health remedies, etc., disappear the impacts on cultural preservation will become glaringly apparent.
We know you are a witness, because we are living it!
Last year, Asase Yaa/Mother Earth reached 1.5°C for an entire year. According to new data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the average global temperature has exceeded 1.5 degree Celsius over a 12-month period.
A FEW RECENT IMPACTS THE GLOBAL BLACK COMMUNITY HAS ALREADY EXPERIENCED
San Diego, CA had multiple mudslides and flooding footage that largely devastated Black communities. Elders are still suffering from mold and health challenges due to isolation, lack of mobility and lack of a support network. And one resident in an NPR report shared, “The morning after the storm, a real estate agent came knocking with an offer to buy the home for cash.”
Jackson, MS (82% Black pop) went over 40 days without clean drinking water; with 180,000 residents under a boil water advisory.
Negril, JA residents have lacked clean water for over a month which could create a major health issue due to an inadequate supply of potable water.
Chile, Argentina, and central Colombia all hit record high temperatures, with the third highest recorded temperature in 112 years in Santiago de Chile.
Zambia declared a state of emergency last month due to a devastating drought that impacted more than a million households.
Flooding continues in parts of South Sudan, DRC, Burundi, and Tanzania.
Atlanta, GA had severe thunderstorms at the end of 2023 which caused flash flooding throughout central Georgia, sweeping vehicles away in downtown Atlanta and leaving unprepared residents to climb out of their vehicle sunroofs/windows to safety and HBCU students scrambling to flee their flooding dorms.
With every additional degree — and each fraction of a degree — of warming, the consequences will CONTINUE to devastate the planet and disproportionately impact the Black community.
According to the U.S. Census, "In 2021, 40.1 million people in the United States were non-Hispanic black alone, which represents 12.1 percent of the total population of 331.9 million. Blacks/African Americans are the second largest minority population in the United States, following the Hispanic/Latino population. In 2021, most of the US population lived in the South (38.4 percent of the total U.S. population). The ten (10) states with the largest non-Hispanic, Black population are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia."
What solutions are you applying / do you see that truly address the issues in our community?