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Climate Justice

The Climate Multiplier in Frontline Communities.

Climate change is the most critical and urgent issue facing our world, yet it is not just an issue of the “natural” environment. It has massive implications for social justice and human rights. Climate change will have an unequal impact on communities of color because it is a threat multiplier, meaning it will layer upon existing public health, economic, and racial injustices in the United States and around the world.

3,331

By 2080, New York is expected to see 3,331 heat-related deaths

From 2000 to 2010, nearly 50% of those affected by heat-related deaths in NYC were African Americans.

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Rising Inequality

Inequality across New York City is severe and rising, which will make matters worse. Over 20% of all household earners control over 54% of the city’s wealth. This gaping wealth disparity also translates into advantages in political power and access to resources for wealthy New Yorkers. For these reasons, some NYC residents are dramatically better prepared to absorb the shocks associated with climate change than others.

The Northern Manhattan Climate Action (NMCA) Plan

Without targeted investment in New York’s frontline communities, the same pollution burdens places like Northern Manhattan have long felt, will be replicated. The voices of vulnerable communities must be amplified because they had the least to do with creating climate change, but will be the first to feel its impacts. In 2015, WE ACT gathered hundreds of local residents to build our Northern Manhattan Climate Action (NMCA) plan, to make sure community voices were heard in climate planning and practices.

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