In the climate movement, a recurring question often arises: “When will people wake up and take the necessary steps to truly tackle the climate crisis?” For years, the prevailing belief was that only a disaster that humanized climate change would spur meaningful action. Climate change seemed too abstract, and it was thought that people needed a concrete depiction of its human toll to become sufficiently motivated. It was believed that once individuals grasped the tangible consequences of climate change, they would emotionally connect with the crisis and demand the drastic action needed to prevent future suffering.
Then, a decade ago, Hurricane Katrina provided that stark depiction in unmistakably human terms. The imagery that emerged was of black individuals stranded on rooftops. Given that marginalized communities, including poor and people of color, disproportionately bear the brunt of the climate crisis, this imagery is likely to remain an accurate representation of its human impact.
Yet, even after witnessing the human toll of climate change through the lens of Hurricane Katrina, our society failed to mobilize effectively to address the crisis and prevent the recurrence of such suffering. If climate change meant that black lives were at risk, then it seemed that black lives did not matter enough to prompt action. Undoubtedly, there are numerous barriers to galvanizing political and public will to combat climate change. However, the lesson from ten years ago was that one of these barriers is deeply ingrained racism in the United States.
For many in the predominantly white climate movement, Katrina served as a turning point towards a paradigm of climate justice and an acknowledgment of the link between the climate crisis and white supremacy. Katrina marked a pivotal moment in the grassroots shift from advocating for a cleaner, greener status quo to advocating for collective liberation from interconnected forms of oppression. With a crisis that disproportionately impacts marginalized communities and solutions that often challenge the interests of the wealthy and powerful, it became evident that fighting climate change necessitates simultaneously addressing other forms of injustice.
Over the past decade, the climate justice movement has made significant strides in forging relationships and alliances with other social justice movements. Admittedly, navigating these relationships has at times been challenging, given the historical dominance of white, middle-class perspectives within the environmental movement. Nevertheless, considerable progress has been achieved, particularly among younger activists. Many young climate activists reject single-issue environmentalism, viewing intersectional justice as foundational to their activism. The lesson learned from Katrina is clear: the path to climate justice intersects with racial justice.