Environmental Justice & Climate Resilience

One commonality between the effects of climate change is that they will make certain parts of the world less inhabitable, driving large-scale global migrations. In the United States, Southern states are at the highest risk for intense heat waves, while coastal cities risk flooding. This video describes climate migration in further detail. It highlights the need for a focus on environmental justice when building resilient cities; as Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities of color in the South are at higher risk for climate displacement.

Environmental racism is the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color. Environmental racism manifests in different ways all across the country, from water pollution in Flint, Michigan to food deserts in Oakland, California. Using this ArcGis interactive lesson, you can understand more about one of the biggest environmental justice issues in the Bay Area, air pollution. Contra Costa and Alameda Counties are home to more than twice as many toxic release sites as the rest of the Bay Area combined. People of color are the most likely to be put at risk of asthma and cardiac disease as a result of proximity to air pollution.

Chabot and Las Positas Colleges are located on unceded Lisjan Ohlone land. The Spanish began colonizing and reigning terror on Ohlone land and its people in the late 1700s. They stole Ohlone land and forced the Lisjan peoples into cultural and religious assimilation. Colonizers brought deadly diseases and extractive land practices, which had devastating consequences for local ecosystems and the Lisjan people. After the Mexican-American War in 1850, California's state government sanctioned the mass genocide of Indigenous populations by local militia. By 1852, there were less than 1,000 Indigenous peoples remaining on the land.

As we learned in this module, environmental justice means racial and economic justice. The SparkPoint Center serves low-income and/or students of color at Chabot College to support basic needs and provide financial assistance. SparkPoint is a data-driven, trauma-informed, and equity-centered approach rooted in an understanding of the persistent effects of systemic racism and poverty.