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2019 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

The Silence Before the Storm: Advocacy Groups’ Current Perceptions of Future Climate Vulnerability

verfasst von : Carlos Eduardo Martín

Erschienen in: Disaster Research and the Second Environmental Crisis

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Numerous organizations and institutions have traditionally represented, advocated for, or served those U.S. populations that are identified as vulnerable to environmental hazards and emergencies. However, we know little about how these organizations currently perceive or are acting on these threats to their constituent communities—in particular, the threats from hazards associated with climate change’s effects. This chapter documents the organizations’ current climate adaptation strategies and activities on behalf of these populations if any, and describes key themes regarding the contexts and challenges, surrounding the current state as well as the opportunities for possible future action.

Structured interviews were held with representatives from a wide pool of organizational types, from local environmental justice groups to national civil rights and environmental advocacy institutions. Responses corroborated the study’s primary finding from policy and document reviews: the groups’ current advocacy or programming related to climate change is generally nascent and, on the whole, does not extend beyond the identification of general vulnerabilities.

The silence, however, is not intentional. External and contextual barriers continue to hinder many organizations: the current national policy direction is focused almost exclusively on climate mitigation strategies over adaptation planning and action, and on equity in disaster recovery rather than in disaster mitigation and preparedness. Internal institutional barriers persist as well, such as resource constraints, gaps in technical capacity, and the lack of a demographically diverse staff that is attuned to the concerns within the vulnerable communities in question. Local groups also struggle with the task of messaging climate change in communities that face a broad array of intersecting social, economic, and environmental challenges.

To overcome these barriers, the author suggests policy and funding instruments that expand the technical and resource capacity of local organizations like environmental justice groups to better serve their vulnerable constituents’ adaptation needs. However, the investment must produce actionable programming tied to the goals of current environmental and emergency management policy and to achievable community outcomes beyond solely identifying vulnerabilities.

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Vorheriges Kapitel Disaster Studies at 50: Time to Wear Bifocals?

Nächstes Kapitel Beautiful and Safe Landscapes for Sustainable Disaster Risk Reduction

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An additional subject area of household finances (e.g., residential energy efficiency and renewable energy and their disparate effects on household energy expenses) was also considered. However, the scholarship in this area is too slim and focuses primarily on the disparities related to climate mitigation.

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The recent publication of the final U.S. CPP rule pays particular attention to environmental justice analysis and low-income communities as targeted populations for intervention, for example. Benefits for some of the vulnerable populations from these actions are estimated in health, household finances, and employment outcomes, though the impacts of the few articulated policies, programs, strategies, and tools are still generally unknown.

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Most of these monographs center on the arguments around whether energy regulations add costs to low-income and racial minority households without commensurate benefits. A controversial report in the most recent incarnation of this debate is Management Information Services, Inc. (2015). “Potential Impact of Proposed EPA Regulations on Low Income Groups and Minorities” Washington DC: National Black Chamber of Commerce (June), which focuses on the CPP. See also, Ari Phillips (2015). “How The National Black Chamber Of Commerce’s Leader Is Harming African Americans” (March 17) Blogpost by Climate Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/17/3634581/house-takes-on-smog.

A variety of reasons are suggested for this, including the control of technical knowledge by risk and disaster management experts: Scott Gabriel Knowles, The Disaster Experts: Mastering Risk in Modern America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011).

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San Francisco’s “soft story” ordinance was the first among these (http://sfdbi.org/mandatory-soft-story-program), leading to Los Angeles’ and other cities’ regulations (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-earthquake-retrofit-20151009-story.html) and subsequent financing mechanisms being debated at the state level (http://www.latimes.com/local/cityhall/la-me-quake-20150921-story.html).

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All respondents in the public health sector noted the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework and its Climate-Ready States & Cities Initiative grantees and particularly emblematic of the field’s activities and programs: http://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/climate_ready.htm.

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A. Kaswan (2012). “Domestic Climate Change Adaptation and Equity.” Environmental Law Reporter 42. Since the research underlying this chapter was conducted, a variety of fair housing and civil rights organizations have filed comment on proposed rulemaking on non-discrimination in EPA’s program grantees and activities that could serve “to build an important bridge between… [EPA’s civil rights rules] Title VI… and the Fair Housing Act.” See Haberle and Rich (2016) “Re: Comments on Nondiscrimination in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Assistance from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA-HQ-OA-2013-0031.” Letter to EPA’s Office of Civil Rights (March 16): http://www.prrac.org/pdf/EPA_Letter_re_Fair_Housing_Coordination.pdf.

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Martinez and Sheats (2015). “Protecting Environmental Justice Communities from the Detrimental Impacts of Climate Change” in Luber and Lemery, Global Climate Change and Human Health: From Science to Practice (2015”Jossey-Bass, San Francisco CA).

Exceptions were made for additional background interviews held with scholars of environmental justice and climate adaptation efforts. Because these individuals were not the focus of the study, a condensed version of the standard protocol was used to identify the respondents’ familiarity with any climate vulnerability efforts across all of the subject-matter fields.

Only two respondent noted purposely not supporting or at least being wary of supporting climate adaptation or hazard mitigation activities for reasons other than capacity or timing. These respondents argued that adaptation discussions were “being abused” by the fossil fuel industry presumably to divert attention from climate mitigation.

These responses corroborate the documents found during the policy review regarding alternative depictions of climate policy from civil rights groups. See Note 81.

Though most EJ coalitions decried cap-and-trade policies at the national level, the debate was most heated in California between 2008 and 2012 where a cap-and-trade bill successfully passed after the EJ community’s protests: K. Sheppard (2008), “Environmental Justice V. Cap-And-Trade” American Prospect (February 28) and T. Schatzki and R. Stavins (2009), “Addressing Environmental Justice Concerns in the Design of California’s Climate Policy” Analysis Group, Inc.

One respondent quoted a statistic with unidentified source that 4.5% of foundation funds in 2002 went to EJ causes, and that this went up to 15% by 2012.

A few national and local groups did note the recent role of specific private foundations in providing funds for broader climate activities that include adaptation, and the EPA’s inclusion of climate preparedness and resilience in its 2015 Environmental Justice Small Grants Program.

Coalitions pertinent to adaptation that were frequently mentioned in the interviews included the Climate Justice Alliance, the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change.

Bethel, J. W., Burke, S. C., & Britt, A. F. (2013). Disparity in disaster preparedness between racial/ethnic groups. Disaster Health, 1(2), 110–116.

Cutter, S., Boroff, B., & Shirley, W. (2003). Social vulnerability to environmental hazards. Social Science Quarterly, 8, 242–261.

Titel: The Silence Before the Storm: Advocacy Groups’ Current Perceptions of Future Climate Vulnerability
verfasst von: Carlos Eduardo Martín
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: Disaster Research and the Second Environmental Crisis
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04689-7

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-04691-0

Copyright-Jahr: 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04691-0_4