Global Warming Threatens California’s Major Ethnic Populations

When she wears white clothing while taking the bus to her accounting job, she finds that soot collects like pepper on the white. Lott-Holland was one of the representatives of racial or ethnic groups, along with the poor, who were interviewed in a recently published study of how climate change will affect the most vulnerable Californians.

Her concerns about the adverse effects of the environment on health were echoed by Francisca Porchas, who is trying to promote a better bus system in Los Angeles and helped distribute 300 questionnaires in the community. Porchas said that one of their findings was that asthma was a huge problem among blacks, who live predominantly in urban areas. The report noted that the asthma mortality rate is two and a half times higher for blacks than whites.

The report, “Climate Change in California: Health, Economic and Equity Impacts,” was released last month by Redefining Progress, an Oakland policy institute dedicated to promoting sustainability.

According to the report, global warming is expected to exacerbate existing health problems in communities, and especially at risk are the elderly, women and children. Communities for a Better Environment also found in a separate study that one out of eight children in Southeast Los Angeles is not covered by health insurance. Parents are missing work to stay with their sick asthmatic children.

One person interviewed in Los Angeles said, “My family is uninsured and makes below $20,000 a year. I can predict future costs in terms of treatment. With ground level ozone or smog increasing with the heat, my family will most likely contract some kind of respiratory problem not that we’re not suffering from the consequences of bad air already in LA.”

The report describes a number of disturbing findings, all highlighting the reality that low-income communities and people of color will bear the brunt of harmful climate changes.

Among the findings:

-- Mortality rates for blacks from heat-related affects could increase sixteen-fold for blacks, fourteen-fold for Asians, twelve-fold for Latinos, and eight-fold for whites within this century.

-- Expected increases in food and energy prices will hurt low-income blacks and Latinos more than others since they spend more of their income on these necessities.

-- As global warming disrupts farming and tourism, people of color will find it more difficult to find jobs. Nearly 77 percent of California’s agricultural labor force is Latino.

-- Increases in temperatures and flooding are expected to increase the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases such as encephalitis and West Nile Virus.

While urging immediate action to meet the challenges of global warning, Dr. Michel Gelobter, executive director of Redefining Progress, sees hope amid the gloomy predictions. “There is great opportunity,” he said, “to take action to improve the economy and create a modern post-carbon economy.”

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