How DEI and Climate Change Converge

Do you know what's often missing in the conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion? 

Climate change. 

"Climate change is one of the most profound inequities of the modern era," Somini Sengupta, the global climate correspondent, writes in the New York Times's climate newsletter.* 

Schools are closing early each day in India because of a sustained heat wave. Businesses are changing work schedules because people can't work in 110 degrees without severe risk of heat stroke. In India, regions are quickly becoming unlivable. 

Closer to home in the U.S., adapting to the heat requires air conditioning. But here's just one example of how climate change reveals inequity: 

"In Crotona Park East in the Bronx, 41 percent of residents fall below the federal poverty line, 24 percent of households lack air-conditioning, and few have cars to reach beaches or forests.

By contrast, in Carnegie Hill on the Upper East Side, one of the city's wealthiest, whitest sections, 96 percent of households are air-conditioned." **

What does it mean for families who can't escape life threatening heat waves?

What does it say about the rest of us who know and do nothing?

Many schools aren't able to provide relief from the heat because "according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 41 percent of school districts nationwide, or around 36,000 schools, do not have air conditioning, which multiple studies have shown tampers with learning."***

When parents have to leave work early to pick their kids up early because it's too hot in the classroom, jobs are threatened, work is disrupted, and human health is in danger.

Unless government, business, and community leaders integrate localized climate threats into their efforts, children from low-income families will be at risk for worsening educational, health, and longevity outcomes. 

Why aren't you talking about climate change in your DEI work?