Greenpeace ad asks if climate change is racist

A new ad from environmental advocacy group Greenpeace asks if climate change is racist.

In the six-minute video released Friday, the group seeks to raise attention to the impact that climate-related disasters have on communities of color.

“Is climate change racist?” a woman asks at the beginning of the video. “Well, nobody is saying hurricanes, heatwaves or rising sea levels are prejudice. But we can’t ignore the fact that people who’ve often been on the front line of climate-related disasters have been people of color.”

The video goes on to say that a climate disaster occurs every week, and most of them occur in what’s known as the “global south” — in countries like Indonesia, Colombia and Kenya — with the narrator adding that countries in the “global north,” like the United States and United Kingdom are responsible for the impact that climate disasters have on people of color.

The video further discusses how in the “global north,” people of color are more likely to live in areas and work in industries where they are exposed to pollution.

“So, there we have it. Climate change isn’t racist, but people still are. “Politicians, corporations and entire countries in the global north have been and continue to be responsible for people in the global south paying the price for the climate emergency,” the video says.

“That’s why the climate crisis is a race issue. We can’t win the fight against climate chaos without dealing with racism,” it concludes.

The impacts of climate change on communities of color has garnered more attention in recent years.

White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy this year called climate change a “racial justice issue” because it exacerbates challenges of minority communities.

Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency released a report finding that Black Americans live in areas that are projected to be disproportionately impacted by climate-related extreme temperatures and pollutions.