In New York this September, the United Nations will gather world leaders for the Climate Ambition Summit to demand that nations stop developing new oil, gas and coal projects and begin phasing out fossil fuels once and for all.
Poor air quality due to fossil fuel combustion kills 350,000 people every year. Black communities are exposed to more particulate matter – a driver for poor air quality - compared to the overall U.S. population.
Join us at the March to End Fossil Fuels at 1 p.m. September 17 at 56th & Broadway to demand that U.S. officials:
STOP FEDERAL APPROVALS for new fossil fuel projects and REPEAL permits for points like the Willow Project and the Mountain Valley pipeline.
PHASE OUT FOSSIL FUEL DRILLING on public lands and waters.
DECLARE A CLIMATE EMERGENCY to halt fossil fuel exports and investments abroad, and turbo-charge the build-out of more just, resilient distributed energy (like rooftop and community solar).
PROVIDE A JUST TRANSITION to a renewable energy future that generates millions of jobs while supporting workers' and community rights, job security, and employment equity.
Let's fight back
The NAACP's inaugural edition of the Fossil Fueled Foolery primer shed light on the deceptive tactics used by fossil fuel conglomerates and their supporters at the expense of communities most affected by their pollution.
Fossil Fueled Foolery 2.0 aims to:
- Identify and describe the common tactics used by the fossil fuel industry and associated supporters that not only promote their agendas, but embed climate injustices.
- Provide real facts on the issues.
- Provide stories and strategies of action and advocacy within our communities that ground resistance to injustices caused by the fossil fuel industry.
Did you know: fossil fuels and the black community
- A majority of the 133 petrochemical facilities in the U.S. are in communities of color.
- Fossil fuels account for nearly 75% of all greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions cause extreme weather and issues like sea level rise. Black communities are disproportionately harmed by natural disasters due to the high level of emissions in Black communities.
- Studies show that poor people and people of color disproportionately live in hotter neighborhoods.
- Black mothers have the highest maternal health risk from overlapping exposure to air pollution and heat stress, putting them at greater risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preterm birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth.
- Fossil fuel economy creates "sacrifice zones" which are places to concentrate the pollution. These zones are disproportionately in Black and people of color communities.
- Black people 65+ are three times more likely to experience PM2.5 related (air quality) deaths than all other races.
- There is a higher percentage of Black and other communities of color living near power plants than national averages. Additionally. historically redlined neighborhoods are more likely to have fossil fuel power plant sited there – and have higher criteria pollutant emissions today.
- One report showed that eight California cities found that redlined neighborhoods had higher diesel exhaust pollution levels and a 2.4 times higher rate of asthma-related emergency room visits, and the individuals in those neighborhoods are still more likely to be people of color.