As warming risks rise, Boston pastor sees need to spur 'climate justice'

(Reuters, 8 Jun 2020) Minority communities face greater threats from a heating planet - and resources and policy shifts will be needed to overcome them.

Reverend Mariama White-Hammond's mission to stop climate change impacts hitting black and minority communities hardest began when she volunteered in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

She spent her time helping residents apply for federal aid after they lost their homes, possessions and sometimes even loved ones when their families lacked resources to evacuate.

"That really changed my perspective," White-Hammond, 40, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "That was the big shift for me."

When she returned home to Boston, White-Hammond joined the environmental justice movement, aiming to bring attention to the inequities that make predominantly black communities like hers more vulnerable to climate disasters and pollution.

Issues of racial and economic inequality have surged to the fore in the United States as protests against police brutality and racism erupt around the country.

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Reuters, 8 Jun 2020: As warming risks rise, Boston pastor sees need to spur 'climate justice'