By: Nick Santangelo

It's called "global climate change" for a reason: it affects everyone around the globe. What's less talked about is that it doesn't affect everyone equally, nor does everyone equally cause it. Over the course of two days last week, a group of climate change researchers sought to change that. Climate change inequality was a major topic of discussion throughout Temple's sustainability symposium in Morgan Hall Thursday and Friday.

"Climate change is well-known as an equity issue," said Rutgers University Professor Robin Leichenko.

That's perhaps true—if you've dedicated your life's work to researching and teaching about climate change. However, several presenters throughout the symposium remarked upon the importance of taking off their blinders. They spoke of the need to connect with transdisciplinary researchers, climate and sustainability policymakers, and individuals affected by sustainability policies.

Philadelphia Office of Sustainability Deputy Director Sarah Wu, touched on the need to connect and work with local communities. Wu believes it's a mistake to take the findings and develop solutions in a vacuum. Before showing up in someone's neighborhood to implement a plan, it's important to gather input from the people who live in that neighborhood.

"We don't know the context," said Wu. "We don't know where people gather already. The place where they gather already, does it have access to reliable heating and cooling?"

Wu added that Philadelphians have disproportionate exposure to climate change risks. With sea levels predicted to rise anywhere from one to five feet by the end of the century, those living in certain neighborhoods along the Delaware and the Schuylkill face the highest risk from potential flooding. Many of these communities are underserved neighborhoods, which means they're some of the lowest contributors to the problems necessitating government intervention. And yet, they'll feel its effects more than anyone.

University of Maryland Professor Klaus Hubacek explained this by showing how carbon footprints appear to increase with income. The poorest 50 percent of the world's population has just $2.97 in daily purchasing power and are responsible for a mere 15 percent of carbon distribution. The richest 10 percent, meanwhile, has at least $23 of daily spending power and is responsible for 36 percent of carbon distribution.

"As income increases, the carbon footprint seems to converge," explained Dr. Hubacek. "What you also see is the elites in the poorest countries have very high footprints, but they are a very small population."

Still, the richer the country, the higher its carbon output is. And in a world where the 80 richest people (the 1 percent) own the same level of wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion (the 99 percent), Dr. Hubacek sees this as a colossal climate equity problem. He said the world is fast approaching a "tipping point" if it's going to achieve even the Paris Accords' relatively modest goal of keeping the global climate from rising two full degrees Celsius. Further complicating things I the need to hit that goal while also continuing to develop communities and nations in ways that reduce inequality. To do so, he believes the world must improve how it tracks carbon to its producers and users so that it can "delink carbon emissions from income."

And while carbon-related problems are perhaps the biggest and most obvious sustainability issues, they're far from the only ones. University of North Carolina Professor Javier Arce-Nazario explained that access to clean water is a huge problem for certain communities, offering four examples:

• Low-income residents in Flint, Mich. being disproportionately affected by lead seeping into their water.
• An Atlantic Coast pipeline issue having the biggest impact on Native Americans.
• Hispanic communities in the Los Angeles community being heavily exposed to toxic waste in their water.
• The Puerto Rican government trying to move some low-income communities off private water supply systems and onto public ones that are more expensive and more wasteful.

"When we talk about environmental justice, we are talking about unequal exposure or access to environmental risks and benefits," said Dr. Arce-Nazario. He warned against an overreliance on government data, pointing out it was doctors' and scientists' findings that led to the discovery of the Flint water crisis. As such, he's working toward reviving a tradition of applying a critical eye to physical geography data.

"The principles of environmental justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural and environmental self-determination of all peoples," continued Dr. Acre-Nazario, "and demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision-making, including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation."

Creating a world with full environmental justice is a lofty goal, but the presenters clearly feel it's one we should work toward. Wu responded to an audience question about working with communities by noting the importance of understanding each Philadelphia community's unique needs. Dr. Leichenko advocated for a similar approach in New York City, where she works with the city's government to develop meaningful policy change based on her sustainability research.

"You need to know where the socially vulnerable communities are because, in order to reduce those vulnerabilities, it's absolutely crucial that you have those [vulnerability] maps," she said.

The trouble is that sustainability science is often talked about on a scale so global and macro that most people won't see the effects of it in their daily lives.

Before leaving the podium, Wu challenged the symposium's audience to use their research to find ways around this that don't involve crisis response. "How do we create urgency without being exposed to a traumatic event? I haven't found an answer. I've failed so far."

She's not alone in that. No one has all the answers yet. But whatever those answers are, they'll likely involve researchers and policymakers working hand-in-hand to show people how sustainability policies will benefit them in their everyday lives.