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Global Warming
Sun, 10/12/2008 - 20:06 | Environment
In a survey earlier this year by the Research and Policy Institute of California (RPIC), perceptions of African Americans and Latinos throughout the state were analyzed. Although this survey was limited to the state of California, the findings may mirror results in other states:
Of five key priority issues affecting minorities to date, global warming was consistently ranked the lowest priority, according to the survey. Findings in the survey also indicate minority communities are under-educated on legislative measures and policies intended to combat global warming. Education and awareness on environmental issues and legislation appears to be low – and frequently absent – within the minority communities, based on RPIC’s findings.Why do communities of color appear to be less concerned about global warming issues?
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Comments
Hello again Ms. Sheila. I
Hello again Ms. Sheila. I believe that we are both misunderstanding each other. The original question was why is it that people of color don't appear to be concerned about global warming. I guess I can only speak for St. Louis. The majority of the people that I know (friends and relatives included) who live in the hood are not thinking about global warming because they have other issues that they deem more important and that have more of a direct effect on them that they can actually see and feel. There are not recycle bins in the hood and this is where I was agreeing with your original statement that it depends on how the neighborhoods in different states have their recycling set up. There are not recycle bins in the hood. The city of St. Louis does put trash cans on the street, but you still see more trash on the street than you do in the cans. This is a reality in many of the lower income neighborhoods.
Now in the part of St. Louis where I live, recycling is a requirement. St. Louis County delivered a large recycling bin to every household and told us that we had to pay for it. None of what I said was meant to be offensive, and I am sorry if that is the way that it sounded. But the truth is the average person of color living in the hood here in St. Louis could care less about global warming. It is not a priority. Now you are right, perhaps if recycling bins were placed in the neighborhoods and more people were educated about what global warming is and how it has an effect on everybody, then perhaps it would make people more concerned about it, and they would use the recycling bins.
Hello Monica, you asked...
Hello Monica, you asked... "you tell me how you see that as speaking of our people as third class citizens who are on welfare". I don't know how you manage to put those two sentences together but they are not together in my statement. I'm sure you misunderstood me. I should had put a period instead of a coma after the statement I made which was, "I don't see what she don't agree on but anywho". Now, as for how I understood your logic of us not thinking about global warming, you stated "that you see more litter on the street than in the trash can because we have to many other problems to think about". Like we need justification for being ignorant. Monica our problems are not new problems to us its SECOND NATURE. Now this global warming problem they want to blame on us and it ain't cracking we didn't just get here. That's what I meant when I said like we are third class citizens. We've been here the solution hasn't. When stuff hit the fan it is always "why black people want". Every time they pick us out it's negative. You never hear about blacks doing nothing good. This is the reality of this situation, you are on the suburb side that looks at the hood side to make your side look as if we are third class citizens and don't know better. That's how you made me feel. When you just said it yourself we don't have it in the hood like you do. It has nothing to do with our problems because our problems are SECOND NATURE to us.
Oh and Sheila, this is also
Oh and Sheila, this is also true for lower economic neighborhoods that are predominantly white.
Sheila, I do believe that you
Sheila, I do believe that you have totally misunderstood the concept of what I was saying. I said nothing about our people being on welfare nor did I say anything to insinuate that they are third class people. I said that people in the lower socioeconomic areas in the St. Louis area do not pay much attention to global warming because they have more pressing issues on their minds such as being out of work, not able to put gas in the cars, gang violence in the neighborhood, not able to afford college or medical expenses. Global warming is the furthest thing from their mind. This is the reality of the situation. Global warming is something that many of our people hear about on television, but really don't think that it has an affect on them. You tell me how you see that as speaking of our people as third class citizens who are on welfare???
I'm really getting tired of
I'm really getting tired of people in my own culture speaking as if black people that don't live in the burbs are third class people. Although we have a lot to deal with, it doesn't make us unaware of what is going on or make us care less. You could not put all that on the whole hood and say everybody is like that. As you know, the more taxes a neighborhood pays, the more it would be taken care of by the city. Now you don't have to had gone to Harvard to know this. If anything a poor person would pick up bottles, plastic, and anything that he/she could recycle to get money. Rather the person above agree or not. I don't see what she don't agree on but anywho, if the majority of the neighborhood is on welfare that means they don't pay taxes and the streets, alleys, schools and any and everything in that neighborhood is neglected. Peace!
In some ways I agree with the
In some ways I agree with the first responder, but not fully. I do believe that in many instances it would depend on where you live, but for the most part when I go to the predominantly black neighborhoods in the inner city, you don't see too many of us out there worrying about global warming. I believe that this also has a lot to do with the socioeconomic status as well. For example I live in a predominantly black suburban neighborhood where recycling is required and is almost second nature. But in the lower economic neighborhoods, there are no recycling bins and you tend to see more litter on the streets than in trash cans. I also think that many blacks don't pay that much attention to global warming because there are so many other things that are affecting us, like being out of work, unable to afford gas for the car, unable to afford college, gang violence in the neighborhoods, not being able to afford medical expenses, etc. When you add all of those things up, global warming just seems like a distant problem that many don't really believe is having a direct affect on them.
Hello Tavis, I don't think
Hello Tavis, I don't think that race has anything to do with it. I think it's how the different states in different neighborhoods have their recycle bins set up. I know for a fact that me and my family drink a case of bottled water every day, and when I called the city to ask if they would pick up the bottles, they said no. They then asked me to take it out to a Hwy; this is in Mississippi. Now on the other hand, when I was living in San Diego, they had a recycle machine almost in every neighborhood that you could take the bottles and one for clothes also. So their survey question should be why certain states don't make it easy to recycle, not certain people. If they build it, they would come. Who are these people surveying? I was never asked this question.