By Rev. Vernon K. Walker
The preeminent social justice issue of our time is climate change. It is not a single special interest issue but rather a complex crisis affecting public health, foreign policy, jobs and the economy, labor, civil rights, immigration, agriculture and the food supply, housing, transportation, the survival of nature, and every facet of human lives.
Historically communities of color have not been deeply involved in the climate justice movement. There are many other immediate concerns that people of color must grapple that monopolizes our attention, such as housing justice issues, racial justice issues and more. That does not mean people of color do not care about environmental justice issues.
Rather, we have seen people of color are interested in tangible solutions and steps that can be taken to slow down or alternatively prepare for climate change. Helping our communities prepare for climate change is one step in the right direction to understanding how broad the subject is.
This is what the Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW) program does, empower and prepare people for extreme weather that comes because of climate change.
Pictured: Rev. Vernon K. Walker
CREW is a newly formed grassroots program that aims to build equitable, inclusive neighborhood climate resilience in Massachusetts and New England through hands-on education, service, and planning. CREW is a program under the organizational umbrella of the Better Future Project.
CREW’s hosts climate preparedness workshops throughout the year to help prepare people for extreme weather. The workshops demonstrate what climate impacts are and show people how to prepare for them.
During the summer of 2020, CREW and the Authentic Caribbean Foundation (ACF) provided 107 energy efficient AC units to low income residents in Brockton, MA.
This summer, CREW is partnering with ACF again and Brockton Interfaith Organization to outreach to low-income communities in Brockton to ensure that residents have AC units. We will be providing 101 AC units this summer along with 100 heat cooling kits to residents who do not receive the AC units. We will also have several webinars around best practices for cooling and information about longer-term climate risks and the need for resilience for members of Brockton’s Caribbean community.
Starting in the fall, CREW will be embarking on research that looks at how important social connectedness during extreme weather. CREW will be working with several Tufts University professors, students, and community members for this project.
Additionally, CREW is interested in partnering with organizations trusted by the community that has physical space to become a Climate Resilience Hub. CREW has 70 Hubs with 69 across America and one in Canada. We have three levels of Hubs and you can see our website for more information about Hubs. As extreme weather will become more frequent and dangerous, we know such conditions would greatly impact poor frontline communities where every person does not have central air in their homes or air-conditioning units, and these resources can increase the likelihood of people surviving during weather emergencies.
The impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. Worldwide, people of color feel a heavier burden from contaminated air, toxic water, shrinking natural resources. CREW is working in our local neighborhoods to connect people to community resources and community anchoring institutions to protect public health and engage new climate activists and leaders. If you like to learn more, check out our website below or feel free to reach out to me as my email is below:
Questions? Email: vernon@climatecrew.org
CREW website: https://www.climatecrew.org/?locale=en
Hubs webpage: https://www.climatecrew.org/resilience_hubs
