The Effects of Carbon Dioxide Emissions on POC’S

Communities of color are extremely effected by the burning of fossil fuel. it is reported that People of color breathe “in 40% more polluted air than white communities across the US. ” Fossil fuels are viewed as the main cause of this. The effects of the extreme amount of Carbon Dioxide emissions are extreme. Some of the effects include high blood pressure, coma, asphyxia, convulsions, etc. In fact in the US POC’s are 38% more likely to be exposed to asthma. Something that surprised me while researching for this blog post is that, even though Black people make up 13% of the US population 68% live within 30 miles of coal plants compared to 56% of white people. Coal plants are places where coal is burned in order to make electricity, bought throughout his process they are releasing. a large amount of fossil fuels into the atmosphere. Now don’t get me wrong these are both huge numbers and we really should be asking ourselves why are their so many coal plants to begin with, but we should also be asking ourselves why is it that people of color are significantly more effected by this than white people? and why are POC communities specifically where they want to be building coal plants, what makes that environment the best fit? In 2020 alone the US has emitted 4.58 billions metric tons of carbon dioxide now let’s imagine how the POC community was effected by this. Fossil fuels come from everywhere 29% is burned through transportation, 25% through electricity, 23% through industry, etc. These are things that we we use/interact with in our daily lives. We need to be able to be made aware of because the rise of CO2 emissions effect the environment we live in, in different ways. Although Carbon Dioxide is the fourth most abundant gas in our atmosphere it is still something that we need to watch the levels for!

Work Cited:

Fernandez Rysavy, Tracy, and Andre Floyd. “Green America.” Www.greenamerica.org, www.greenamerica.org/climate-justice-all/people-color-are-front-lines-climate-crisis.

United States Environmental Protection Agency. “Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data.” US EPA, 9 Apr. 2018, www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data.

Wisconsin Department of Health Services. “Carbon Dioxide.” Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 2 Jan. 2018, www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/chemical/carbondioxide.htm#:~:text=Exposure%20to%20CO2%20can%20produce.

 

14 thoughts on “The Effects of Carbon Dioxide Emissions on POC’S

  1. I think it is really interesting that Climate Change is such an important social issue as well. Even though climate change will affect all of us, it does not affect all of us equally which makes the situation even more complicated

    • The article highlights the importance of raising awareness about the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on our environment. Although it is the fourth most abundant gas in the atmosphere, it is crucial to monitor its levels for the well-being of our communities and the planet. Thank you for shedding light on this critical issue and encouraging us to take action.khalidelarbi———-business for sale

  2. Environmental justice is extremely important and I feel it is often overlooked when discussing the matter. I did a research project in high school regarding the disproportional health effects of POC due to the placement of fossil fuel plants.

  3. I think that this is a very important issue that society needs to tackle. Environmental racism can be seen on a local, national and global level. I found that it was interesting the fact that, “Black people make up 13% of the US population 68% live within 30 miles of coal plants compared to 56% of white people”, being in closer proximity to coal power plants has many chronic health effects. One thing that I find that is interesting that is if you look at the pushback against renewable energy that is happening throughout the middle of America, the protestors are mainly white people who don’t like the way it looks and has the privilege and leverage to stop million dollar operations. While communities around coal power plants which are mainly made up of people of color are subjected to the effects of the coal and other plants.

  4. The correlation between social issues and fossil fuels is astonishing. This is a great blog post that analyzes and reflects issues within our country that are tied to class elements. Are there any new regulations on fossil fuels that may help to fight this issue or any new legislature that has been brought forth?

  5. This post really made me think of the scale of our emissions. when you wrote that “In 2020 alone the US has emitted 4.58 billion tons” that was a shocking realization. After learning about scaling in class this number seems so much larger and is very scary.

  6. I think you did a great job at connecting the hugely important environmental issue of fossil fuels to the consistently over looked topic of environmental racism. There is a common theme seen across America where poor communities, with large POC populations, are targeted as places that are given less environmental care and therefore suffer health consequences due to this kind of maltreatment.

  7. There is certainly a huge part of the question of pollution that is a social justice question. The people who benefit the most from polluting the world are the ones that don’t suffer the consequences. There is also a huge disparity between the countries that produce the most CO2 and the countries that suffer the worst consequences. The US produces a huge amount of CO2, however countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are getting the worst of Climate Change.

  8. Although I’m sure you’ll require the knowledge from the aforementioned post, you should still learn more about the run 3 game genre as it’s so popular right now.

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