Diversifying the Climate Movement
Over at The Breakthrough, I have a Public Square post up discussing the need for the environmental movement to broaden and diversify their public outreach, connecting in particular with minority communities. Here’s how it starts:
At Politico today, there is an important article focusing on the inability of the environmental movement — for the most part — to move beyond a primarily white, liberal base and to engage minority communities. As Politico’s Talia Buford reports, many greens blame the failure of the cap and trade campaign to engage minority communities on opponents who warned of the damaging economic costs to low income communities. Yet this rationale overlooks the differential costs that cap and trade would have placed on minority communities — one reason why some greens were pushing for a cap and dividend program. The explanation also overlooks the failure of greens for the most part to make an issue like climate change relevant to minority communities, or to even devote significant resources and staff to engagement.
