By Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Van Jones

As we celebrate Earth Day, it's a good time to remember that pollution and climate change aren't just environmental issues. They're justice issues.

Worldwide, people of color shoulder a heavier burden from toxic water, contaminated air, and dwindling natural resources. The same is true in America.

For example, African Americans living in Los Angeles are twice as likely to die in a heat wave than other city residents. As a result of climate change, urban heat waves are on the rise and the risk is growing. In cities across the country, poverty and inequality have created a perfect storm that traps black families in neighborhoods with few trees, little shade, and lack of access to air conditioning or cars that allow them to escape when severe weather hits.

It's not just the record heat. When disasters strike, no matter where, people with the fewest resources have a harder time preparing, escaping, and recovering. Just look at what happened with Hurricane Katrina or how the BP oil spill dramatically impacted Gulf Coast's Vietnamese-American community. When Superstorm Sandy hit, it wreaked havoc on New York's poor neighborhoods, including causing pervasive respiratory illness among low-income residents whose homes were struck by mold.

The pollution that's driving climate change also disproportionately affects communities of color. In fact, 78 percent of African Americans live within 30 miles of a toxic-spewing coal plant, which helps explain why one out of six black kids suffers from asthma -- compared with a national average of one in ten.

According to Hector Sanchez, chair of the National Latino Coalition on Climate Change, more than 80 percent of Latinos live in counties that violate at least one federal air-pollution law and Latino children are two and half times more likely to develop asthma than non-Latinos.

Given that communities of color pay the heaviest toll, it's not surprising that they consistently demonstrate the highest level of support for protecting clean air and fighting climate change. A 2014 Green For All poll showed that 68 percent of minority voters favor immediate action to address climate change. Last month, a Benenson Strategy Group poll showed that a whopping 85 percent of African Americans support global commitments on climate--the largest percentage of any demographic group. Climate change will likely be a major issue for our nation's 17.8 million black voters in the 2016 presidential election.

People of color need to play a larger role in the decision-making on climate and clean air. A recent report by the group Green 2.0 shows that "Despite increasing racial diversity in the United States, the racial composition in environmental organizations and agencies has not broken the 12% to 16% "green ceiling" that has been in place for decades."

We need equal protection from the worst environmental problems. We also need equal access to the best opportunities in the clean energy economy--including jobs in solar, wind, and energy efficiency. These kinds of jobs are growing--and they tend to pay more while requiring less formal education, which is a recipe for escaping poverty.

There are millions of black voters who are ready to act on climate; they just need access to the right opportunity. And once they're in the ring, big polluters won't stand a chance. Polluters know this--that's why they have begun a misinformation campaign claiming that clean energy hurts African American families.

The path forward is clear--and people of color are already leading the way.

In fact, they are largely responsible for one of the country's most cutting-edge--and wildly successful--efforts to slash pollution and poverty: California's cap and trade bill, which makes polluters pay for their climate garbage, and then directs the funds to hard-hit neighborhoods. A coalition of black, Latino, and Asian community groups rallied to advance the legislation in 2012, and it raised $262 million for disadvantaged communities in its first year alone. By 2020, the law will keep a projected 78 million metric tons of carbon pollution out of the air--the equivalent of taking one out of every fifteen cars in America off the road. And it never would have happened without the genius of the state's communities of color.

Climate solutions and pollution safeguards are about so much more than protecting the environment. They're about creating work, health and wealth. They're about righting the ship in neighborhoods that have suffered from decades of racism, divestment, oppression and poverty.

That's why groups like Green For All and members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) are working to connect more of our folks to the climate policy and clean energy decisions that affect our future. Because the more engaged we are, the better America's solutions to climate change will be.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee represents the East Bay and serves on the Budget and Appropriations Committees. Van Jones served as President Obama's Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and is the founder of Green For All.

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Oakland – Some of the most influential African American church leaders in the country are joining forces with the U.S. Green Building Council and Green For All to launch Green The Church, an effort to reach 1,000 black churches and address the disproportionate impacts of climate change and pollution on communities of color.

Watch the Video  ~A Green For All Initiative ~ ‘Every now and again an idea comes along that is too powerful to ignore…’

At a telephone press conference on Thursday, March 12, pastors from across the country  joined Green For All Founder Van Jones and U.S. Green Building Council Senior Vice President of Community Advancement Kimberly Lewis to talk about why climate change and sustainability are a priority for African American congregations.

Speakers include Reverend Otis Moss, senior pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, the Chicago church attended by President Obama; Reverend Amos Brown, who sits on the boards of both the NAACP and the National Council of Churches; Ambrose Carroll, who founded Green The Church; and Bishop J.W. Macklin, who is Second Assistant Presiding Bishop at the largest Pentecostal denomination in the country. Together, these leaders represent millions of black congregants and voters.

This is the first time nationally recognized African American church leaders have come together across denominations to talk about the threat that climate change poses to their communities.

The Green The Church initiative aims to bring the benefits of sustainability directly to black communities by partnering with the U.S. Green Building Council on clean energy and energy savings. It will also tap into the power of the African American church as a moral leader and a force for social change—one with the potential to bring millions of new people into the climate movement.

The initiative demonstrates what polls already show: that people of color are concerned about climate change and ready to act. It also comes at a time when polluters are increasingly trying to turn minority leaders against clean energy.

“When it comes to climate change and pollution, people of color are hit first and worst. Our communities also stand to gain enormously from investments in solutions like clean energy. The Black church is a formidable force. It could help determine whether we win or lose on climate,” -Reverend Ambrose Carroll, Green the Church Founder.

African American church leaders have partnered with the nonprofit Green For All and the US Green Building Council to combat climate change. The “Green the Church” campaign seeks to include 1,000 churches, representing congregants that total in the millions.

“The black church has always joined hands with other faith traditions and stood on the front lines as they did in Selma, Alabama, fifty years ago this week. Likewise this must be true in the fight against climate change,” said Green the Church founder Ambrose Carroll.

The clip above outlines the direct ways in which climate change affects the Black community, from the health issues that arise from environmental degradation to the food issues that develop on a broader scale.

Not only that, but the churches are looking to save money by using sustainable energy and support the green economy. Moreover, they’re hoping that this way of thinking will trickle down to parishioners, who would certainly welcome the chance to lower energy bills and other climate-related expenses.

Even before this press release landed in our inbox, the Green the Church Summit took place, bringing together church leaders to talk about this issue in Oakland, CA.

Black churches are a key way to reach African-American audiences with messages of all kind. They also serve critical roles in organizing African Americans behind a cause, event or other manner of campaign. Tapping into this trusted resource is a brilliant way to communicate with the Black community.

Moreover, a quick search of “climate change” will find that lots of groups — religious denominations, various industries, even FEMA — are now urging concern over climate change because of the unique ways that it will impact people based on where they live, where they work, or what they do in day-to-day life. This is one strategy that environmental activists are using to target important demographics to spread their message of urgency.

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Who wants to praise the Lord while suffocating in greenhouse gases and other pollutants? Not I — and certainly not the nation’s top church leaders. A thousand Black churches across the U.S. are teaming up with the U.S. Green Building Council and Green for All to combat climate change.

They call it the “Green the Church” movement.

When the Black church has got your back, you’re going places. “No major movement in this nation has been successful without power and leadership of black church,” said Ambrose Carroll, founder of Green The Church. And he’s right. From the civil war to the anti-lynching campaigns and the civil rights movement,success would have been elusive without Black church leadership.

“The black church has always joined hands with other faith traditions and stood on the front lines as they did in Selma, Alabama,,” Caroll added. “Likewise this must be true in the fight against climate change.”

The alliance will work on energy efficiency projects, urban farming initiatives and renewable energy. A lot of progress, Caroll said, can be made at the churches themselves. “We as a people may not own a lot of real estate in this nation, but we do own church buildings. All those buildings can be retrofitted for more efficiency energy use,” Carroll added.

Black churches and “go green” enthusiasts might seem like an unlikely pairing, but they do share one goal: Creating an inclusive, prosperous, stable society for everyone.

Bishop J.W. Macklin of Glad Tidings Church of God in Christ gives us insight as to why he’s joining the Green the Church movement:

“The question that must be asked is ‘who is our neighbor?’ We have to identify our neighbor as the one who shouts for us, who needs us. Right now communities affected most are those who are being hit by climate change. They’re calling for our help.”

Some congregants are already benefiting from the fight against climate change. Reverend Otis Moss of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ noted that he was able to provide free solar power to an elderly member of the church.

“We were saved by the Son and now we’re powered by the sun,” Moss said.

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It’s time for an ecology theology.

That’s the message of several influential African American church leaders who’ve joined environmental and civil rights activist Van Jones to preach the “green” gospel. Believing that fighting for climate change and protecting the environment is simply a part of good, Christian stewardship over the earth, these men and women of the cloth are looking to reach more than a thousand black churches through their “Green the Church” campaign.

During a press call on Wednesday, they discussed how African Americans are often left out on the discussion of the environment, yet Blacks are deeply affected – both in health and wealth – when it comes to our environment.

“We need equal protection from the worst of the pollution-based economy,” Jones said.

Jones, one of the founders of nonprofit Green For All and the former White House Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, said blacks are “hit first and worst by everything” when it comes to the effects of climate change and pollution – from devastating super storms like Hurricane Katrina to being more susceptible of dying from heat stroke in smog-filled cities like Los Angeles. He also said 68 percent of African Americans live within 30 miles downwind of a coal plant.

“That might be why 1-in-6 African American kids have asthma,” he said.

But it’s not just pollution that’s Jones and the pastors from “Green the Church” want to address. They also want more access to “green” jobs for African Americans, citing that green jobs in the energy sector – even those that don’t require a college education – pay 13 percent better than what’s typically available.

“A green economy can get us more work, better wealth and better health,” Jones said.

The ministers involved with Green the Church come from across denominations. Their goal, according to a release put out by the group, is to “bring the benefits of sustainability directly to Black communities by partnering with the U.S. Green Building Council on clean energy and energy savings.” Organizers want to “tap” into the prophetic power of the African American church and its historical role as being a “moral leader” and “a force for social change.”

“No major movement in this nation has been successful without the power and the leadership of the Black church,” said Green the Church founder Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll. “The Black church has always joined hands with other faith traditions and stood on the front lines, as they did in Selma.”

Rev. Carroll said we must do the same now with climate change.

“According to the book of Genesis we are stewards of the earth,” she said. “Today, let’s join in together and let’s green the Black Church.”

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Leaders of the "Green The Church" movement launched a new effort this week to help 1,000 African-American congregations take action on climate change.

Green The Church, its organizers said, "aims to bring the benefits of sustainability directly to black communities." It includes a partnership between Green For All, the California-based environment and social justice organization, and the U.S. Green Building Council, which will work with churches on renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. It also seeks to "tap into the power of the African-American church as a moral leader and a force for social change," through education and outreach to millions of black church-goers across the country.

"The black church has always joined hands with other faith traditions and stood on the front lines, as they did on 'Bloody Sunday' in Selma 50 years ago," the Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll, a California-based pastor who founded Green The Church, said in a call with reporters Thursday. "So they must with climate change."

Carroll said a lot of progress, such as efficiency retrofits and urban farming initiatives, can be made at the churches themselves. "We may not own a lot of real estate, but we do own church buildings," he said.

The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, the senior pastor at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, said his church has already purchased 27 acres of land on which to build a new urban farm, housing, and health, education, and wellness centers. "It will be green from the ground up," he said, adding that they want to promote the message that it's "not only, 'Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud,' but, 'Say it loud, I'm green and I'm proud.'"

Green For All said it found in recent polling that three-quarters of minority voters expressed an interest in climate change and wanted to know more about it. Sixty-eight percent said they thought climate change threatens their communities.

"We get hit first and worst by everything negative in the pollution-based economy," said Van Jones, the founder of Green For All and a current CNN contributor. Green The Church will advocate for "equal protection from the worst, and access to the best."

The group released this video to promote the effort:

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By Adrianna Quintero, Director of Constituency Engagement, NRDC

Black History Month calls for a celebration of the visionary environmental leadership of black individuals and communities, as well as an examination of the many environmental injustices faced by people of color in our country. Whether we acknowledge it or not, the extreme weather events of last year and early 2015 do not visit economic, psychological and health-related damage upon all Americans equally. We have seen for decades how racism, poverty and other forms of marginalization negatively impact our experience of environmental issues such as pollution and extreme weather.

When a superstorm like Hurricane Sandy hits, it does its worst damage to families who lack access to health insurance, rent homes, are un- or under-insured, and generally already overburdened. From winter storms that bring higher heating costs and disrupted services, to summer heat waves that are felt more harshly in urban centers where, research shows, 52% of black Americans are more likely than whites to live in "urban heat islands" (dense neighborhoods without access to cooling green space), and can be twice as likely to die during a heat wave.

Given this reality, the current discourse around climate resilience--helping communities "bounce back" from environmental disasters--must be bold and equitable. As Green for All's 2014 Climate Resilience in Vulnerable Communitiesreport explained so eloquently, "vulnerable Americans need bolder, more integrated strategies to help them 'leap forward' and find a way to gain ground--not just go back to the margins." Climate adaptation measures must be conceived as opportunities to build communities and breathe life into neighborhoods through economic diversification, political empowerment, expanded green space, and better access to healthcare and other resources.

Across the country, visionary black leaders (too many to name here) are promoting innovative solutions that foster environmental and communal well-being simultaneously. From legendary leaders like Dr. Robert Bullard, the "father of environmental justice", who has spent a lifetime working to bring both academic and public awareness to environmental injustice across the country, from toxic dumping to transportation routing to economic planning; to innovators like Will Allen, the son of a sharecropper and a former NBA player, who has taken community farming to a new level. NRDC recognized Will's achievements in 2009 for his work as founder of Growing Power in 1993 to "inspire communities to build sustainable food systems that are equitable and ecologically sound," thereby improving food security while greening the environment and providing paths to employment. These individuals are among scores of others we must celebrate and look to, not only during Black History Month, but every day of the year: thought leaders who understand that our community deserves better and that fighting pollution can improve health, opportunity and equity in our country.

A clean and healthy environment is not a luxury but a right and our moral obligation to fulfill for our children. Children of all colors need a safe and healthy world in which to "live, work and play." According to polling by the Yale Project on Climate Communication, 89 percent of African-American voters somewhat or strongly support regulating carbon pollution, the primary driver of climate change. This staggering level of awareness reflects the experience of black communities, who saw the rates of childhood asthma increase 50% between 2001 and 2009. It also points to an opportunity to bring black leadership to bear on this critical issue, as policy makers seek bold yet nuanced approaches to greening neighborhoods while resisting gentrification. Thanks to President Obama's Clean Power Plan, the Environmental Protection Agency is ramping up efforts to fight carbon pollution and the public health risks that come with it.

We in the climate movement must draw inspiration and direction from the history and trails blazed by the leaders who came before us. We must draw from the power and insight from the growing calls for justice and equity like the powerful Black Lives Matter movement to shape just policy across all domains and build our environmental strategies to allow each and every life to flourish. As we reflect on the gains and the daunting challenges faced by the environmental justice community, I am inspired by one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way."

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