Is there a systemic racial bias that is associated with Climate Change?

Climate change activists from Extinction Rebellion standing in solidarity with worldwide Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd, Sunday June 7, 2020 in St Ives, United Kingdom.(Gav Goulder/In Pictures via Getty Images)

“Racial justice is climate justice. That means police reform is climate policy.” Emily Atkin, a widely read climate journalist, wrote those words last week in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd.

Atkin is not alone in making a direct connection between climate change and racism. Numerous environmental leaders and prominent climate activists have issued statements condemning police violence and expressing solidarity with racial justice organizations.

And for some notable climate movement figures, the relationship between anti-racism and climate activism extends much further than pro forma solidarity.

Writing in The New Yorker, global climate leader Bill McKibben entitled his latest article, “Racism, Police Violence, and the Climate Are Not Separate Issues.” And a recent piece by Eric Holthaus, a highly regarded meteorologist who writes about climate change, proclaimed, “The climate crisis is racist. The answer is anti-racism.”