The link between climate change and its disproportionate impact on low-income communities may not often be seen, but it does exist, said Jacqueline Patterson, director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Environmental and Climate Justice Program.

At an April 25 panel at 1160 E. 58th St., Patterson discussed how low-income communities do not contribute to climate change as much as high-income communities but are at greater risk of its consequences. Those communities also do not always have a voice or power to address it.

“Environment is about everything,” Patterson said. “These are inalienable rights. We can’t deal with environment in isolation.”

Patterson recounted stories about power plants creating cancer clusters and residents not being warned about contaminated drinking water.
Source: Climate change has bigger impact on low-income communities