Climate Change and African Americans
New and News
- Click here for the African Americans and Climate Change Initiative March 2011 Newsletter
- In June 2008, the Progressive National Baptist Convention issued a letter to Congress regarding climate legislation.
Learn More About Climate Change and African Americans
- Urban Impacts
Scientists predict that heat waves in North America will become more intense, more frequent, and longer lasting in the second half of this century. Urban areas are typically covered in surfaces such as asphalt and concrete, which retain heat. As a result, temperatures in these areas are higher, especially during heat waves. African Americans are more than twice as likely as whites to live in the inner city. Over 500 people died as a result of the 1995 Chicago heat wave. Non-Hispanic blacks were 50 percent more likely to die in the heat wave than non-Hispanic whites.
Asthma Impacts
In every major city in the US, blacks are more likely than whites to be exposed to higher air toxics concentrations. Climatechange is expected to increase the incidence of asthma in the general population. African Americans are nearly three times as likely to be hospitalized or killed by asthma as whites.
African Americans and Climate Change
Download a two-session adult education curriculum provides information and activities to help African American congregations understand more fully the impacts global climate change will have on African American communities. Click here.
People of Faith Take Action
- In February, the NCC held a Climate Summit for Heads of Communion to discuss the impacts of climate change on communities of color and low-income communities.
- In 2008, the NCC launched a Southeast Climate Initiative with African American churches in North Carolina and South Carolina. The inititiative is now branching out to Georgia and Virginia.
Links and Resources
Return to the Climate webpage.