How Covid-19 Made it Easier to Talk About Climate Change
Rhiana Gunn-Wright, a climate policy director and architect of the Green New Deal, explains the connections between the pandemic and the climate crisis. Rhiana Gunn-Wright had asthma growing up. So did many of her neighbors in Englewood, on the South Side of Chicago, where pediatric hospitalization rates for asthma were than the rate nationwide in the early 2000s. Ms. Gunn-Wright had so many friends with asthma that she assumed it was a childhood disease that all young people had. Only later in life did she realize it was linked to air pollution in the area, as was shown by funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. For some policymakers and advocates, even those organizing , the effects of climate change can feel distant, but Ms. Gunn-Wright, 30, never had that luxury. Her work on environmental justice has always felt personal, tied to the public health problems in her community. In 2018, Ms. Gunn-Wright was recruited by the progressive think tank New Consensus, which focuses on climate and economic policy, to be a co-author on a paper titled The Green New Deal. It laid out in detail a sweeping platform to fight climate change, and it was the basis of a congressional resolution introduced by Senator Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York. The resolution outlines a 10-year mobilization to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions while creating new jobs and investing in infrastructure, galvanizing every aspect of American society at a scale not seen since World War II. The Green New Deal quickly became a among lawmakers. While Republicans cast it as a socialist plan to take away cars and planes, some Democratic presidential candidates parts or all of the framework, and it was with encouraging spirited debate on climate policy during the 2020 primary race. Still others critiqued it for its breadth and many of its specifics, including cost, are still . A year later, the country is in the midst of new crises a pandemic and an extraordinary economic downturn, amid waves of protest against systemic racism. In Her Words spoke with Ms. Gunn-Wright about how the coronavirus has made climate issues even more stark, and about the challenges of leading as a Black woman in the predominantly white male world of environmental policy. The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. In some ways, its easier to talk about climate change than when we first came out with the Green New Deal resolution. Thats because the between the pandemic and climate crisis are clear, starting with the fact that people of color Black and Latino folks are dying at far higher rates from Covid. And theres already at least showing how Covid deaths are correlated with exposure to toxic air pollution. During the first wave of Covid, the hot spots were in New York, Detroit and New Orleans. That lines up exactly with . Its never normal to surround people with toxic air pollution and cause them all sorts of respiratory problems, but before Covid that was the normal drumbeat of injustice. I think Covid has helped break that normalization. No, because theyre due to reductions in economic activity and not to policy change. Emissions go down during recessions as a result of decreased economic activity, but they always rebound. Youre going to see them kick into overdrive. I had to downplay my Blackness and my own anger. I had to depoliticize myself. Sometimes the connections that I talked about, between equity and the environment, werent taken seriously, so I wasnt taken seriously. I had at least one white man tell me that if we didnt mitigate climate change, it would be my fault because the Green New Deal tied in equity and race, and thats too much, so I will have ruined our changes at climate policy. I didnt. Because what climate policy did I interrupt that was happening? There wasnt anything happening at the federal level. I had a white man write me a multiple-page essay about how we have to tackle the climate crisis because its the most urgent thing facing humanity. But racial injustice, he wrote, has always existed, so why do we have to address now? The way I responded was by doubling down. It became clear to me that part of my work is about elucidating these connections between climate and justice. Im working on a paper now about green stimulus. Its spelling out what an economic recovery looks like that is based in climate justice. Climate policy is often thought of as a very long-term thing, so were making the case for how it can be used for immediate stimulus and fit into our plans to rebuild the economy. I sometimes feel that it is easier to do my work outside of the system, because its easier to be myself. The work I do is stressful, and the ability to look in the mirror and recognize myself and to act in ways aligned with my values is really important to me. The way I dress. My aesthetic is just dropped off my kids and going on a Target run, but I also have a half-sleeve tattoo and a nose ring. Ive never seen a person on the inside, like a chief of staff or legislative director, with a sleeve tattoo. Im very open about calling out white supremacy. And I have mental health issues: I have PTSD, anxiety and depression. I have yet to see a leader, that is someone on the inside, talk about that. The closer you get to the inside, the more the models of leadership and professionalism become exclusionary and focus on a dominant white male leader. Im at this point in my life where Im not willing to become a narrower person in order to gain power. I think it has great elements, but it tries to be transformative while keeping the power relationships that we have in our economy. I think returning power to marginalized communities is very important as part of climate action. For example, if Indigenous communities had the rights that they deserved, if their treaties were respected, we wouldnt even be thinking about a Dakota Access Pipeline. Actually, gender is a place where we need to strengthen our analysis. We havent done enough thinking about the care economy. Care jobs are green jobs, in the sense that they are low carbon emission jobs. And with Covid, it has become clear how broken our care economy is. On the child care side, it could very well be decimated. Family child care providers are closing and wont have the support to reopen. With the Green New Deal, we elevated manufacturing jobs and construction, which are important, but it often feels like its about saving mens jobs and the women dont appear. When there was a gender gap in the original Green New Deal, the stepped in and started thinking through its impact on women. So Ive been in conversation with them more and learning so much.