Sessions
October 13, 2020 | 12:30pm – 1:00pm EDT
Session 3.1
Where You Live Can Kill You: Neighborhoods and Environmental Justice
KEYNOTE: The Quest for Environmental Justice
Statistically, communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental damage. Toxic living conditions and environmental racism helped inflate death rates among African Americans and other People of Color, even before COVID-19 struck. Communities of color have historically, experienced huge barriers to their right to fair housing choice, and they disproportionately face significant environmental injustice in their own backyards.
Statistically, communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental damage. Toxic living conditions and environmental racism helped inflate death rates among African Americans and other People of Color, even before COVID-19 struck. Communities of color have historically, experienced huge barriers to their right to fair housing choice, and they disproportionately face significant environmental injustice in their own backyards.
October 13, 2020 | 1:15pm – 2:45pm EDT
Session 3.2
The Intersection Between Fair Housing and Environmental Justice
Environmental justice acknowledges that communities of color bear a disproportionate share of environmental harms and affirms the need for policies that clean up our communities, both urban and rural, to be in balance with nature, and provide fair access for all to the full range of resources. America is residentially segregated and so is pollution. Race and class still matter and map closely with environmental , unequal protection, and climate vulnerability.
Panelists
October 13, 2020 | 3:00pm – 3:45pm EDT
Session 3.3
A Clock Is Ticking: The Effects of Climate Change on Communities of Color
Our planet is in imminent danger as global warming leads to rising sea levels, extreme heat, prolonged drought, more intense storms and wildfires and devastating floods. When the impacts of these changes are layered on a foundation of historic racial segregation, climate change exacerbates systems of inequality in the U.S. “Climate gentrification,” heat islands and extreme weather events disproportionately harm members of protected classes under the federal Fair Housing Act. These climate-related conditions and the economic upheaval they bring on impact communities of color first and worse, yet public policy around this issue has not provided workable solutions that will enable us to build more resilient – and also more equitable – communities.
Climate change and climate justice are not isolated issues; instead they require truly intentional and inclusive approaches to coalition-building and policy-making. If we ever expect to provide justice and equity for our communities, we must build cross-movement alliances and recognize climate justice as an intersectional civil rights issue.
In this session, panelists will examine climate change through a civil rights lens to demonstrate the need for collective action between practitioners of fair housing and climate justice.
Featured Conversation
FEATURED PERFORMANCES

Pages Matam
International Artist, Writer, Event Coordinator, and Educator

Ebony Stewart
International Touring Poet and Performance Artist
October 13, 2020 | 4:00pm – 5:15pm EDT
Session 3.4
Strategies to Ensure Housing and Climate Justice
Our planet is in imminent danger as global warming leads to rising sea levels, extreme heat, prolonged drought, more intense storms and wildfires and devastating floods. When the impacts of these changes are layered on a foundation of historic racial segregation, climate change exacerbates systems of inequality in the U.S. “Climate gentrification,” heat islands and extreme weather events disproportionately harm members of protected classes under the federal Fair Housing Act. These climate-related conditions and the economic upheaval they bring on impact communities of color first and worse, yet public policy around this issue has not provided workable solutions that will enable us to build more resilient – and also more equitable – communities.
Climate change and climate justice are not isolated issues; instead they require truly intentional and inclusive approaches to coalition-building and policy-making. If we ever expect to provide justice and equity for our communities, we must build cross-movement alliances and recognize climate justice as an intersectional civil rights issue.
In this session, panelists will examine climate change through a civil rights lens to demonstrate the need for collective action between practitioners of fair housing and climate justice