For the past six years, Moms Clean Air Force has hosted its biggest event of the year, the annual Play-In for Climate Action, in Washington, D.C., where scores of families from across the country spoke up about climate action face-to-face with their Congressional representatives. But this year, we aren’t playing around. We can’t, because we care most about keeping our loved ones safe. This isn’t the time to relax our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why this summer, we are holding a series of online events to Stay-In and Speak Out for Climate Action. We hope you will join us all summer long as we demand action from elected officials and talk to health experts, scientists, faith leaders, and others. We kicked off our spirited series of conversations with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), which you can view here.
WHY MOMS DEMAND ‘JUSTICE IN EVERY BREATH’
Heather McTeer Toney, our national field director, delivered impassioned testimony to the United States House of Representatives’ Science, Space, and Technology Committee during a recent hearing entitled “Sweltering in Place: COVID-19, Extreme Heat, and Environmental Justice.” Heather shared what it means to guarantee justice in every breath as COVID-19 disparities—driven by structural racism and inequity—are harming frontline communities already impacted by extreme heat, air pollution, and climate change: “We have not legislated to lessen the impacts of structural racism but instead, have placed a higher burden and lower value on the lives of black and brown people through racist policies like the 100 rollbacks of EPA. Systems that are meant to protect the health of the most vulnerable among us are being cast aside for profit, and coronavirus has revealed just how deadly inaction can be.”
Clips of Heather’s powerful testimony appeared in several dozen local news broadcasts and online outlets thanks to Nexstar’s much-needed coverage entitled “Unbearable summer heat affects people of color even more during COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers say,” with video here. Heather’s remarks on energy poverty were spotlighted: “Heather McTeer Toney with Moms Clean Air Force said communities of color are also spending more just to stay cool. ‘Who can afford to pay over half their paycheck on air conditioning in the middle of a pandemic and a heatwave?’ McTeer Toney asked.”
Additional and original reporting also appeared in the San Jose Spotlight here and in InsideEPA. The coverage cited Heather’s powerful call to lawmakers: “We absolutely must demand a halt to EPA reversing lifesaving protections and that they revisit their mission of protecting human health and the environment. This is our call to action at Moms, demanding ‘Justice in Every Breath’ of every policy impacting the health and well-being of children.”
COVID-19’S EXTREME TOLL ON LATINOS
Writing an op-ed in the Muscatine Journal, Karin Stein, our Iowa field organizer, implores readers to consider how “COVID-19 puts a disproportionate burden on Black and Latino Iowans.” “We may all be in this pandemic together, but our protection from its wrath is not evenly distributed. In fact, COVID-19 is taking an extreme toll in Iowa on those least able to protect themselves, exposing and exacerbating inequities here that have gone unchecked for too long. I see this blight especially in Iowa counties with meatpacking plants and large warehouses, where there are spikes in coronavirus cases in the wake of President Trump’s order declaring them essential businesses that must remain open during the pandemic. The same workers who feed our families — many of whom are Latinos — are working in woefully unsafe conditions.”
Karin calls on her Senators Grassley and Ernst to do more to address environmental racism in Iowa communities: “The coronavirus pandemic has thrown into stark relief the grim inequities that so many have already been living. The question is, what are our leaders now going to do about it? I invite our Senators to take a stand for environmental justice and transform our economy into one that works for all constituents. If they believe, as I do, that you don’t bite the hand that feeds you, they will.”
FAMILIES LIVING NEAR FRACKING SPEAK UP
In response to coverage in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Vanessa Lynch, our Pennsylvania field organizer, wrote a letter to the editor about the importance of limiting methane pollution from fracking in Pennsylvania. Vanessa recently participated in public hearings on the Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed rule to cut methane and volatile organic compound pollution from existing oil and gas operations: “As a mother of two children living with eight fracked gas wells in Indiana Township, I wanted my voice heard not only for my kids but also for all the families across the state who live, learn, and play next to oil and gas infrastructure. This rule is needed to help clean up the air to protect public health and the climate.” Vanessa also challenges readers to consider that without a stronger rule, parents like her won’t back down: “As this virus rewrites our present – and our future – parents like me won’t accept continuing on the same polluting path. Protecting public health and safeguarding our climate are more important now than ever. The cost of inaction is too steep for our children and families.”