Extreme Weather
What are examples of extreme weather?
Heatwaves & Droughts
Wildfires
Heavy Rainfall & Flooding
Sea level rise
Stronger Hurricanes & Storms
Tornadoes
Stronger Winter Storms
What did you notice around West Oakland?
Port, multiple freeways, industrial areas, bart.
What is deforestation? What is the primary cause?
Deforestation → Is the intentional clearing away (cutting down, burning or otherwise destroying) of forests. The primary cause is human activity for various reasons.
What is environmental racism?
"the disproportionate exposure of racialized, marginalized, and low-income communities to environmental hazards like pollution, toxic waste, and industrial facilities".
Briefly explain the extreme weather project you researched, where did it happen what was it?
N/A
Who is most impacted by extreme weather?
Elderly - maybe dont have access to tech or dont use it etc or are unable to move just being physically unable to without assistance or at all.
Sick - people in hospitals dont really have a choice - they have to be moved by others and rely on gov/staff to do that.
Disabled
Low income - sometimes people cant afford to leave a place and go stay somewhere else.
How are the things around West Oakland impacting peoples health?
Air quality is much worse around this area and people are more susceptible/prone to getting asthma or dealing with other negative health effects.
Where is deforestation happening most?
Brazil, Mexico, Central America, US, Canada, most African countries, Madagascar
What is social justice? What does this include?
Social Justice is: idea that everyone should have and deserves equal rights, opportunities and treatment.
Ensuring Equity (people have different needs we must honor those)
Ensuring Access
Enabling Participation
Ensuring Human Rights are honored
Valuing Diversity
What is a question that you still have about any of the topics we have covered?
N/A
What is climate change?
Climate change → a long term change in temperature/weather patterns. These can have natural causes like the sun’s activity or volcanic activity.
BUT! Since the 1800s the primary reason for climate change (especially the drastic changes we are experiencing) is human activity.
How was West Oakland different before WW2?
Pre world war 2 West Oakland was a mish mash of, “immigrants and different cultures: there were Germans, Italians, Jews, Scots, Portuguese, English, Welsh, Norwegians, Finns, French, Mexicans, Japanese, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Irish, Filipinos, and Chinese people however as the war broke out white European families moved out of West Oakland backed by several banks and government organizations.
What are the different ways that forests can be cleared?
In California: After logging, most clearcut sites are bulldozed and herbicide is applied to strip away any remaining saplings, bushes, and other plants that may compete with the conifer seedlings.
Bulldozers - causes extensive damage
Burning!
What is environmental justice?
Environmental Justice: The fair treatment and inclusion of every person no matter their race, color, culture, national origin, income, or educational levels in the creation, implementation, and enforcement of protective environmental laws, regulations and policies about the environment or any kind of decision about the environment
Who benefits from environmental injustice?
In the short term polluting corporations and sometimes government agencies can benefit because they gain profits and successfully do projects that they might need for infrastructure or other things. In the long run no one benefits because pollution harms us all!
What happens if earths temperature globally rises above 1.5-2 degrees? Include examples in your answer!
It means that the earth's ecosystems will undergo changes that they can never go back from (called tipping points) and these will most likely be catastrophic because they will change earths oceans, weather patterns and much more. Everyone will feel it!
Examples:
Coral bleaching - that's connected to rising temperatures in oceans. Aka ocean acidification.
Certain plants are adapted to certain temperatures and if they increase or decrease the plants can’t survive - there are thresholds that they can’t deal with!
Our agriculture
Why was/is West Oakland predominantly Black? What is the specific term for the reason?
As more Black people moved from southern states they moved into West Oakland because it was one of the only places in the city where they were “permitted” to live because of segregation. This is called red lining.
Why is deforestation happening?
The most obvious reason is for cattle ranching in order to produce beef
The next is oil seeds - that being stuff like palm oil or soybean oil - both products that are used to make commodities for us
Think about some kind of environmental justice issue that you have seen or heard of... explain it briefly and HOW/WHY it is an environmental justice issue.
N/A (We are all judging this one!)
What might be a solution to environmental racism/environmental injustice?
What happened during Hurricane Katrine, what is a levee, who was most impacted and why was it so catastrophic?
Hurricane Katrina - powerful hurricane that hit New Orleans and other places across different states. While it was strong the main issue was the intense flooding which caused levees to fail and to flood low lying communities (predominantly Black neighborhoods).
A levee is a wall thats built in order to hold back waters, control water flow and prevent flooding. But basically the wall holds back waters that are HIGHER than the neighborhood below. So any flooding makes these dangerous places.
The hurricane was catastrophic for Black communities because of a lack of preparation/planning by gov, BAD levee construction/poor materials used and they knew they could fail, and because of a lack of gov response post hurricane (days later).
What happened post WW2 in West Oakland?
So during the war it was flourishing there were tons of Black owned businesses and services and music scene and there was a strong sense of community. And there were ample job opportunities especially in such close proximity to the port but also the railroad.
But after the war ended all of this changed. War time jobs stopped, the city railway system stopped bringing people to this part of the city, businesses started to close down and banks refused to give black residents of West Oakland money to upkeep their homes . This was the start of Urban renewal (aka "revitalization"). In 1957, the double-decker freeway was built to cut through the heart of West Oakland, there was pollution from the cars but also noise. Next hundreds of homes were destroyed to build the US Post Office’s regional distribution center which you can still see on bart as you pass through and enter West Oakland coming from SF. Finally in 1974, BART opened its West Oakland station, which “decimated” half of the business district along 7th Street.
What is biodiversity and how is this affected by deforestation?
“biodiversity” is the collective term for the variety of life on Earth in all its forms - but it's not just about the total number of species on earth but about how they are different from each other. Biodiversity is the variety in species (all the different kinds like centipedes or monkeys) and also the diversity within those species (like different kinds of mushrooms or the genetic differences between humans) and then also think about the variety of habitats and ecosystems etc (like deserts vs. rainforests).
This is connected to deforestation -->
The clearing of forests leads to the death of countless species of plants and animals. Most of the time they can’t come back because the changes that occur are too damaging and drastic. And once you start killing and taking out plant species sometimes you reach tipping points that you can't’ come back from…this would completely change forests permanently meaning that we would completely lose them.
So why is biodiversity so important? Because it’s what keeps our planet going, every aspect of ecosystems spread across the world is interconnected even though it might not look like it. Biodiversity allows species to keep evolving and sometimes even adapting to new challenges like climate change. Without biodiversity our world would be very very different. However, this biodiversity is continually disappearing as human activity causes species extinctions, loss of habitats and continues contributing to climate change through the release of greenhouse gasses.
Why is environmental justice important?
Environmental justice is important because its about ensuring that EVERYONE has access and the right to determine how they should be living. Its about ensuring that people have good living conditions where they dont have to worry about getting sick or fearing for their families lives because of air quality or other forms of pollution! Everyone deserves to live in a safe and healthy community.
Now that you have learned about environmental justice, what do you think you can do to help?
Boycott corporations that you know contribute to this kind of pollution ex. certain oil companies (like the one responsible for Richmond oil refinery)
Join action groups!
Write to your local government!