JULY 21, 2015
By Tony Lee and Carolina Gutierrez
Special to the Olympian
Even if you haven’t heard the news, you probably sensed that record breaking heat struck Washington state in June. Everyone feels the heat, but some are impacted more than others. Farm workers labor under the sun, children in polluted neighborhoods lack clean fresh air, bus riders sweat through long waits outdoors. The same is true for climate impacts like drought, respiratory illness and fires, some people face greater risk than others. Most often, they are low income people and communities of color.
“We have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach,” Pope Francis said, “it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment.” To integrate justice and environment requires attention to equity. Recognizing that communities of color and low-income people often don’t start on the same rung of the ladder, equitable policy creates a lift so that no matter where you start, everyone can pick the fruits of a healthy environment, economy and society.
But not all climate proposals center equity. As a “revenue neutral” proposal, Initiative 732 (which is collecting signatures) aims to disturb the status quo as little as possible. It redirects most of the revenue generated by its carbon tax as rebates to rich and poor alike, without investing in pollution reduction nor community benefit. Washington voters are tired of the status quo, and recent polling (by FM3 in May) shows I-732 lacks the voter support necessary to win at the ballot box. I-732 does carve out a slice for tax rebates for low-income working families, an important, unfunded tool. But rebates alone won’t address equity.
Read more here.