Activist Kevin J. Patel shares his personal experiences with environmental racism and how he is standing up for marginalized youth in the climate movement through his organization, OneUpAction.
Activist Kevin J. Patel shares his personal experiences with environmental racism and how he is standing up for marginalized youth in the climate movement through his organization, OneUpAction.
You can find more about Kevin’s activism by visiting oneupaction.org.
Other resources mentioned:
4 Oil Wells Hidden in Plain Sight in LA - https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/hidden-oil-wells/
1 Point 5: A Kids Climate Justice Podcast
S1 EP5 What is Environmental Racism?
[INTRODUCTION]
Olivia: Hi there and welcome to One Point Five: A Kids Podcast About Climate Justice! I’m Olivia Greenspan.
Zanagee: And I’m Zanagee Artis.
Olivia: And we believe that kids like you deserve a livable future.
Smart Speaker: A liveable future. This means a future where no one will have to worry if our planet is healthy enough for humans to live safe and happy lives.
Zanagee: That’s Joanna. She’s our on-hand dictionary if we ever come to a word or phrase you might not know or understand already.
Olivia: 1 Point 5 is a show where we explore the challenges facing our planet with scientists, youth activists, and other environmental leaders who have experienced the realities of the climate crisis firsthand.
Zanagee: If you’ve been following along with One Point Five, you know all about what climate change is, how we got here, and a bit about what people are doing about climate change!
Today, we’re transitioning away from what climate change is to focus in on the human details of the climate crisis.
Let’s put a magnifying glass on climate change. Over the next three episodes, we’ll be answering questions like, “How does climate change affect us all differently? And why?”
Olivia: While we of course won’t be able to cover all the ways climate change impacts people differently, we hope this handful of first-hand perspectives helps to tell the story of how climate change and environmental degradation are impacting people today and also impacting how people are uh planning for the future.
We’re starting with our conversation with Kevin J. Patel, founder and executive director of OneUpAction, a youth-led organization empowering young leaders to turn ideas into action. Kevin is an awesome leader who Zanagee and I have both worked alongside! Today, we’ll talk about what environmental racism is, what the connection between environmental racism and climate change is, and how all of these issues connect to systemic racism. I know that’s a lot of new terms! But Zanagee, Joanna, Kevin and I will be here all along the way to share this new knowledge! Let’s jump in.
[MEET THE GUEST]
Kevin: Hello everyone.My name is Kevin J. Patel. I am a climate justice activist.
I'm also the founder and executive director of OneUpAction. I'm 20 years old. I'm from south central Los Angeles and I've been a part of the climate movement for over 10 years.
Olivia: Beautiful, amazing.
Zanagee: So Kevin, we know that you do lots of different things.
You've organized climate strikes. You've founded your own organization. You worked with Patagonia and National Geographic, all these other, you know, amazing things, but can you talk about why addressing climate change is so important to you?
Kevin: Yeah, of course. I think where my story begins is when I was very, very young. Um, I think I just had that ability to understand and comprehend the inequalities and injustices that were happening in my community of south central Los Angeles.
When I was in elementary school, I was not like regular kids. I was in the garden, you know, wanting to plant and like grow stuff. I was always with my dad in the garden, or, you know, very much interested in nature and plants and stuff like that.
And I started advocating around that issue about food justice and really teaching my peers that we can grow our own foods, uh, that we can grow our non-GMO organic foods. And we can really do something and bring a change of becoming healthier and eating healthier.
But then second semester of my sixth grade year, I was actually affected by heart palpitations, an irregular heartbeat.
Olivia: Joanna, can you help us out quick? What are palpitations?
Smart Speaker: Palpitations. A sensation that the heart is racing, pounding, fluttering, or skipping a beat.
Olivia: Got it. Thanks!
Kevin: Um, you know, not knowing, I was sitting in class, uh, and then my heart starts beating very, very fast, not feeling good. I was rushed to the hospital and ever since then, my life changed in a matter of minutes.
I didn't know how a healthy boy like myself, you know, someone who was eating healthy was advocating on behalf of food justice can just all of a sudden get heart palpitations and having my heart rate go up to two to three-hundred beats per minute.
And so it was very scary at the moment until I learned, you know, and did my own research that air pollution and smog pollution actually causes heart rotations and irregular heartbeat. And south central Los Angeles and Los Angeles in general was being ravaged by air and smoke pollution.
And ever since then, I've been advocating on behalf of the, not only my community, but the planet, And I needed to step up and use my voice.
Zanagee: So, there’s a term that’s commonly used when talking about areas or communities with limited access to nutrient-rich foods; they’re called “food deserts.” As Kevin describes, people living outside of food deserts have greater access to high quality foods.
Kevin: They have access to a lot more, um, healthier foods, non-GMO, organic, vegan, options and whatnot. And, um, so it's the access to good quality food, right? And the inability to access that.
Food deserts are geographic areas where access to affordable healthy food options, aka fresh fruits and veggies is limited or non-existent because grocery stores are too far away or run a food driver outside at your, you know, your local grocery store. There's no action access to affordable, healthy food options within my community.
Olivia: When the lack of access to affordable, healthy food, as Kevin describes, afflicts mostly people of color in a certain region or community, we call this environmental racism.
Kevin: Environmental racism is a concept and then the environmental justice movement, which developed in the United States, uh, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the term is used to describe environmental injustice that occurs within a racialized context, both in practice and in policy.
And that's the actual definition of environmental racism. Um, so when we're talking about environmental injustice or environmental racism, we look at how, for instance, my community of south central Los Angeles doesn't have... we're literally a concrete jungle. A lot of affluent communities have more access to nature or hiking and, um, have access to these green spaces while, when you're coming into south central Los Angeles or any neighboring community that is not affluent, we don't really have that access to green spaces or, um, you know, hiking trails or, um, trees within our communities.
Environmental racism is not just happening in my community. It's happening throughout the world globally.
Zanagee: Thank you. And I actually just, I want to come back to something that you've said, and you described it as a concrete jungle, and I, so I grew up in Connecticut. I grew up in the woods and so a lot of kids listening to this right now, they may have also grown up in places where they were surrounded by nature. And I'm wondering if you can describe that a bit more. What is this kind of jungle and what is the imagery that comes to mind? What does it feel like to live in that space?
Kevin: Of course it's, the poor air quality, the, the smog pollution, the air pollution, um, being in this space, living in this community, you don't see enough trees, right? Every street that you walk, you might see one or two trees, but a lot of it, a lot of it's paved with concrete.
And what I meant by concrete jungle is that there is no, technically there is no green spaces. Where communities can go and enjoy themselves. And that's what I meant by concrete jungle because there aren't there aren't enough green spaces.
I also just want to go back to environmental racism. So I want to talk about the oil industry, you know, the fossil fuel industry who is literally in our own backyards, you know, extracting oil and extruding.
And releasing toxic chemicals, um, and you know, driving up the air, it's about pollution. And when you go into these communities, you can smell the chemicals, you can smell the toxins, and this is what our communities have to live by because we don't have enough, enough funding or enough money to fight back.
And so, um, that's an environmental injustice, right there. That's environmental racism right there where our communities, uh, they target our communities cause they know that we're not able to fight back because they know that we don't have the resources to fight back and, uh, we're not able to do anything. So they extract and they extract all these resources from our communities, um, while not, you know, kind of solved. The issues that are coming out of being extractive, right.
And that leads us to not only being a community that is a concrete jungle, but that leaves us to being a sacrificed zone as well. Um, and, and that's the, and both in practice and policy of environmental racism, what a sacrifice zone is, is that these industries in these corporations, in the political power that is, you know, in charge of these areas is extracting all the resources out, but not putting anything back into that community.
And so we're left with injustices.
Olivia: Racism itself is a very complex topic that, uh, affects many different people in many different ways.
Kevin: When it comes to the exposure to poor air quality and water quality, right, when it comes to the drought, the water that we drink and the air that we breathe, right, Black Indigenous people of color are disproportionately impacted. And that's because, you know, no one's fighting for our communities. There are not resources going into our communities.
Olivia: More from Kevin J. Patel when we return after this quick break.
[BREAK]
Olivia: Welcome back to One Point Five, a Kids Podcast About Climate Justice. Let’s return to our interview with climate activist Kevin J. Patel and why he’s fighting for marginalized communities in the climate justice movement.
Kevin: If I were to talk to a 10 year old right now, I would say, you know, I think it's it's, our communities are being the most impacted, you know, um, people of color, and it's the design of the system of these oppressive systems that are not made for people of color. And that's the reason why we're fighting, um, to make sure that the systems work for everyone.
And many kids already noticed the difference of like when they go into their communities.
To see the inequalities and disparities of like what is their community being offered? Are their communities being offered fresh food? Is there good drinking water? Like when they turn on the faucet, is it brown? Is the water brown or is it a water clear? Right.
And it'd be, or, you know, I'm sure many kids have gone with their parents to more affluent communities. And they've seen these big houses, fresher foods, these stores with like big signs saying “organic vegan options” and whatnot.
Right. While they're going back to their communities, they don't see any of that. They don't see the big malls. They don't see any of the, the, the stuff that they see at, um, other communities that other communities have. So I'm sure that's another example of like environmental racism right there. You know, I think the, the way that we visualize things and we put that into context of like, oh wow.
Are my communities actually being impacted by environment?
Olivia: That's a very powerful prompt for kids listening. What does your water look like when you turn it on? What does your street look like? Does it have trees on it? What does your grocery store look like? Do you have a grocery store near you that has fresh fruits and vegetables, on one level and pointing out how complex it is, but, and another, it's not very hard to understand.
Kevin: It's not very hard to understand. Also, are you more near a fast food restaurants or are you near a good, you know, a grocery store that actually has more healthier options and that are affordable for you and your family?
Olivia: Access, meaning both is it physically close to you and access meaning can you afford it? Can you pay for it? That's a good, good distinction.
Zanagee: One thing that I think we've really picked up on is how local a lot of these issues can be. And it's really about the places that we live, the places that we spend our time, where we're hanging out with friends. Where people are growing up.
Olivia: Listeners, there is so much more to unpack here in the conversation about access to healthy, nutritious foods and clean water. We hope you will continue that conversation with your peers and the grownups in your life. For now, we’d like to turn your attention back to the intersection of systemic racism and environmental racism to climate change.
Kevin: We're going to go to the main industry in the corporation that is causing the climate crisis, the warming of the planet.
The fossil fuel industry is responsible for the climate crisis and how they're connected is that when we're taking a look at the fossil fuel industry and where they're extracting the gases and the fuels and the oil, they're extracting them in low-income communities, marginalized communities, communities that are filled with black indigenous people of color.
And the reason why they're doing that is because they know that we don't have the resources, nor do we have the will to, you know, Uh, fight back against these industries. Or at least they think that we don't right. Uh, cause we definitely are fighting back, but we don't have the resources. What I mean by that we don't have the money to fight back.
And so that's the reason why they're doing that. That's where environmental racism comes in is, is that, you know, we just don't have the resources nor do we have the response to, um, fight back against these. Interesting. And that's the reason why they've been able to get away with extracting in our communities for quite a long time and causing all of this destruction to our communities they've caused all of these injustices.
They've caused all of these disparities within our communities.
Zanagee: And when Kevin mentions disparities within communities, he’s not speaking vaguely. Rather, he’s drawing from experiences he has witnessed firsthand.
Kevin: We have to look at the root causes of these injustices, the root causes of these disparities. Olivia, you tied it together as like, yeah. It's because our communities are not able to fight back.
That's the reason why these destructive industries are in our backyards. Right. and just for an example of a real life situation that actually happened here in Southern California is where, you know, affluent community members in Beverly Hills and upwards, there was actually an oil drill there. They concealed it though, within a building, um, so that the, these affluent communities don't actually know that there's oil drilling happening in their communities. Once the community started finding out they actually sued and got the oil drill to be removed from their community because they knew that it would cause toxic waste, you would be able to smell the toxic air and be able to smell the chemicals and whatnot in the air as well.
I don't know if you guys seen them. Huge drills or even smaller drills in these concealed little boxes and kind of make them make them with like, you know, some prompts or whatnot. So that no one knows that what's actually going inside right. Or what's happening inside. So it's definitely interesting to see how this community found out that there was oil drill hidden in their community and they fought back and they closed it down.
And then all of a sudden you're seeing how, you know, our community is they're all in the open because they know that we're just not able to fight back. The fossil fuel industry literally goes in and says, uses these tactics of like, okay, let's hide this from this community because they know that they can, they have the resources, then the men, you know, the, the person power, uh, the people power, uh, and just the money to fight back against their industry.
And we don't, so they don't, they don't do that extra business here.
Olivia: This next part that Kevin says? You may want to mark it down so you can return to it when you need to hear it most.
Kevin: We need everyone in this movement to continue, uh, not only fighting for justice, but continue fighting for the people on the planet. And that's what really matters is that no one's ever too young. No one's ever too old, um, to get involved and do something to make change, to make an impact within their community and within the world.
Olivia: You're such a powerful leader who, um, does what all great leaders do, which is brings up other leaders with them.
And I've seen that firsthand within OneUpAction. How you give other young people leadership opportunities in the climate movement, uh, so that they feel, you know, they're able to grow their confidence
Kevin: Being a leader doesn't mean that you're leading people. It means you're bringing along people to make change.
And you can't do that alone. Right. There can only be one person. It has to be multitudes of people who are coming together to make change. And those are the leaders of not tomorrow, but of today.
Zanagee: Kevin, thank you so much for being here. I mean, you’ve really done it all. You're an inspiration to Olivia and I, and you're doing so much amazing work.
Kevin: Thank you so much for having me. You guys inspire me to continue, so thank you guys so much for being that light in my, you know, uh, in my, in, in my life to continue to fight. So thank you guys so much.
[CLIMATE JUSTICE GAME SHOW]
Olivia: Alright, that’s a wrap on our conversation with activist Kevin J Patel! How awesome was that? Now that we’ve learned all about environmental justice, guess what time it is?
Zanagee: Let me guess, it’s...
Olivia & Zanagee: Climate Justice Game SHOOOOW!
Olivia: Alright listeners, this is the awesome time to reflect on what you heard on the show today! Okay, Zanagee, you’re up first. Question 1, what is environmental racism?
Zanagee: Okay, so this is a tough one. It’s also one that could be defined in a lot of different ways! But from our conversation with Kevin, I’d say that environmental racism is environmental injustice that occurs within a racialized context. And for example, many communities of color have less access to green spaces and have poorer air quality than more affluent, mostly white communities. Environmental racism is a type of racism specific to environmental damages society inflicts on people of color more often and more harshly than white people.
Olivia: Okay okay, thank you for that answer. Follow up question for you. When you talk about environmental racism in the world, um what are some common reactions that you get from people?
Zanagee: I think that a common reaction is really just this idea that a lot of people don't know that it's happening.
And then it is a part of this larger system where no specific individual has done something that has caused environmental racism to happen in a specific community. But that the reality is that. Uh, Black, Brown and Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted regardless of whether individuals have caused it because it is this larger system that's built into the fabric of society.
Olivia: That makes a lot of sense to me, thank you.
Zanagee: Yeah, Okay, so, here’s a question for you, Olivia. What is the connection between environmental racism and climate change?
Olivia: Okay, the connection between environmental racism and climate change. So there’s definitely some overlap between environmental racism and climate change, and Kevin definitely spoke about some of these connections, and if it’s okay with you I’m also going to touch on some key differences! So like Kevin discussed, fossil fuel companies extract gas and oil, fossil fuels, from primarily low-income and marginalized communities. So remember that Kevin talked about those, uh, oil wells in Los Angeles that are hidden in buildings. That was something brand new that I learned from Kevin. And we will have a link to examples of those disguised oil wells in our show notes.
So, to summarize what we talked about today with Kevin, marginalized communities experience both the negative impacts of fossil fuel extraction (uh, so think about polluted water and air) as well as worse impacts uh from the climate change those fossil fuels cause. So environmental racism encompasses more types of environmental harms than just those caused by climate change, but they have many areas of overlap.
Zanagee: Okay, very good. So you're saying that they experience the impacts from the source where it is. So the drilling and the dirty water and the air from all the pollution from that, and then later, when it causes climate change, they also are impacted disproportionately?
Olivia: That is, that is what I’m saying. Thank you for summarizing that for me. Thanks for helping me out. Um, okay. Next question and final question for you Zanagee, how does climate change intersect not with environmental racism but with systematic racism?
Zanagee: Okay, so a lot of environmental racism is due to systemic racism, or a history of racism that is built into the structure of our society over many years here, and also in other places around the world. And because of the many overlapping disadvantages caused by systematic racism, Black, Brown, and Indigenous people on average are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, whereas white people tend to have more types of protection and security. So that could be money, it could be better infrastructure, access to healthcare, ability to work remotely, all these different protections that are, uh, afforded to white people because of the system that we have. And a great intro to learn more about this is A Kids Book About Systemic Racism, and it is a perfect intro to talking about this and learning more and continuing the conversation.
Olivia: Thanks, Zanagee. Yes, you know as you can see from our conversation, it’s okay to not always know the perfect worlds, or um, be able to understand everything perfectly. The important part is to talk about it. Um and with that, that’s all for our Climate Justice Game Show. Be sure to share some of what you’ve learned today with someone else! Like we said, talking about climate change is a MAJOR way to help make change happen.
Zanagee: Yes! Keep talking about climate change and environmental racism. And if someone asks you a tough question that you’re not sure how to answer, send it over to us! We’ll share an email that you can use for all of your burning questions.
[CLOSING]
Zanagee: Thank you, listeners, for joining us today. And thanks to Kevin J. Patel for sharing his personal experiences with environmental racism and how he is standing up for marginalized youth in the climate movement through his organization, OneUpAction. You can find more about Kevin’s activism by visiting oneupaction.org. We’ll also have a link in our show notes.
One Point Five is written by me, Zanagee Artis
Olivia: and me, Zanagee Artis.
Smart Speaker: With occasional support from me, Joanna, from Natural Readers dot com.
Zanagee: Our show is edited and produced by Matthew Winner with help from Ari Mathae and the team at Sound On Studios. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
Olivia: This show is inspired by our book, A Kids Book About Climate Change, and the millions of young people around the world fighting for their right to a livable future.
Zanagee: You can write to us. Send your questions at listen@akidspodcastabout.com. And check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.