- Our air quality in Pittsburgh is horrendous,
and just living here, I'm two times more likely
to get cancer in my lifetime.
I'm more likely to get asthma,
lung disease, heart disease, strokes.
A lot of people don't know the links
between climate change and racism.
The communities that are already facing
the brunt of environmental issues
are communities of color.
Our zip codes can really determine
our quality of life and how long we live.
[dramatic music]
In Allegheny County, which is the county
that Pittsburgh resides in,
it is especially prevalent that communities
of color and low-income communities face
the brunt of environmental health issues.
- The places where Black and brown people live are
the same places where we have pollution-emitting industries.
Well, it's not because Black folks
wanted to live around pollution,
but the structural racism and permitting process
of our society had made it so that
that's the only place that we could live.
Health impacts include not only asthma
and respiratory illnesses, but diabetes,
cardiovascular diseases, and these things
put us in a position to be more susceptible
to pandemics like coronavirus.
It is devastating to see that the EPA
is pushing such a racist agenda--
that's exactly what it is.
Because of what the EPA is doing
is they're using the cover of COVID
as a distraction to push through
an agenda that is completely
anti-protecting human health and the environment,
that is totally supportive of the coal industry
and achieving the objectives of big business.
- No justice! - [protesters] No peace! - No racist - [protesters] police!
- So my hope for today was planting
the seed for starting that dialogue
of environmental racism in Pittsburgh.
But I also really wanted to get my audience
that I've, you know, gained over the last year
of Pittsburghers who want environmental change
to come out because you can't really be
an environmentalist without caring
about social justice issues.
- No justice! - [protesters] No peace!
- No racist - [protesters] police!
- You gotta advocate for those
in the high polluted neighborhoods
because that's something they have to deal with on the daily.
Their voices are not being heard.
You know, we gotta use our voices
and we gotta make sure to amplify their voices.
Because if you're gonna talk about Black Lives Matter,
you gotta talk about every aspect
of Black Lives Matter, including police brutality,
including environmental racism,
including systemic racism.
- [person with megaphone] All Black lives matter!
- [protesters] All Black lives matter!
- I wasn't necessarily aware
of how abundant environmental racism is
in our country and in the city I live in
until after I started organizing.
Before the quarantine, I had been on a streak
of 10 months of striking for climate action in Pittsburgh.
And I started striking on Fridays,
and it was very spontaneous,
and I also striked alone for about four weeks,
which was hard but after that initial month,
I started getting some company.
The entire time that I was striking,
I was completing my senior year of high school.
I was so preoccupied with the idea that enough is enough.
We can't continue saying yes to new plants or new factories.
I was fed up, and I wanted to get their attention.
- We have to embrace the fact that climate,
coronavirus, racial injustice, these are all huge,
big-picture items that we're trying to tackle one at a time,
recognizing that they have a collective determination
on how we move forward in the future.
But you gotta do it one step at a time
and recognizing that each and every one of us
can do our own thing in our own space.
We can all wear a mask.
We can all make sure that we are registered to vote
and that we are aware of the policies
that our candidates and elected officials
are advocating for.