Story at a glance
- A new report from The Yale Program on Climate Change Communications found that most Americans support policies that promote climate justice.
- In the report, crafters noted that 68 percent of respondents supported having the federal government spend more money on poor communities and communities of color disproportionally impacted by pollution.
- Other report findings included data on the number of respondents who support climate justice policies like transitioning the economy to 100 percent clean energy by 2050.
Most Americans want the federal government to spend more money on poor people and people of color who have been hurt by pollution, according to a new report.
The report, crafted by The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, was released this week and states 68 percent of Americans support the federal government increasing funding to those communities disproportionately impacted by air and water pollution.
The report findings were based on data collected from the Climate Change in the American Mind survey in 2020 and 2021, which used the opinions of 4,097 people.
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Research shows that low-income communities across the globe are exposed to higher levels of air pollution than more monied communities. And communities of color are more likely to be exposed to unsafe drinking water.
About 40 percent of all Americans get their drinking water from a system that is violating state or federal law with communities of color facing an even greater risk of exposure to unsafe water, according to a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Report findings also included Americans’ opinions on improving energy efficiency in low-income homes, feelings on clean energy jobs and a breakdown of different ethnic groups’ opinions on climate justice.
According to the report, majorities in all racial and ethnic groups support policies that promote climate justice like reinstating the Civilian Conservation Corp, a depression-era work relief program that supplied young men with jobs on environmental projects.
Respondents also supported hiring coal workers to close down coal mines and transitioning the economy to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.
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