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While I personally find concerns about global warming both pressing and crucial, professionally, I can’t help but notice the lack of discussion about how climate change will disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color.

I’ve been working in the social justice movement for approximately five years and currently work for a non-profit that seeks to alleviate the effects of poverty in Washington State. Living in poverty often means focusing on where your next meal will come from or making difficult choices, such as the choice between healthcare and rent. There is little time left for social activism and, as a result, people in low-income communities are often disenfranchised.

Because low-income communities and communities of color are often disenfranchised, they must rely on the existing infrastructure to protect clean air, clean water and their surrounding environments. Unfortunately, this infrastructure relies on a system of political accountability, a system that routinely fails these communities. This lack of accountability ensures that people with low (or no) incomes will have more difficulty escaping the effects of climate change than the wealthy.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.  Taking action on climate change now can bring opportunities for people with low incomes.  A new green economy will bring job growth, investment and increased revenue to the state.  The clean energy movement can, and should, be used to better the lives of people with low incomes.

Stopping global warming is so much more than an environmental issue. It is a human rights issue - it is about ensuring the health and safety of everyone in all of our communities, regardless of race or class.

Marcy Bowers is the outreach coordinator at Statewide Poverty Action Network.