Black People Living In Southeastern States Will Face Greater Risks From Global Warming, Per New Report

Aria Bell

BLAVITY
Thu, December 14, 2023

| Photo: Me 3645 Studio via Getty Images

A recent report on the prediction of how global warming will affect Black communities found that Black residents in Southeastern states live in areas that will likely experience high-risk weather.

According to Black Enterprise, the news comes from the latest research conducted by McKinsey & Company. On Nov. 30, the company released a report titled, “Impacts of Climate Change on Black Populations in the United States,” which stated that states stretching from Texas to Florida with high Black populations are more susceptible to “physical-hazard exposure” due to enduring harsh weather that’s unfamiliar to American citizens. Researchers detected certain weather cases people of color could encounter in different regions in North America with strong Black populations.

Extreme heat

In the southwest and southeast, two places with 20 million residents, communities are expected to face a surge in heat, which will be unbeneficial to the economy as “proportional productivity losses as high as 18%” will be a drastic change. The temperature rising leads to fewer people showing up to work and less time spent working in already gritty outdoor conditions. Heat waves can also increase strain on water, energy and transportation resulting in power shortages or even blackouts.

Hurricanes and tornadoes

When hurricane season, or hurricanes in general, arrive to shore in the Southern, Eastern, and Southeastern states, severe damage will be done. The report claims that “because tropical storms affect the Gulf and Atlantic coasts the most, our analysis shows that Black communities in the Southeast are 1.8 times more likely than the overall U.S. population in the same area to experience hurricanes.”

The report also included foreshadowed data that states by 2050 nearly 17% of Black-owned homes will endear storm damage and flooding two times more than other demographics. Redlined communities, core urban and Black-populated neighborhoods tend to be similar to “concrete jungles,” where water runs into a dead causing more issues that can affect the health of people residing in these areas.

Wildfires

Findings concluded that there is a 50% higher chance of facing wildfires for locations on the West Coast that are home to a minimum of 50% “Black, Indigenous American, or Latine experience.”

To offset the future results of global warming, McKinsey & Company believes in educating the Black community about the threat of global warming and rallying together to usher in new practices to close “racial gaps” in “private and public sectors” to assemble strategies that equip people with the tools needed to survive.