Turbulence Ahead: What LAX’s Expansion Means for the City of Los Angeles’ Legacy on Racial Equity & Environmental Justice (SEIU USWW, June 2021)
February is Black History Month, a time to celebrate Black cultural heritage and accomplishments, but also a time to redouble efforts in pursuit of an anti-racist future. The impacts of global heating and environmental degradation—including air pollution, noise pollution, and water pollution from the aviation industry, from refinery to runway, disproportionately impact Black and Brown people. Take LAX, the most polluting US Airport as an example, where half of the least-white census tracts in Los Angeles County are just east of the airport, under the flightpath and ultrafine pollution tied to jet exhaust.
Hop Hopkins, Director of Organizational Transformation at the Sierra Club writes in the article Racism is Killing the Planet:
"You can’t have climate change without sacrifice zones, and you can’t have sacrifice zones without disposable people, and you can't have disposable people without racism."
Together, choosing to fly less or not at all, we are sending a message that radical transformation is needed for environmental justice. American fossil fuel dependency and racism are entrenched in land use and planning, and in our everyday cultural, business and political norms. At Flight Free we are staying grounded in protest of the harm of fossil fuel pollution on frontline communities today, and the climate harm that is our legacy to future generations.