Class and Climate Change
After Texas’s deadly snow storms last week, many are faced with a grim new reality of living in a world plagued with climate change. With nearly 60 dead and millions of homes left without food, heat, water, or power, Texans, became swarmed with record amounts of snow. The state, not equipped with proper power grids to handle the snow, became faulty. Natural gasses froze under the cold, leaving millions without heat or power to their homes.
During this time, Texas Senator Ted Cruz took it upon himself to leave his frozen behind, for a much warmer Cancun with his family. Upon backlash, he excused his actions by saying "With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon” Leaving his fellow Texans freezing in their homes.
A family huddled around candlelight for warmth during the storm Tamir Kalifa for the New York Times
With the power grid down, the state prioritized keeping downtown areas, with important infrastructure like hospitals, powered. This heavily benefited the local communities, many of which tended to be white and rich.
Those who could, fled to nearby hotels to wait out the storm, others took shelter in local businesses like furniture and mattress stores, but many in lower-income areas did not have this option. With gas scarce, and no money to spend on a hotel, many communities of color found themselves huddled together in temperatures under 30. The lack of grocery stores, pharmacies, and hospitals in many low-income areas means fewer places to turn to. And with no power provided to these areas, many were left to fend for themselves.
The same families hit hardest by last week’s storms, are in many cases the same families most heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many lost their jobs, meaningless to fall back on when the storm hit. Some families ended up having to rely on mutual aid to afford gas in their cars to relocate to make-shift warming centers.
Tanya Debose, a community member of a historically black neighborhood facing gentrification, decided to survey her community via social media. She found that nearly all of her white neighbors seemed to have generators and hotel bookings and that her black and brown neighbors were left to sit out the cold in their homes, cars, and local shelters.
Our country is facing a new normal, with hurricane season becoming a year-round event, fires plaguing the west coast, and newfound snowstorms in areas not prepared for the weather, global warming is here and deadly.
Below are some resources to help communities hit hardest
