It Takes Green to Go Green

[BridgeTheGap]

Are liberal environmental policies hurting poor black communities? Conservatives think so!

Oct. 8, 2008--Failing schools, crime and single-parent households are just a few of the challenges facing urban communities. Now, thanks to radical environmentalists and their supporters, a bunch I like to call "Club Green," they must face soaring energy as well.

"Club Green" enthusiasts are everywhere these days; their ideology is part of the liberal orthodoxy, and I, for one, want nothing to do with them. They are against oil exploration in Alaska and off our coasts. They took a hit last month when Congress voted to end a moratorium on offshore drilling, ending a 26-year ban on new leases. But this boon to domestic energy production could be fleeting, according to House Appropriations Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin, who told reporters, "This next election will decide what our drilling policy is going to be."

Environmentalists and their liberal backers are also blocking the construction of new coal-fired power plants that produce electricity. Plans for 59 coal-based power plants were canceled in 2007, and plans for 50 others are now being challenged.

All this leads to higher energy prices and pain in the pocketbooks of those who can least afford it—poor, black people living in struggling neighborhoods.

According to the Census Bureau's 2007 American Community Survey, the annual median black household income was $34,001 and $40,766 for Hispanics—well below the $50,740 national median. Additionally, 24.7 percent of blacks and 20.7 percent of Hispanics lived in poverty. As energy prices climb, they lose a higher percentage of their take-home pay to increased energy costs—leaving less for things such as savings, education and health care.

Seeking empathy may be asking too much.

http://www.theroot.com/id/48361?GT1=38002

[unpossibles]

1. Yes and no. I agree some Green options are more expensive without question

however, I used to not own a car because I could not afford one. I also gave up meat 20 years ago because I could not afford it very often, then finally just lost the desire to eat it. Both of those things are very green, and were begun not by excess money but by a lack of it.

[Miss Chybil]

2. Now they worry about the "poor, black people?"

I've got a tear in the corner of my eye. I always thought it was about the children.

[XemaSab]

3. Yeah, and have these assclowns ever heard of environmental justice?

The 'hood is FAR more likely to be polluted with particulates, heavy metals, SOX, NOX, carcinogens, and ALL KINDS of other shit than affluent neighborhoods.

Anyone ever been to Richmond, California?

Poor black area, with a MASSIVE refinery and about 80 other chemical plants. The refinery's not in Berkeley, it's not in Marin, and it's not in San Francisco.

Now one could argue that the black people live near the refinery because housing is cheap, but that argument becomes circular.

Why do poor black people live in bombed-out industrial areas? Because land is cheap. Why is land cheap? Because it's a bombed-out industrial area full of poor black people. :banghead:

Maybe if the people had some damn JOBS things would improve, or if there were American factories HIRING in those areas, but not today, folks. Maybe tomorrow when a solar-panel factory opens in Richmond, or a wind turbine factory opens in East Oakland, but not today.