Native Americans are 19x more likely and Black and LatinX communities 2x more likely to lack safe water and sanitation. Low income and communities of color are hit first, worst, and most often by climate impacts. These disparities are reflective of systemic failures, and require thoughtful interventions to address “root causes.” This workshop provides participants an opportunity to reflect on, and brainstorm interventions around, four root causes: (i) a dominant value system in the US that prioritizes profit over people and planet; (ii) commodification of water, which supersedes right to water and rights to nature; (iii) federal water and climate policymaking is designed to benefit white and wealthy communities; and (iv) lack of sufficient funding and political power among frontline communities. Speakers and facilitators are representatives of the Water Equity & Climate Resilience (WECR) Caucus (
www.climatewaterequity.org), a national network of over 70 frontline and allied water and climate justice organizations.
Participants will: 1) learn how a root cause analysis can uncover specific policies, practices, beliefs, and processes that create or contribute to existing racial and economic disparities in water and climate impacts, 2) hear how local organizations are strategically intervening at the “hot roots” of injustices, and 3) work in small groups to collectively identify interventions at the local and sector scale.
