Climate Solutions Benefit Children in Environmental Justice Communities
Almost ten years ago, I met Ms. Loretta Slater who had just lost her only daughter, Whitney, to breast cancer at the age of 21, after battling the disease for two years. Ms. Loretta often shares the story of how her daughter was raised in one of the countless environmental justice communities. She often talks about the conditions of the area in which Whitney was raised, and she believes that this contributed to her daughter’s illness and passing. Whitney was raised in Darlington, SC, where she lived across the street from an oil mill, and less than a quarter mile away from a sawmill. Whitney’s story is just one of many in which we see how the pollutants and toxins contributing to climate impacts also adversely affect the health of children living in environmental justice communities.