Before the Streetlights Come On

Black America's Urgent Call for Climate Solutions

Heather McTeer Toney

• Publisher: Broadleaf Books
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781506478623
• eBook ISBN: 9781506478630
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Global Warming & Climate Change
• Index: Social Sciences

Climate change. Two words that are quickly becoming the clarion call to action in the twenty-first century. It is a voter issue, an economy driver, and a defining dynamic for the foreseeable future. Yet, in Black communities, climate change is seen as less urgent when compared to other pressing issues, including police brutality, gun violence, job security, food insecurity, and the blatant racism faced daily around the country. However, with Black Americans disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change--making up 13 percent of the US population but breathing 40 percent dirtier air and being twice as likely to be hospitalized or die from climate-related health problems than white counterparts--climate change is a central issue of racial justice and affects every aspect of life for Black communities. In Before the Streetlights Come On, climate activist Heather McTeer Toney insists that those most affected by climate change are best suited to lead the movement for climate justice. McTeer Toney brings her background in politics, community advocacy, and leadership in environmental justice to this revolutionary exploration of why and how Black Americans are uniquely qualified to lead national and global conversations around systems of racial disparity and solutions to the climate crisis. As our country delves deeper into solutions for systemic racism and past injustices, she argues, the environmental movement must shift direction and leadership toward those most affected and most affecting change: Black communities.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Chapter 1 Hurry Up and Get Home before the Streetlights Come On!
• Chapter 2 The Basics of Climate Change, in Plain Language
• Chapter 3 The Earth Will Pass Out If She Doesn’t Take Off Her Waist Trainer—Understanding Heat-Trapping Gases and Global Warming
• Chapter 4 Living over the Soil and under the Cloud of Contamination—Natural Gas, Petrochemical Pollution and Climate Change
• Chapter 5 Redlining Black Folks in a Green World—Federal Discriminatory Housing Policy and Environmental Injustice
• Chapter 6 Grandma’s House Is Not for Sale for the Sake of the Planet—Climate Solutions Disguised as Green Gentrification and Blue Lining
• Chapter 7 The Cultural Appropriation of Collard Greens—Food Insecurity and the Climate Crisis
• Chapter 8 Too Hot to Learn, Too Cold to Care—The Educational Impacts of Climate Change
• Chapter 9 Climate Crisis Is an Accomplice to the Murder of George Floyd—Links between Climate Change, Extreme Weather and Violence
• Chapter 10 Voting for Our Climate Lives—Climate Voting Trends and Voter Suppression
• Chapter 11 The Answered Prayers of Our Ancestors—Faith and Climate Action
• Chapter 12 A Soul-Powered Future—The Future of Climate Opportunities through Clean Energy, Climate Change and the Next Generation of Solutions
• Acknowledgments
• StreetLight Action Plan (S.L.A.P.)
• Notes