How climate change has impacted local underprivileged communities
Lindbergh High School Biology educator, Ms. Oesch, defined climate change as
“an imbalance of the input of energy from the sun and the output of energy by earth due to the fact that our atmosphere’s ability to hold that energy is increasing.”
Climate change is an ever-evolving challenge not just for America, but for underprivileged communities.
“So, as we have an increase in carbon dioxide and also gases like methane, the ability for our atmosphere to trap that energy is increasing,” Oesch said.
Burning fossil fuels to generate power is the primary driver of climate change, according to the United Nations. Though America and other developed countries produce the most greenhouse gases, its impact on developing countries is often overlooked.
“So flooding of lowland areas, which we are also already seeing, places like very low-lying areas like Bangladesh, which is basically a country on a river delta. A river delta is just the sediments dropped by a river. So, this is very porous land that is being inundated from below by seawater. The people that live there, their drinking water and their irrigation water for their rice is just becoming saltier and saltier every year. And then you have countries like the Maldives, which is, if you look up the Maldives, it’s gorgeous pictures of islands, and those populations will not have a country at some point,” Oesch said.
Climate change is directly related to natural disasters, causing them to be more frequent and intense, according to the National Library of Medicine. In like manner, low-income, urban communities within Saint Louis city limits also struggle with the impacts of climate change. St. Louis City Mayor Cara Spencer addressed these issues in her Sustainability and Climate Plan.
“The effects of climate change have never been more apparent in our community than they are now. In the tornado-impacted area, residents who are already dealing with so much are now also facing years of higher temperatures because much of the tree canopy was destroyed, leaving asphalt and buildings to absorb the heat and cause temperatures to become even more dangerous,” Spencer said.
Urban Saint Louis is vulnerable to heat waves due to the lack of air conditioning, particularly in underprivileged, poor neighborhoods, and because urban areas are typically warmer than rural areas, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“The general consensus is you will have more extreme weather events: overall increase in temperatures in the temperate areas and in, well, I guess everywhere, and again, average temperatures. So it’s not that the cold’s going away. It’s just that when we get warm, we’re going to get really, really warm and when we get cold, we’ll get less cold. And we are already seeing that on average over time,” Oesch said.
In Lindbergh High School, students and staff demonstrate their own efforts to be eco-conscious.
Mr. Barry Marquart, a Lindbergh High School AP Environmental Science educator, stated the efforts to reduce energy use in the Lindbergh school building.
“I think in some way we’ve done some things. Like, the new buildings have controls on our heating and cooling and things like that. So they’re making sure that at night it cools down, so we’re not using as much heat,” Marquart said.
In addition to reducing heating use, the building includes sensors to further reduce energy.
“We’re making sure the lights are on sensors now, so that lights don’t stay on for a long period of time. So, lights are turned off when they’re not in use. There are motion sensors in most rooms, and so, I think that the school is saving a lot of energy,” Marquart said.
Ms. Oesch provided further insight on climate-conscious efforts within the building.
“They’re trying to reduce those maintenance costs, they’re trying to reduce the energy costs, and that, even if it’s only for the bottom dollar, so that we can invest in our students more, that is eco-conscious, because that’s that much less coal we’re burning… All of this is powered by coal. Very little is, if any, renewable where we are in this region,” said Oesch.
Ms. Oesch also identified efforts outside the building to sustain Missouri streams.
“They have a rain garden out back, and again, that’s part of water reclamation, so that we’re not just sending all our dirty water… like, sending our water onto the streets, through the streets, and then right back into the rivers and the creeks. If you keep that in the ground, it replenishes the water table better, keeps our trees healthier, and it allows all that water to get cleaned before it goes to the stream. I also notice they have a lot of native plants, like the trees and the landscaping is somewhat thoughtful in that regard,” Oesch said.
Lindbergh junior Serah Munene shared her efforts to be eco-conscious.
“I guess [I’m] trying to be mindful of what I do. Like, recycling when I can, being mindful of water usage… sometimes I walk from school, or I’ll take the bus instead of driving that day,” Munene said.
As it appears from those members of the staff and students, being ecologically responsible is a community effort.
“I find the more I think about climate change and resource management, the more I feel that so much relies on people just being good people. But I know that it is more complicated… At the end of the day, I wish no one ill will for protecting their own interests. We all have to protect our own interests—because no one else will. I guess what I really wish for is for more education and more critical thinking among voters and consumers. I think that is the key to any meaningful change in the US,” said Oesch.
