When you observe the lack of participation in any sort of discussion or action on Climate Change it may appear that Black people do not care about the planet. The truth is that most of us do care but there are several reasons why our feelings do not translate into action. Most Black people have too many other issues to devote much time and emotional support to climate change initiatives. Most Black people don’t feel that we can change environmental policies given our lack of political influence in world affairs. Most Black people have been brainwashed by the religious ideologies of white supremacists so they believe that a God will save them from any sort of global natural catastrophe.

The annual United Nations Climate Change conference is currently being held in Glasgow Scotland. It is the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the third meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement. Every one of these conferences draws a growing multitude of protestors from all over the world who see such conferences as the best opportunity for them to deliver their messages to world leaders. What we don’t often see or hear due to a lack of media coverage, are the Black nations whose countries are being directly affected by Climate Change. Instead, what we often see are a multitude of white protestors and anti-Climate Change stars like Greta Tunberg being hailed up as superheroes. This only fosters the Black Climate Change disconnect.

The truth is that most Black people are tuned out about Climate Change because we have too many other more important existential issues. We are constantly fighting racism, discrimination, and Police brutality. Many of the jobs we depend on for survival greatly contribute to Climate Change so we choose immediate survival over long-term survival. Black countries are being disproportionately pressured to change their economies while the large polluters get a pass. This thwarts their economic development and keeps them financially dependent. The only way to fight the super powers is to ignore UN Climate Change initiatives.

Countries such as the Kenya, Rwanda, and Madagascar are among the top 10 countries currently being affected by Climate Change. In Kenya and Rwanda, a rise in annual temperatures has caused severe droughts that threaten food security and is diminishing their animal populations. In Madagascar the opposite is happening as increasingly severe cyclones and floods are threatening safe drinking water supplies and the public health system. These countries have been voicing their concerns at these annual Climate Change conferences but we all know why they are largely being ignored. They are dispensable and they are preaching to the wrong choir but how can they preach to the real people who can help them make a change in the world if the majority of their own populations (the real choir) are busy dealing with personal survival or are blinded by religious shields of invincibility?

The first time I realized that some religious people were deranged was when I heard one of them say that it was God that put Oil under the ground for them to use so they will not stop using Oil. It seems that most religious people believe that they are being guided by their God to do whatever they want to the planet. Whatever happened to the common-sense adage of not destroying one’s own house? Instead of being the ones most likely to work to protect the planet, religious people have become fooled by capitalist ideology that has also become associated itself with Conservatism and now believe that the planet is theirs to do with as they please. And you guessed it, religious Black people have totally accepted this white supremacist ideology.

Black people must wake up and not adopt Climate Change denialism. We must also find room among our various personal and social issues to work on increasing the health of the planet. Our leaders must also turn their focus on Climate Change advocacy from petitioning the deaf ears of the super-rich nations toward their own populations. This is the best way to increase Black Climate Change awareness and to gain voices in the fight against global Climate Change Denialism. Don’t wait till the planet is so polluted that our biggest fight will be against mutated monsters