Warren vows ‘environ justice’:

Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren vowed on Wednesday to protect minority- and lowincome communities from the effects of pollution and climate change, arguing that vulnerable populations had suffered for decades because of federal inaction.

Warren is the latest Democratic candidate to emphasize environmental justice as part of an overall approach to climate change, calling for policies that take into account racial and economic inequalities.

“The same communities that have borne the brunt of industrial pollution are now on the front lines of climate change,” Warren wrote in a white paper outlining a series of proposals.

Many of the 19 Democratic candidates seeking to take on Republican President Donald Trump in next year’s election have spoken about the need to address racial disparities when confronting climate change.

They include US Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, both African-American, who have put environmental justice proposals at the center of their environmental platforms.

Warren, a US senator from Massachusetts, has steadily risen in opinion polls and is now one of the top three Democratic candidates in terms of overall support, along with former Vice President Joe Biden and US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

In her proposal, Warren argued that years of discriminatory housing and other practices had forced people of color and impoverished people into areas most likely to be harmed by pollution and the effects of climate change, such as flooding. (RTRS)

Warren