The Color of Climate

Protecting National Parks Doesn’t Matter If We Continue to Pollute Communities of Color

For some activists, the Great American Outdoors Act isn’t all that great

Oil and chemical refinery plants cover the landscape next to Black communities along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Photo illustration. Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis News/Getty Images

This is The Color of Climate, a weekly column from OneZero exploring how climate change and other environmental issues uniquely impact the future of communities of color.

Last week, Donald Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act into law. The bill, which was passed by Congress with bipartisan support, will fully and permanently fund the conservation of the country’s land and water and provide $9.5 billion over five years to national parks for repairs and upgrades. It’s a pretty major piece of legislation, as far as conservation is concerned.

Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council, and politicians from both major parties celebrated the bill for being the largest federal investment in public land and conservation in nearly half a century. There is even a provision in the bill that provides investment for expanding green spaces near and in communities of color.

But to some environmental activists, the bill doesn’t represent meaningful change. For decades, conservation policy has preserved the…