There are two main kinds of actions we can take in response to climate change. In my last blog, I talked about adaptation (also called “resilience”), which is preparing for what’s on the way. That involves things like having better planning for natural disasters or even helping people find new homes if they live close to the ocean, given waters are rising every year. These will take years-long investments and people with disabilities (PWDs) must be a part of adaptation planning and implementation. And even if we stopped pumping out greenhouse gases today, the earth would continue to warm – so we need to adapt regardless.
The second set of climate actions is called mitigation. Basically, these are the strategies to slow down, stop, or even reverse warming itself. The main strategies are focused on reducing how many carbon emissions go into the atmosphere and even “sequestering” carbon by pulling it out of the air. Reducing emissions involves things like:
- Replacing fossil fuel power plants with renewable energy
- Producing electric cars to replace gas-powered vehicles
- Redesigning our cities and towns so people drive less (like putting tall apartment buildings next to subway stations)
- Making homes more efficient, such as having better insulation or switching from natural gas appliances to electric ones
- Changing our agriculture & livestock practices (such as having fewer methane-burping cows or adjusting their diets so they burp less).
Sequestering carbon involves natural processes, like planting more trees to naturally suck carbon out of the atmosphere, as well as new technologies, like those that take CO2 and turn it into solid bricks. Sequestration has some promising technologies but isn’t quite ready to be scaled out the same way solar panels and wind farms are (at least not yet).
Ultimately, mitigation – slowing down and hopefully reversing warming – has major benefits, such as:
- It reduces the severity and breadth of climate impacts over time. This saves lives, livelihoods, economies and environments.
- It buys us time to learn more about climate change and how it will impact society.
- It buys us time to adapt to climate change, including through planning and investments.
- It provides opportunities to build a better, more efficient and more inclusive society. For example, well-designed clean transportation can reduce people’s commute times and provide more accessible transportation options.
People, governments and organizations worldwide are committed to mitigation. Much of the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Agreement was around countries’ commitments to reducing emissions and sequestering carbon. Many people in the United States are excited about the Green New Deal (which has some major political hurdles, to say the least). In my city of Berkeley, CA, we are both focused on expanding transit-oriented housing and helping homeowners move from natural gas to electric appliances. Electric cars and charging infrastructure are all over the place these days, and new technologies like Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) could be game-changers for how we navigate the world. The list goes on.
Mitigation and Disability
Mitigation is important and is happening quickly. Rushing things, though, risks building an inequitable or inaccessible system. For example, electric vehicles are great, but don’t work for everyone unless we also make wheelchair-accessible electric vans (and other types of accessible electric vehicles). And if we outlaw gas-powered cars – but never make those accessible electric vans – the existing inequities in transportation will only become worse: PWDs will be stuck in a world of green transportation that they can’t navigate, hurting the human rights to freedom of movement. On a more dramatic note, the classical environmentalist dream of moving to the woods with a permaculture garden and no need for electricity is difficult-to-impossible for many PWDs, such as those with acute medical needs or who use electric equipment.
On the other hand, well-designed mitigation can make the world a more inclusive and accessible place. To build that more inclusive mitigation, the general steps I recommend are:
- Identify new & emerging technologies & mitigation strategies. So, keep a lookout for things like new green transportation, replacing home appliances, or redesigning the electric grid with more renewables. Consider the stage of development, affordability, and how much influence you might have in the design.
- Train & hire people with disabilities for internal expertise. Businesses, governments and nonprofits will benefit from having employees with disabilities – and a diversity thereof – just for a more dynamic and creative team. Accessibility and technology specialists are also great hires for those with enough bandwidth (even if it’s a partial or part-time position).
- Consult with the disability community, both at-large and in more focused groups. Community engagement is one of the best ways to gather diverse perspectives and brainstorm inclusive mitigation. (This should ideally complement and supplement staff expertise, not replace it). Surveys, interviews, focus groups, workshops, and online events are great ways to interact with the community. Community members can also be user-testers of technology to identify accessibility shortcomings and opportunities. The “more focused groups” could be based on type of disability, intersectional factors (race, age, income, etc.), current living situation or location, and so on.
- Identify shortcomings and opportunities in technologies and strategies. Use input from staff and community members to identify shortcomings in the accessibility and usability of any technology, or how mitigation strategies might impact PWDs for good or bad. Then, brainstorm how that mitigation could provide opportunities for better access and usability. (Also consider things like affordability concerns or other logistical barriers).
- Redesign for universal access & multiple uses. Although accessibility laws are useful, it’s best to go beyond existing regulations wherever possible (partly because accessibility laws vary by country, partly because laws may change in the future and it’s easier to build using universal access than it is to retrofit later, and simply because it’s the right thing to do). I recommend utilizing the 7 Principles of Universal Design: equitable use; flexibility in use; simple and intuitive use; perceptible information; tolerance for error; low physical effort; and size and space for approach and use. Items or policies that can be used for multiple actions and services amplify their impact, flexibility and (potentially) affordability for PWDs and the population in general.
- Support PWDs through awareness, advertising, and affordability. PWDs have historically been left out of mitigation efforts, so they might feel disconnected from any efforts happening now. Active outreach – through community efforts, conventional advertising, online engagement, and more – is vital to getting buy-in from the disability community. This outreach and advertising should highlight any universal access features and their benefits for PWDs, possibly with details about various types of disabilities. And given the disproportionately low income of PWDs compared to those without disabilities, plus possible excess costs for accessible items (e.g. wheelchair-accessible electric minivans), consider financial support for better affordability and use.
In my last blog on adaptation, I gave a couple examples – one big and one small. They included the process of engaging the community. This time, I’ll give a couple brief are examples of ways that adaptation can be accessible, without the whole process piece.
First, let’s talk about greening the electric grid.
In the switch from a fossil-fuel-powered electric grid to a zero-emission system, we will bring on more “intermittent renewables.” These are things like solar panels and windmills that put out different amounts of energy based on the time of day, the season, and how cloudy and windy it is. Unfortunately, intermittent renewables on their own make it difficult to reliably power homes and businesses that need a steady flow of electricity. This poses a danger for PWDs, who sometimes use electrical equipment that able-bodied people do not – such as wheelchair chargers, life-sustaining ventilators, or door openers. They may also have a greater need for reliable electricity for their health, safety and independence (for example, needing reliable elevators or cell phone service to reach caregivers). Even the temporary loss of power could be life-threatening for some PWDs, or at least disproportionately affect someone’s life compared to able-bodied folks; a longer outage would be that much more dangerous.
The electric grid needs to be stable in general, and especially for disability equity. Utilities are already installing “energy storage” – basically, large-scale batteries that can store energy when we make more than people use, then push it through power lines when the sun isn’t shining and wind isn’t blowing. Utilities should ensure they have enough power supply and storage so there aren’t blackouts in the future. (Officials who are rushing to decarbonize the grid should take a moment to realize the gravity of keeping the grid stable, and disability equity can be used as yet another argument.) They can also provide batteries that PWDs can have at their home – this both evens out the grid and can let those PWDs “island” their home from the electric grid when there are unexpected power outages. Utilities or governments should consider financial support for those home-level batteries where needed: a targeted and affordable rollout of home-level energy storage for PWDs could protect lives and livelihoods that much more.
Now let’s think about transportation and transit-oriented development:
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation accounted for about 28.2% of US GHG emissions in 2018, with light-duty vehicles about 59% of that chunk (so about 17% of total emissions in the country are from personal vehicles). We can reduce vehicle emissions by manufacturing electric cars, increasing the use of public transit, and building housing near transit stations and main thoroughfares. Businesses are developing innovative transportation systems as well, such as automated vehicles that can drive on their own.
People with disabilities (PWDs) have several existing disadvantages when it comes to transportation. Just a few examples include: households with one or more PWDs have, on average, lower rates of automobile ownership than households without PWDs; the lower average income of PWDs limits transportation options; some PWDs have a need for wheelchair-accessible transportation; and PWDs often have fewer housing choices (because of affordability & accessibility), which may limit their ability to live near transit hubs. To address this, the green-transportation revolution should include a full review to make sure every technology is universally accessible (e.g. figuring out wheelchair-accessible automated vehicles where chairs can be secured safely); maximizing accessibility in public transit (e.g. having two elevators at subway stations, in case one goes down); subsidizing transportation and electric-vehicle ownership; and increasing the amount of accessible, affordable transit-oriented housing. Each of these is valuable in its own right – but we must pursue all of them, and more, to move toward equitable transportation and urban development.
These examples could be applied at any scale, focused on a specific technology (whether related to green energy or transportation), or be tweaked to focus on a specific group or subset of disabilities. Always remember the classic disability activist mantra: “nothing about us, without us” – so PWDs must be part of the discussion and planning process as we move forward.