Month 11, Day 22: Green Isn’t White

The LA Times reports on a poll which shows that immigrant groups are more likely than whites to be concerned about the environment.

It’s unsurprising that Latinos and Asians, among other statistical minorities, are more concerned about environmental destruction and the threats to the Earth than are whites. While these groups are more likely to be Democrats, that in itself is more a symptom than an explanation. Immigrant populations are by definition going to have more family and friends in other countries than those from groups that have been resident in the U.S. for generations. Consequently, they are far more likely to learn about environmental crimes committed outside our nation’s borders. Since many of those crimes are the responsibility of multinationals enabled by American legislative coddling, it’s natural for immigrants to be skeptical about the notion that pro-corporate environmental policies will actually benefit anyone other than the corporations themselves — a notion largely accepted by whites (despite mountains of evidence to the contrary), and actively touted by Republicans.

Warren Senders