Equity and Justice

Climate change is an equity issue. Increasing temperatures and precipitation in the Kansas City metropolitan area pose a threat to all residents and infrastructure. However, these climate impacts can perpetuate and even aggregate existing social inequity, causing disadvantaged groups to suffer disproportionately more from climate impacts and exacerbating future inequality. Reconciling these challenges brings climate change into the realm of climate justice, where ethical and political issues are considered alongside environmental concerns in the conversation around climate adaptation and resiliency.

Like inequity, climate vulnerability and risk are unevenly distributed across the population, both within countries and across borders. In general, economically disadvantaged and socially marginalized populations are both more vulnerable to climate impacts and at higher risk of suffering negative impacts to their health and financial sustainability. This plan aims to both reduce social inequity and address climate impacts, by recommending policy and creating more resilient systems to increase the quality of life for all Kansas City metropolitan residents.