Climate change is the great equalizer, yet it’s the lives of the most vulnerable who are most affected

But, no one wants to hear about climate change when these natural disasters strike, because lives are lost or ruined and changed forever. It is true that the only way you know the depths of suffering is to experience it. Those of us who have been untouched by a fire, hurricane or tornado, can only know about them by reading the news, watching the devastation on television, or seeing images on social media. Several dear friends of mine lost their homes in the fires. I can’t imagine what they are going through.

When a tornado touches down in Wilson County, Tenn., or Pontotoc County, Okla., or a hurricane lands at Perry, Fla., or floods devastate the Southern Appalachians, we shake our heads and think how awful, we send thoughts and prayers when warranted, if we know someone, and then we move on. These places are remote to us, and so are the people in communities off the beaten path, in small homes, trailer parks, and quiet neighborhoods.

We probably never heard of these towns, counties, and townships. And it’s so easy to only feel slightly nudged by the stories from those affected, because we have no idea who they are. Yes, we can send money or clothes, and we say a prayer.

And then the next tornado, flood, or hurricane hits, and we repeat.

I often lament the way pop culture has a vise grip on so many of us. It’s not something new. We are wondrous of the people in the public eye, the rich and famous, those who live in mansions, drive fancy cars, wear only the finest clothes. It’s not a coincidence that in the face of shrinking media and a bygone era of magazines, People magazine still sells like hotcakes. The number one publication that covers the lives of the stars outpaces the second most popular magazine by 2-1.

As the fires continue to roar in Los Angeles, and the media continues to cover the destruction, they are also keeping a tally of all the stars who have lost their homes, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mel Gibson, Jeff Bridges, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Milo Ventimiglia, and Billy Crystal, along with scores of others.

Yet,amid the media frenzy surrounding the wealthy elite, the stories of those most deeply affected by the disaster, the maids, gardeners, nannies, and other workers who sustain the lifestyles of the affluent have been largely overlooked. This omission is emblematic of how climate change disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, often relegating their struggles to the shadows.

While celebrities have the resources to rebuild or relocate, the workers who rely on these neighborhoods for their livelihoods face an entirely different reality. Many of these individuals are immigrants or people of color, living paycheck to paycheck. They clean the mansions, tend the gardens, and care for the children of the rich. Their work is both invisible and indispensable. When wildfires strike, they lose not only their jobs but also the fragile stability that allows them to survive in a city as expensive as Los Angeles.

For these workers, the fires mean weeks, even months, of unemployment. The wealthy may retreat to second homes or temporary accommodations, but the people who service those homes are left stranded, with no safety nets and often no legal protections. Many undocumented workers are particularly vulnerable, as they cannot access disaster relief or unemployment benefits. The very people who help rebuild the lives of the wealthy after disasters are themselves left with nowhere to turn.

These disparities highlight a brutal truth about climate change: It is not the great equalizer. Instead, it amplifies existing inequalities, placing the heaviest burdens on those who can least afford to bear them. Wildfires, intensified by a warming climate, are becoming a fixture of life in California.

And while they threaten everyone, they disproportionately harm those who live and work in precarious conditions. The gardeners who must clear ash-laden yards, the maids tasked with cleaning soot-filled homes, and the cooks who lose their jobs when their employers evacuate. These are the people whose stories are rarely told.

There is also our own community which is disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This vulnerability is not incidental; it is systemic. Discrimination, economic instability, and a lack of equitable access to resources leave many in our community without the safety nets needed to weather disasters.

In moments of crisis, those who live on the margins are the first to fall through the cracks. The queer youth who have no home to evacuate from, the trans elders who are isolated in their communities, and the same-sex couples whose love may be met with hostility in emergency shelters. They all face challenges that most of us never consider.

Addressing climate change requires more than cutting emissions; it demands a reckoning with the social inequities it exacerbates. If we continue to ignore the marginalized communities most affected by these disasters, we are not only failing to solve the climate crisis but also perpetuating a system in which the most vulnerable pay the highest price.

If these L.A. fires teach us anything, it’s that we are all connected. The smoke that darkens a billionaire’s beachfront mansion also suffocates the unhoused person under an overpass. The same rising seas that threaten Miami’s skyline will drown entire towns long before they crest over high-rise balconies. This is not just a crisis for the wealthy or the rural, the famous or the forgotten; it is a reckoning for all of us.

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Original Article on The Advocate
Author: John Casey