Environmental Pitch

Nathan Mckee

Good morning, thank you all for coming. Today, I would like to speak about two topics
which most of you will have heard about before: equality and environmental sustainability.
And my goal is to convince you that your business can and should have a more active role in
the community.

Equality and environmental stewardship; both of these words are used commonly in
meeting rooms, pasted on company mission statements. By incorporating these values into
a company the idea is to actually try and have meaningful impacts in the world, make
positive outcomes, and spread these values in real life.

First let me talk about race. As a student of anthropology, the study of humans, I know
firsthand how many misconceptions and opinions there are about the subject and the
number one misunderstood aspect gets straight to the heart of it: Race actually has less to
do about genetics than you think! Humans are not made up of different biological races. Put
another way, human beings across the world are not as different as we like to believe. Your
DNA is roughly 99.9% the same as the person sitting next to you, or sitting across the ocean
for that matter. All of our differences come from 0.01% of our DNA. Out of those
differences, about 80% comes from variation seen within a population instead of between
populations. Again, to put it another way, so called different races are not that different at
all. Unfortunately, these small differences somehow make all the difference including your
skin color, facial features, hair color, and eye color. In our society, depending on how you
look, you are treated differently and may be exposed to higher risk throughout your life.

When certain groups of people are treated worse, live in more polluted and risky
neighborhoods, or get less access to clean air and water, we call this environmental racism.
And just like other forms of racism, it often happens more often then we think. Let’s take a
look at where we are currently: Right now in the United States, people of color including
Hispanics and African-Americans are at a higher risk of asthma, lead poisoning, living close
to polluting energy facilities, landfills, dangerous chemical storage facilities, and toxic waste
sites. They were also exposed to higher rates of air pollution and water-borne diseases.
Does this sound equal? Do these statistics reflect environmental stewardship? No. Is Ohio
doing any better? The Center for Effective Government graded individual states and gave
Ohio a “D”.

It looks as if we have a lot of work to do, right? Luckily, there is a silver lining in this
story. Locally, nationally, and globally people of all walks of life are coming together to
make the world a better place. As we speak, business leaders, politicians, activists,
organizers, and scientists from around the world are working on implementing a framework
of 17 goals to improve life for everyone.

What began as 8 ambitious goals for improving life around the world, the United
Nations has developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) to focus action locally
and globally. These goals include ending poverty and hunger, guaranteeing access to quality
education, water, and sanitation, building sustainable cities and communities, and reducing
inequality. All of these goals are necessary to end environmental racism.

With your help, we can implement the sustainable development goals as a global
network. Here in the United States, businesses and governments are already seizing this
opportunity and exclaiming their support for the SDG’s. I hope that your company will
acknowledge the importance of creating a global community for action and incorporate the
Sustainable Development Goals into your business. This way forward emphasizes the
combined importance of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. This way,
equality and environmental stewardship will never be “just a mission statement”.
Bibliography

Bell, Michelle L., and Keita Ebisu. "Environmental Inequality in Exposures to Airborne
Particulate Matter Components in the United States." Environmental Health
Perspectives, vol. 120, no. 12, 2012, pp. 1699-1704.

Bullard, Robert D., et al. "toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: Why Race Still Matters After all
of these Years." Environmental Law, vol. 38, no. 2, 2008, pp. 371-411.

“Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility
Hazards.” Center for Effective Government, www.foreffectivegov.org/shadow-of-danger.

Shankar, Shalini, and Inc ebrary. Advertising Diversity: Ad Agencies and the Creation of
Asian American Consumers. Duke University Press, London;Durham, 2015.