A/HRC/48/78 jeopardizes Black lives.10 Ms. Pichon Battle defined broadly the concept of “preparedness” for an climate emergency, including investment and providing information to Black communities, were clearly not a priority of State actors in the Gulf South. Preparedness involved moving infrastructure to renewable energy, namely, to sources that were available in the immediate aftermath of a climate disaster. Preparedness also required a conversation about the climate crisis and solutions in order to be able both to adapt to imminent events and to mitigate the impact of human exploitation and extractivism. The context must also be acknowledged; access to clean water and sewage was already limited in southern communities, Black communities and frontline communities even before climate disaster became the norm. Moving away from fossil fuel-based energy and combustion engines towards renewable, clean energy also implied commitments to effective disaster recovery, given that access to solar, wind and water energy would allow communities to recover more quickly. A key obstacle to the conversation on climate was that it was still rooted in capitalism, oppression and profitmaking for only a few. This dialogue failed to embrace principles of equity, repair and justice or to consider other complex conversations being held by social movements around the world. The climate crisis was a Black issue, affecting people of African descent everywhere. Equity, repair and justice were urgently required. 33. Miriam Miranda of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) stated that climate change had made Honduras extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and the impact of hurricanes. Garifuna, Honduran people of African descent, live in the most affected coastal regions of the country. The national production model saw the country as a monoculture, agricultural society, generally to the detriment of local people. Huge plantations of African palm had replaced food crops. Traditional methods of food production had been lost as numerous hectares of forest had been replaced by monocultures. Throughout, decision-makers had failed to acknowledge the true effects of disregard, or to learn from diverse community experiences and issues. The climate crisis required a re-examination of existing production and consumption models, given the disproportionate cost-benefit ratio of industrial mega projects to their impact. Existing production and consumer models affected the whole of humanity, and vulnerable Black communities in particular. 34. Sharon Lavigne, the founder of RISE St. James, discussed the impact of decades of environmental racism. She stated that the sickness of industry greed and systemic racism were evident in the soil and the air of “Death Alley” in Louisiana. Ms. Lavigne was a lifelong resident of St. James Parish in Louisiana, United States of America, a town in which 85 per cent of residents were African American and located in the 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. In that area, more than 100 petrochemical plants and refineries defined the popularly-termed “Cancer Alley,” given the prevalence of cancer among its residents, and recently recharacterized as “Death Alley” by the community. St. James had been devastated by industrial exploitation; people could not drink the water, plant a garden or breathe clean air. St. James residents suffered high rates of cancer, respiratory diseases and other severe health problems from exposure to industrial pollutants. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a disproportionate number of residents died because of their immune-compromised status due to industrial pollution. Racial disparities were evident even in real estate buyouts, which favoured white property owners and left Black homeowners involuntary holdouts amidst the industrial development of the area. Nonetheless, State leadership continued to see the community as expendable: in spring 2018, without community consultation, the Governor of Louisiana announced that a site had been approved for a new project involving the creation of 14 chemical plants by Formosa Plastics Group, a Taiwanese supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, in St. James parish. The announcement reflected how easy it was to establish environmentally toxic plants in communities where the residents were poor, Black and without powerful protectors. Even though the project would desecrate ancestral burial grounds, community members had already been threatened with arrest, ejected from land and prevented by police from placing flowers on graves. The community had sought assistance and advocated for a moratorium on industrial exploitation and extractivism in St. James Parish and throughout “Cancer Alley”, including by seeking to bar new industries and the expansion of existing industries, and to obtain reparations for the people of St. James, an investigation into the cause of the high rates 10 8 See https://redblackgreennewdeal.org/.