Focusing on equity (and therefore disparities) foments and deepens the perception of competition between groups. It becomes a zero-sum contest of winners and losers (if they get more, we get less) when the point of climate activism is to promote an improved future for everyone.

Racial health and criminal justice disparities are on full display in this season of COVID-19, police killings, and curfews. Less blatant but no less insidious is America’s racial wealth divide, widened and deepened by years of discriminatory housing policies.