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Recently, former vice president Al Gore was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize for his involvement in helping to spread the news and create awareness about the destructive chaos the world is facing due to global warming. Gore, among his many other endeavors, has been an advocate for expressing the need for conservation and reducing our harmful impact on the earth.

Just a day before Gore received the award, program guest Monique Harden visited the show to talk about the environment as well, but brought with her an interesting fact that we hadn't heard before: how African Americans and other people of color were disproportionately affected by the harsh levels of pollution found in their neighborhoods.

Two questions come to mind when looking at this crisis. First, with the information Ms. Harden shared, will communities of color press government to curtail pollution in their communities, mobilize, and take action swiftly? Secondly, would these highly toxic levels of pollution be allowed in communities where the population was not primarily of color?

Think about it: if 79% of white Americans were facing this same level of danger in their everyday lives, where their sons or daughters went to school, played outside and spent their lives were affected, would we not see a huge increase in the amount of work that has been done thus far to create viable solutions? It's happening right now in communities of color across the nation.

It is devastating to me to think that my family and friends—hardworking, taxpaying American citizens—not only get the short end of the stick when it comes to toxic communities, but get beaten over the head with it.

When Al Gore first started trying to bring people around to the idea of environmental devastation, no one was ready to pay attention. It took nearly three decades before people started paying attention to these life-threatening effects in our environment. We cannot wait another three decades to solve this problem in African American communities.

Perhaps this is a wake up call to communities of color—if you want to see change, get out and make those changes happen. Mobilize. Press our city council leaders, organize with city groups. Work collectively toward a common goal. Don't just sit by and let things happen--it may have deadly results. Change can occur, but it does not take effect swiftly. We must be vigilant in task of change.