Climate change, failing infrastructure and growing inequality add up to a perfect storm that is poised to hit the nation's poor, says Megan Mullin. Our weak infrastructure is ill-equipped for extreme weather events, which grow more likely with climate change. Meanwhile, storms and floods will hit poor communities especially hard, since those communities have even less to spend on repairing aging water pipes, roads and bridges.

Mullin is an associate professor of environmental politics at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment.