Environmental Racism Research Paper

Environmental inequality, contrary to what we may imagine, is a social and political problem rather than a simple environmental problem. Environmental inequalities are deeply tangled with political, economic structures and institutions; adding more problems to the social inequalities that already affect our daily lives (Brehm, 2013). So, what exactly is environmental inequality? It refers to the fact that low-income people and people of color are disproportionately likely to experience various environmental problems by living in high risk and polluted areas. If we look at this problem closely we realize “that black, white, and Hispanic households with similar incomes live in neighborhoods of dissimilar environmental quality” (Downey, 2008) and that most people who suffer the consequences of living in neighborhoods with high hazard levels are racial minorities. This allows us to conclude that environmental inequality it is also linked to racism.

As of 30 June 2006, the national rate of imprisonment for Indigenous Australians was 13 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous Australians [ABS]. In modern society, there is an assumption that over-representation of Indigenous Australians in the criminal system is due to systemic bias. According to Snowball and Weatherburn (2006), systemic racism refers to any set of arrangements, procedures or rules that results in systemic unfairness to a particular ethnic or racial group. [REF2] Snowball and Weatherburn also found that there was some small ‘residual effect of race on sentencing’ which may suggest that ‘racial bias may influence the sentencing process even if its effects are only small’. [REF2]

“There were the Georgian maps I’d had framed, the Persian rugs, and the overstuffed leather armchair I liked to sink into at the end of the day. I’d tried to make a home for myself here, tried to turn the apartment into the sort of place where the person I wanted to be would live” (p.4). Jeanette’s home impacts her sense of place and community. She describes her home full of expensive décor. Her use of the word “tried” hints that she doesn’t succeed in feeling like the person she wanted to be; a wealthy person. This develops the theme of irony because Jeannette explains that her father says to her that she should never want to trade places any of them, “rich city folks.

Environmental racism is a type of discrimination where people of minority and or low income communities are forced to near a hazardous area; such as a nuclear deposits, mining drainage sites, or chemical plants. This concept has been debated for decades. Big businesses have been able to take advantage of minority communities for many years now. Environmental racism is not a thing of the past; it is still in full effect to the people of Flint, Michigan and the Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. Due to social media awareness, the issue of environmental racism has been brought to a new light, causing protests to take place nationally.

It should be very obvious in this day and age that there is a lot of concern surrounding the well being of our planet. Whether it be climate change, water pollution, or massive buildups of garbage, there are a lot of environmental catastrophes that we face in this day and age. However, one problem that does not seem to be addressed enough is how certain groups of people are subjected to the worst of the environmental problems the planet faces. Some examples include indigenous communities having uranium poisoning in their water supply or a incinerator that creates a lot of air pollution being placed in a mostly African American community. I want to research more about the history of this phenomenon and why/how race and environmental issues have

The environment people live in can be a racism that happens everywhere.The government affect the black people instead of the white.Environment racism is something that all people are not treated fairly everyday.

The low and middle class communities unlike the upper class have to deal with a lot more pollution. Not only this but the fact that pollution is located primarily in black and brown communities. Sheila R. Foster one of the writers behind “From the Ground Up : Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement” has talked mainly about the impact of environmental hazards, particularly toxic waste dumps and polluting factories, on black people and low and middle class communities. Like previously said pollution impacts how a community appears. It impacts the people and their children. It impacts how the future would look for that community. Research has said that in the next few decade or so ghettos will have to deal with

As sad as it is, environmental racism is an institutionalized practice, which immoral governments use to keep the poor poorer and living in highly polluted communities, while keeping the best areas for the White, powerful, and rich. It also has to do with immoral companies that knowing that they are hurting local citizens, they keep ignoring the damage they causing to others. For example, just recently in Porter Ranch and other vicinity, the gas company let them live in the middle of the largest methane gas leak. I am sure that they will be paying more in punitive damages and fines, than they could have spent to stop the leak and clean the area, before the public opinion denounced their crime. Sadly, right after this incident SOCAL had another

The issue that stands out to me as most important is that of environmental justice and environmental racism, as discussed in chapter 3. The book described environmental justice as "the efforts to ensure that hazardous substances are controlled so that all communities receive protection regardless of race or socioeconomic circumstances” (Schaefer). Environmental racism is the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards, mainly how intentionally neglecting the needs for pollution control in urban areas and its effects on the community’s health. Minorities and low-income communities are disproportionately impacted by polluting industries, environmental justice is the movement’s response to environmental racism.

The environment is constantly being sacrificed for food production, toxic dumps, wood distribution, military testing, and other things such as these. And as usual, the root lies in profit. The corporations can’t afford to be concerned with the future well being of the earth and it’s dwellers. Also, environmental pollution can be connected to racism and classism because it is the poor communities that are used for toxic dumps and prisons, and it’s the poor people who work in the factories that require having contact with harmful chemicals and technologies, and generally the poor communities consist of people of color.

To further expand our comprehension of the topic, we will look at various articles and their stance on the issue of environmental racism. To begin, we will have a look at an article written by Thomas Davies, “Clean and White: A History of Environmental racism in the United States” which argues the importance of acknowledging climate change and pollution in the USA. He states that the USA is attempting to “sober up these practices” by acknowledging that there is a huge issue at hand. Climate change is a global issue that requires for sidelined issues of environmental racism to be acknowledged as well for the entire issue to be fixed as a whole. There are thousands of texts online that touch on this specific topic, and today, we will have a look at a few more.

What stood out the most in the reading Pellow, was talking about the 4 pillars and how environmental racism was defined. Also, the part of how a community was dependent of this water supply and it was used for some hydropower. Knowing that these people depends of this water sources for food and a source of living. The 4 pillars include how social inequality affects all groups of people. It shows that inequality does not have an effect on a person just of color or yet alone wealth status. Secondly, focuses on how the resolution of environmental injustices come about. Third, how social inequalities are focused within one’s society and last, how the state does have say so in embedding equality within our society.

The environment, people lives in impacts them every day. Many people are affected by pollution because of racism. Some blacks and Hispanics are suffering from racism, like the whites not letting stay in the same place as them. They make the blacks become slaves or the whites make them stay in small places that have a lot of pollution like Richmond.

Organizing protests with Greenpeace, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is the best way to educate others about environmental racism in their community. According to Huebert (n.d), “If an entire community makes it voice heard, then the industry and government cannot help but listen. Whether the motivation is justice or saving face in front of the media, action will be outspoken about environmental concerns, the industry[‘s] path of least resistance will change” (p.1). The St. James Citizens for Jobs and the Environment are engaged in discussions regarding environmental racism because low-communities of color show signs of unhappiness and poor health.

Both capacity issues and the lack of clarity surrounding the EA process were highlighted by Cheryl Maloney, President of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association during an environmental racism forum held during the Atlantic Land Reclamation Conference November 8th (Maloney, C., personal communication, Nov 8, 2016).