The Importance Of A More Rigorous Approach For Community Based Advocacy And Consultancy For The Study Of Future

Environmental ethics has widely circled around human interactions with biotic ecosystems. Little voice has been given to city residents who are overexposed to environmental hazards. It is a subject rarely touched upon by mainstream environmentalist. Though conservation efforts receive much media attention and advocacy, environmental pollution in urban areas inhabited by minorities and the impoverished receive less attention despite it clearly being a grave injustice. It fact, it can be argued that minority and impoverished neighborhoods are deliberately targeted by corporations and governmental agencies because of the inherit vulnerability of the inhabitants. It is no secret that the impoverished in this country frequently live in areas characterized

With the well-being of future generations in mind, environmental concerns have begun to establish a permanent residence atop the priority ladder for a vast array of Americans. Consequently, writers and political pundits alike are seizing this opportunity to capitalize on advocating their stance on the issue. Information, representing all positions, pours in at an unrelenting and unfathomable rate. For the average American it can be an arduous process sifting through all the rhetoric in attempt to find the real truth regarding our impact as humans on the environment; one such example is Susan Brown’s article The EPA’s Mercury Problem. In this article Brown attempts to expose hypocrisy among progressives by paralleling the Environmental Protection

In the book, Sacrifice Zones, Steve Lerner takes readers through twelve separate stories of communities in the United States that have been unwillingly exposed to high levels of environmental toxicity. In each of these cases, citizens of those communities reacted to and pushed back against being exposed to toxic chemicals, sometimes successfully and sometimes less so. In every case, the people most heavily exposed to these health hazards were minorities and low-income citizens, which, Lerner argues, is why government officials and corporate decision-makers chose knowingly to risk exposing them. This paper will outline Lerner’s book and argue that despite a long history of protests, lawsuits, media attention and nationwide outrage, willing exposure of low-income and minority Americans to toxic chemicals in the pursuit of government and corporate interests is still a major problem today.

When you think about the pinnacle city, the turning point in the Industrial Revolution, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. It was a city that perfectly encapsulated the American Dream and set the standard for the working class in America. Flint, Michigan was home to General Motors and at one point they were the driving force of the economy. However, that success was fleeting due to globalization and with many competing companies outsourcing, GM had to make many tough decisions that ultimately led to its downsize. When GM left Flint, the city was devastated and it’s exit contributed to the poverty we see now. The post-industrial era not only left the city in despair, but also left many things in questions, such as the large amounts of lead used during that era that has thus left the city more vulnerable. The current crisis in Flint is able to portray the damages of this ‘industrial legacy’ that has now affected their water. The Flint water crisis could have been avoided had they properly assessed the situation and went in with the proper tools. Just how they were able to assess and adjust laws to save people during the industrial revolution, Flint needs to implement the same changes. This case is able to illustrate the ways in which race and socioeconomic status intersect with one 's insurance to uphold human rights and environmental health.

Have you ever thought about how your actions or opinions affected the environment around you? We’re constantly unaware of what we do that impacts the environment’s condition. One author named Wendell Berry blames the public in his article regarding the way society and the industry has treated the environment and its natural resources. This raises concerns whether we should be putting more importance on the economy or the land that we live in for the sake of our future survival. While I agree with most of Berry’s points and perspectives I slightly disagree with a few of his opinions, but nonetheless he brings up a great matter in today’s modern society.

• An explanation of why your non-scientifically trained community collaborators are essential to the success and sustainability of your CBPR project

In the Brullard reading, Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: 1987-2007, Brullard discusses racial and socioeconomic disparities in relation to environmental issues from 1987 to 2007. 1987 is significant because it is the year when a report about environmental racism entitled Toxic Wastes and Race was published. This report raised awareness about the idea of environmental injustice and spurred further research on the subject. In Chapter 3, Brullard outlines two different methods used in this research: analysis of census data and “distance-based” methods. Brullard explains that using different research methods leads to slightly varying results, but studies using both methods still show racial disparities in relation to environmental hazards. In Chapter 4, Brullard argues that these disparities still exist in 2007, and that they exist all over the United States. In Chapter 7, he provides a contemporary example: the Holt family. The Holt family’s well water was contaminated because it was located near a landfill. The government, while

Currently, it is undoubtedly apparent that Texas has complications with its management of pollution in its multitudinous cities and metropolitan areas; such examples that distinctly portray the incompetence of maintaining a clean and healthy environment would be: detritus littering profusely in public places in cities, the health issues facing many Texans due to pollution, and the environmental ordeals occurring that effectively influence people, food, and water. Environmental pollution is a preeminent issue that needs to be allocated and resolved as swiftly as possible; it is an effort that would necessitate numerous organizations and communal aid.

Community health is the process or characteristics that allow a community’s population and economy to survive. Community health is defined as the meeting of collective needs through identification of problems and

The town of Mossville, Louisiana, serves as a prime example of community resilience a bit closer to home. Mossville is rural community of predominantly low income African American citizens. Within a two-mile radius of the town lie over 30 petrochemical and industrial plants which release thousands of pounds of carcinogens like benzene, ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloride, and dioxin—a persistent organic pollutant recognized as “the most toxic substance known to science,” into the community (Martin 2010), transforming this town into a sacrifice zone. According to Professor White’s lecture on vulnerability, a sacrifice zone can be defined as a geographical area of predominantly low income and minority communities that has been permanently impaired by environmental damage or economic disinvestment (White 4/24). The water and air contamination from the corporations have caused myriad adverse health effects throughout the community, including reproductive problems, hormone disruption, cancer, and impaired physical and cognitive development in children (Martin 2010). In 1988, a federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found that the blood of Mossville residents contained a level of dioxin three times higher than the national average (Martin 2010). The town of Mossville is an example demonstrating the adverse effects big

As investigation continued, these same areas of Beaverton with the worst pollution in town also proved to house some of the poorest and uneducated persons living in Beaverton. Proper analysis of the statistics on these two areas of Beaverton showed some chilling facts. These two areas ranked at or above the 75th percentile on the demographic index, minority population, low income, linguistically isolated persons, and those with less than a high school education. Now, I began to realize that my hometown has environmental justice issues of its

This movement is centered around two issues which are the, “siting and expansion of hazardous and undesirable facilities in poor and minority communities and the effort to remediate, relocate, and/or pay damages to members of poor and minority communities affected by pollution.” (Allen 2007).

Her article, “Elevated Blood Levels in Children Associated with the Flint Drinking Water Crisis: A Spatial Analysis of Risk and Public Health Response,” describes the water issue revolving around Flint for decades. It has only recently begun to get better. Lead was found, as well as bacteria, in the Flint water (283-284). Mona wrote, “Increased lead poisoning rates have profound implications for the life course potential of an entire cohort of Flint children already rattled with toxic stress contributors (e.g, poverty, violence, unemployment, food insecurity)” (286). Mona also concluded that, “As in many urban areas with high levels of socio-economic disadvantage and minority populations, we found a preexisting disparity in lead poisoning” (286). Issues have been done to prevent the Flint crisis, and it has gone down over the past thirty years, however, “A once-celebrated cost-cutting move for an economically distressed city, the water source change has now wrought untold economic, population health, and geo-political burdens”(288). Much like the HDR’s theories, the Flint Water Crisis also appeals to the wealthy class. In any other community, primarily wealthy, money can be provided to prevent future water issues.

As stated in the thesis, environmental injustice mostly affects minority communities. In a map presented by the Los Angeles Times, in Southeast LA there are 26 communities- which 83.9% of the inhabitants are of minority groups (Southeast, n.d.). Similarly, another map released by EPA from the 1990 U.S. Census illustrates that in places where there is 80 to 100% of people of color there is at least 2

This can be shown in areas that are considered fenceline communities. These are communities that are located directly in the midst of toxic pollution. Residents who live in these communities often accept their conditions of their surroundings and wait for disasters to happen. These disasters include chemical spills or toxic contamination that can demolish their communities at some point. These individuals are also put at a higher risk for possible terrorist attacks. Moreover, residents who live nearby also suffer by having their wealth stolen through lowered property values. To show example, in 1992 the National Law Journal found discrepancies in the way the Environmental Protection Agency enforced its Superfund laws (Bullard & Wright 2012). In the same year Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality signed off on permits allowing Genesee Power Station to build an eighty million dollar incinerator for construction use. This incinerator was built beside a predominately black low income neighborhood (Burke 2017). The residents were forced to be exposed to particulate matter, carbon monoxide, lead, and acidic gases. Being within walking distance from a chemical site would eventually begin to affect their quality of life and health (National Research Council). If disasters are to take place they are often blamed on natural occurrences. This concept tends to be pushed by corporations who do not want to own up to