Environmental Injustice: Past Papers PDF

How are environmental benefits & protections made unjust? Post-War Industrialism Connecting Environmental Issues to Racism 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike 1978-79 Residents of Houston alleged that the decision to place garbage dumps in their neighborhoods were racially mo...

How are environmental benefits & protections made unjust? Post-War Industrialism Connecting Environmental Issues to Racism 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike 1978-79 Residents of Houston alleged that the decision to place garbage dumps in their neighborhoods were racially motivated Led to: Bean v. Southwestern Waste Management Corporation The rst lawsuit to challenge the siting of a waste facility as a violation of civil rights. Residence were unable to establish intentional discrimination intent, but the case launched the use of the courts as a tool, and highlighted the need for better data collection on discriminatory siting practices. fi Connecting Environmental Issues to Racism 1982 Warren County, NC Proposed siting of a PCB land ll in a 1) rural, 2) poor, and 3) predominantly Black community Led to the largest civil disobedience actions in the south since the death of MLK in 1968. United Church of Christ (UCC) representative, Benjamin Chavis, coins term “Environmental Racism” after being arrested with 500+ protesters. Land ll was built despite these signi cant actions. fi fi fi Connecting Environmental Issues to Racism 1978-80 Love Canal, Niagara Falls NY Toxic chemicals leaking from 20,000 tons of toxic waste in an old land ll into residential communities. Lois Gibbs, President of the Love Canal Homeowners Association, led a protest e ort that eventually forced President Carter to declare a state of emergency, relocating 239 “core” families. Declaration for the entire area was resisted until 1980 due to the location of the Gri on Manor federal housing project, despite similar organizing by residents led by Vera Starks, Agnes Jones, and Elene Thornton. Why? ff ff fi Making the data… 1983 General Accounting O ce Report “Siting of Hazardous Waste Land lls and Their Correlation with Racial and Economic Status of Surrounding Communities” Found that in 8 Southeastern U.S. states studied, 3 out of 4 hazardous waste facilities were located in predominantly Black neighborhoods, despite the fact that the general population of the region was only 20% Black. The GAO study, while important, was limited: 1. By its regional scope 2. Not designed to examine the relationship between the location of hazardous waste facilities and the racial and socioeconomic characteristics of persons residing near them 3. Did not determine if GAO’s ndings were indicative of national patterns. fi ffi fi Making the data… 1987 Toxic Waste and Race in the U.S. Report Produced by the UCC Commission for Racial Justice (led by Ben Chavis). Making the data… 1987 Toxic Waste and Race in the U.S. Report Race was found to be the most signi cant variables associated with the location of commercial hazardous waste facilities - more so than income, property values, or industrial waste generation. This represented a consistent national pattern. 60% of Black and Hispanic Americans were found to live in communities with uncontrolled toxic waste sites. fi Making the data… 1987 Toxic Waste and Race in the U.S. Report: other insights… …With respect to hazardous waste management, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been pursuing a policy of delegating more responsibility to state agencies. During the current era of budget reductions, such policies may have serious implications. The Congressional O ce of Technology Assessment cautions that this program may present "an unacceptable combination of shifting increasing responsibilities to the States without corresponding increases in necessary resources." In 1984, 25 states reported a 63.5 percent resource shortfall in funds for hazardous waste enforcement… …TSD facilities are regulated by the EPA under the authority granted to it by Congress through the Resource, Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) enacted in 1976. RCRA established a "cradle-to-grave" approach to regulating...Among the other provisions of RCA is a delegation of responsibility to the states for “siting”… …As a whole, community activists have found the acquisition of needed information to be a di cult task. A recent survey of 110 community groups found that "nearly nine out of every ten groups (88 percent) perceived obstacles to obtaining information. Almost half claimed that government agencies blocked theirs learning process… ffi ffi Toxic Waste and Race at 20 Report (1987-2007) The 2007 report used a “50% areal apportionment” method — population counts were divided between census tracts if a facility overlapped multiple tracts, providing accurate representations of impacted populations. Had anything changed? Racial and socioeconomic disparities persisted even 20 years after the initial study; people of color were still disproportionately more likely to live near hazardous land ll facilities. Host neighborhoods were 56% people of color whereas non host areas are 30% people of color. Percentages of African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos and Asians/Paci c Islanders in host neighborhoods are 1.7, 2.3 and 1.8 times greater. Poverty rates are 1.5 times greater than no -host areas. Findings underscored the systemic nature of environmental racism, deeply rooted in social, economic, and political structures; where addressing this issue would require comprehensive and transformative solutions. Yet, community-led e orts had made signi cant gains in raising awareness of EJ issues and advocating for change at the local, state, and federal level. n­ fi ff fi fi -­ EJ & Access: The “Nature Gap”  EJ & Access: The “Nature Gap” 78% of people who visit national forests, national wildlife refuges, and national parks identify as white, with Black people being the most underrepresented group in these spaces. People of color are more likely than white people to live in an area that is “Nature Deprived” (limited access to nearby green spaces due to urban development, industrialization, deforestation, etc.): 58% of Black communities reside in nature-deprived areas of the U.S., Compared to 23% of white communities. Distinctions between “environmental racism” and “environmental justice” Environmental racism: The disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on—or disproportionate lack of access to environmental bene ts for—people of color. “Racial discrimination in environmental policy-making, enforcement of regulations and laws, and targeting of communities of color for toxic waste disposal and siting of polluting industries.” (Ben Chavis) Environmental justice (EJ): A social justice movement in response to environmental racism. Strives to remedy the inequitable distribution of environmental burdens and bene ts. Advocates for the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” (The standard EPA de nition) fi fi fi Fundamentally, EJ strives to… 1. Ensure equal access to, and enjoyment of, the environment and its resources 2. Preserve ways-of-life and place-based living, which are almost always dependent upon maintaining connections to the environment 3. Protect the right of individuals and communities, as well as future generations within those communities, to live safe and healthy lives 4. Prevent harm (the precautionary principle) in order to not reproduce or generate future injustices EJ - a connection of movements Civil Rights Movements (i.e. environmental racism) Workers Rights Movements (i.e. UFW) Anti-Toxins Movement (i.e. Love Canal) Indigenous Rights Movements (i.e. AIM) Environmentalists (i.e. Greenpeace) Academic activists (i.e. R. Bullard, B. Wright)