We weren t going to discuss this but since you asked.... Consider the following statement: Historically the lower economic class and 3rd world countries suffer more environmental exploitation than wealthy classes and wealthy nations. We can indeed consider it, but unlike most problems you ll hear about in this class this one has no clear technological fix. CEE 3510 Environmental Quality Engineering
What is Environmental Justice? According to the EPA, environmental justice is, 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.
This prompted a GAO study of the demographics of southern toxic waste sites, which found that 3 of the 4 toxic waste landfills were located in poor, predominantly black neighborhoods. Unequal Distribution of Environmental Risk: Fokelore or Fact? National Law Journal, 1992 There is a racial divide in the way the US government cleans up toxic waste sites and punishes polluters. White communities see faster action better results and stiffer penalties than communities where blacks Hispanics and other minorities live. This unequal protection often occurs whether the community is wealthy or poor. First major protest, Warren County, NC, 1982. Siting of a PCB dump near a town with the highest percentage of African-Americans and among the poorest residents in the state. The site had less than ideal geophysical features with a high water table and most residents drinking well water.
The Commission for Racial Justice followed this up with a national study which found that race proved to be the single most significant predictor of where commercial toxic waste treatment, storage and disposal occur nationwide. They concluded that it was virtually impossible for this correlation to occur by chance. In extensive national studies Public Data Access, Inc. concluded that poor, black, Latino, and Native American communities consistently experience more severe levels of pollution. After that, EPA conducted its own study in Detroit and consulted 15 other studies. In nearly every case, the distribution of pollution was found to be inequitable by income and race. In 5 out of 8 cases where a direct comparison could be made, race was the more important factor.
Specific Examples Los Angeles automobile pollution is worst in the working class neighborhoods along freeway exits and crowded streets; the Latino and black communities of east Los Angeles, Huntington Park and Watts are also the site for metal plating and furniture manufacturers that handle and emit toxic chemicals.
More examples The predominantly black and Latino south side of Chicago boasts the largest concentrations of municipal and hazardous waste dumps in the country. African American children living below the poverty level are exposed to lead levels dangerous enough to cause severe learning disabilities and other neurological disorders at about nine times the national rate.
According to NIOSH minority workers tend to encounter a disproportionately greater number of serious health and safety hazards because they have often been employed in especially dirty and dangerous jobs. Navajo teenagers living in uranium districts suffer from reproductive organ cancer at 17 times the national rate. Water supplies in 22 municipalities in Puerto Rico have been contaminated by US industries. More extreme conditions occur in third world countries which do not have the extensive environmental regulations that the United States has. The chemical disaster in Bhopal, India may serve as an example.
African-Americans are affected by a variety of Environmental Justice issues. One notorious example is the "Cancer Alley" region of Louisiana. This 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is home to 125 companies that produce one quarter of the petrochemical products manufactured in the United States. Residents of cities along the US-Mexico border are also affected. Maquiladoras are assembly plants operated by American, Japanese, and other foreign countries, located along the US- Mexico border. The maquiladoras use cheap Mexican labor to assemble imported components and raw material, and then transport finished products back to the United States. Much of the waste ends up being illegally dumped in sewers, ditches, or in the desert. Along the Lower Rio Grande Valley, maquiladoras dump their toxic wastes into the river from which 95 percent of residents obtain their drinking water.
Impediments to action One of the prominent barriers to minority participation in environmental justice is the initial costs of trying to change the system and prevent companies from dumping their toxic waste and other pollutants in areas with high numbers of minorities living in them.
Responses to the Problem Beginning in 1982, Grass-roots organizations have mobilized to stop particular sites and encourage legislation. In 1990 EPA held The Michigan Conference on race and the incidence of environmental hazards. In 1990 NYC adopted a fair share legislative model designed to ensure that every borough and every community within each borough bear its fair share of noxious facilities. In 1992 Chicago congresswoman Cardiss Collins offered an amendment to the bill reauthorizing RCRA requiring community information statements assessing the demographics of proposed waste sites. In 1993 Georgia congressman John Lewis and former senator Al Gore introduced an Environmental Justice Act.
On Feb. 11, 1994 President Clinton issued and executive order to address environmental justice in minority and low income populations. On the down side, polluters and potential dumpers have responded by offering large amounts of money to poor communities, notably Native American Nations, for the rights to dump. The same is true in third world countries and no mechanisms other than public opinion pressure have emerged as remedies.
Fast forward to more recent events In its 2012 environmental justice strategy documents, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) stated an ongoing desire to integrate environmental justice into its core mission, internal operations and programming. The most common example of environmental injustice among Latinos is the exposure to pesticides faced by farmworkers. After DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides were banned in the United States in 1972, farmers began using more acutely toxic organophosphate pesticides such as parathion. A large portion of farmworkers in the US are working illegally, and as a result of their political disadvantage, are not able to protest against regular exposure to pesticides.
For More Information There is a good bibliography of publications related to environmental justice on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/environment al_justice