Environmental Injustice

Introduction

It is a proven fact that evidence suggesting that residents of poor communities and in communities of color in the United States bear a "disproportionate" burden of toxic contamination and release of hazardous chemicals in their neighborhoods. An analysis of Environmental Injustices that span for decades across the United States shows how these communities have been socially and economically impacted.

Environmental Justice

There is no one definition for environmental justice; however the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, defines Environmental Justice as "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. Fair treatment meant that no group of people, including racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations of the execution of federal, state, local, ands tribal programs and policies" (2011).

The environmental battle seems to have been formed under the civil rights umbrella instead of environmentalism. Environmentalism is mostly composed of middle income Anglo Americans and environmental injustice targets African Americans and minority groups of lower income or poverty stricken communities or rural areas.

Environmental racism

In 1982 a series of protests were lead by Dr, Benjamin Chavis of the United Church of Christ against a landfill in a predominantly African American and low income in Warren County in North Carolina. The protest had a large turnout and received major attention. More than 500 protesters were arrested (Environmental Justice, 2011) Even though the battle was lost and the construction of the landfill was completed. The war against environmental injustice continued and the word environmental racism was presented as a major indicator of the root problem in the injustice. Even though the economically vulnerable communities make the majority of the victims' environmental injustice does not single out due to income it primary effect the minority population. Environmental racism is the discrimination of a group of individual due to race, color, sex, or national origin.

Environmental movement

Some knows Robert Bullard as the Father of the Environmental Justice movement. Bullard conducted a study of why a landfill was scheduled to be built in a middle class community in Houston, TX in 1979. Bullard discover that 82% of the residents were African Americans. The researched led him to write the book titled "Dumping Dixie" in 1990 (What is environmental justice, 2008). However, as some believe there is no one definition for environmental justice as there is no one case determining the beginning of the environmental movement.

* In 1962, scientist Rachel Carson and her book "Silent Spring" drew attention to the damage pesticide DDT caused migrant workers. A lawsuit was filed and won on behalf of the nursing mothers who breastfed their children the pesticide in the milk. The lawsuit was won and DDT was banned in the United States

* The Civil Right Law of 1964, which guarantee the of the law

* Sociologist Robert Bullard credits African American student protesters in Houston in 1967 when an 8-year-old girl drowned in the garbage dump.

* The United Farm Workers' struggle initialing in 1960's against pesticides poisoning in the workplace.

* Protest against the toxic dump in 1982 in Warren County, North Carolina.

* Native Americans formed The International Tribunal of Indigenous People and Oppressed Nations in 1992

* Religious groups have also claimed credit for initiating the environmental justice movement as they believe they have an obligation to care for, defend and protect all of God's creators. These movements are predominantly of Christian faith and have the capacity to move in masses due to its large number of followers (What is environmental justice, 2008)

The only collective detail the movement is in agreement of is that low income and minority communities account for the majority of the vulnerable when it comes to environmental injustice. Environmental and civil rights organizations as well social groups are in the forefront of the environmental fight in both the national and grassroots level.

Scientific Perspectives

Low-income communities suffer from a plethora of problems that are largely absent in more affluent areas. Among these are high crime rates, lack of employment opportunities, crowded, underfunded schools, substandard infrastructure and transportation and lack of access to essential services. These factors mean that the residence of these communities must struggle with many additional burdens that other Americans live without.

One of the more insidious of these burdens is the disproportionate exposure to harmful environmental substances. In the United States, low-income neighborhoods experience more of all forms of pollution (air and water pollution, as well as toxic waste) than do neighborhoods that maintain higher levels of income. A report entitled by William Nichols entitled, "Social Stratification of Pollution Across America: Analysis and Economic Perspectives" posits that "much of the evidence points to a pattern of disproportionate exposure to toxics and associated health risks among communities of color and the poor, with racial differences often persisting across economic strata".

Economic Perspective

There are a whole host of reasons that polluting facilities and toxic sites tend to be present in poor neighborhoods. Some factors to consider include job location, household income, discriminatory housing and development policies, and a dearth of political power. Many of the poor residents who live near polluting facilities include the low-income employees who work there. As William Nichols points out, "the minority and low income families that experience the brunt of the pollution in this country have become economically dependent on the industries that pollute their neighborhoods because many rely on the income to support their families." Low-income workers do not have the resources to relocate, as do many of the white-collar workers and management who make a living at these