According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (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”.
We live in a society that has needs. We need water, fuel, chemicals, minerals, land, and so much more. It is important that we have space to live as well. As much as we would like to, it is not possible to completely separate our residential areas from the land that we use for industrial purposes. No matter where we place our industry, there will be someone living nearby. This is where the problem lies.
Let’s imagine that there is a need to build a new petrochemical plant within your state. The company has the choice of two different sites: a site in an affluent suburb of a major city or a low-income region of that city. Sadly most of the time the polluting industry will be built in the low-income area. When in cities these industries are often found in areas with a high minority population.
It is a complicated issue. Are these areas low-income because they are heavily polluted? Are the industries placed there because it is cheaper? Unfortunately one study shows that neighborhoods that are low-income and have high percentages of people of color have a consistent pattern of polluting industries moving in.
It might be easier to place industries like this in low-income areas because they don’t have the money and resources residents in more affluent areas have to fight it. For example, people have fought against putting up coastal wind farms because it may negatively affect the views they have. Meanwhile, people in low-income areas are facing serious health effects due to poor air quality and contaminated water.
It doesn’t matter what the reasons for this lack of environmental justice are. This is an issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Access to clean air and water should not be dependent on how much money you have. If we find ourselves saying “not in my backyard” we should work towards making societal changes so it doesn’t end up in anyone’s backyard. Instead of opening another landfill somewhere else, we can reduce our waste. We feel good when we recycle but it has harmful effects for people in other parts of the world. Do we really need to replace our electronics every year? Most importantly we can make the push for cleaner technologies and work towards making companies more accountable for their actions.
Environmental justice ties in closely to so many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and it fits into my curriculum so this is something that I will be looking at implementing this year. Stay tuned for more information!
Resources
The Love Canal Tragedy – Worth a read if you are unfamiliar with this
Environmental Justice Atlas – Environmental conflicts throughout the world. The link goes to the conflicts in Peru.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation interactive map
Toxic Sites – an interactive map of polluted sites around the country.