One of the fundamental determiners of the proper nurturing and healthy living of human beings is the environment they are exposed to. However, there are sharp differences between the quality of environment enjoyed by the rich and the poor over the world. The phenomenon that economically disadvantaged people live in polluted, carelessly planned areas is a result of environmental injustice. In this essay, I will first display the origin of the concept of environmental justice, and then I will elucidate some of the causes of environmental injustice, with deliberate discriminatory policymaking around the world as one major problem. Finally, I will explain the disastrous consequences of such injustice in terms of natural resources, human rights, and economics. In order for our world to be more equitable and sustainable, ending environmental injustice is a matter of urgency.
Environmental injustice has long existed in multiple corners in the world, but it was not until the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. for Black emancipation from the legacy of slavery and racism in the second half of the twentieth century that people spoke louder and clearer against it. In the late 1970s, Sociologist Robert Bullard found through his research that in Houston, 14 out of the total 17 waste collection sites were situated in the Black neighborhoods, although they made up only 25% of the total population (Borunda, 2021). Upon this discovery, researchers were intrigued and suspected that Houston may not be the only place where such discriminatory use of land is taking place.
In Warren County, North Carolina in 1982, protests erupted against a proposed waste landfill near a small neighborhood. This landfill would take soil that had been polluted with Polychlorinated biphenyl compounds or PCBs due to illegal deposits of toxic waste on roadsides. These chemicals are highly toxic and have carcinogenic properties making them hazardous for humans and animals. The state of North Carolina investigated a variety of prospective locations to house the landfill after removing the hazardous material, but finally chose this little African-American neighborhood (Office of Legacy Management, n.d.). The state government’s decision was widely protested Warren County, a region dominated by Black communities, and gradually evolved into the environmental justice movement.
Dr. Benjamin Chavis from the United Church of Christ and Delegate Walter Fauntroy was among the more than 500 demonstrators who were detained during the massive protests against the Warren County proposal. In 1987, Dr. Chavis found in a study that race was the best predictor of whether someone was going to live near a toxic waste site or not (Borunda, 2021). Race had become a variable that could easily be used to identify the places with lower living standards, bad environment, toxic soil and waste sites etc. Dr. Chavis vehemently opposed the environmental mistreatment of Black communities and categorized it as “environmental racism,” the branch of racial discrimination “in environmental policymaking, the enforcement of regulations and laws, the deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste facilities, the official sanctioning of the life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants in our communities, and the history of excluding people of color from leadership of the ecology movements (Bullard, 1990, p. 278).”
“All people and communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental and public health laws and regulations,” said Bullard in 1990 (Claudio, 2007). In 1996, Bullard found that that race was not only a factor in waste siting but also in other kinds of environmentally hazardous consequences including pesticide exposure, water contamination, childhood lead poisoning, hazardous and toxic waste, incineration and sewage plants etc. A study conducted by Waste Management Inc. shows that in 22 out of 30 facilities under study, race proved to be a more significant factor, even more than income disparities (Bullard, 1996).
In 1998, environmental consultant Ronald Bass elaborated on the idea and defined 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 (Bass, 1998).” Now the term “environmental justice” compels people to acknowledge the gap between the natural environments in developed regions and underdeveloped ones.
The causes for the perpetuation of environmental injustice are rooted in racial and economic discrimination, which is often reflected in the lack of policymaking. In the U.S. it was not until the end of the 20th century that a policy for environmental impact assessment was designed by the government (Bass, 1998). In other parts of the world, environmental injustice is a problem the less powerful countries have to face. The lack of international binding policymaking and institutions to protect their environment has pushed 27 island states in the Caribbean, Arabian Gulf and South-East Asia to organize against the environmental damages they bear (UNEP, 2019).
Also, and deliberate discriminatory policymaking has been worsening environmental injustice. In the U.S., zoning and other land use policies have been discriminatory against people of color for decades since their introduction in 1916 in New York. Zoning was initially employed to increase the aesthetic value of the towns and cities where people lived and for designating certain areas for dumping (Rutledge et al., 2003). It means that the city government decides where the center of business would be, where the white citizens would live, where colored communities would live and especially where an industrial zone would be situated. However, the involvement of government authorities became “a device for protecting property values and excluding… [segments of the population described as] undesirables (Rabin, 1989, p. 105).” Today, all cities in U.S. have zoning or land use policies (Erickson, 2012). Because of unfair zoning, industrial zones almost overlap with the areas of ethic minority communities. Sociologists have even termed zoning as a weapon of racism that has led to environmental justice (Rutledge et al., 2003). One study uncovers that Black neighborhoods had 16 percent higher chance of being zoned as high density buildings area and an 8 percent increased chance of including manufacturing sites (Shertzer et al., 2016).
Another discriminatory policy was Red Lining employed by mortgage lenders in the U.S. in the 1930s. The government-sponsored home-loan corporations denied ethic minority communities loans by declaring them ‘hazardous,’ and marked these communities’ living areas with red lines on the map (Little, 2021). Those areas are often poorly planned with no environmental infrastructure, plants or carbon sinks.
Although some of the discriminative policies have been rescinded, their impact continues to this day. Health experts found that people in the historical redlined areas have high asthma rate and low birth rate resulting from being exposed to polluted air and other types of toxics (Borunda, 2020). Also, the temperature can be up to 7 degrees Celsius hotter than the non-redlined areas (Hoffman et al., 2020), causing more discomfort especially in summer. In addition, the psychological implications of such environmental damages is alarming. One study finds that environmental injustice is a major stressor and can lead to chronic stress (Malin, 2020).
The minority communities are also disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to climate disasters. The minority areas are worse hit by natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and tsunamis. Jacqui Patterson, the head of the NAACP's environment and climate justice program, witnessed this discrepancy directly when she volunteered in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She recalled, “I spent six weeks in that disaster recovery center hearing stories and seeing the patterns, it was impossible not to see the disproportionate number of African American people who were there who were suffering.” She claimed that 75% of the residents in severely flooded areas were Black (Borunda, 2021). The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also reported that when natural disasters hit the communities, the disparities in the speed and quality of recovery become wider (FEMA, 2020).
Internationally, small developing island states and port cities are at the worst end of the bargain. When the world trade is carried out through the High Seas, and busiest gulfs, the nearby small island states are at the most risk for environmental damages. Toxic chemicals from ports, ships, and industrial waste accumulate in their environment and on their shores. Karachi in Pakistan is rated as the least the livable place in the world due to the prevalence of industrial toxics (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2022).
Furthermore, although the 52 small island states in our world only emit 1% of the total world’s greenhouse gases, they suffer the most at the hands of climate crises. For instance, while the global average rise of sea level is 3.2 mm a year, the island of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia is experiencing a rise of 10 mm per year, leading to more severe shoreline erosion and flooding. In the Caribbean, experts predict that all the coral reefs will disappear by 2050 due to global warming (UNEP, 2014).
The unbearable pollution and the submersion of homeland result in environmental refugees. People who are not even responsible for climate change have to experience the worst of it and before everyone else. There were 25 million environmental refugees globally in 1995, and the number increased to 36 million in 2009. It is predicted to increase further to 50 million by 2050. Meanwhile, unlike war or political refugees, environmental refugees are not protected by any of the current international laws (Boudreau et al., 2022). Environmental refugees may be expelled back to their destroyed home country, coerced into camps that barely provide basic needs (Dawn, 2022).
In conclusion, the concept of environmental justice that started as a protest of one community against maltreatment of their environment has evolved into a globally recognized issue. Lack of environmental assessment, environmental policies, social justice and the prevalence of policies like zoning perpetuated environmental injustice in most parts of the world. From health crises to major economic crises, racial minorities and underdeveloped regions are trapped in the middle of various plights including environmental disparities. Environmental injustice threatens the well-being of each individual and the balance of the entire ecosystem. The disparities in living standards and air, soil and water quality due to environmental degeneration are becoming more visible than ever, and this is especially true for communities around the world that are poor.
The world stands at the brink of an irreversible climate change that demands immediate action, otherwise these environmental disparities may become gaping chasms that will only get wider with time. It is high time that the powerful countries in the world with most contribution to the world pollution and environmental damages take responsibility for their actions. The disadvantaged nations and people of the world must demand accountability and concrete solutions to the prevailing environmental injustice.
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