In today’s climate, where conversations about climate change, the environment and social justice can quickly spiral into a firestorm of insults, misinformation, and hurt feelings, I find myself asking two questions:
1. How can we have a productive conversation about environmental racism and injustice?
2. How do we ultimately bring about decisive action for anti-racist/ equitable environmental justice?
For some of you reading this, this could be your first hearing about environmental justice or racism. But it may not be the first time you’ve experienced environmental injustice / racism. To help you along, allow me to borrow your imagination for a moment.
Think back to where you grew up. Picture your neighbourhood. For some of you, you’ll remember the freshly paved sidewalks, escorted by patches of green shrubbery. The streets are filled with homes (or apartments if you live in a city). And no matter what the homes look like, big or small, they are well looked after with proper insulation and ventilation. Your neighbourhood has a playground that is the hub of your childhood memories, a mixture of well-kept playground equipment, large trees, and seemingly endless grass fields to play in. It never seems like nature is never out of reach. The air might smell of freshly cut lawn clippings or the blossoming of fragrant flowers, the first sign of spring. Maybe you can smell the saltiness of the ocean if you live close enough. But one thing is for sure: the air is crisp and clean.
Your neighbourhood might have a central supermarket with a variety of fresh, healthy food options that you can afford. And while there might be the occasional fast-food restaurant, there are plenty of sit-down restaurants that you can enjoy. There are lots of businesses.
And you never have to worry about your local government listening to the concerns of your neighbourhood. If there’s a problem, it’s solved without a second thought. In fact, your issues are always heard.
However, for others, your image takes a darker hue. Your neighbourhood is a concrete desert. Trees are sparse and often look sickly. There may be some greenery, but it exists in spite rather than by design. The houses (or apartments) aren’t in the best shape, with dampness, mould and poor ventilation blighting the indoors. Instead of fresh air, there’s a constant smell of something metallic, chemical, or smog-like. A scent that seems thicker in some areas than others but always seems to linger. Sometimes, if it is a particularly bad day, you find yourself with a cough that you just can’t shake. Your playground, if there is one, is surrounded by rundown buildings, empty lots and industrial factories. The good park in the good neighbourhood is too far to reach by foot or the bus doesn’t travel to your side that often or at all and if you somehow manage to get there you do go… you don’t always feel welcome.
Sure, there might be a creek or small stream nearby, and your parents and grandparents tell you about all the times they used to play and swim in the clear creek waters, but you can’t because the creek’s waters are murky with waste, riddled with trash and spiked with vibrant warning signs about swimming in the river. The sidewalks are constantly cracked and uneven. There may or may not be a local grocery store within walking distance where you can get fresh fruits and vegetables (if you can afford it), yet there always seem to be plenty of fast-food restaurants, takeaways, and corner stores (Dairies for my New Zealanders or Bodegas for my New Yorkers).
No matter how often you go to your local government to express your concerns, it seems you are never listened to. You are brushed aside when you complain about the new factory being placed near the local park and how it impacts your community. Issues around infrastructure are either minimized or ignored. Your concern regarding your community is ignored.
As you read this, you might wonder: why would there be such a distinct difference? Shouldn’t all neighbourhoods be environmentally healthy? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Some communities are more likely to be exposed to environmental risks (for example, polluting waste facilities) and denied environmental benefits (for example, clean, green spaces). And the reasons are tied to historical and present-day social injustices.
This difference is known as environmental injustice.
What is Environmental Justice Anyway?
Before defining environmental justice, I should explain what ‘environment’ means. In scholarship, environment is a surprisingly tricky term to define and is usually contextualized in the knowledge space in which it is being discussed. In the case of environmental justice, the environment doesn’t just include the natural space (e.g. forests, oceans, etc.) and the social and built environment (e.g., schools, workplaces, homes, neighbourhoods). As Dr. Robert Bullard states, the environment is where you work, live, play, pray and learn.
Similar to the environment, environmental justice does not have one definition. It’s a social movement, a response to environmentalism, which centres on the voices of the white, middle-upper class and their relationship to the environment (through conservation and recreation) and simultaneously, ignores the experiences of non-white, Indigenous, poorer and other historically marginalized communities.
Environmental justice also holds a space in academia, cultivated by many scholars, including Robert Bullard, David Schlosberg, Dorceta Taylor, Laura Pulido and Gordon Walker. Below is a simple chart describing the types of justice and frameworks often included in defining environmental justice.
Dr. Robert Bullard, the father of Environmental Justice, defines it as “the principle that all communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental, energy, health, employment, education, housing, transportation, civil, and human rights.”. The inverse of that, environmental injustice, is the disproportionate exposure to environmental risks (e.g. proximity to power plants) and denial of access to environmental benefits e.g. access to parks).
Environmental justice brings issues of race, class, gender and other social dynamics to environmentalism, recognizing the role that other forms of social injustice play in environmental inequality. In the image below is a diagram of the different rights of social issues that come into place in environmental justice.
What about Environmental Racism?
Speaking of race, you can’t really talk about environmental justice without talking about environmental racism, as the two work hand in hand and were developed as terms as a result of infamous dumping of PCB (Poly Chlorinated Biphenyl) in Warren County, North Carolina and the resulting protests in the 1980s. (For more information about the PCB dumping in North Carolina and the resulting protests: How everyday people started a movement that’s shaping climate action to this day)
Environmental Racism was first coined by Dr. Reverend Benjamin Chavis and defined as
“ racial discrimination in environmental policymaking and the unequal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. It is the deliberate targeting of people of colour communities for toxic waste facilities and the official sanctioning of a life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants in people of colour communities. It is also manifested in the history of excluding people of colour from the leadership of the environmental movement.” – Directly from Dr Reverend Benjamin Chavis (States et al., 1994, p. 6)
Dr Bullard condenses the definition of environmental racism as “any policy, practice or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages (where intended or unintended) individuals, groups or communities based on race.”
I highlighted indented or unintended because intent is a contentious area of discussion around environmental racism and environmental justice. Earlier definitions of environmental racism focused on the malicious and deliberate intent of governments, positioning them as purposefully targeting racially and economically marginalized communities. The problem with this focus was that it was hard to prove, especially in court. For example, when the people of Warren Country tried to sue the EPA and government for an injunction, the judge at the time ruled that there was no evidence that the decisions made to dump the PCB in Warren County was racially motivated. Despite the fact that the PCB dumped along the side of the road was in a mostly low- income African American community.
However, the present-day understanding of environmental racism recognizes that legislation (including environmental) and government-sponsored initiatives could lead to environmental racism and injustice without directly intending to. This by no means reduces the ultimate impact of environmental injustice on vulnerable communities.
Environmental racism is a form of systemic racism caused by practices and policies (past and present) that benefited wealthy white communities at the expense of lower-income and non-white communities. These communities are disproportionately burdened by exposure to environmental risks (polluting waste management facilities, garbage dumps, etc.) and are excluded from environmental benefits (clean green spaces, fresh air, etc.) due to instances of historical (and present day) discrimination.
For example, in the US, the history of segregation and redlining, forced African- Americans to live in areas in close proximity to waste pollutants, while denying access to clean and green spaces. The housing in those areas (especially in the cities) were more likely to be made with hazardous materials (e.g. lead paint and piping) These areas were lower valued and became the perfect place for hazardous industries to setup. Furthermore, due to the government’s lack of environmental enforcement in those communities, hazardous industry after hazardous industry were able to set up in those communities, leading to generational exposure (parent to child) to pollutants and the resulting health issues. Furthermore, these communities were less likely to have the financial and political power to push back against these companies being placed in their community in comparison to wealthier and majority white communities (Not in My Backyard or Nimby).
Even when dejour discrimination policies like segregation and redlining ended, the lingering consequences lead to examples of present-day environmental injustice and environmental racism. Specific examples include:
Water Crisis in Flint Michigan: The local government in Flint Michigan changed the water supply source in order to save money. However, due to their lack of due diligence in water testing, the majority Black community in Flint were exposed to high levels of Lead. The health consequences of the lead exposure include brain and development impairment in children as well as kidney and heart disease in adults.
Asthma Alley: Asthma Alley is the unfortunate nickname the Mott Haven neighbourhood in the South Bronx (NY). The low income, mostly black and Hispanic community has the some of the worst air pollution in the US. The community is exposed to on-going exhaust fumes created by the constat traffic from the four nearby highways. In addition, they are close to a sewage station and a few other pollutions sources. Despite their small size, the community experiences asthma hospitalizations at a rate of 21 times higher than other New York City Neighbourhoods.
Cancer Valley: Similar to Asthma Alley, Cancer Alley is the unfortunate nickname of an 85-mile (137 km) strip of land that runs along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The area has approximately 200 petrochemical plants and refineries. The area is home to a majority Black, low income, and other underrepresented communities. The plants and refiners have released pollutants in the air, water supply and surrounding land. As a result, residents of the area report high instances of cancer, along with respiratory issues and birth defects.
Read part 2 of our Environmental Justice series here.
This series was written by our Head of Standards, Dr Andrea Edwards. To inspire you further, Andrea has put together a playlist filled with 50 tunes related to environmental and climate justice. Grab your headphones and have a listen here.
