“Climate crisis and social injustice are inextricably linked. Our economic system must work not only for the few, but for all nations and all people, especially communities that are impacted first and worst by the climate crisis.” — Jerome Foster II, the youngest person ever to serve on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council
Communities of color, particularly those in the Global South, continue to be at the forefront of the environmental justice movement. Here in the United States, it’s important to acknowledge and address a statistical fact: people who live, work, and play in America’s most polluted environments are disproportionately BIPOC and low income. This is no accident. Communities of color are routinely targeted to host facilities that have negative environmental impacts. The statistics provide clear evidence of what the movement rightly calls environmental racism (source).
Despite working hard to create and improve opportunities for their families, low-income families are often less able to move out of their current communities and have fewer affordable choices when deciding where to live. And often, their concerns and needs are not included in the decision-making process. As a result, ALICE households and those living below the federal poverty line – particularly BIPOC households – live in areas with high rates of air and water pollution. Additionally, US tribal reservations are repeatedly impacted by oil and gas projects that threaten the land on which Indigenous communities have lived for thousands of years.
Students from the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability created the heat map below with identified environmental injustice “hot spots” across the state. U-M professor Paul Mohai notes that these “hot spots” are home to large concentrations of BIPOC residents, high levels of poverty and unemployment, low educational attainment, and other indicators of social disadvantage (source).
Image description: title text reads, “Heat Map of Michigan Census Tracts Ranked by Environmental Justice Scores.” Below the title is a map of the state of Michigan. A key shows that red counties have the highest scores followed by orange, yellow, light green, and green representing the lowest scores. Dark outlines denote tribal boundaries. A note next to the key reads, “Clusters of census tracts in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Saginaw, Lansing, and Kalamazoo are among the environmental injustice hot spots identified in a new University of Michigan Study. Bottom left of the image displays a Block M and “School for Environment and Sustainability” below that reads, “Credit: Zeuner, Grier, Mayor, Mohai, University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability.” Civil rights leader Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. coined the term Environmental Racism to describe the intentional co-location of BIPOC communities and pulling and waste facilities. Studies repeatedly show that these communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards that increase health problems like cancer and respiratory issues.
Today’s Challenge
Read
- Learn more about Environmental Racism and its impact from the Natural Resources Defense Council. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/what-environmental-racism
Watch
- Have you heard of environmental racism? Watch this video on how numerous systemic issues contribute to differences in exposure to potentially harmful environmental conditions. (3:33) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dREtXUij6_c
- Watch this video to learn how air pollution can weaponize the coronavirus. (9:02) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAFD-0aMkwE
Listen
- Listen to Mustafa Santiago Ali, former EPA staffer on why marginalized communities deserve a voice in environmental policy. (10:37) https://www.michiganradio.org/families-community/2019-05-07/former-epa-staffer-on-why-marginalized-communities-deserve-a-voice-in-environmental-policy
