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Environmental Discrimination In The United States

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Environmental Discrimination Much as people might try to deny it, racism is seen in the area in which you reside, environmental racism is a very real feature of life. Often, areas where minorities live are chosen as sites for factories or industries that produce a lot of pollution or hazardous waste. Alternatively, once a polluting factory is in operation, the most likely inhabitants of the surrounding area will be the poor, since property is less expensive in polluted areas. I will examine the multi-faceted problem of environmental problem and propose ways to combat it. Poverty happens in everywhere in the world nowadays. Most of the poverty is happening in the third world countries. These areas are often being discriminated by some well-developed …show more content…

Government settle some hazardous facilities, such as incinerators, landfill, and some wastes sites in the areas where poor and minority located. “One of the landmark events in the development of the environmental justice movement in the U.S. was the 1982 battle over the siting of a hazardous waste landfill in Warren County, North Carolina.12 Warren County was one of the poorest counties in the state, and had the highest percentage of black residents; Afton, the community chosen for the landfill, was over 84 percent black. Despite low incomes, an exceptionally large percentage of residents in this area owned their own homes” (Massey, 5). According to this report, there was tens thousands of cubic yards of soil that was contaminated by PCBs. More importantly, the landfill was located above the water table only five to ten feet. That is an enormous threat for the residents that live around. What’s more, experts aruged that where the landfill sitting was not making any scientific sense. Even though the location of the landfill made no sense, the government still place the landfill in such unreasonable location. This is a kind of environmental discrimination based on the poverty because this area is one of the poorest areas in the whole country. The government would think that the people will just bear this situation and do nothing to resist. This kind of environmental discrimination will make the environment of the area where is bing polluted become worse and worse. The quailty of the residents who live there will reduce. People might move out of that area, the government will settle more hazardous facilities to that area. It will become a vicious cycle eventually. That area will have no people living in there

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Chapter 4 describes the horrific consequences of pre-1991 landfills. Humes writes, “Trash, sometimes with hazardous chemical waste mixed in, had been buried carelessly all over the country for decades without installing plastic barriers and other protections now deemed essential to containing landfill pollution”( 2013 p.92). Humes describes a tragic incidence near Niagara Falls, New Jersey in the 1970s. “In the 1950s, there was a residential community near Niagara Falls in New York. The community was built on what had been at one time a toxic chemical disposal site” (Humes, 2013, p.92).

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Introduction The article Cancer Alley: Big Industry, Big Problem written by Trymaine Lee discusses the connection between health risk and the environment in the south, particularly in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The article explains the connection between poverty, and the location of industrial plants that expose people to toxic pollutants. Studies conducted on the United States show that poor people, mostly poor African Americans, are more likely to live in neighborhood that is close to industrial plants, which causes them to be more at risk for health issues due to the environment. In general, the article explains that in the United States, particularly in the south, there is something called environmental racism. Environmental racism can be described as certain people in certain areas are exposed to contaminated air, soil and water.

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I am writing to express my concern regarding the visible amount of trash in our neighborhood. The surroundings of Dentonia Park and all the way to the Golf Club are filled with pieces of paper, cans, broken toys, packages and all the sort of unwanted objects on the grass, ruining the pleasant experience of walking in the park with the children. It is a duty of each citizen to preserve the city and it is not excusable to throw away garbage on the streets, however, a few measures could serve as friendly reminders of a person’s obligation. There is a lack of garbage bins in the park and on the sidewalks and this could be one of the reasons of why people are disrespecting the environment. If there is plenty of places to dispose the garbage properly,

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The mayflower compact was written by a group of social misfits who decided that, cooperation, trust, and hope with the only ways that they would survive in this new, foreign, land. It was the first of its kind. The governing agreement not determined by a sense of divine right, but what is good for them as a group. Without this document, it would 've been chaos, anarchy. These people where thousands of miles from home and each where looking for something.

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They are the prominent cultural beliefs our society embodies, racism, and common production processes. First, on the topic of racism, I truly don’t believe that anyone can argue that racism is one of the main fueling forces behind this issue of asthma in the Bronx. Of New York City’s five boroughs, the Bronx is not only the poorest with over 28% of residents living below the federal poverty level, but also contains the highest concentration of minority (89.1 %) and poorly educated residents (30.8 % of adults have not graduated from high school) (Maroko, Riley, Reed & Malcolm, 2014). “Environmental injustice can be defined as the disproportionate exposure of communities of color and the poor (or other vulnerable groups) to pollution, and its concomitant effects on health and environment, as well as the unequal environmental protection and environmental inequality provided through laws, regulations, governmental programs, enforcement, and policies (Maantay, 2007).

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Poverty is affecting billions of people around our world and the number is growing with each day. Many people think they can avoid the effects of poverty, but it is something that affects all of our daily lives. Many people see poverty as a person who lacks money, although this is true poverty is caused by many more things than being without money. Just the fact that one in two children live in poverty can help people see clearly the impact it has on our world. Poverty truly does influence the type of care and treatment a person will receive when they need it.

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The article was written in 1993 as a follow up to the Environmental Justice Movement. The purpose is to show how racism still plays a role in environmental policy-making

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Since the beginning of mankind, there have been many examples of humans developing both positive and negative relationships with the environment. From early Native Americans preciously cultivating and restoring their natural surroundings, to large manufacturing conglomerates of the modern age polluting air and water without regard, the interaction between humans and their environment has been both productive and destructive in various ways. By evaluating that it is much more important for a developing civilization/nation to conserve and protect its resources rather than fully develop them, we can completely understand the unique impacts that the human race has had on the environment, and how significant the negative gaffes and consequently,

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If racism is not the issue the big question is then what is? What is the problem? I’m 100% sure everyone is curious to know. Where are all the answers to our unanswered questions? Despite the civil rights movement of the 1960s the issue of environmental racism has popped up often including the 1990s.

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Recently, in an effort to solve this problem U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the first-ever standards for mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants. Another way to prevent environmental racism is by simply minimizing waste, preventing pollution, and using cleaner production techniques that apply to all citizens. Now, environmental classism is defined as "the poor, because of dangerous jobs and residential segregation, are more exposed than the more well-to-do to environmental dangers" (Eitzen, Smith, and Zinn 97). This is something that I have connected with environmental racism; the only difference is that classism focuses on the system of stratification and racism focuses on the race of the individual/family. Unfortunately, when companies come knocking at the door of low-income communities, they have a distinct advantage when looking for a place to put a factory and to dump waste.

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Environmental racism is something that affects all communities in horrible ways. Some people around the world have problems with racism everyday such as rich and poor communities. Other people around the world have racism problems such as black and white people. Environmental racism is something that all people around the world deal with everyday. To begin with, Environmental racism starts with the people in all communites.

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Poverty is universal but does vary within countries, even neighborhoods. According to society poverty is hunger, lack of shelter, not having the ability to see a doctor when necessary and limited education. In third world countries, it is very common for parents to conceive a high number of children as a source of labor. Not only do these kids frequently receive slight or no education, but large families in these countries are the main contributor to global overpopulation. These children are not privileged with the same basic opportunities given to an American child.

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745 Words | 3 Pages

Industrialization, economic expansion, and globalization are processes that are the biggest culprits of environmental injustice. The most obvious act of injustice that links both environmental injustice and human rights abuse is the displacement of indigenous communities. A unique example of such displacement is the relocation of blacks to different segregated townships. This relocation of such a large group of people put a strain on the environment as the numbers were over and above the areas carrying capacity. These townships are heavily polluted, quality of life is extremely low and land degradation is rife.

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Pollution may be a threat, but it can be solved in our

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‘Poverty’- a simple word with unlimited connotations. Poverty is a universal issue that has been plaguing our Earth for centuries; thus it is essential that the immensity of the situation is acknowledged by everyone. If looked up, you’ll find the exact definition of poverty being: ’general scarcity, dearth, or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. [1] Poverty is a multifaceted concept, which includes social, economic, and political elements. [2] Poverty may be defined as either absolute or relative.’

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