Environmental Racism

People disregard what does not directly affect them. As the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind”. This is often the basis of environmental racism, which is an environmental inequality within human populations related to race. Also water ecosystems are often forgotten about. Marine ecosystems are the Earth’s biggest life support and essential for survival on earth. Farms in Africa are being given very little choice as to what the can plant by people that often do not live near them and understand how they keep their farms operating. As seen in the last three lectures: Can Genetically Modified Crops Help the Poor: Debate by Jennifer Thompson and Raj Patel, The Global Ocean Refuge System (GLORES) by Elliott Norse, and Toxic Place by Ingrid

When we talk about wealth we’re talking about making money to better our own lives. Often this is very selfish and the reason why large industrial companies take actions that impact the society and environment around it. Often companies promise residents jobs or job security in order to sway the community into thinking that their factory is a good addition to the neighborhood. Ingrid Waldron spoke in her lecture of how residents within the vicinity were told about job opportunities that were promised that never came through (personal communication, October 15, 2015). One argument for GMO foods is that subsistent farmers should have the right to become commercial (J. Thompson, personal communication, October 1, 2015) and increase there wealth although this is often not so. Again big companies run the show and pay for the

However, a lot of the world isn’t being protected. In fact less than 1% of the oceans are strongly protected, and the water on earth makes up seventy-one percent of the planet (Global Ocean Refuge System, 2015). However, marine scientists recommend protecting 20-30% (Global Ocean Refuge System, 2015) of our oceans to better protect the entire world’s environment and make a difference. Even so, a lot of the land we live on is polluted with garbage and factories that cause serious issues for climate change as the pollution seeps into the ground and up into the air we breathe. This affects billions of people, but especially those closest to land fills and large factories. Often these communities are people of colour or lower income or both, and seem to have very little say in what happens to the place that they live and the conditions they have to deal with every day (I. Waldron, personal communication, October 15, 2015). Likewise, farmers are encouraged to have large yields of the same crops every year. Planting the same crop in the same place each year zaps nutrients from the earth and leaves soil weak and unable to support healthy plant growth. This is not a way to create a healthy cycle. This just generates weak people, weak plants, and weak environments that at some point cannot be