Environment Detriments: Modern-day Racism in Action

As a Sustainability student who is interested in the effects of pollution upon communities, I understand that the term “environmental racism” collectively represents a vast array of grievances. That said, few seem to understand what the term actually means.

Environmental racism was first discussed in a 1971 report written by the Council of Environmental Quality. In it, the council noted a link between socio-economic status, race, and risks of exposure to pollutants, an observation quickly adopted by a plethora of social groups aiming to protest the conditions of their communities. The term’s modern definition changed little in the forty-five years since; according to Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, “environmental racism refers to environmental policies, practices, or directives that differentially affect or disadvantage (whether intentionally or unintentionally) individuals, groups, or communities based on race or colour.” This could include things like storing nuclear waste in certain areas more than others, siting landfills in historically segregated communities, or allowing manufacturing plants looser restrictions on water and air pollution in monoracial areas.

The recent water quality problem in Flint, Michigan has been linked to racism for a number of reasons, including the fact that the most polluted areas in the state correspond significantly to the blackest communities. This isn’t a new trend; pollution problems have reached the point that experts can fairly accurately predict both a person’s race and how long a person has to live just by knowing their Zip Code. Similarly, nuclear testing’s repeated occurrence near the Western Shoshone nation, coal plants’ consistent siting near black populations, and Asia’s electronic waste recycling disparities, have all demonstrated structural problems with how environmental impacts are distributed. Yet while these problems are tragic, they serve to demonstrate the importance of environmental racism; without the concept, few would understand how institutional level policies directly impact health outcomes among certain demographics.

It’s important to recognize that policies that site manufacturing plants or landfills are necessary for a functioning society. It becomes problematic however when the impacts of those are unequally distributed, especially when correlated heavily with race. Though environmental racism currently poses severe threats to underprivileged communities, the recent national news coverage of Flint, Michigan brings hope that greater attention will be directed towards the problem in the near future; hopefully something of substance will finally be done to end it.