Written by Allison Neumeyer
Environmental Racism: racial discrimination in environmental policy-making and enforcement of regulations and laws that deliberately target minority communities to face worse conditions compared to white upper-class communities
- Environmental racism was coined by civil rights leader Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. (Ihejirika, 2023)
- Chavis defined it as the intentional siting of polluting and waste facilities in communities primarily populated by African Americans, Latines, Indigenous People, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, migrant farmworkers, and low-income workers (Ihejirika, 2023)
- Robert Bullard, author of Dumping in Dixie, defines environmental racism as “any policy, practice or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages (where intended or unintended) individuals, groups or communities based on race” (Peña-Parr, 2020)
- Originates as a result of one of the many ways systemic racism manifests into all different sectors of our society. (Peña-Parr, 2020)
- Exists due to policies and practices that have historically and presently favor the health, well-being, and consumer choices of white communities over non-white, low-income communities (Ihejirika, 2023)
- Ex. Redlining, Zoning Laws
- Environmental racism relates to the larger picture of the global climate crisis. The wealthiest economies produce “80 percent of global emissions from coal, oil, and gas”, however developing nations bear the consequences of wealthiest’s economies ‘ actions (Ihejirika, 2023)
- Green space and environmentally sustainable programs are community service activities that can provide multiple ecologically sustainable benefits, including protecting limited natural resources, reducing carbon emissions while also facilitating community empowerment among vulnerable and Persons of Color and Indigenous groups (Hoffman, 2023)
References
Hoffman, John. (2023). Understanding Principles of Environmental Racism, Climate Change, and the Blob: A Socioecological Approach in the Development of Food Justice. Environmental Justice, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2021.0114
Ihejirika, Maudlyne. (2023). What Is Environmental Racism? NRDC. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/what-environmental-racism.
Peña-Parr, Victoria. (2020). The complicated history of environmental racism. University of New Mexico Newsroom. https://news.unm.edu/news/the-complicated-history-of-environmental-racism
