In Conclusion...
Race is one example of the human variation that benefits us as a species and makes everyone unique. Although it isn't based on biology, we use socially constructed conceptions of race to help us understand and process our society. We use race in everything from the census to medicine, so it is important for us to be conscious of it and work to combat underlying biases that may be harmful. The examples you just explored all come from the United States in relatively recent years. However, environmental racism is an issue that spans decades and countries: it shows up in many forms in different times and places.
Key Takeaways
- Race is a socially constructed concept. There is no such thing as biological race.
- Because race is such a powerful social concept, we have to be conscious of it when we make decisions: from politics and economics to health and the environment.
- Environmental injustice occurs when certain communities are disproportionately exposed to pollution through policy or practice. Environmental racism is when environmental injustice occurs in a racialized context.
- The case studies showed us the real health dangers that accompany environmental racism, and the systemized structures within they can occur.
- There are things we can do to prevent and address environmental racism.
What can we do?
Several nonprofits and organizations are focused specifically on environmental justice:
- Climate Reality Project
- The Indigenous Climate Network
- Black Millennials for Flint
- The Center for Race, Poverty, and the Environment
- Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project
- Earth Guardians
- Donate your time, skills, or money to the above organizations, or local environmental justice movements
- Educate yourself about the intersection between race and the environment
- Amplify the voices of impacted communities
- Contact your local, state, and national representatives
- Use your power as a consumer to boycott companies with harmful environmental practices
Sources
General
Colquette, Kelly Michele; Robertson, Elizabeth A. Henry (1991). "Environmental Racism: The Causes, Consequences, and Commendations". Tulane Environmental Law Journal. 5 (1): 153–207. JSTOR 43291103.
CrashCourse. “Race & Ethnicity: Crash Course Sociology #34.” YouTube, 20 Nov. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7myLgdZhzjo.
Environmental Protection Agency. EPA Annual Environmental Justice Progress Report. 2020, https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-01/documents/2020_ej_report-final-web-v4.pdf.
Greenaction. “Environmental Justice & Environmental Racism – Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice.” Greenaction, https://greenaction.org/what-is-environmental-justice/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
II, Vann R. Newkirk. “A New EPA Report Shows That Environmental Racism Is Real.” The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-trump-administration-finds-that-environmental-racism-is-real/554315/.
News, NowThis. “Why COVID-19 Is an Environmental Justice Issue Too.” YouTube, 11 Apr. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFTd6oWfgo4.
ProPublica. “A Brief History of Environmental Justice.” YouTube, 4 Aug. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30xLg2HHg8Q.
TEDx Talks. “The Biology of Race in the Absence of Biological Races: Rick Kittles at TEDxNorthwesternU.” YouTube, 25 Jan. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAWrwexw-To.
“What’s This about Race? Biologically, We’re All the Same, an Anthropologist Writes.” The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/what-do-you-think-about-race-do-you-know-its-a-social-concept-not-a-scientific-one/2014/11/03/cbc08602-5e29-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html. Accessed 29 Sept. 2021.
Cancer Alley
Baurick, Tristan. “Welcome to ‘Cancer Alley,’ Where Toxic Air Is About to Get Worse.” ProPublica, 30 Oct. 2019, https://www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse.
Bullard, Robert. “ADDRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM.” Journal of International Affairs, vol. 73, no. 1, Journal of International Affairs Editorial Board, 2019, pp. 237–42, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26872794.
Contributors to UN News. “Environmental Racism in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’, Must End, Say UN Human Rights Experts.” UN News, 2 Mar. 2021, https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086172.
Nagra, Ruhan, et al. “‘Waiting to Die’: Toxic Emissions and Disease Near the Denka Performance Elastomer Neoprene Facility in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley.” Environmental Justice, vol. 14, no. 1, Feb. 2021, pp. 14–32, doi:10.1089/env.2020.0056.
News, NowThis. “What It’s Like to Live in Cancer Alley.” YouTube, 1 Nov. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCT6BO7wlDs.
University Network for Human Rights. “Waiting to Die:” Toxic Emissions and Disease Near the Louisiana Denka/DuPont Plant. July 2019. Retrieved from: http://www.humanrightsnetwork.org/waiting-to-die.
Younes, Lylla, et al. “In a Notoriously Polluted Area of the Country, Massive New Chemical Plants Are Still Moving In.” ProPublica, 30 Oct. 2019, https://projects.propublica.org/louisiana-toxic-air/.
Tar Creek
Anderson, Alex. “Tar Creek Remade: Taking on 120 Years of Environmental Injustice at an Oklahoma Superfund Site.” Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 15 June 2021, https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/2021/06/tar-creek-remade-taking-on-120-years-of-environmental-injustice-at-an-oklahoma-superfund-site/.
Bridgwater, Johnson. Environmental Racism / Environmental Justice and the Need for a State Response. September 2019, https://oksenate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-09/Environmental%20Justice%20OK%20Senate.pdf. PowerPoint Presentation.
Kent, Tim. Quapaw Tribe Remedial Efforts at the Tar Creek Superfund Site. June 12, https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-06/documents/quapaw_tribe_remedial_efforts_at_the_tar_creek_superfund_site.pdf. PowerPoint Presentation.
Program, HSPH Superfund Research. “The Tar Creek Superfund Story Featuring Rebecca Jim.” YouTube, 17 Jan. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd8qiLHvcLw.
Hurricane Katrina
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Hurricane Katrina". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Sep. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/event/Hurricane-Katrina. Accessed 29 September 2021.
Borenstein, Seth. “Explainer: Ida Similar to Katrina, but Stronger, Smaller.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 29 Aug. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-ida-katrina-compare-louisiana-88dce72660d0c928f4815eff5a8bfd8f.
Johnson, Glenn S., and Shirley A. Rainey. “Hurricane Katrina: Public Health and Environmental Justice Issues Front and Centered.” Race, Gender & Class, vol. 14, no. 1/2, Jean Ait Belkhir, Race, Gender & Class Journal, 2007, pp. 17–37, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41675193.
Morse, Reilly. “Environmental Justice Through the Eye of Hurricane Katrina.” Stanford University, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute, 2008, https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/media/_media/pdf/key_issues/Environment_policy.pdf.
“New Orleans Topographic Map, Elevation, Relief.” Topographic, https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/maps/lp2g/New-Orleans/.
Sze, Julie. “Toxic Soup Redux: Why Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Matter after Katrina.” Items, 23 Sept. 2021, https://items.ssrc.org/understanding-katrina/toxic-soup-redux-why-environmental-racism-and-environmental-justice-matter-after-katrina/.
Colquette, Kelly Michele; Robertson, Elizabeth A. Henry (1991). "Environmental Racism: The Causes, Consequences, and Commendations". Tulane Environmental Law Journal. 5 (1): 153–207. JSTOR 43291103.
CrashCourse. “Race & Ethnicity: Crash Course Sociology #34.” YouTube, 20 Nov. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7myLgdZhzjo.
Environmental Protection Agency. EPA Annual Environmental Justice Progress Report. 2020, https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-01/documents/2020_ej_report-final-web-v4.pdf.
Greenaction. “Environmental Justice & Environmental Racism – Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice.” Greenaction, https://greenaction.org/what-is-environmental-justice/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
II, Vann R. Newkirk. “A New EPA Report Shows That Environmental Racism Is Real.” The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-trump-administration-finds-that-environmental-racism-is-real/554315/.
News, NowThis. “Why COVID-19 Is an Environmental Justice Issue Too.” YouTube, 11 Apr. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFTd6oWfgo4.
ProPublica. “A Brief History of Environmental Justice.” YouTube, 4 Aug. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30xLg2HHg8Q.
TEDx Talks. “The Biology of Race in the Absence of Biological Races: Rick Kittles at TEDxNorthwesternU.” YouTube, 25 Jan. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAWrwexw-To.
“What’s This about Race? Biologically, We’re All the Same, an Anthropologist Writes.” The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/what-do-you-think-about-race-do-you-know-its-a-social-concept-not-a-scientific-one/2014/11/03/cbc08602-5e29-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html. Accessed 29 Sept. 2021.
Cancer Alley
Baurick, Tristan. “Welcome to ‘Cancer Alley,’ Where Toxic Air Is About to Get Worse.” ProPublica, 30 Oct. 2019, https://www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse.
Bullard, Robert. “ADDRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM.” Journal of International Affairs, vol. 73, no. 1, Journal of International Affairs Editorial Board, 2019, pp. 237–42, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26872794.
Contributors to UN News. “Environmental Racism in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’, Must End, Say UN Human Rights Experts.” UN News, 2 Mar. 2021, https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086172.
Nagra, Ruhan, et al. “‘Waiting to Die’: Toxic Emissions and Disease Near the Denka Performance Elastomer Neoprene Facility in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley.” Environmental Justice, vol. 14, no. 1, Feb. 2021, pp. 14–32, doi:10.1089/env.2020.0056.
News, NowThis. “What It’s Like to Live in Cancer Alley.” YouTube, 1 Nov. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCT6BO7wlDs.
University Network for Human Rights. “Waiting to Die:” Toxic Emissions and Disease Near the Louisiana Denka/DuPont Plant. July 2019. Retrieved from: http://www.humanrightsnetwork.org/waiting-to-die.
Younes, Lylla, et al. “In a Notoriously Polluted Area of the Country, Massive New Chemical Plants Are Still Moving In.” ProPublica, 30 Oct. 2019, https://projects.propublica.org/louisiana-toxic-air/.
Tar Creek
Anderson, Alex. “Tar Creek Remade: Taking on 120 Years of Environmental Injustice at an Oklahoma Superfund Site.” Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 15 June 2021, https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/2021/06/tar-creek-remade-taking-on-120-years-of-environmental-injustice-at-an-oklahoma-superfund-site/.
Bridgwater, Johnson. Environmental Racism / Environmental Justice and the Need for a State Response. September 2019, https://oksenate.gov/sites/default/files/2020-09/Environmental%20Justice%20OK%20Senate.pdf. PowerPoint Presentation.
Kent, Tim. Quapaw Tribe Remedial Efforts at the Tar Creek Superfund Site. June 12, https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-06/documents/quapaw_tribe_remedial_efforts_at_the_tar_creek_superfund_site.pdf. PowerPoint Presentation.
Program, HSPH Superfund Research. “The Tar Creek Superfund Story Featuring Rebecca Jim.” YouTube, 17 Jan. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd8qiLHvcLw.
Hurricane Katrina
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Hurricane Katrina". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Sep. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/event/Hurricane-Katrina. Accessed 29 September 2021.
Borenstein, Seth. “Explainer: Ida Similar to Katrina, but Stronger, Smaller.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 29 Aug. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-ida-katrina-compare-louisiana-88dce72660d0c928f4815eff5a8bfd8f.
Johnson, Glenn S., and Shirley A. Rainey. “Hurricane Katrina: Public Health and Environmental Justice Issues Front and Centered.” Race, Gender & Class, vol. 14, no. 1/2, Jean Ait Belkhir, Race, Gender & Class Journal, 2007, pp. 17–37, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41675193.
Morse, Reilly. “Environmental Justice Through the Eye of Hurricane Katrina.” Stanford University, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute, 2008, https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/media/_media/pdf/key_issues/Environment_policy.pdf.
“New Orleans Topographic Map, Elevation, Relief.” Topographic, https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/maps/lp2g/New-Orleans/.
Sze, Julie. “Toxic Soup Redux: Why Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Matter after Katrina.” Items, 23 Sept. 2021, https://items.ssrc.org/understanding-katrina/toxic-soup-redux-why-environmental-racism-and-environmental-justice-matter-after-katrina/.