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These are my recommendations for revising the article: Environmental racism.

  • I revised the first sentence of "Impacts on health" section to run smoother in addition to other grammatical errors.
  • I added an article/example in the section "Impacts on health" about environmental racism in Louisiana that talks about cancer causing water that directly affects black people in poor communities.
  • I revised a few sentences and grammatical errors in "Climate change" to help it flow better.
  • I added a citation that offers better insight to the topic of government intervention in addressing the topic of environmental racism in the section "Reducing environmental racism."
  • I added a citation that discusses options in restoring justice, discusses policy implementation in the section "Reducing environmental racism."
  • I added a citation that discusses reappraisal of environmental justice movement in the section "Reducing environmental racism."
  • I added insightful information gathered from my citation on the topic of healing a world destroyed by environmental racism as a strong conclusion.


Copied content from Environmental racism; see the page's history for attribution.

Impacts on health

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Environmental racism disproportionately affects poorer communities related to race and ethnicity. The unwarranted exposure from various chemical hazards and toxicities has led to serious health concerns within said communities.

Minority populations are exposed to greater environmental health risks than white people, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As stated by Greenlining, an advocacy organization based out of Oakland, CA, “[t]he EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment found that when it comes to air pollutants that contribute to issues like heart and lung disease, Blacks are exposed to 1.5 times more of the pollutant than whites, while Hispanics were exposed to about 1.2 times the amount of non-Hispanic whites. People in poverty had 1.3 times the exposure of those not in poverty.” [1]

In Defense of Animals claims intensive agriculture affects the health of the communities they are near through pollution and environmental injustice. They claim such areas have waste lagoons that produce hydrogen sulfide, higher levels of miscarriages, birth defects, and disease outbreaks from viral and bacterial contamination of drinking water. These farms are disproportionately placed and largely affect low-income areas and communities of color. Because of the socioeconomic status and location of many of these areas, the people affected cannot easily escape these conditions. This includes exposure to pesticides in agriculture and poorly-managed toxic waste dumping to nearby homes and communities from factories disposing of toxic animal waste.[2]

Intensive agriculture also poses a hazard to its workers through high demand velocities, low pay, poor cleanliness in facilities, and other health risks. The workers employed in intensive agriculture are largely composed of minority races, and these facilities are often near minority communities. Areas that are near factories of this sort are also subjected to contaminated drinking water, toxic fumes, chemical run-off, pollutant particulate matter in the air, and other various harmful risks leading to a lessened quality of life and potential disease outbreak.[3]

A prime example of this can be found in the toxic waters along the Mississippi River, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Dow Chemical Company expels a harsh chemical called, vinyl chloride (a cancer causing gas) into the air through it's production of plastic. Nearby rivers and wells have tested positive for deadly levels of vinyl chloride that's being consumed by their residents. People refer to this place as "Cancer Alley" because people residing in this area are eight times more likely to suffer and die from Cancer than anywhere else. [4]

Climate change

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Further information: Climate justice

As the climate has changed progressively over the past several decades, there has been a collision between environmental racism and global climate change. The overlap of these two phenomena, many argue, has disproportionately affected different communities and populations throughout the world due to disparities in socio-economic status.[5] This is especially true in the Global South where, for example, byproducts of global climate change such as increasingly frequent and severe landslides resulting from more heavy rainfall events in Quito, Ecuador force people to also deal with profound socio-economic ramifications like the destruction of their homes or even death.[6] Countries such as Ecuador often contribute relatively little to climate change in terms of metrics like carbon dioxide emissions but have far fewer resources to ward off the negative localized impacts of climate change. The argument is that places like these are made much more vulnerable than the main contributing countries, but not by their own doing. Some also claim a general attitude of apathy on the part of developed nations and the largest climate change contributors towards the disproportionate effects of their actions on those that contribute relatively much less.[5]

While people living in the Global South have typically been impacted most by the effects of climate change, people of color in the Global North also face similar situations in several areas. The southeastern part of the United States has experienced a large amount of pollution and minority populations have been hit with the brunt of those impacts. One example of this inequality is in so-called "Cancer Alley," an 85-mile area in Louisiana known for its exacerbated cancer rates.[7] Other examples include sugar industry pollution in Pahokee, Florida, paper mills in Africatown, Alabama, PCBs dumped by Burlington Industries in Cheraw, South Carolina, and toxic coal ash in Uniontown, Alabama. Superfund sites, or areas of polluted land that require long-term response to remove hazardous waste contamination, are largely located near low-income housing. An estimated 2 million people, mostly communities of low-income and people of color, live near the Superfund sites most vulnerable to climate change.[8]

It is important to understand that climate change is a universal issue. There are thousands of communities, outside of the United States, suffering from Environmental Racism. A prime example of this is communities in South Durban that are exposed to high pollution industries that negatively impact people forcibly relocated during the Apartheid.[9]

Environmental racism and climate change coincide with one another. Rising seas affect poor areas such as Kivalina, Alaska, and Thibodaux, Louisiana, and countless other places around the globe. There are many cases of people who have died or are chronically ill from coal plants in Detroit, Memphis, and Kansas City, as well as numerous other areas. Tennessee and West Virginia residents are frequently subject to breathing toxic ash due to blasting in the mountains for mining. Drought, flooding, the constant depletion of land and air quality determine the health and safety of the residents surrounding these areas. Communities of color and low-income status most often feel the brunt of these issues firsthand.[10]

Reducing environmental racism

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Activists have called for "more participatory and citizen-centered conceptions of justice." [11][12] The environmental justice (EJ) movement and climate justice (CJ) movement address environmental racism in bringing attention and enacting change so that marginalized populations are not disproportionately vulnerable to climate change and pollution.[13][14] According to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, one possible solution is the precautionary principle, which states that "where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation." [15] Under this principle, the initiator of the potentially hazardous activity is charged with demonstrating the activity's safety. Environmental justice activists also emphasize the need for waste reduction in general, which would act to reduce the overall burden.[12]

Concentrations of ethnic or racial minorities may also foster solidarity, lending support in spite of challenges and providing the concentration of social capital necessary for grassroots activism. Citizens who are tired of being subjected to the dangers of pollution in their communities have been confronting the power structures through organized protest, legal actions, marches, civil disobedience, and other activities.[16]

Racial minorities are often excluded from politics and urban planning (such as sea level rise adaptation planning) so various perspectives of an issue are not included in policy making that may affect these excluded groups in the future.[14] In general, political participation in African American communities is correlated with the reduction of health risks and mortality.[17] Other strategies in battling against large companies include public hearings, the elections of supporters to state and local offices, meetings with company representatives, and other efforts to bring about public awareness and accountability.[18]

In addressing this global issue, activists take to various social media platforms to both raise awareness and call to action. The mobilization and communication between the intersectional grassroots movements where race and environmental imbalance meet has proven to be effective. The movement gained traction with the help of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat among other platforms. Celebrities such as Shailene Woodley, who advocated against the Keystone XL Pipeline, have shared their experiences including that of being arrested for protesting. Social media has allowed for a facilitated conversation between peers and the rest of the world when it comes to social justice issues not only online but in face-to-face interactions correspondingly.[19]

On the topic of systematic racism wherein discriminatory policies normalize racism we can better understand the need for government intervention. It is important to understand the dire need for government to addressing environmental racism. [20]If we fail to do so history will repeat itself and the environmental racism will hold its' prevalence. On the topic of restoration and environmental equality we must also understand the need for education and information on this topic. [21]Humanity holds the pressing concern of what and how politics can help alleviate oppression. At the same time, we should understand the rebellion around us as a result of our own actions. In the alter of knowledge and relations shared between scientist and policed and citizens then we can heal a world that's been broken down environmentally by racism. [22]


  1. ^ "Environmental Racism Killing People of Color". The Greenlining Institute. 2019-01-17. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
  2. ^ "Animal Agriculture and Environmental Racism". IDA USA. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  3. ^ "The Industrialization of Agriculture and Environmental Racism: A Deadly Combination Affecting Neighborhoods and the Dinner Table". www.iatp.org. Retrieved 2020-04-11.
  4. ^ Hardy, Dean; Milligan, Richard; Heynen, Nik (2017). "Racial coastal formation: The environmental injustice of colorblind adaptation planning for sea-level rise". Geoforum. 87: 62–72. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.10.005.
  5. ^ a b UNCED. (5-16 June 1972). "Rio Declaration on Environment and Development", United Nations Environment Programme.
  6. ^ Weintraub, I. 1994. "Fighting Environmental Racism: A Selected Annotated Bibliography," Electronic Green Journal, Issue 1.
  7. ^ Gee, Gilbert C.; Payne-Sturges, Devon C. (2004). "Environmental Health Disparities: A Framework Integrating Psychosocial and Environmental Concepts". Environmental Health Perspectives. 112 (17): 1645–1653. doi:10.1289/ehp.7074. PMC 1253653. PMID 15579407.
  8. ^ Bullard, Robert D. 1990. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Equity. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, p. 165.
  9. ^ Hodges, Heather E.; Stocking, Galen (2015-11-01). "A pipeline of tweets: environmental movements' use of Twitter in response to the Keystone XL pipeline". Environmental Politics. 25 (2): 223–247. doi:10.1080/09644016.2015.1105177. ISSN 0964-4016. S2CID 146570622.
  10. ^ Environmental. "time to tackle social injustice". The Lancet Planetary Health. 2 (11): e462.
  11. ^ Checker, Melissa. 2005. Polluted Promises: Environmental Racism and the Search for Justice in a Southern Town. New York: New York University Press, pp. 122-123
  12. ^ a b Checker, Melissa. "Withered Memories: Naming and Fighting Environmental Racism in Georgia." In New Landscapes of Inequality: Neoliberalism and the Erosion of Democracy in America, eds. Jane L. Collins, Micaela di Leonardo, and Brett Williams. Santa Fe, NM: School for Advanced Research Press.
  13. ^ Lee, Jan (June 6, 2013). "Understanding Environmental Justice Policies". Triple Pundit. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  14. ^ a b Hardy, Dean; Milligan, Richard; Heynen, Nik (2017). "Racial coastal formation: The environmental injustice of colorblind adaptation planning for sea-level rise". Geoforum. 87: 62–72. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.10.005.
  15. ^ UNCED. (5-16 June 1972). "Rio Declaration on Environment and Development", United Nations Environment Programme.
  16. ^ Weintraub, I. 1994. "Fighting Environmental Racism: A Selected Annotated Bibliography," Electronic Green Journal, Issue 1.
  17. ^ Gee, Gilbert C.; Payne-Sturges, Devon C. (2004). "Environmental Health Disparities: A Framework Integrating Psychosocial and Environmental Concepts". Environmental Health Perspectives. 112 (17): 1645–1653. doi:10.1289/ehp.7074. PMC 1253653. PMID 15579407.
  18. ^ Bullard, Robert D. 1990. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Equity. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, p. 165.
  19. ^ Hodges, Heather E.; Stocking, Galen (2015-11-01). "A pipeline of tweets: environmental movements' use of Twitter in response to the Keystone XL pipeline". Environmental Politics. 25 (2): 223–247. doi:10.1080/09644016.2015.1105177. ISSN 0964-4016. S2CID 146570622.
  20. ^ Bullard, Robert (2019). "ADDRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM". Journal of International Affairs. 73 (1): 237–242. doi:10.2307/26872794. ISSN 0022-197X.
  21. ^ Desikan, Anita; Carter, Jacob; Goldman, Gretchen (2020). "Supporting Equity and Environmental Justice". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  22. ^ Sze, Julie (2020). Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger. Vol. 11 (1 ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-30073-6.
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