Qiao Yu
09/18/2013
Environment and Politics
Word Count:
IS ADEQUATE PROGRESS BEING MADE IN REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL
INJUSTICE? IF FURTHER STEPS WERE NEEDED, WHICH WOULD YOU
PROPOSE? (AND HOW WOULD THOSE WHO BELIEVE PROGRESS IS
ADEQUATE COUNTERACT THE PROPOSALS?
Environmental justice is defined as follow by EPA: "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies." That means, raised problems such as fight of equal environment treatment in poor neighborhood and unfair distribution of garbage disposal can all be counted as environmental justice problems.
This concept was first proposed in the U.S. in the 1980s. The common usages of environmental justice describes the social movement in the
U.S. which focus on environmental benefits and burdens people need to take. Those movements are generally championed by African-Americans,
Latinos, Asians and Native Americans. Most of environmental justice movement happened in a community that has the worst economic situation and polluted. The first environmental justice movement happened in a poor, black and crowded county called Warren in North
Carolina around 1980s. When the toxic PCB trash came into this county, frustrated residents were infuriated by officials who had dismissed concerns of water and soil pollution. People tried to stop them by lying down on roads leading into the landfill. After six weeks’ nonviolent protest, more than 500 people were arrested and people in Warren still lost their neighborhood and it eventually became a toxic waste landfill.
However this movement is considered as the first major milestone for the whole country’s environmental justice movement.

Affirmative Stance:
For the affirmative stance, I am going to analyze Robert D. Bullard’s paper titled Targeted Environmental Justice Enforcement Needed in EPA
Region 4. He believes that healthy places and healthy people are related and further environmental justice movements are needed. He points out that more than 100 studies link racism to worse health and more than
200 environmental studies have shown race and class disparities. Such studies give even more specific data to show the problem: African
Americans are 79% more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods where industrial pollution will occur. African Americans in 19 states are more than twice as likely as whites to live in neighborhoods with high pollution. Moreover, black people will experience pollution burden that black households with incomes between $50000 live in neighborhoods that are, on average, more polluted than the average neighborhood in which white households with incomes below $10,000 live. Pollution will lower the property values of People who live in such neighborhood and expose them to unnecessary environmental health risks. He believes that more work should be done towards the justice of having the same quality of air, water and welfare for every race and every class of people.
Analysis: Robert gives enough evidence to support and enrich his idea that the environmental injustice is still very common and severe in the
U.S. People who have color and specially the minorities will not only be more possible to live in a polluted neighborhood but also be a direct victim of the adverse effect of the landfill or power plants. He gives a lot of data and real cases in the article such as the BP oil spill in November 7,
2010. Landfills in areas where people of color made up the majority of the population received 33259 tons of the waste from BP spill. He gives evidence not only from different organizations but also from many universities.

Negative stance:
For the negative stance, I am going to analyze Chris Foreman’s paper titled Why They Fail the Environment and the Poor. He believes although environmental justice or climate justice are right to take on poverty, inequality, and climate change, “its misdirected agenda offers little hope to the global poor, who would be far better served by more development, increased engagement with world markets, and greater cooperation between governments and corporations, rather than calls for compensation or redistribution”. He point out that But “justice” activism has all too often failed to deliver on its promised vision for the poor. Even more, it has proven to be a distraction from more effective efforts. Rather than moralize about climate debt and reparations, those who truly care about poverty and the climate should focus instead on the kind of disciplined and pragmatic forms of advocacy it will take to build a prosperous and equitable future for the poor. He says that environmental justice was just redefined by postmodern justice movements. Just like other social phenomena — teen pregnancy and childhood obesity, even famines and civil wars — can be reduced to a single overriding cause, the exploitation of the poor and nonwhite by the wealthy and white.
Analysis: Chris also gives a very persuading article. He starts the question from the history in 1980s, discussed the question politically, environmentally and economically. He also gives a lot of cases and examples such as China, which has a big problem of dealing with air pollution and water pollution. He points out that in less than a generation, China has moved a half billion of its people from endemic, backbreaking poverty to modernity, complete with health care, modern housing, bullet trains, and the Internet. Those populations have become far better prepared to deal with the impacts of climate change.

My idea:
I have the same believe with the Majora Carter who gave the speech named Greening the Ghetto: no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits than any other. Every person has the same and equal right to undertake the environmental burden and no one should be discriminated by his/her race or color. Although we have to face the problem people who live in poor neighborhood need more money to increase their income and government or senators of that county may also introduce landfill or power plant projects to this county in order to increase the economic incomes for the whole area. However, that will just bring worse effect and an infinite loop. The economic deterioration will bring the deterioration in environment, and then it will deteriorate the neighborhood socially.
Finally the devaluation of the property of the neighborhood will bring the bad economic situation we try to solve at the beginning. The best way to solve this problem may be a sustainable change, that means change the neighborhood into a sustainable operated area. Add more green energy resources and build more environmental-friendly building.
That will offer more job opportunities and grow the economy without sacrificing environment. We have to secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
References Cited:
Chris Foreman, 2013, web, http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/journal/issue-3/on-justice-movements/
Robert D. Bullard, November 29th, 2010, web, http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/11/targeted-environmental-justice-enforcemen t-needed-in-epa-region-4/