The AEJ has addressed issues which include "production and spread of toxic wastes, pollution of water, soil and air, erosion and ecological damage of landscapes, water systems, plants and animals". For example in small communities that have extractive industries the rate of domestic violence is significantly higher due to the fact that there is an influx of single men that arrive in the community. Although the term was coined in the US, environmental racism also occurs on the international level. Using a modified social ecological model, we conducted a review of the literature and nationwide statistics on African American health. Chavis defined environmental racism in five categories: racial discrimination in defining environmental policies, discriminatory enforcement of regulations and laws, deliberate targeting of minority communities as hazardous waste dumping sites, official sanctioning of dangerous pollutants in minority communities, and the exclusion of people of color from environmental leadership positions. Extending the environmental justice framework to encompass the disproportionate impact experienced by those who produce and dispose of our clothing is essential to understanding the magnitude of global injustice perpetuated through the consumption of cheap clothing. Cite this article. These have been deemed insufficient solutions by Indigenous groups and communities because there are some voices that are not heard and because the state does not respect or recognize the sovereignty of Indigenous nations.[54]. Some scientists and economists have looked into the prospect of Environmental Reparations, or forms of payment made to individuals who are affected by industry presence in some way. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. 2015;28(2):223–49. Extracitivism, or the process of humans removing natural, raw resources from land to be used in product manufacturing, can have detrimental environmental and social repercussions. There have been many resistance movements in Canada initiated by Indigenous women against environmental racism. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was concerned that the Basel Convention adopted in March 1989 did not include a total ban on the trans-boundary movement on hazardous waste. Since 2002, coalitions of indigenous individuals have fought the disproportionate concentration of pollution in their neighborhood. In LMICs, reported health outcomes include debilitating and life-threatening conditions such as lung disease and cancer, damage to endocrine function, adverse reproductive and fetal outcomes, accidental injuries, overuse injuries and death [9,10,11]. The health and protection of the rights of women also has an impact on children and therefore society. [47] In 1944, the United States and Mexico signed a treaty that effectively awarded the United States rights to about 90% of the water in the Colorado River, leaving Mexico with the remaining 10%. 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. Because of the socioeconomic status and location of many of these areas, the people affected cannot easily escape these conditions. [54] Activists and Indigenous communities have also gone through state official legal routes to voice their concerns such as discussing treaties, anti-human trafficking laws, anti-violence against women laws and UNDRIP[54]. Some argue that to effectively fight environmental racism and achieve some semblance of justice, there must also be a reckoning with the factors that form situations of environmental racism such as rooted and institutionalized mechanisms of power, social relations, and cultural elements. [64], From the mid-1990s until about 2001, it is estimated that some 50 to 80 percent of the electronics collected for recycling in the western half of the United States was being exported for dismantling overseas, predominantly to China and Southeast Asia. The hazardous working conditions that attracted regulatory attention in the United States and European Union have not been eliminated, but merely shifted overseas. 2012;41(Supplement 1):5647–9. Rising seas affect poor areas such as Kivalina, Alaska, and Thibodaux, Louisiana, and countless other places around the globe. Between 1989 and 1994, an estimated 2,611 metric tons of hazardous waste was exported from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries to non-OECD countries. Deserting the Perpetrator-Victim Model of studying environmental justice issues, the Economic/Environmental Justice Model utilized a sharper lens to study the many complex factors, accompanied to race, that contributes to the act of environmental racism and injustice. Potential groups to be impacted include individuals living in close proximity to industry, victims of natural disasters, and climate refugees who flee hazardous living conditions in their own country. Sixty years of separate but equal. Mining companies often try to use these disagreements to their advantage by magnifying this conflict. [62] Under immense civilian pressure, the Western Oil Refinery (now named Omex) stopped refining oil in 1979. Practices included redlining, zoning, and colorblind adaptation planning. Fast fashion is a term used to describe the readily available, inexpensively made fashion of today. The fast fashion model thrives on the idea of more for less, but the age-old adage “less in more” must be adopted by consumers if environmental justice issues in the fashion industry are to be addressed. While getting finished garments to consumers in the high-income countries is seen as the end of the line for the fashion industry, environmental injustices continue long after the garment is sold. For example, the process of suburbanization (or white flight) consists of non-minorities leaving industrial zones for safer, cleaner, and less expensive suburban locales. We discuss the role of industry, policymakers, consumers, and scientists in promoting sustainable production and ethical consumption in an equitable manner. In a study by Daum, Stoler and Grant on e-waste management in Accra, Ghana, the importance of engaging with different fields and organizations such as recycling firms, communities, and scrap metal traders are emphasized over adaptation strategies such as bans on burning and buy-back schemes that have not caused much effect on changing practices. Expanding the definition in "The Legacy of American Apartheid and Environmental Racism," Dr. Bullard said that environmental racism, "refers to any policy, practice, or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages (whether intended or unintended) individuals, groups, or communities based on race or color.". Fast fashion, inexpensive and widely available of-the-moment garments, has changed the way people buy and dispose of clothing. [101] In general, political participation in African American communities is correlated with the reduction of health risks and mortality. [37] Because minority populations are less likely to own cars, some people had no choice but to stay behind, while white majority communities escaped. [29] Pollution consequently presents itself in these communities due to societal factors such as "underfunded schools, income inequality, and myriad egregious denials of institutional support" within the African American community. Additionally, mining companies in South Africa have close ties with the national government, skewing the balance of power in their favor while simultaneously excluding local people from many decision-making processes. Many of these extractive industries such as oil and gas and mining have caused pollution to water sources, food sources as well as effects in air quality. Springer Nature. [104] 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. 1995. Numerous communities in South Africa face some sort of energy poverty. Lack of financial contributions also reduces the communities' ability to act both physically and politically. PubMed Google Scholar. In 2010, the Tennessee Valley Authority moved four million cubic yards from the Kingston spill to a landfill in Uniontown, Alabama. [51][101] 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." Environmental justice is defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, as the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies” []. The UCC and US General Accounting Office reports on this case in North Carolina associated locations of hazardous waste sites with poor minority neighborhoods. While fair trade companies can attempt to compete with fast fashion retailers, markets for fair trade and eco-friendly textile manufacturing remain small, and ethically and environmentally sound supply chains are difficult and expensive to audit. "Environmental Racism" was coined in 1982 by Benjamin Chavis, previous executive director of the United Church of Christ (UCC) Commission for Racial Justice. [120] The series of works was born following a 2014 “Master Plan” for expansion of extraction from the Magdelena river in Colombia - the plan detailed the construction of 15 hydroelectric dams, and caused a surge of foreign reliance on Colombian resources. Garment assembly, the next step in the global textile supply chain, employs 40 million workers around the world [7]. President Donald Trump reversed this order and authorized the completion of the pipeline. Reprod Health. In many cases, activists and organizations will form partnerships both regionally and internationally to gain more clout in pursuit of their goals.[113]. Residents experienced environmental racism due to their low socioeconomic status, and lack of political representation and mobility. The first step in the global textile supply chain is textile production, the process by which both natural and synthetic fibers are made. [citation needed] For example, Lerner not only revealed the role of race in the division of Diamond and Norco residents, but he also revealed the historical roles of the Shell Oil Company, the slave ancestry of Diamond residents, and of the history of white workers and families that were dependent upon the rewards of Shell. Additionally, controversial projects are less likely to be sited in non-minority areas that are expected to pursue collective action and succeed in opposing the siting the projects in their area. This has started to affect people's bodies, especially those of women. The textile and garment industries, for example, shift the environmental and occupational burdens associated with mass production and disposal from high income countries to the under-resourced (e.g. health. low income, low-wage workers, women) communities in LMICs. Approximately 90 % of clothing sold in the United States is made with cotton or polyester, both associated with significant health impacts from the manufacturing and production processes [6]. "[2], More recently, Native American lands have been used for waste disposal and illegal dumping by the US and multinational corporations. The Mapuche have based their economy, both historically and presently, on agriculture. [72] "According to the Western press and both Chinese university and NGO researchers, conditions in these workers' rural villages are so poor that even the primitive electronic scrap industry in Guiyu offers an improvement in income". Environmental justice combats barriers preventing equal access to work, recreation, education, religion, and safe neighborhoods. [30] In a study supporting the term of environmental racism, it was shown in the American Mid-Atlantic and American North-East that African Americans were exposed to 61% of particulate matter, while Latinos were exposed to 75%, and Asians were exposed to 73%. Organization & Environment. The environmental and human health consequences of fast fashion have largely been missing from the scientific literature, research, and discussions surrounding environmental justice. https://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/09/old-clothes-fashion-waste-crisis-494824.html, http://businessresearcher.sagepub.com/sbr-1863-101702-2767082/20170116/u.s.-exports-of-used-clothing-increase, https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2017-march-2018/protectionist-ban-imported-used-clothing, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-018-0433-7. [7] The Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe voiced concerns related to sacred sites and archaeological materials. Environmental justice is defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, as the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies” [5]. Uniontown is a predominantly low-income Black community, and the citizens have not been provided any protection against the dangerous coal ash[43]. Environmental racism has many factors that contribute towards it's discrimination. This issue is gathering attention and features a wide array of people, workers, and levels of society that are working together. Marginalized communities are usually at risk of environmental racism because they resource and means to oppose the large companies that dump these dangerous wastes.[32]. Fast fashion as a global environmental justice issue. Copland, Liesl; Kamen, Jon; Berlinger, Joe. 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. [19][20] This was a historical step in addressing environmental injustice on a policy level, especially within a predominantly white-dominated environmentalism movement; however, the effectiveness of the Order is noted mainly in its influence on states as Congress never passed a bill making Clinton's Executive Order law. Many countries such has Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary have tried to implement environmental protection initiatives across their respected countries, however most have failed due to "addressing the conditions of Roma communities have been framed through an ethnic lens as “Roma issues. However, the study was limited in scope by only focusing on off-site hazardous waste landfills in the Southeastern United States. The word “fast” describes how quickly retailers can move designs from the catwalk to stores, keeping pace with constant demand for more and different styles. [25][26] Faber and Krieg found a correlation between higher air pollution exposure and low performance in schools and found that 92% of children at five Los Angeles public schools with the poorest air quality were of a minority background. The United States, for example, could increase import taxes for garments and textiles or place caps on annual weight or quantities imported from LMICs. While certifications attempt to raise industry standards, consumers must be aware of greenwashing and be critical in assessing which companies actually ensure a high level of standards versus those that make broad, sweeping claims about their social and sustainable practices [14]. Research databases are key resources for every college or university library. [21] The issuance of the Order propelled states into action as many states began to require relevant agencies to develop strategies and programs that would identify and address environmental injustices being perpetrated at the state or local level. Various factors that can cause health problems include exposure to hazardous chemical toxins in landfills and rivers. [122] A resolution was signed in 1988 by the OA) which declared toxic waste dumping to be a “crime against Africa and the African people”. The River as a Common Good: Carolina Caycedo’s Cosmotarrayas. A perfect example is when the United States exported its hazardous wastes to the poor nations in the Global South because they knew that these countries had lax environmental regulations and safety practices. This initiative aims to create reports on the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women in order to raise awareness and get government and civil society groups to take action. This reliance on imports over domestic products reveals how racism ties to commercial tendencies - a reliance on imports can increase costs, fossil fuel emissions, and further social inequality as local farmers loose business. These farms are disproportionately placed and largely affect low-income areas and communities of color. Clothing not sent directly to the landfill often ends up in the second-hand clothing trade. © 2021 BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise stated. Health implications of living in proximity to mining operations include effects such as pregnancy complications, mental health issues, various forms of cancer, and many more. Pipelines are known to break, with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) reporting more than 3,300 leak and rupture incidents for oil and gas pipelines since 2010. Additionally, in places where activists feel as though governmental solutions will work, organizations and individuals alike can pursue direct political action. Second-hand clothing not sold in the United States market is compressed into 1000-pound bales and exported overseas to be “graded” (sorted, categorized and re-baled) by low-wage workers in LMICs and sold in second-hand markets.
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