Mikaela says:
Environmental injustice is alive and well. Katrina ripped open a window to expose conditions all along the polluted Mississippi where communities of color disproportionately share in hosting noxious industries.
From Democracy Now:
African Americans 80 Percent More Likely Than Whites To Live in Polluted Areas
[G]overnment records analyzed by the Associated Press show that African-Americans are nearly 80 percent more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods subjected to dangerous industrial pollution. Carol Browner, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency during the Clinton administration, said: "Poor communities, frequently communities of color but not exclusively, suffer disproportionately. If you look at where our industrialized facilities tend to be located, they're not in the upper middle class neighborhoods."
We're facing this issue right here in Albuquerque in the South Valley's Mountain View community, which compared to the rest of the County is poorer and less educated and has a higher percentage of Hispanic families. Mountain View houses the vast majority of the County's industrial businesses, from auto recyclers to petroleum farms, often right next to residential neighborhoods. There have been so many spills and accidents, residents can no longer drink water from their own wells. Businesses are pushing back against efforts to regulate dumping and require safe business practices to protect nearby residents.
What are we willing to do to create livable communities for all residents? How much are we as a society prepared to see environmental injustice for what it is and take steps to change it?
To read more about environmental racism in general:
Annotated Bibliography
To do something about it here:
Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP)
To work toward environmental justice regionally:
Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice
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