Imagine a healthy and vibrant community. Most likely, you will envision a neighborhood with plenty of green spaces. Everyone appears healthy and happy. People are healthy because they are not exposed to harmful chemicals at work nor are they overexploited. The idea of this community having access to clean air and water is given because who wouldn't have access to that?
Environmental injustice is the opposite of that healthy and vibrant community. Environmental injustice is when your loved ones have a higher likelihood of acquiring cancer, respiratory and heart problems. Your school is not next to a park. Your school and your house might be next to a polluting facility that emits toxic chemicals every day. As a matter of fact, you find yourself going out of your way to look for green spaces and grocery stores that sell healthy and affordable food. Environmental injustice is reflected in the mere fact that employees are exposed to life-threatening chemicals but must continue to work because there is no other way to sustain their families. Or if you happen to live in Flint, Michigan, you depend on water bottles because the city's water is so contaminated with lead that it might kill you.
Environmental injustice is the fact that factories and profit are prioritized over the lives of marginalized communities that disproportionately bear the effects of those factories and climate change. On a global scale, environmental injustice is felt by the countries that suffer the most from the effects of climate change although they contribute the least to carbon emissions.
The reality is that racism dictates which communities experience environmental injustice. Research shows that polluting facilities in the US are disproportionately placed in communities of color and neighborhoods with high levels of poverty. In fact, exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are linked to serious health issues, is 52% and 37% higher in Mexican-Americans and Black people than in non-Hispanic whites.
Below is an interactive map of California that identifies communities that are disproportionately exposed to multiple sources of pollution along with characteristics that make them more susceptible to pollution, such as poverty, education level, etc.
It is important to know what environmental justice is, as this will help you identify its strong presence in prisons.
Below is a video that shows how environmental injustice presents itself in marginalized communities.
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