Environmental Justice







The basic principle is there’s nothing more important than health. All the people have the right to have a clean, safe and healthy environment, for that our health is depend on some determinants like the air we breathe, water we drink, and the community we live in.
As humans, we are seeking for Environmental Justice (EJ) is 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.
Despite attempts made by the U.S. government to level the playing field, African American, Latino, and Native American communities have borne a disproportionate share of environmental and health risks. While both class and race determine the distribution of environmental hazards, racial minorities are more likely to be exposed to environmental threats than are whites of the same social class. Race is a powerful predictor of many environmental hazards, including the distribution of air pollution, the location of municipal solid waste facilities, the location of abandoned toxic waste sites, toxic fish consumption, and lead poisoning in children.
The water contamination in Flint, Michigan, is just one window into the failures of infrastructure and environmental quality that have threatened communities across the country for generations.
Decades of studies have proven that environmental racism is a threat to the health and overall safety of communities across the country. But this is not a problem without a solution. Indeed, policymakers already have the tools to address this injustice and to develop policies with communities of color in mind. Effective environmental justice policies should safeguard communities as places where all people can live, work, and play without fear of exposure to toxic, deadly surroundings. As people of color come to make up a majority of the population, environmental justice issues should be prioritized as national issues, not one-off problems siloed in cities with significant populations of color, such as Flint, Michigan.



Reference:

- https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2016/04/25/136361/5-things-to-know-about-communities-of-color-and-environmental-justice/

Comments

  1. Brittany AFebruary 12, 2018 at 10:11 PM

    Ali I agree, Flint, Michigan is just one window into the failures of infrastructure and environmental quality that have threatened communities across the country for generations. This should spread attention to many other communities suffering.

    ReplyDelete

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