Essay On Environmental Racism

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Environmental Racism Environmental Racism is a term that links the environment with discriminatory environmental actions. It is a new age concept that expands the literal meaning of racism , from it being an ideology-based behaviour that considered certain races or cultures superior; to one that includes discrimination in the environmental living conditions of minorities, driven and executed by a racist belief that overlooks an unjust outcome and is usually aided by credible institutions. Environmental Racism came to popular use in 1990, coined at a conference in the University of Michigan’s, School of Natural Resources and is linked to the Environmental Justice movement of the 70s and 80s in the US. Deliberations have further led to elevated …show more content…

This was after protests escalated in Warren County, North Carolina, US, condemning the construction of a landfill to hold 31,000 gallons of PCB in the impoverished town of Shocco in Warren County, with a 75% minority community population, wherein ground water was feared to be contaminated. The reverberation of this report was felt across the country and put the spotlight on the hitherto unattended type of racism, institutionalized environmental racism. Thereupon, environmental racism came under the ambit of the civil rights rather than that of …show more content…

Implicit factors include horrific physical and mental issues like, a degraded quality of life and illnesses, or in rare cases, complete annihilation of communities because of the uncontrolled hazards of contaminants by nonchalant institutions. Chronic exposure to pollutants has long term side effects with genetic repercussions too. Institutions, piggy back on the impoverished background, and counterfeit claims have a smug awareness that the working class will not protest fearing a loss of their bread and butter. At a superficial level, their intent is condoned by the community itself! The 2009 documentary, Coal Country, offers an in-depth in camera insight into the predicaments of a distressed community as to whether they have to endure abysmal living and working conditions or protest and thereby lose their livelihood. Whereas at the global level, these institutions take advantage of ignorance, societal apathy and loopholes in the law to effectively carry on their acts in developing and third world

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