M3.3 Environmental Justice
I have been following the issue regarding Standing Rock since the election, and I was not a supporter of President Trump's decision to proceed with the Dakota access line. There were total disregard to the Native American's sacred land, how it would affect their water source and the what health problems can be a result to this project. We in Hawaii are facing a similar situation where the state is trying to build a 30 foot telescope on top of Mauna Kea, which is a very sacred volcano to the Native Hawaiians, and it could impact the environment because there are many rare native birds and plant species, with the construction of the telescope it may ruin the habitat for these rare species. There is still ongoing protest and many have been arrested. These two situation bring about the important of environmental justice. Our voices needs to be heard if we want to bring about change and awareness, because the environmental provides us with the essentials for survival such as clean water, air and food.
In the article regarding mistreating Black communities with environmental racism, the school determinants are socio-econmic, cultural and environmental conditions. In these Black communities, there are a lot of landfills, oil companies, and chemical process companies in which being in contact with all those toxic, hazardous waste on a daily basis is bringing detrimental health problems to the people living in the area. In these communities it consist mainly of low income families and they are living under horrible environmental conditions with pollution in their water, in the air that they breath, toxic waste and chemicals in their soils. How does this connect to the Black Lives Matter movement is the lack of respect and mistreatment of Black people, and it is not only Blacks but people of color and minorities are not placed on the same scale compared to the more prominent population in the hierarchy of race. It is not common to see a prominent white community being surrounded by landfills, because it would not even be an option to have a landfill in those communities but there will be many protest and complaints that would crush the idea. There is environmental racism not only in the US but around the world, where low income and minority communities are suffering from environmental contamination.
Feng,
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that environmental injustice is happening in Hawaii with the sacred volcano. This is not only for the birds but for the community members the volcano is sacred for! You can directly relate it to the mistreatment the Black community receives with environmental injustice. It is very true that you don't often see a white community with a dump nearby.
I am embarrassed to say that I completely forgot about the protest in Hawaii over the construction of the telescope. A few months ago, I had learned about it on the news. And since the news hadn't covered it in a while, I assumed things had settled down, but to my ignorance, I was wrong. It is really disheartening how people can have such disregard for other's sacred land. You would think that would be enough of a reason not to do something? Obviously some people do not respect which is why environmental injustice exists. As for the article, I completely agree, it is extremely unfortunate that low-income and minority communities are usually the ones who are affected by contamination. I am often speechless at what I hear on the news about environmental injustice. I really hope eventually our societies change as we move forward into the future.
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