There is extensive debate over carbon emissions and their effect on global climate change. Many see global warming as the greatest environmental challenge facing the twenty-first century. It becomes easy to forget the more immediate and direct threats of environmental hazards on normal citizens with the issues of global warming circulating through the news media. Thousands have suffered and died from the lack of environmental consciousness on the part of the government. These examples of environmental abuses also represent violations of human rights.
Although human rights violations are viewed to occur on many different scales, the underlying and consistent themes tend to be inequality and unequal protection under the law. Whether this occurs in Tibet, or in the heart of Guantanamo Bay, the severity remains the same. Discrimination and class differentiation can lead to political, social and economic inequality, but also unequal environmental protection. The term “environmental protect” not only refers to environmental rights, but also human rights. “The environmental justice framework attempts to uncover the underlying assumptions that may contribute to and produce unequal protection. This framework brings to the surface the ethical and political questions of who gets what, why, and how much” (Bullard 25). Environmental injustice is a result of unequal environmental protection. Communities that are affected by environmental hazards are a result of either corporate or political environmental injustice.
In many circumstances, there are racial disparities in environmental protection. Black communities are subject to significantly more environmental hazards than non-black or white Americans. A study published by the Environmental Justice and Health Union states “blacks are much more likely to be exposed to dioxins and PCBs and to be exposed at higher levels” than white Americans (27). The study also showed “ Non-Hispanic blacks are exposed to the greatest number of chemicals” (27). This is an example of unequal exposure to environmental hazards specific to race. “Environmental racism refers to any policy, practice, or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages individuals, groups, or communities because of their race or color” (32). Corporations take advantage of poorer, uneducated communities to prevent investigation and cut costs. For example in Houston Texas “the all-white, all-male city government and private industry targeted Houston’s black neighborhoods for landfills, incinerators, garbage dumps, and garbage transfer stations” (44). Black communities end up paying the price for the conveniences enjoyed by the rest of the country. This is not dissimilar to taking advantage of slave labor, or paying black workers less to cut costs and increase profit. All are examples of discrimination, and thus are human rights violations. The abuse of African American rights is not only a result of racial discrimination, but also the class differentiation and lack of political influence as a result of poverty.
Black communities are often exposed to more environmental hazards because they lack the resources or money to fight waste management companies. For example in 1982, the North Carolina state government selected Afton to be the home of a new state-owned PCB landfill. Toxins began to leak into the Warren County drinking water and environment even though the waste dump was said to be safe. The community wound up suffering for nearly 25 years before their voices were heard. Warren County is not only home to a majority black population, but also the poorest North Carolina citizens in the state. In 1982 “[Warren County] residents earned about 75 percent of the state’s per capita income” (40). Fighting for environmental justice is a tedious and extensive process, not to mention expensive. Environmental rights tend to slip through the cracks without the financial support present in more developed (and more white) communities. As a society, we have determined human beings have a right to survive. This fundamental and natural right is clearly violated when generations of civilians are exposed to hazardous materials without the resources to protect themselves.
2 comments:
I completely agree with your overall point – that civil, social, economic and environmental rights are all connected. It is apparent that the environmental injustices that minority groups experience somehow involve other injustices. Specifically, I think that these people already suffer from the repercussions of other forms of discrimination, and the addition of environmental injustice is unacceptable and should be corrected immediately.
Your ideas make perfect sense here. The environment should be protected for everyone, not just for those with wealth. People must realize this if anything is to be changed, and they must realize it soon.
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