Environmental Racism
Urban and environmental scholars have examined why minority and low-income groups are more likely to be exposed to environmental hazards or the impact of natural disasters. In their study about toxic waste in Chester, Pennsylvania, Cole, and Foster (2001) argue that cases of environmental racism are “emblematic of the social, political, and economic forces that shape the disproportionate distribution of environmental hazards in poor communities of color.” In other words, natural disasters, environmental hazards, epidemics, and industrial pollution do not affect all people in the same ways.
Example: Louisiana and "Cancer Alley"
In 1909, petrochemical plants (oil refining and processing) installed a series of plants along the bank of the Mississippi River, from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Cheap labor, undeveloped land, and few urban regulations made the area outside Baton Rouge an attractive space. If the petrochemical industry became an important source of jobs (employment increased from 700 to 9,000 between 1909 and 1940), it also devastated the local environment: air pollution, explosions, accidents, and localized effects on poor families that lived nearby (cancer rates). In 1978, a national newspaper used the term "Cancer Alley" to refer to this place. Today, there are about 135 plants in the Louisiana corridor, and the state has the second-highest rate of cancer in the nation (Dorceta Taylor, Toxic Communities)
Explore the interactive map (Links to an external site.) and learn more about the problems in Louisiana
Watch the short clip (3 min.)
Group Discussion:
Based on the map, video, and information, select one of the prompts to engage in
Is the concept of environmental racism useful to explain the impact of pollution? Why
Why and how did the Louisiana corridor become an extreme case of pollution? could have it been preventable?
Do you know other examples? Explain
