environmental injustice: Race and economic status

Environmental injustice: Race and economic status
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Environmental injustice: Race and economic status
In this literature review, we tried to uplift the scenario of pollution in poor minority districts, and how the amounts of pollution exposure to individuals in the United States are indicated by race and socioeconomic status.
In practice, all over the United States, low-income, and minority communities are burdened under dangerous facilities and waste sites and have to face the harshest consequences of environmental degradation and pollution. On all levels, i.e. national, the state and local, this kind of patterns is observed evidently. Across the country, within individual states, within counties, and within cities, everywhere pollution is unequally distributed. In poor and minority neighborhoods hazardous waste sites, municipal landfills, incinerators, and other hazardous facilities are located disproportionately (Bullard, 1990).
Often, hazardous wastes are dumped in poorer communities, and contaminated wastes are also taken to long distances where the minorities are people far from their origin stay and can be affected. Though few must say that this how the market works, yet others argue that there are broader questions of human rights and fundamental justice revolving around this issue, which requires national policies, or international agreements for bringing in change in the workings of unregulated markets and improve the living conditions of poor and minority groups.

Pollution: Race and Socioeconomic Status
A strong relation between race and spots of hazardous waste facilities was observed by a study conducted by the New York-based Commission for Racial Justice in 1987, the study was on toxic waste and race. According to this study, out of 27 hazardous-waste landfills all over the country, representing almost 60 percent of total hazardous waste landfill capacity were situated in five southern states: Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas (Bullard, 1990). Three of the largest among all these sites, were situated basically in black zip codes. These three sites alone were about 40 % of the total estimated hazardous-waste landfill capacity present in the United States. For the dumping of commercial hazardous-waste landfills, the major factor observed till now is the race. In fact in comparison to household income and home values, the race is considered as more prominent.
Similar results have been noted by most recent studies. For instance, a study was conducted on the distribution of hazardous sites and polluting facilities around Massachusetts in 2002, where it was found that in comparison to wealthier communities and those with a small minority population, the communities of color and working-class are subjected to more hazardous sites and facilities, It was also observed that people with low-income and minority populations mostly reside in areas where there is high exposure of lead, either because contamination in soil or lead paint (Faber et al., 2003).
Conclusion
Environmental injustice recognizes the disproportionate share of environmental costs – and the unjust discernment that are faced by minority and low-income communities.
The health of people is affected by the quality of the environment and their income levels. People coming from poor or minority group and having low incomes and insufficient access to health care are often disproportionately exposed to environmental pollution that threatens their health and risks their life. Various disabilities and chronic illnesses such as cancer, asthma, and learning disabilities are related to problems of environmental pollution. These problems are rising day by day and affecting everyone, however, it has been observed that people belonging to poor and minority communities are highly and disproportionately affected.

References
Faber, Daniel R. and Eric J. Krieg. (2003).Unequal Exposure to Ecological Hazards: Environmental Injustices in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Environmental Health Perspectives 110:2: 277-288.
Bullard, Robert D. (1990). Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.