What is Environmental Racism? And How Does it Undermine World Peace?
Climate change disproportionally affects low-income communities in developing countries that are least adept to cope with the fallout of environmental degradation, be it deforestation; air, water or soil pollution; extreme climate patterns; toxic and hazardous waste; or another form of environmental damage.
But even in developed countries like the United States, environmental problems have largely impacted people of color. Low-income communities and people of color are more likely to live near polluters, like factories, and breathe polluted air, according to a 2018 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Coined in the 1980s, environmental racism “refers to the way in which minority group neighborhoods (populated primarily by people of color and members of low socioeconomic groups) are burdened with a disproportionate number of hazards, including toxic waste facilities, garbage dumps, and other sources of environmental pollution and foul odors that lower the quality of life.”
One recent example of environmental racism in the United States was the contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan, where a majority of residents were poor and Black. The government failed to react to the problem in a timely and responsible manner. The effects of their negligence on the thousands of children who bathed and drank the water will not be known for years. Other notorious examples of environmental racism are not hard to find. “Environmental racism is a major reason black people in Louisiana’s factory-laden ‘Cancer Alley’ contract the disease at higher rates, or why the most polluted ZIP code in Michigan is in a southwest pocket of Detroit that is 84 percent black,” reads a New York Times article about the Flint, Michigan water crisis.
Environmental racism has lead to the rise of the environmental justice movement, defined by Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice as: “an inter-generational, multi-racial and international movement that promotes environmental, economic and social justice by recognizing the direct link between economic, environmental and health issues and demanding a safe, clean community and workplace environment.”
The impacts of environmental racism are ever present today in the United States and across the world. Environmental racism is one of the reasons why Black Americans and Americans of color are being disproportionately affected by COVID-19, says The Century Foundation. An article on their website reads: “The interlocking harms of environmental racism and residential segregation, the health effects of those systems, and the particular way that COVID-19 spreads and affects individuals are likely combining to contribute to racial disparities in COVID-19 cases and deaths.”
Photo by Joe Brusky/Flickr
The National Black Environmental Justice Network (NBEJN), whose goal is to fight environmental inequality and racism, relaunched earlier this year because of the impact of COVID-19 on African Americans.
Meanwhile, in developing countries, the impacts of global warming have forced people from their homes in search of drinking water and arable land, or because of “sudden onset” weather events. Although its hard to determine exactly how many migrants are forced to move because of climate change, experts believe about 22.5 to 24 million people were forced to move because of extreme weather like flooding, forest fires, droughts, and extreme storms in 2017 alone.
These displaced people are now referred to as “climate migrants” and their ranks are only growing. In 2018, the World Bank estimated that Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia will generate 143 million more climate migrants by 2050.
The Global Peace Index 2019 goes one step further, warning that the impacts of climate change pose a risk to peacefulness in the future. On their website VisionforHuamnity.org, they explained they research from the Global Peace Index report which shows: “the 10 countries with the lowest levels of peacefulness and a corresponding risk to an extreme climate hazard. In Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria, drought is of primary concern, while Libya and Yemen face high risk of tsunamis. Iraq, Russia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic are at the highest risk of severe flooding. Countries with low levels of peacefulness tend to have a lower coping capacity, which puts them at higher risk to a further deterioration in peace.”
To ensure peace on earth, world leaders, governments, international organizations, and civil society must work together to combat climate change, so people can access the basic necessities of life: water, food, and shelter, without being forced from their homes. Depleting resources will only create