Editing Environmental racism (section)

== Causes ==
There are four factors which lead to environmental racism: lack of affordable land, lack of political power, lack of mobility, and [[poverty]]. Cheap land is sought by corporations and governmental bodies. As a result, communities which cannot effectively resist these corporations' governmental bodies and cannot access political power are unable to negotiate just costs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Colquette |first1=Kelly Michele |last2=Robertson |first2=Elizabeth A. Henry |year=1991 |title=Environmental Racism: The Causes, Consequences, and Commendations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43291103 |journal=Tulane Environmental Law Journal |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=153–207 |jstor=43291103 |access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref> Communities with minimized socio-economic mobility cannot relocate. Lack of financial contributions also reduces the communities' ability to act both physically and politically. Chavis defined environmental racism in five categories: racial discrimination in defining environmental policies, discriminatory enforcement of regulations and laws, deliberate targeting of minority communities as hazardous waste dumping sites, official sanctioning of dangerous pollutants in minority communities, and the exclusion of people of color from environmental leadership positions

Minority communities often do not have the financial means, resources, and political representation to oppose hazardous waste sites.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last1=Mascarenhas |first1=Michael |last2=Grattet |first2=Ryken |last3=Mege |first3=Kathleen |date=2021-09-01 |title=Toxic Waste and Race in Twenty-First Century America: Neighborhood Poverty and Racial Composition in the Siting of Hazardous Waste Facilities |url=https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/environment-and-society/12/1/ares120107.xml |journal=Environment and Society |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=108–126 |doi=10.3167/ares.2021.120107 |issn=2150-6779}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Popper |first=Frank J. |date=March 1985 |title=The Environmentalist and the LULU |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00139157.1985.9933448 |journal=Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=7–40 |bibcode=1985ESPSD..27b...7P |doi=10.1080/00139157.1985.9933448 |issn=0013-9157}}</ref> Known as locally unwanted land uses (LULUs), these facilities that benefit the whole community often reduce the quality of life of minority communities.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Dianne |date=January 1993 |title=Not in My Backyard |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sw/38.1.7 |journal=Social Work |doi=10.1093/sw/38.1.7 |issn=1545-6846}}</ref> These neighborhoods also may depend on the economic opportunities the site brings and are reluctant to oppose its location at the risk of their health. Additionally, controversial projects are less likely to be sited in non-minority areas that are expected to pursue [[collective action]] and succeed in opposing the siting of the projects in their area.
In cities in the Global North, [[suburbanization]] and [[gentrification]] lead to patterns of environmental racism. For example, [[white flight]] from industrial zones for safer, cleaner, suburban locales leaves minority communities in the inner cities and in close proximity to polluted industrial zones.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Collin |first1=Robert W. |title=The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution |last2=Collin |first2=Robin Morris |date=2005 |publisher=[[Sierra Club Books]] |isbn=978-1578051205 |editor-last=Bullard |editor-first=Robert D. |location=San Francisco, California |chapter=Environmental Reparations}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Eun Kyung |last2=Donley |first2=Gwendolyn |last3=Ciesielski |first3=Timothy H. |last4=Gill |first4=India |last5=Yamoah |first5=Owusua |last6=Roche |first6=Abigail |last7=Martinez |first7=Roberto |last8=Freedman |first8=Darcy A. |date=2022-02-01 |title=Health outcomes in redlined versus non-redlined neighborhoods: A systematic review and meta-analysis |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953621010285 |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=294 |pages=114696 |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114696 |pmid=34995988 |issn=0277-9536}}</ref>  In these areas, unemployment is high and businesses are less likely to invest in area improvement, creating poor economic conditions for residents and reinforcing a social formation that reproduces racial inequality. Furthermore, the poverty of property owners and residents in a municipality may be taken into consideration by hazardous waste facility developers, since areas with depressed real estate values will save developers' money.

=== Socioeconomic aspects ===
[[Cost–benefit analysis]] (CBA) is a process that places a monetary value on costs and benefits to evaluate issues.<ref>"Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)", World Bank Group. n.d. Accessed: 20 November 2011.</ref> Environmental CBA aims to provide policy solutions for intangible products such as clean air and water by measuring a consumer's willingness to pay for these goods. CBA can contribute to environmental racism{{dubious|date=September 2022}} through the valuing of environmental resources based on their utility to society. When someone is willing and able to pay more for clean water or air, their payment financially benefits society more than when people cannot pay for these goods, which can create a burden on poor communities. This can manifest through discriminatory or disproportionate siting, in which hazardous waste sites are disproportionately placed in communities with a higher percentage of low-income or minority households.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Been |first=Vicki |date=April 1994 |title=Locally Undesirable Land Uses in Minority Neighborhoods: Disproportionate Siting or Market Dynamics? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/797089?origin=crossref |journal=The Yale Law Journal |volume=103 |issue=6 |pages=1383 |doi=10.2307/797089}}</ref> This form of economic valuation can contribute to these siting practices and further entrench environmental racism through the devaluation of property values in these communities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mascarenhas |first=Michael |last2=Grattet |first2=Ryken |last3=Mege |first3=Kathleen |date=2021-09-01 |title=Toxic Waste and Race in Twenty-First Century America: Neighborhood Poverty and Racial Composition in the Siting of Hazardous Waste Facilities |url=https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/environment-and-society/12/1/ares120107.xml |journal=Environment and Society |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=108–126 |doi=10.3167/ares.2021.120107 |issn=2150-6779}}</ref> Economic property valuation can also contribute to environmental racism through [[environmental gentrification]], which describes the process that can occur when the removal of decontamination or creation of green spaces in low-income and communities of color leads to higher-income, often White, populations moving to these areas. The improvement of the environmental quality of these communities, while often intended to reduce health disparities and advance environmental justice, can lead to an increase in property values that can displace previous residents.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schusler |first=Tania M. |last2=Krings |first2=Amy |last3=Melstrom |first3=Richard T. |date=2023-08-01 |title=Experiences with environmental gentrification: Evidence from Chicago |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204623000841 |journal=Landscape and Urban Planning |volume=236 |pages=104765 |doi=10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104765 |issn=0169-2046|doi-access=free }}</ref>