Editing Environmental racism (section)

==== United States ====
{{Main|Environmental racism in the United States}}
[[File:Kamala Harris speaks about environmental justice - June 2020.ogv|thumb|Kamala Harris speaking about environmental justice in June 2020]]
A US [[Government Accountability Office]] study, completed in response to the [[North Carolina PCB Protest, 1982|1982 protests of the PCB landfill in Warren County]], was among the first studies that drew correlations between the racial and economic background of communities and the location of hazardous waste facilities. Nevertheless, the study was limited in scope by focusing only on off-site hazardous waste landfills in the [[Southeastern United States]].<ref name="autogenerated4">Colquette and Robertson, 159.</ref>

In response to this limitation, in 1987, the [[United Church of Christ]] Commission for Racial Justice (CRJ) directed a comprehensive national study on demographic patterns associated with the location of hazardous waste sites.<ref name="autogenerated4" /> The CRJ national study conducted two examinations of areas surrounding commercial hazardous waste facilities and the location of uncontrolled toxic waste sites.<ref name="autogenerated4" /> The first study examined the association between race and socio-economic status and the location of commercial hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities.<ref name="autogenerated4" /> After statistical analysis, the first study concluded that "the percentage of community residents that belonged to a racial or ethnic group was a stronger predictor of the level of commercial hazardous waste activity than was household income, the value of the homes, the number of uncontrolled waste sites, or the estimated amount of hazardous wastes generated by industry".<ref>Colquette and Robertson, 159-160.</ref> A second study examined the presence of uncontrolled toxic waste sites in ethnic and racial minority communities and found that three of every five African and Hispanic Americans lived in communities with uncontrolled waste sites.<ref>Colquette and Robertson, 159-161.</ref> A separate 1991 study found race to be the most influential variable in predicting where waste facilities were located.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Godsil|first=Rachel D.|year=1991|title=Remedying Environmental Racism|url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2237&context=mlr|journal=[[Michigan Law Review]]|volume=90|issue=2|pages=394–395|doi=10.2307/1289559|jstor=1289559|s2cid=158992939 }}</ref>

In 1994, President [[Bill Clinton]]'s issued [[Pollution in the United States#Executive Order 12898|Executive Order 12898]] which directed agencies to develop a strategy to manage environmental justice.<ref>"Presidential Documents" (PDF). ''Federal Register''. 1994 – via National Archives.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mohai|first1=Paul|last2=Pellow|first2=David|last3=Roberts|first3=J. Timmons|year=2009|title=Environmental Justice|journal=Annual Review of Environment and Resources|volume=34|pages=405–430|doi=10.1146/annurev-environ-082508-094348|doi-access=free}}</ref> In 2002, Faber and Krieg found a correlation between higher air pollution exposure and low performance in schools and found that 92% of children at five [[Los Angeles#Demographics|Los Angeles]] public schools with the poorest air quality were of a minority background<ref>{{cite book|last=Massey|first=Rachel|title=Environmental Justice: Income, Race, and Health|publisher=Global Development and Environment Institute|year=2004|location=Medford, Massachusetts}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Faber|first1=Daniel R|last2=Krieg|first2=Eric J|date=2002|title=Unequal exposure to ecological hazards: environmental injustices in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.|journal=Environmental Health Perspectives|language=en|volume=110|issue=suppl 2|pages=277–288|doi=10.1289/ehp.02110s2277|issn=0091-6765|pmc=1241174|pmid=11929739|bibcode=2002EnvHP.110S.277F }}</ref> disproportionate to Los Angeles' then 70% minority population.

As a result of the placement of hazardous waste facilities, minority populations experience greater exposure to harmful chemicals and suffer from health outcomes that affect their ability at work and in schools. A comprehensive study of particulate emissions across the United States, published in 2018, found that Black people were exposed to 54% more particulate matter emissions (soot) than the average American.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mikati|first1=Ihab|last2=Benson|first2=Adam F.|last3=Luben|first3=Thomas J.|last4=Sacks|first4=Jason D.|last5=Richmond-Bryant|first5=Jennifer|year=2018|title=Disparities in Distribution of Particulate Matter Emission Sources by Race and Poverty Status|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=108|issue=4|pages=480–485|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2017.304297|pmc=5844406|pmid=29470121}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Geiling|first=Natasha|date=23 February 2018|title=EPA study shows dangerous air pollution overwhelmingly impacts communities of color|url=https://thinkprogress.org/59fe867d560d/|website=[[Think Progress]]}}</ref> In a study that analyzed exposure to air pollution from vehicles in the American Mid-Atlantic and American North-East, it was found that African Americans were exposed to 61% more particulate matter than whites, with Latinos exposed to 75% more and Asians exposed to 73% more. Overall, minorities experienced 66% more pollution exposure from particulate matter than the white population.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Holden|first=Emily|date=27 June 2019|title=People of color live with 66% more air pollution, US study finds|language=en-GB|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/27/us-air-pollution-north-east-mid-atlantic-analysis-union-concerned-scientists|access-date=11 April 2020|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

[[File:Katrina-14512.jpg|thumb|People on the roofs of their houses avoiding the flood after [[Hurricane Katrina]]]]
Carl Zimring states that environmental racism is often engrained in day-to-day work and living conditions.<ref>{{cite book|last=Zimring|first=Carl A.|title=Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States|date=2015|publisher=[[NYU Press]]|location=New York City}}</ref> Examples cited of environmental racism in the US include the [[Dakota Access Pipeline]] (where a portion of the proposed 1,172 mile pipeline would pass near to the [[Standing Rock Indian Reservation]]), the [[Flint water crisis]] (which affected a town that was 55% African American), [[Cancer Alley|cancer alley]] (Louisiana),<ref>Lerner, Steve (2005). ''Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor''. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.</ref> as well as the government response to [[hurricane Katrina]] (where a mandatory evacuation was not ordered in the majority-Black city of New Orleans until 20 hours before Hurricane Katrina made landfall).<ref>{{cite web |last=Henkel |first=Kristin |title=Institutional Discrimination, Individual Racism, and Hurricane Katrina |url=http://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/Volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Institutional%20discrimination,%20individual%20racism,%20and%20hurricane%20katrina.pdf |access-date=2011-12-09 |archive-date=2010-07-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100717123003/http://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/Volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Institutional%20discrimination,%20individual%20racism,%20and%20hurricane%20katrina.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adeola |first1=Francis |last2=Picou |first2=Steven |date=2017 |title=Hurricane Katrina-linked environmental injustice: race, class, and place differentials in attitudes |journal=Disasters |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=228–257 |doi=10.1111/disa.12204 |pmid=27238758 |bibcode=2017Disas..41..228A |via=Wiley-Blackwell}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bullard |first=Robert |date=Fall 2008 |title=Differential Vulnerabilities: Environmental and Economic Inequality and Government Response to Unnatural Disasters |journal=Social Research |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages=753–784 |citeseerx=10.1.1.455.4789 |doi=10.1353/sor.2008.0035 |jstor=40972088|s2cid=126765571 }}</ref>

Overall, the US has worked to reduce environmental racism with municipality changes.<ref name="nrdc">{{cite web|title=LOCAL POLICIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: A NATIONAL SCAN|url=https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/local-policies-environmental-justice-national-scan-tishman-201902.pdf|website=The New School}}</ref> These policies help develop further change. Some cities and counties have taken advantage of environmental justice policies and applied it to the public health sector.<ref name="nrdc" />

===== Native American peoples =====
{{See also|Indian removal|Uranium mining and the Navajo people}}
[[File:Bison skull pile edit.jpg|thumb|Photograph from 1892 of a pile of [[American bison]] skulls in Detroit, Michigan, waiting to be ground for fertilizer or charcoal. The [[United States Army]] encouraged [[Bison hunting#19th century bison hunts and near extinction|massive hunts]] of [[American bison]] to force Native Americans off their traditional lands and into reservations farther west. That is considered an early example of environmental racism.]]
Native scholars have discussed whether the concept of Environmental Justice make sense in the context of Native Americans and settler colonialism. This is because Native Americans' legal status differs from other marginalized peoples in the United States. As such, [[Colville people|Colville]] scholar [[Dina Gilio-Whitaker]] explains that "because Indigenous peoples' relationships to the state (i.e. the United States) are different than those of ethnic minorities, environmental justice must exceed equality and be able to live up to the concepts of tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, and government-to-government relationships."<ref name="DGW2017">{{cite web|last=Gilio-Whitaker|first=Dina|date=2017-03-06|title=What Environmental Justice Means in Indian Country|url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/earth-focus/what-environmental-justice-means-in-indian-country|access-date=2021-12-09|website=KCET|language=en}}</ref>

Gilio-Whitaker further argues that the [[distributive justice]] model on which environmental racism is based is not helpful to Native communities: "Frameworks for EJ in non-Native communities that rely on distributive justice are built on capitalistic American values of land as commodity — i.e. private property — on lands that were expropriated from Native peoples." In contrast, Native peoples have very different relationships to land beyond the modes of land as commodity.<ref name="DGW2017" /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Dina Gilio-Whitaker|date=2010|title=Review|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5250/amerindiquar.34.4.0543|journal=American Indian Quarterly|volume=34|issue=4|pages=543|doi=10.5250/amerindiquar.34.4.0543|issn=0095-182X}}</ref>

Indigenous studies scholars have argued that environmental racism, however, began in the United States with the arrival of [[settler colonialism]].

[[Potawatomi]] philosopher [[Kyle Powys Whyte]] and [[Lower Brule Sioux Tribe|Lower Brule Sioux]] historian Nick Estes explain that Native peoples have already lived through one environmental apocalypse, the coming of colonialism.<ref>{{Citation|title=Our ancestors' dystopia now: indigenous conservation and the Anthropocene|date=2017-01-06|url=https://kylewhyte.marcom.cal.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2018/07/Our_Ancestors_Dystopia_Now_Indigenous_Co3.pdf|work=The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities|pages=222–231|location=Abingdon, Oxon |publisher=Routledge|access-date=2021-12-09}}</ref><ref name="Estes 2019">{{cite book|last=Estes|first=Nick|url=https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1059&context=amst_etds|title=Our history is the future : Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the long tradition of Indigenous resistance|date=2019|isbn=978-1-78663-672-0|location=London|oclc=1044540762}}</ref> [[Métis]] geographer [[Zoe Todd]] and academic Heather Davis have also argued that settler colonialism is "responsible for contemporary environmental crisis."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=Heather|last2=Todd|first2=Zoe|date=2017-12-20|title=On the Importance of a Date, or, Decolonizing the Anthropocene|url=https://www.acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1539|journal=ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies|language=en|volume=16|issue=4|pages=761–780|issn=1492-9732}}</ref> In that way, it has been shown that climate change has been weaponized against Indigenous American peoples, as Founding Fathers such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin deforested the Americas and welcomed warmer weather, which they thought would displace Native peoples and enrich the United States. Thus, "the United States, from its birth, played a key role in causing catastrophic environmental change."<ref>{{cite web|last=Keeler|first=Kyle|date=2020-09-08|title=Colonial Theft and Indigenous Resistance in the Kleptocene|url=https://edgeeffects.net/kleptocene/|access-date=2021-12-09|website=Edge Effects|language=en-US}}</ref> Whyte explains further that "Anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change is an intensification of environmental change imposed on Indigenous peoples by colonialism."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Whyte|first=Kyle|date=2017-03-01|title=Indigenous Climate Change Studies: Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene|url=https://doi.org/10.1215/00138282-55.1-2.153|journal=English Language Notes|volume=55|issue=1–2|pages=153–162|doi=10.1215/00138282-55.1-2.153|s2cid=132153346|issn=0013-8282}}</ref>

[[Anishinaabe]] scholar [[Leanne Betasamosake Simpson]] has also argued, "We should be thinking of climate change as part of a much longer series of ecological catastrophes caused by colonialism and accumulation-based society."<ref>{{cite book|last=Simpson|first=Leanne Betasamosake|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/982091807|title=As we have always done : indigenous freedom through radical resistance|date=2017|isbn=978-1-5179-0386-2|location=Minneapolis, MN|oclc=982091807}}</ref>

The [[Indian Removal Act of 1830]] and the [[Trail of Tears]] may also be considered early examples of environmental racism in the United States. As a result of the former, by 1850, all tribes east of the [[Mississippi]] had been removed to western lands and essentially confined them to "lands that were too dry, remote, or barren to attract the attention of settlers and corporations."<ref name="ibid">{{cite journal|last1=Hooks|first1=Gregory|last2=Smith|first2=Chad L.|year=2004|title=The Treadmill of Destruction: National Sacrifice Areas and Native Americans|journal=[[American Sociological Review]]|volume=69|issue=4|pages=558–575|doi=10.1177/000312240406900405|s2cid=145428620}}</ref> During [[World War II]], military facilities were often located conterminous to [[Indian reservations]], which led to a situation in which "a disproportionate number of the most dangerous military facilities are located near Native American lands."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Harris|first=Angela|date=2016|title=The Treadmill and the Contract: A Classcrits Guide to the Anthropocene.|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/407d/8e25aa2d7ad8196d103ea7bdccfd39e9fd14.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice|volume=5|doi=10.70658/2693-3225.1079 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200209112338/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/407d/8e25aa2d7ad8196d103ea7bdccfd39e9fd14.pdf|archive-date=9 February 2020|s2cid=130240898}}</ref> A study analyzing the approximately 3,100 counties in the Continental United States found that Native American lands are positively associated with the count of sites with unexploded ordnance deemed extremely dangerous. The study also found that the risk assessment code (RAC),  which is used to measure dangerousness of sites with unexploded ordnance, can sometimes conceal how much of a threat these sites are to Native Americans. The hazard probability, or probability that a hazard will harm people or ecosystems, is sensitive to the proximity of public buildings such as schools and hospitals. Those parameters neglect elements of tribal life such as subsistence consumption, ceremonial use of plants and animals, and low population densities. Because those tribal-unique factors are not considered, Native American lands can often receive low-risk scores, despite threats to their way of life. The hazard probability does not take Native Americans into account when considering the people or ecosystems that could be harmed. Locating military facilities coterminous to reservations lead to a situation in which "a disproportionate number of the most dangerous military facilities are located near Native American lands."<ref name="ibid" />

More recently, Native American lands have been used for waste disposal and illegal dumping by the US and multinational corporations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Goldtooth|first=Tom|title=Environmental justice issues, policies, and solutions|date=1995|publisher=Island|isbn=978-1559634175|editor-last=Bullard|editor-first=Robert|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=115–23|chapter=Indigenous Nations: Summary of Sovereignty and Its Implications for Environmental Protection}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brook|first1=Daniel|year=1998|title=Environmental Genocide: Native Americans and Toxic Waste|journal=[[American Journal of Economics and Sociology]]|volume=57|issue=1|doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.1998.tb03260.x }}</ref> The International Tribunal of Indigenous People and Oppressed Nations, convened in 1992 to examine the history of criminal activity against indigenous groups in the United States,<ref name="hartford-hwp1">Boyle, Francis A. (18 September 1992). [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/41/386.html "Indictment of the Federal Government of the U.S. for the commission of international crimes and petition for orders mandating its proscription and dissolution as an international criminal conspiracy and criminal organization"]. Accessed 6 November 2012.</ref> and published a Significant Bill of Particulars outlining grievances indigenous peoples had with the US. This included allegations that the US "deliberately and systematically permitted, aided, and abetted, solicited and conspired to commit the dumping, transportation, and location of nuclear, toxic, medical, and otherwise hazardous waste materials on Native American territories in North America and has thus created a clear and present danger to the health, safety, and physical and mental well-being of Native American People."<ref name="hartford-hwp1" />