Environmental racism is a form of institutional racism, in which people of color bear a disproportionate burden of environmental harms, such as pollution from hazardous waste disposal and the effects of natural disasters.Massey, Rachel. "Environmental Justice: Income, Race, and Health." Tufts University Global Development and Environment Institute (2014).Feagin, Joe R. and Clarence B. Feagin (1984) Discrimination American Style: Institutional Racism and Sexism. Malabar, FL: Robert E. Krieger. Environmental racism exposes Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic populations to physical health hazards and may negatively impact mental health. It creates disparities in many different spheres of life, such as transportation, housing, and economic opportunity.McCall, Machara. "ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM: THE U.S. EPA'S INEFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT OF TITLE VI OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964." Southern Journal of Policy and Justice, Vol. X7II, pg. 1-3 (Fall 2019).

Communities of color are more likely to be located next to pollution sources, such as landfills, power plants, and incinerators. There is evidence that exposure to pollution can result in a higher prevalence of disease. Additionally, low-income communities of color are more likely to have polluted water. An analysis of EPA data found that unequal access to safe drinking water is strongly correlated with race. The most polluted communities tend to be those with high poverty, inadequate infrastructure, substandard schools, chronic unemployment, and poor healthcare systems. Empirical evidence suggests environmental hazards negatively affect nearby property values, employment opportunities, and economic activities. In addition, environmental hazards can cause psychological stress.Liu, Feng. 2001. Environmental Justice Analysis. Theories, Methods, and Practice. Lewis Publishers.Mohai, Paul. 1995. "The Demographics of Dumping Revisited: Examining the Impact of Alternate Methodologies on Environmental Justice Research." Virginia Environmental Law Journal 13:615-53.

Natural disasters also tend to have unequal impacts on communities of color. The extent of poverty within a region can often have a much stronger effect on the scale of a natural disaster's impact than the severity of the disaster itself. Affluent, white communities tend to be located on higher ground, so they are less vulnerable to floods than communities of color. Moreover, disaster prevention and recovery plans are often biased against minorities in low-income areas.

History The origins of the environmental justice movement can be traced to the Indigenous environmental movement, which itself has roots in over 500 years of colonialism, oppression, and ongoing struggles for sovereignty and land rights. In 1968, grassroots environmental activists from several tribal nations met in Minnesota and formed an organization known as the American Indian Movement (AIM).

The 1982 North Carolina PCB Protest is widely recognized as the origin of the environmental justice movement. In 1982, North Carolina state officials decided to place a landfill with highly toxic PCB-contaminated soil in the small town of Afton in Warren County, North Carolina. Afton was about 84% African American. This decision sparked the first national protest against the location of a hazardous waste facility. Organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, residents of Warren County, along with local civil rights and political leaders, gathered in opposition to the placement of the landfill site. Over 500 protesters were arrested. In response, two major studies were published: the US General Accounting Office 1983, and the United Church of Christ 1987. Both studies found that there was a strong relationship between race and the location of hazardous waste facilities.

The United States General Accounting Office study conducted a survey of the locations of hazardous-waste facilities, and found that these facilities were more likely to be located in minority and low-income communities.U.S. General Accounting Office. "Siting of Hazardous Waste Landfills and Their Correlation with Racial and Economic Status of Surrounding Communities Report." GAO (1983). The United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice (CRJ) study found that three of the largest hazardous waste facilities were located in primarily Black areas, and accounted for 40% of the hazardous-waste landfill capacity in the United States. The study also found that the strongest predictor of the placement of hazardous waste facilities was race, surpassing both household income and home values. An additional study conducted by the CRJ found that three out of five African Americans and Hispanic Americans lived in communities with hazardous waste sites.

Pollution

Agriculture Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) contribute to the adverse health effects experienced by EJ communities by releasing harmful gas emissions into the air (ammonia, volatile organic compounds, endotoxins, etc.) greatly reducing the surrounding air quality. Some ways that these chemicals pollute the air are through barns that contain animals, the storage of waste specially hog operations, handling the wasted stored These pollutants in the air are able to carry and transmit disease-causing bacteria and certain fungi. They can also pollute the soil and nearby water sources. The most common adverse effects of CAFOs in humans are increased asthma and reduced lung function.

Methane emission is emitted and produced from organic compounds found in industrial wastewater and from the breakdown of animal manure, usually pigs, cows, and goats.Agricultural Methane: Reducing Emissions, Advancing Recovery and Use Opportunities (globalmethane.org) Even when looking at a small scale, each animal's contribution is huge, one cow is able to produce up to 264 pounds of methane gas per year.Agriculture and Aquaculture: Food for Thought | US EPA While methane emissions from animals can cause adverse health effects, another important aspect to look at is the fact it is driving climate change. Climate change in EJ communities is the most impacted, not having the all the resources they need. Weather events in these communities are becoming more severe and dangerous, the agricultural industry is the biggest contributor of methane in the United States.O'Toole, Patrick MPH Essay 2022.pdf (pitt.edu)

Pesticides have been used for thousands of years worldwide, in the United States most of the pesticide use is in agriculture. People and the families of people that work as a farmworker or as an agricultural worker are at the highest risk of the effects of these chemicals. Eighty-three percent of farmworkers identify themselves as Hispanic and one-third of all farmworkers have an income below the federal poverty line. From previous federal policies and racist lending practices have ensured that most of the farmlands in the United States are owned and operated by whites and has ensured that BIPOC and people living in low-income areas are the ones mostly impacted by pesticide pollution. According to research that was conducted in California; pesticide pollution has the greatest income, racial, and ethnic inequality in the state. While this research was done in California, this is unfortunately the case across the United States, BIPOC are the most impacted. The impacts that pesticides have on human health are dependent on the type that is used in that area, such as organophosphates and carbamates, which affect the nervous systems, while others may only irritate a person's eyes or skin, they may be cancer causing, or may affect hormones of the endocrine system.

Hazardous waste facilities Recent studies show that hazardous waste facilities are more likely to be located in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods. In fact, communities with a high concentration of racial minorities are nine times more likely to be exposed to environmentally hazardous facilities than communities with a low concentration of minorities. A 2002 study in Massachusetts by sociologists Daniel R. Faber and Eric J. Krieg found racially based biases in the placement of 17 industrial waste facilities. Residential segregation is correlated with higher cancer risk; as segregation increases, cancer incidence is higher. A 2018 study by the American Journal of Public Health found that Black people are exposed to 54% more particulate matter than the average American. In Los Angeles, minority children have the highest risk of being exposed to air pollution at school. Environmental health scientists Rachel Morello-Frosch and Manuel Pastor Jr. found that "at schools ranked in the bottom fifth for air quality, the children were 92% minority." They also found that air pollution is associated with decreased achievement in school. The United States Environmental Protection Agency and United States Census Bureau found that, in the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the US, minorities are exposed to 66% more particulate matter from vehicles than white Americans. In a study in 2000 in Texas, sociologists Kingsley Ejiogu and Hon R. Tachia found that the percent Asians and percent Hispanics were significant predictors of toxic sites.

Environmental racism is very prevalent in many states across the country. Environmental racism raises ethical issues and can also have implications for a state's laws and constitution, for example the Clean Air Act, the Fourteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act.

An example of a case of environmental racism is a small mainly African American (90%) town called Uniontown, Alabama where a toxic landfill is believed to have caused serious health issues. In 2010, the Tennessee Valley Authority moved four million cubic yards of coal ash to a landfill in Uniontown without providing citizens any protection from the waste. Mental health issues, a one-in-five chance of developing cancer and reproductive issues were associated with mercury and arsenic contained within the ash.

Other examples include West Dallas, Texas, where African American housing projects have been set up twenty paces from a battery recycling smelter, and Chester, Pennsylvania, which has become an attraction for toxic waste sites. In California the government also decided to allow pollution in vulnerable communities. The effect of environmental racism is seen in the health data which shows that African Americans are three times more likely to die from asthma. Three out of five African Americans live in a community with a least one toxic waste site. On average it takes twenty percent longer for toxic sites in minority community towns to be placed on the national priority list than white areas.

Water pollution