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Ecological Narrative Shaped by Racial Inequalities

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Ecological Narrative Shaped by Racial Inequalities

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The environmental literature space is deeply connected to racism because ecological narratives have been shaped by and continue to push racial inequalities. Authors such as Evelyn White, Simon Ortiz, Laura Pulido, and Jedediah Purdy write about these narratives and their consequences that are felt by marginalized groups.

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In the article “Eco-anxiety over climate crisis suffered by all ages and classes,” written by Toby Helm for The Guardian, Helm discusses eco-anxiety and the races, ages, and socioeconomic classes that are experiencing the worst of it. The article states that although according to polling data, climate anxiety is mostly affecting white middle-class men and women, it is important to note that climate anxiety can affect anyone regardless of their status. This article is interesting because it finds that eco-anxiety mainly affects the average white individual but is becoming an increasingly widespread issue as the general population starts to see the effects of climate change from a personal perspective. But in the political sphere, the topic of eco anxiety is seen as a population-dividing issue being used to split up classes and races from each other in order to create more conflict between the population.

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In a CDC report on the city of Flint, Michigan, when looking at the data and how many people were exposed to unsafe water contaminated by lead, it’s interesting to look at the data in connection to the city’s demographics as well as the action being taken. Flint, Michigan, which has a majority population of Black people and is made up of almost entirely minorities, was exposed to unsafe water and was denied help from the government for over a year and a half, as lead illnesses and E. coli rates skyrocketed within the community, especially among children. In the present day, Flint is still dealing with the effects of a contaminated water supply.

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In the article written by Nadia Lathan for Berkeley Public Health, “50 years after being outlawed, redlining still drives neighborhood health inequities,” the long-term effects of redlining on marginalized communities are highlighted. Specifically in the Bay Area near San Francisco, former redlining communities are experiencing higher rates of pollution in the air and water, and the negative health effects that follow as a result. Women are also more likely to experience reproductive issues if they live in a redlined community. Towns are also less likely to have green spaces and public parks as a result of low public funding for these communities.

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When looking at the history and effects of the Anthropocene, or the age of human industrialization and climate change impacts from human activities, racism played a large part in creating the conditions we currently live in today. Laura Pulido argues that the concept of the Anthropocene looks at the human race as a whole, in a dark light, even though a small percentage of people are responsible. Industrialization came at the hands of colonialism in countries predominantly made up of people of color. Now, in the present day, these wealthier nations that are focused on capitalist growth and have colonial history are responsible for a large amount of environmental degradation, while post-colonial nations are left to pick up the pieces and are affected the most by climate change. Pulido writes, “While some may believe that these are random patterns or accidents of geography, climate justice activists understand that the result is from deep historical processes. They recognize that the rich, industrialized countries, which are disproportionately white, will escape with vastly fewer deaths.” This quote highlights how these wealthier White countries are engaging in most of the activities that degrade the planet, and it directly affects these countries the least.

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Environmentalism as a movement can be distinctly historically tied to racist ideals and was shaped through discrimination. Jedidiah Purdy felt as though even back to environmentalism’s original roots can be traced back to ideas surrounding colonialism, White settlers, and segregation. Environmentalism went hand in hand with Ecofacism and the preservation of the White race. The wilderness was seen as a way to escape the “impurities” of society and break away to the roots of Whiteness, on land that was stolen and colonized from Indigenous people. Purdy writes, “For these conservationists, who prized the expert governance of resources, it was an unsettlingly short step from managing forests to managing the human gene pool.” This highlights how the preservation of the White race was one of the key ideas in breaking away from the masses to the exclusive wilderness to live a lifestyle that was only attainable for rich White people.

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The ability to enjoy the environment and push the environmentalist narrative stems from the displacement of Indigenous people and has resulted in incorrect narratives being pushed onto society concerning the Indigenous population and their cultural connections to the environment. Simon Ortiz writes about the experience of Indigenous people in a predominantly White society and how stereotypes about native populations and the environment are harming the community based on assumptions about culture. When in reality, the displacement of Indigenous communities at the hands of colonialism and the government has caused spiritual and cultural disconnection, and has created the emergence of cultural appropriation among White people. Ortiz writes, “The Indian man did not know anything about peyote. He had heard some songs and prayers for the ceremony, but he did not know anything about the ceremony. And he did not know how a person could join a Tribe.” This quote describes the real-life experiences of minorities who have been displaced and ignored by the government, watching their own culture and heritage be used as a trend by the same people inflicting this harm.

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For the average White individual, the idea of wilderness and solitude in the environment might invoke ideas of peace and tranquility, but for minorities, it can bring up ideas of historical violence, displacement, and colonialism at the hands of the White population. Evelyn White discusses the discomfort many Black women face at the idea of wilderness, which has a long, tragic history among the Black population, dating back to slavery and the violence that followed regarding torture and lynching. Although early ideas of environmentalism were rooted in escaping society and its negatives, the environment fosters negative memories and generational trauma passed down in Black families that remind them of America's past. White writes, “For Black women, the very notion of wilderness elicits a terror born of slavery, of lynching, of silence,” and “I had not been raised to see the wilderness as a place of solace.” This highlights the negative emotion felt by marginalized communities in relation to the wilderness and environmentalist movements.

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It’s interesting to look at how Black Americans and other marginalized groups view topics such as climate anxiety, because of the history of American inequalities. From an outside perspective, it may seem as though the average Black American has much less climate anxiety compared to the average White American. When in reality the average Black American historically experiences more systemic racism and injustice, such as environmental racism, redlining, and higher rates of poverty at the hands of legislation creating less of a reaction to other government incompetencies, such as environmental degradation. It’s also important to note that for marginalized groups, anxiety in relation to the environment is not a main priority when housing, systemic violence, and healthcare are immediate pressing concerns.

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The United States government has a long and troubled history of environmental racism and pushing divides among marginalized communities through systemic inequalities. Flint is yet another example of the government ignoring the needs and minorities, even as basic rights like clean water are being stripped away. Historically, minority communities have been at the forefront of environmental issues in relation to housing and community, creating a divide among those who are susceptible to health hazards because of where they live, and those who are not. These issues also run deeper than health hazards, because once the community is known for pollution issues and health hazards, the existing citizens are not able to leave or sell their homes, leaving multiple generations trapped in an area that is causing harm and being ignored by the government.

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Redlining was a United States Government initiative that focused on the institutionalization of housing, which graded neighborhoods based on the investment risk. This system disproportionately harmed marginalized communities by grading POC neighborhoods poorly, regardless of the housing conditions and prices. This largely impacted Black Americans who were denied housing loans because of the practice and played a key role in segregation outside of Jim Crow laws, by creating a divide between middle and lower class Americans based on race. It also affected the communities that were already living in poorly graded areas because it decreased federal funding for infrastructure and education, and the effects of redlining are still greatly affecting communities 60 years after it was banned by the Fair Housing Act.

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The context behind Pulido’s thoughts stems from ideas concerning environmental racism and injustice, as well as the incorrect idea most have of the average global human. This concept of the average global human is the idea that every human plays an equally responsible part in caring for the environment, but neglects the fact that some people are much more responsible for climate change than others, and capitalists of wealthier nations play a much larger role and benefit financially from climate change. While the average person, especially marginalized groups, pays the price for these actions. Environmental racism also plays a role, as it is the backbone of the rise of industrialism and capitalism.

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These ideas surrounding environmentalism and racism stem from the idea of ecofascism, a branch of far-right ideology that relates the preservation of the environment to the preservation of whiteness and the exclusion of marginalized groups from environmental preservation. This ideology was and still is used as a way to separate White people from the population and spark fear amongst that population for race extinction, prioritizing the environment over the well-being being people. This idea also overlooks the fact that environmental issues are caused by specific people and communities, and not as a result of systemic injustice within the government.

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Ortiz highlights how historically harmful narratives have been pushed into society regarding marginalized groups, and more specifically, Indigenous people. Through displacement, mistreatment, and forced assimilation, the government has spent a long time trying to erase the memories and culture of these communities in order to evade responsibility and reparations. This has created a loss of culture within the community in order to assimilate, and by doing this, erases the memories that only count to push the narrative and negative stigmas in the general population. The negative narratives are used to exclude marginalized groups from society while also promoting the act of “fitting in” in order to erase culture and push the idea of obedience among affected individuals.

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Historically, a lot of the trauma and injustice that has occurred within racial minorities in the United States has occurred in the Wilderness, creating negative memories for these communities and generational trauma that has been passed down through slavery, displacement, and ethnic cleansing. As a result, the wilderness is not typically seen as a place for minorities to frequent because many have been taught that the environment is not safe for them and brings trauma and violence. In turn, this has also pushed harmful stereotypes that minorities do not “belong” in the wilderness, when in reality, these are negative stereotypes rooted in racism that prevent people from engaging with the environment.

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Pulido, Laura. "Racism and the Anthropocene". Future Remains: A Cabinet of Curiosities for the Anthropocene, edited by Gregg Mitman, Marco Armiero, and Robert Emmett, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018, pp. 116-128.

Lathan, Nadia. “50 Years after Being Outlawed, Redlining Still Drives Neighborhood Health Inequities.” UC Berkeley Public Health, 29 Sept. 2023, publichealth.berkeley.edu/news-media/research-highlights/50-years-after-being-outlawed-redlining-still-drives-neighborhood-health-inequities

“Flint Lead Exposure Registry.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/lead-prevention/success-stories-by-state/flint-lead-exposure-registry.html#:~:text=During%20April%2025%2C%202014%E2%80%93October,Flint%20Water%20System%20(FWS)

Helm, Toby. “Eco-Anxiety over Climate Crisis Suffered by All Ages and Classes.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 31 Oct. 2021,

www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/31/eco-anxiety-over-climate-crisis-suffered-by-all-ages-and-classes?utm_source=

Purdy, Jedediah. “Environmentalism’s Racist History.” The New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2015, www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/environmentalisms-racist-history

Henrickson, Sue, “Water flowing from a faucet in a hospital in Flint, Mich”, April 2014.

University of Richmond's Mapping Inequality project, “Map of San Francisco County Redlining”, 1960.

“Environmentalism or Ecofascism?” Environmentalism or Ecofascism? | CAS Connection | College of Arts and Sciences, cas.uoregon.edu/news/environmentalism-or-ecofascism

Ortiz, Simon J., Men On the Moon: Collected Short Stories. University of Arizona Press, 1999.

White, Evelyn C., “Black Women and the Wilderness”, 1995.

Adams, Charlie, “Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.”