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Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, [2/6/23].

Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, [3/6/23].

Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, [3/27/23].

Pico, Tommy. Nature Poem. Tin House, 2021.

Offill, Jenny. Weather. GRANTA BOOKS, 2023.

Bullard, Robert D. “Environmental Justice in the Twenty-First Century.” The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 2008.

Vermeer, Danielle. Redlining and Environmental Racism, 16 Aug. 2021, seas.umich.edu/news/redlining-and-environmental-racism.

Bruggers, James. “Q&A: How White Flight and Environmental Injustice Led to the Jackson, Mississippi Water Crisis.” Inside Climate News, 9 Sept. 2022, insideclimatenews.org/news/09092022/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis-white-flight-environmental-injustice/.

NASA, ClimateKids. “Planet Health Report: Sea Level.” NASA, 31 Mar. 2023, climatekids.nasa.gov/health-report-sea-level/.

Badger, Emily. “How Redlining’s Racist Effects Lasted for Decades.” The New York Times, 24 Aug. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/upshot/how-redlinings-racist-effects-lasted-for-decades.html.

Fears, Darryl, and Brady Dennis. “‘This Is Environmental Racism.’” The Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2021/environmental-justice-race/.

Korol, Chistrine. “Coping with Climate Anxiety.” Psychology Today, 23 Feb. 2022, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/still-mind/202202/coping-climate-anxiety.

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Rising Sea Levels in the Future are Difficult to Imagine  (NASA)

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A challenge when grasping the climate change problem is the idea that some of the harmful effects seem too “improbable” to ever be true (Menrisky, Lecture 3/27/23). Some of the recently seen effects of climate change include rising ocean levels but it is difficult for humans to grasp their mind around the ocean swallowing up part of land in a long period of time as the small increments add up. There has also been an increase in “historic storms” where people could never believe a snowstorm could wipe out power across Texas, but these results have already started to occur. When people don’t understand the probability that these catastrophic events have a real chance to occur in the future, politicians and communities fail to plan for the worst and are often blindsided by a historic storm. Some of the damage can be prevented by acting sooner but the difficulty of humans wrapping their heads around the concept proves to be an obstacle in the decision making and fund allocating processes.

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In Jackson, Mississippi, climate crisis effects are playing out in the form of water contamination while many with wealth are fleeing the city. The crisis began with “historic, double-digit rainfall in August 2022 causing the Pearl River to overwhelm Jackson’s long-troubled water system” and “extreme weather conditions caused pipes to freeze and lose pressure resulting in many areas being without water for several weeks” (Bruggers). These “historic” storms are occurring more frequently as climate is shifting in places like Jackson and because of the change, old infrastructure systems are rendered useless when fighting new elements such as extreme rainfall and temperatures. By not understanding the scope of climate change, politicians who were already understaffed have not been able to solve infrastructure problems that result in people drinking contaminated water and not receiving hot water. Without the foresight to fix climate problems, Bruggers argues that more people with low-income will continue to be harmed as they have no means of leaving the situation or supplying funds to pay for large infrastructure projects.

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Climate change is the gradual changing of weather in a region and often the effects year to year often seem miniscule in the grand scheme of the Earth. One of the challenges of explaining the problem is the scale at which the climate is changing for the worse. With human life expectancy around 75 years, it is difficult for humans to calculate change over a large span of time (Menrisky, Lecture 3/27/23) when most politicians and corporate leaders have fewer years left in their lives before the effects will be seen. With a growing global population, the effects of climate change will increase as more people use energy, drive cars, etc., but the harm to the Earth won’t be seen for many years after the fact (Menrisky, Lecture 3/27/23). With the derangement of scale, local effects are difficult to determine whether it was a historic or recent cause that resulted in harm to the Earth which gives leaders in politics and corporations a tough decision to make on how to rectify the harm.

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Example of Redlining in Brooklyn (Badger)

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Historic Redlining Still Affects People Today

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Historic Redlining Still Affects People Today

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Redlining is a discriminatory practice that originated in the 1930’s and was used by financial institutions to deny loans to people living in certain neighborhoods based on their race or ethnicity (Menrisky, Lecture 3/6/23). Lines were drawn on urban maps to separate the zones into minority groups and these neighborhoods were then consider risky and people were not able to receive loans to move out of their “redlined” area or into a “non-redlined” area (typically a white community). The property values of these redlined neighborhoods declined, and this resulted in people being stuck in these locations where they would later be subjected to environmental or fiscal harm. All redlining laws were abolished in the Fair Housing Act in 1968 but their consequences still impact minority communities today.

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In addition to physical harm imposed by the placing of harmful facilities inside previously redlined regions, there is a significant wealth gap between redlined and non-redlined regions. “Neighborhoods marked as high risk for investment over eight decades ago are 74% low-to-moderate income and 64% minority today” (Vermeer) which contrasts with the non-redlined neighborhoods that haven’t had to fight racism or environmental injustice. As a result of a mostly low-income community, members of the community can’t fight in court for their right to live in an unpolluted community and are subject to the discretion of the large corporations. With an influx in environmental harmful facilities, the property value of housing in the community are diminished and people often can’t pull out money to move out creating a similar cycle for generations. Vermeer highlights that because of the fiscal limitations presented by previous redlining policies, minorities and the lower class are stuck in an environmentally and fiscally unfriendly situation.

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Increased Temperatures in Redlined Districts

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Increased Temperatures in Redlined Districts

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Corporations, when planning a new construction project, often place new waste treatment facilities, highways, and facilities in previously redlined communities. With these facilities often using large amounts of energy and made with heat absorbing material, a study on 108 U.S. urban places showed “that land surface temperatures are about 36 degrees Fahrenheit warmer in past redlined neighborhoods” (Vermeer). Those who live in these neighborhoods and are exposed to increased heat are more susceptible “to heart and lung complications that may be deadly or severely impact quality of life” (Vermeer). This portion of Vermeer’s article articulates a study showing that there is physical harm when humans face increased exposure to heat, and this disproportionately effects the lower class and often minority home owners based on previous racist policies.

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The environmental justice movement stems from the idea that people are “downstream” from environmental harm and there is a disproportionate experience to certain groups of people often involving race or class (Menrisky, Lecture 3/6/23). The term “downstream” refers to others who are not directly affiliated with intended or unintended environmental harm and bare the brunt of the harm (Menrisky, Lecture 3/6/23) such as a factory polluting a river but the people at the end of the river baring the brunt of harm with polluted drinking water. The environmental justice movement attempts to legally hold governments, corporations, and people accountable for their environmental harm and proactively protect communities that are negatively affected or will be in the future.

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The framework of environmental justice includes eliminating a threat before harm occurs (Bullard 26), but this is easier said than done as poorer communities lack the funds to inspect and fight in court companies or individuals who are negatively affecting the environment. Settlements had to be won in court to receive funding to test children for lead in Oakland and as a result children under the age of six were able to receive the care they needed during their typical doctor appointments (Bullard 26). Bullard believes that “prevention is the solution. Surely, if termite inspections can be mandated to protect individuals’ investments in homes, then lead-free housing can be mandated to protect public health” (Bullard 26). Environmental justice aims to reduce the harm faced by people such as low-class individuals in an urban environment and Bullard, in solidarity, provides the example such as the need for screening and prevention of the physical harm of children to show the importance of the environmental justice movement.

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Picture from Warren County Protests in 1982 (Fears)

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One of the first protests to be held against the government or a corporation in terms of environmental justice was a protest in Warren County, North Carolina where there is a mostly African American community. 500 people were arrested during the protests standing up against a proposal for a new landfill to dispose of harmful chemicals in a mostly African American community (Bullard 20). A study was then conducted, and it was found that 75% of landfills happen to be in dominantly African American communities while African Americans made up only 20 percent of the region’s population (Bullard 20). The community was going to be faced with physical harm as chemical landfills influence the natural characteristics of land and can give off harmful radiation or affect natural resources such as waterways and irrigation for crops. Whether the location was chosen by what race lived there or not, environmental racism includes intended and unintended consequences such as in the form of physical harm to the community.

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Climate change is the term used to describe the ever-changing statistical average of weather events in a region (Menrisky, Lecture 3/27/23). Scientists agree that human actions have added more to climate change since the industrial revolution where an increase of carbon dioxide has been released into the air causing a greater strength atmosphere and a build up of stored heat on the planet. This stored heat changes the statistical average of the weather and has seen effects such as land being swallowed by rising oceans, damage to crops, and increased temperatures in urban locations. Climate activists vouch for the stopping of fossil fuel usage and attempt to stop human addition to the raising temperature of the Earth.

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Picture from Children Protests of Climate Policies (Korol)

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A psychological response to learning about climate change and its rapidly increasing impacts on the Earth is climate anxiety. Those who have climate anxiety are afraid that our environment is rapidly declining based on human actions and humans won’t be able to cut back and save the world before an extinction, catastrophic event, etc. In Offill’s “Weather,” the main character, Lizzie, works for a podcaster receiving questions from “climate crazies” with end of the world scenario questions. Lizzie herself understands how climate change is currently on course to do damage to humans and understands “that she cannot escape dying” and “one day she will have to let go of everything and everyone I love” (Offill 45).  Lizzie says these lines during a breathing rhythm to calm her anxiety about the future and she is perpetuating that the end, or a large climate disaster, is coming. Offill also grapples throughout about “escaping to Mars,” (Offill 76) as a way of fleeing the doomed situation of Earth. Climate anxiety stems from the degradation and possible end of Earth as we know it and this built-up anxiety forces people to view their entire life as a ticking time-bomb towards an inevitable ending.

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A common difference between Native American and United States’ culture was how land was shared versus being owned. This brought upon the battle of private wealth that the United States Government favored and a concept of reciprocity, or the mutual dependence between humans and nature (Menrisky, Lecture 2/6/23). The U.S. government began to sweep across America attempting to fully eradicate indigenous culture through killing or if that failed, making natives dependent on the U.S. government to survive. While the U.S. government intentionally removed natives from their land, climate change and human development projects have led to the unintentional changes in historically similar pieces of land occupied by natives. With natives depending on their knowledge of the land for food, water, and livelihood, moving to a new, unknown, and most likely insufficient piece of land can be detrimental to their nation’s survival and ability to thrive away from dependence on other humans.

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Native Americans traditionally live off natural resources and have a relationship with nature where they receive water, food, and the ability to survive. With the land natives live on being important to their lively hood, human innovation on land and change in climate influences how natives survive and where they are forced to live or relocate to. In the 1880’s, a San Diego based company “illegally and in secret” began construction to transport mountain runoff and river water into the heart of San Diego. During this construction, “the creek bed dried. The plants died. The very best citizens of San Diego called it deluded sentimentality to give Indians any land or water” (Pico 43). The physical harm to nature surrounding Lake Cuyamaca ruined native’s chance to continue to live off the land in this area as their fate of receiving new land was in the hands of anti-native San Diego politicians. Pico questions the concept of owning or selling land as he believes that land can be used by anyone that treats it with respect. Pico establishes that natives leaving their established area and forcing them to relocate to most likely a location with less-than-ideal circumstances is an example of how natives experienced physical harm.

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The Ecological Indian Stereotype stems from outsider view that natives are more harmonious in their relationship with nature and always act for the benefit of nature instead of themselves (Menrisky, Lecture 2/6/23). The stereotype induces the concept that natives are primitive in their lifestyle and don’t use complex systems in their everyday life. This is not true as natives had many technologies and techniques such as controlled burning and complicated irrigation networks for crops. This stereotype also characterizes natives as behaving a certain way in relation to nature and diminishes the challenges they face such as climate change and poverty (Menrisky, Lecture 2/6/23). Using this stereotype, people often take away from native’s respect toward nature and romanticize their lifestyle neglecting hardships faced throughout their history.

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Pico grew up on a reservation in the Kumeyaay nation with parents who deeply believe in a shared respect between humans and the environment. Pico’s parents talk and wave to trees and while Pico believes that he is not like them, he still has an ingrained respect for nature from growing up in a household with these values. While in college, Pico “saw a York Peppermint Pattie wrapper on the ground, picked it up, and threw it away and some dick said Yr such a good Indian” (Pico 24). This person hurling insults was most likely mocking the ecological stereotype that natives are closer to nature than other humans and it is his role in society to clean up the Earth. After this interaction, Pico says he “no longer picks up trash” (24) and this is a result of the psychological effects of experiencing this stereotype toward his ethnicity. Pico’s writing conveys that picking up someone else’s trash for the betterment of nature is a sign of respect and through the derogatory comments, Pico is hesitant to better the world in fear of being seen as primitive or having no self-respect.

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Environmental justice writing always discusses how certain people instead of the wilderness are negatively affected by a continuously changing environment and climate. Environment writers often portray the harmful effects of change in terms of physical, mental, or fiscal harm.