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Baurick, Tristan, et al. “Welcome to ‘Cancer Alley," Where Toxic Air Is about to Get Worse.” ProPublica, 30 Oct. 2019, https://www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse.

Bullard, Robert D. “1 Environmental Justice in the Twenty-First Century.” The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution, Counterpoint, Berkeley, California, 2005, pp. 19–42.

Gardiner, Beth . “Unequal Impact: The Deep Links between Racism and Climate Change.” Yale Environment 360, 9 June 2020, https://e360.yale.edu/features/unequal-impact-the-deep-links-between-inequality-and-climate-change.

Gould, Ariel. “Nuclear Power Won't Be Green until There's a Plan for Uranium Mining.” The Breakthrough Institute, 17 Nov. 2022, https://thebreakthrough.org/journal/no-18-fall-2022/nuclears-uranium-problem.

Grusin, Richard A., and Jill S Schneiderman. “8 The Anthropocene Controversy.” Anthropocene Feminism, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2017, pp. 169–189.

McNeill, J. R., and Peter Engelke. “The Great Acceleration.” Harvard University Press, https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674545038.

Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, [2023]

Mitman, Gregg, et al. “Racism and the Anthropocene.” Future Remains: A Cabinet of Curiosities for the Anthropocene, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 2018, pp. 116–128.

Schlosberg, David, and Lisette B. Collins. “From Environmental to Climate Justice: Climate Change and the Discourse of Environmental Justice.” WIREs Climate Change, vol. 5, no. 3, 2014, pp. 359–374., https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.275.

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

Williams, Terry Tempest. “Epilogue The Clan of the One-Breasted Women.” Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, Vintage Books, New York, New York, 2018, pp. 281–290.

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National security and the desire to push the United States' ideology is indirectly responsible for the radioactive exposure and diseases caused by nuclear weapons testing. "The Clan of the One Breasted Women" by Terry Williams highlights how in America's pursuit to remain a dominant superpower during the Cold War, "public health was second to national security." The general public had major pushback over legitimate health concerns, like a rise in burns, blisters, nausea, and cancer. When the institutions that govern us want something, some people will to have to pay a disproportionate price. Despite the people trying to repel unethical testing, Government agencies like the Atomic Energy Commission will lie in order to achieve their goals. They “described the country north of the Nevada Test Site as "virtually uninhabited desert terrain,” my family and the birds at Great Salt Lake were some of the "virtual uninhabitants.” (Williams 287) By going through with the nuclear testing, people who lacked the agency to fight this gross overstep of authority were treated as if they didn't matter.

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Cancer alley is a glaring example of environmental racism. Over 150 petrochemical companies, oil refineries, and other industrial facilities can be found along an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. It is known as Louisiana's cancer alley. Most of the towns in this area are composed of a majority of African Americans, many of whom have lived there for many generations. With some going as far back as the Civil war. The African American communities there are disproportionately affected by the nearby industrial sites and the pollution they emit. People who live in the radius of these industrial facilities are much more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, respiratory issues, and other diseases. Communities such as these have little agency to protect themselves. They are often underfunded and have little political power. Systemic racism that perpetuates in local and federal institutions increases residents of cancer ally's vulnerability to environmental hazards.

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As stated during lecture, slow violence is a form of violence which “is neither spectacular nor instantaneous, but rather incremental and accretive.” It is difficult to understand  because its timescale is slow and insidious rather than direct and in your face. Many environmental injustices hide under the veil of slow violence, not showing how detrimental they truly are until decades after their origin. Some people live more downstream than others. They do not suffer the effects of environmental hazards equally. These unequal effects are hard to represent because they are years in the making. Government institutions, legislative policy, and racial inequities have deep roots which cause issues for the grandchildren of those who perpetuated these injustices. Until stories which adequately portray the pernicious and elusive violence of delayed effects are devised, slow violence will proliferate.

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The Great Acceleration refers to the massive increase in fossil fuel consumption and industrial activity after World War 2. Coal and oil have become the most important sources of fuel for humans in the past two centuries, however, “the period from 1945 to the present represents the most anomalous period in the history of humanity’s relationship with the biosphere. Three-quarters of the carbon dioxide humans have contributed to the atmosphere has accumulated since World War II ended, and the number of people on Earth has nearly tripled.” (McNeill & Engelke) So while our hemorrhaging use of fossil fuels has allowed some humans to experience a higher quality of life than ever before, the disparity between all people has never been greater.

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Contextualize: The Crisis of Realism and Environmental Injustice

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Contextualize: The Crisis of Realism and Environmental Injustice

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To counteract environmental injustices, a solution which takes into account the pernicious effects of institutional biases and systemic prejudices must be found. As said in lecture, environmental injustice is “the tendency of certain communities to disproportionately be impacted by environmental harm. It is most often due to existing social inequalities but sometimes due to targeted policy or development.” These challenges are nothing new, yet, they must be recognized fully so they do not compound the crisis of realism already associated with the slow violence of environmental injustice. According to lecture, the crisis of realism is the challenge of “attempting to represent climate change realistically in terms of “what could happen” . This often risks being branded as science fiction and thus not taken seriously because of expectations about probability.” Groups and communities who live in environmentally unstable environments are the product of “what could happen”. Of those affected, their ancestors were judged by race or color by the policy makers and voters of past generations.

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Contextualize: Sacrifice Zones and Superfund Sites

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Contextualize: Sacrifice Zones and Superfund Sites

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Over a quarter of a million Americans are living in sacrifice zones, areas which the environmental protection agency declares to have an acceptable level of risk. According to lecture, a “national sacrifice zone is a geographic area permanently impaired by heavy environmental altercations and/or economic disinvestment, typically through unwanted land use such as mining, heavy industry, and waste disposal.” It must be understood that no matter how unwanted the land use which causes sacrifice zones are, some people must live within them because they have no realistic alternatives. Luckily, you can not live in a superfund site. Superfund sites are “geographic areas circumscribed by the environmental protection agency for investigation, cleanup of hazardous substances, and long term remediation.” There are over a dozen superfund sites in Connecticut alone, and if we do not learn from our mistakes, people may eventually have to live in them like how some of us live in sacrifice zones.

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Contextualize: Zoning, Redlining, and Restrictive Covenants

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Contextualize: Zoning, Redlining, and Restrictive Covenants

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Poverty stricken communities often stay poor for long periods of time. Practices like redlining, discriminatory zoning, and biased restrictive covenants help preserve a clear line between non affluent and wealthy communities. Racial politics have been used to maintain aesthetic features in neighborhoods, primarily by making it difficult for minorities to live there. Cities and towns must have areas designated for residential, commercial, and industrial use, with four grades of quality ranking from A to D. Grade A neighborhoods had to be white and industrial plants/waste facilities were to be located in red zones, also known as grade D neighborhoods. So if grade D sections of a municipality are surrounded by landfills and petrochemical plants, why not move? Restrictive covenants specify what property owners can do with land. By designating who property can be sold to, houses in grade A zones often throughout history could not be sold to people of color.

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Unequal Impact: Links Between Racism and Climate Change; Scrapbook 4/21 Jamyra Ealy

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Unequal Impact: Links Between Racism and Climate Change; Scrapbook 4/21 Jamyra Ealy

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The mainstream environmental movement was “built by people who cared about conservation, who cared about wildlife, who cared about trees and open space… but didn’t care about black people.” argues Elizabeth Yeampierre, the co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance. She studies the history of slavery and other inequities that cause injustice today. She links how slaves were freed and “were given lands that were eventually surrounded by things like petrochemical industries.” Yeampierre sees the fights against environmental catastrophes, climate change and racial injustice as deeply intertwined. In cases like Hurricane Katrina, the disproportionate “loss of life comes out of a legacy of neglect and racism,” not simply because it was an extreme hurricane. Institutions whose purpose is to benefit the people would have lowered the body count in this disaster if the city was mostly white. The systems that were supposed to protect the people of New Orleans likely would have been upgraded/repaired years if not decades prior if more of the citizens were white.

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Unequal Impact: The Deep Links Between Racism and Climate Change

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Activist Elizabeth Yeampierre has long focused on the connections between racial injustice and the environment and climate change. In the wake of George Floyd's killing and the outsized impact of Covid-19 on communities of color, she hopes people may finally be ready to listen.

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Uranium mining and the Navajo Nation; Scrapbook 3/10 Sameen Sabir

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Uranium mining and the Navajo Nation; Scrapbook 3/10 Sameen Sabir

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United States environmentalist policy in its efforts to make the nation more sustainable is detrimental to minority groups who do not have the agency to resist. Navajo people in the Southwest region of the country are being displaced and/or exposed to life-threatening concentrations of uranium. Uranium mine dumps can cause air and water contamination, leading to the indigenous people's water supply containing radioactive substances. The Navajo who are the worst affected by this mining do not have the resources to battle the mining companies in court. Many men from the Navajo tribes sadly are forced to work for the mines because there are no other vocational opportunities nearby. Native people have been afflicted a disproportionate amount by uranium mining. The plight of the Navajo is being largely dismisses because it is an unfortunate consequence towards a more sustainable future. The mining is being done to create batteries and make our country greener so there are no measures taken to protect natives from harm.

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When attempting to make change by correcting environmental injustices caused by climate change and other environmental catastrophes,, there are realities thar can not be ignored. In general, "poor communities and communities of color are exposed to more vulnerability than richer and whiter communities". (Schlosberg & Collins 361) This is not because poor and colored communities have had a naturally tougher time adapting to the Anthropocene, but rather because "environmental conditions were seen as yet another indicator, another symptom, of the larger reality of social and economic inequity many communities lived with every day." (Schlosberg & Collins 361) All in all, non affluent communities have a difficult time supporting themselves regularly because of discriminatory and racist institutions. Exacerbating these hardships with environmental issues will add onto their woes.

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It is hazardous to refer to the current geological epoch as the Anthropocene. Yes, the current global environment is dominated by human activity, however, it isn't dominated equally by all humans. Such a name will "affect the stories people compose about the continuing development of human societies." (Schneiderman 184) An alternative name would hopefully portray how we are not an "undifferentiated species assuming power over the rest of the earth system." Instead, humanity is a mash up of educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic superpowers who control most of the worlds resources and a myriad of small nations who suffer the consequences of richer countries exploiting the natural world. "In the crucial field of climate change, for example, a large segment of humanity has not participated in the fossil fuel economy that has led to global warming." (Schneiderman 184) We must realize that poor countries, including many African nations, live downstream compared to the United States and that they must deal with the implications.

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The bonds between the climate crisis and racism are not new. They have been intertwined for centuries. Through history as the United States spread its influence, expanded its borders, and stuffed its coffers by exploiting people, its society became a stronger force of anthropogenic reckoning. “The United States was built on stolen territory, as it took native land, it was placed in the public domain, sold, and generated funds to pay for an expanding military. This, in turn, supported overseas expansion, conquest, and empire.” (Pulido 127) These racism endeavors helped fuel American industry, bolstering our capitalist society. A capitalist society where our country has the highest carbon emissions pre capita. This in turn perpetuates a system where those who were/are exploited receive inferior protection against the climate crisis and other environmental catastrophes.

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Racism, discrimination, and prejudice are all making the consequences of the climate crisis more realized in colored communities. The underlying issues caused by racial practices in our institutions allows a cycle of racial and environmental injustice to continue.

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Environmentalist policy within the United States is reactive when it should be taking a more proactive stance. Our government is slow to enact change for issues that have been created by our own anthropogenic ways of life. When neighborhoods, states, or entire regions of the country are being “affected, communities should not have to wait until causation or conclusive proof is established before preventive action is taken.” (Bullard 26) Bullard makes this argument when speaking on lead poisoning, the “number one environmental threat to children”. Rather than pay the estimated $100 billion to remove lead from buildings and pipes in order to eradicate lead poisoning, our institutions do nothing. There is a hidden cost to standing idly by, hundreds of thousands of people will be afflicted by lead related illnesses. More often than not, those worst affected are people of color. Non-white communities in the US lack adequate resources to make change in their immediate environment. We as a society will have to pay for healthcare and education costs related to lead-caused concerns since we did not step up and make change prophylactically.

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White Flight & Failing Water Systems; Scrapbook 3/10 John Quinn

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White Flight & Failing Water Systems; Scrapbook 3/10 John Quinn

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Residents of Mississippi's state Capital Jackson have had major issues with their water system since the 70s. Heather McTeer Toney is a former Mayor of Greenville, MS and the Southeast regional environmental protection agency administrator. Toney argues that due to "an exodus of population from the urban center of Jackson to suburban areas, what can be identified as white flight, the internal city center does not receive the same benefits as it would have had that population remained there, because there is an exodus of wealth." Last August, historic double digit rainfall flooded the Pearl River, putting immense pressure on Jackson's water system which completely submerged. Jackson's 150,000 residents, 83% of which are black, had been forced to buy bottled water for their safety. They did not have reliable enough water pressure to flush their toilets. Environmental issues such as what is happening in Jackson could be diminished or prevented altogether if environmental injustices did not have racist antecedents.

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Q&A: How White Flight and Environmental Injustice Led to the Jackson, Mississippi Water Crisis - Inside Climate News

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Mississippi has found itself in a dire position, after a flood left the state’s capital city, Jackson, without water to drink or fight fires. Residents, who had actually been under a boil-water advisory since mid-July, were reminded to keep their mouths closed during showers—if they were lucky enough to even have water pressure. After days […]

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Robert Bullard explores the disparities that race helps fuel in the fight for environmentalism. He argues that “race is the most potent variable in predicting where” waste facility sites “would be located.” (Bullard 20) The color of somebodies skin plays the biggest role in determining whether they will live in a green or polluted environment. American policies have continually shown their tendency to benefit affluent white communities while dismissing the lives of non white people. “People of color are often victims of land use decisions that mirror the power arrangements of the dominant society. Historically, exclusionary zoning (and rezoning) has been a subtle form of using government authority to foster and perpetuate discriminatory practices, including discriminatory environmental planning practices." (Bullard 32) Environmental injustices like this reinforce the notions that the environment is for whites to enjoy, but a place for minorities to deal with the undesirable effects humans have had on nature.