NYONGANI SCHOOL INCORPORATED

Environmental Racism & Environmental Justice

This thesis is presented to

Mr. Ezekiel Ducusin

Presented by

Harpreet Kour S. Singh

Axcel S. Sison

Elliza Rose A. Portilliano

Maine Cedric O. Tabirao

Crisanto B. De Jesus Jr.

Kenneth G. Koba

August 2019
Environmental racism refers to the way in which minority group

neighborhoods are burdened with a disproportionate number of hazards,

including toxic waste facilities, garbage dumps, and other sources of

environmental pollution and foul odors that lower the quality of life.

 Toxic waste facilities (e-waste)

 Pollution

 Contaminated water

 Neighborhood and plants/facilities

 Asbestos exposure

 Waste dumps on native American land (Coal plant landfills)

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of

all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect
to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental
laws, regulations, and policies. In other words, your health should not
suffer because of the environment where you live, work, play or learn.

Health related issues

- Asthma, lead poisoning, lung cancer, respiratory diseases (coal

producing plants)
- Poisoning, contaminated water
Abstract

Environmental Racism& Environmental Justice

Observation

Based on our observation and research, we Filipinos experience

environmental racism in our own country. It doesn’t only exist in

Philippines but also in many parts of the globe. One of the most affected

are the African Americans in which their environment where they live is

harmful for them.

Inquiries

One of our concern is, can we promote environmental justice?Do the

government make a step on reducing or abolishing the harm or problem in

our environment? What are they’re possible solutions that can help us? Will

it last long or just for short term?

Chapter 1

Problem and its background

Introduction

Environmental Racism is a type of discrimination where people of

low-income or minority communities are forced to live in close proximity

of environmentally hazardous or degraded environments, such as toxic

waste, pollution and urban decay. Cases of environmental racism have been

documented around the world, with one of the first high-profile cases

occurring in the 1980s in Warren County, North Carolina, when a

hazardous waste landfill was constructed in the small, predominately

African-American community. (by Kathym November 30, 2016)

The idea of environmental racism is, like all mentions of racism in

America, controversial. Even in the age of climate change, many people

still view the environment mostly as a set of forces of nature, one that

cannot favor or disfavor one group or another. And even those who

recognize that the human sphere of influence shapes almost every molecule

of the places in which humans live, from the climate to the weather to the

air they breathe, are often loathe to concede that racism is a factor.
To many people, racism often connotes purposeful decisions by a master

hand, and many see existing segregation as a self-sorting or poverty

problem. Couldn’t the presence of landfills and factories in

disproportionately black neighborhoods have more to do with the fact that

black people tend to be disproportionately poor and thus live in less

desirable neighborhoods?

Statement of the problem (SOP)

This study tries to find out the problems regarding to environmental

racism.

It sought to answer some of the problems like:

1. The ones who are involved here

- Causes why they are involved

- Effects to them

2. Why does environmental exist.

3. What are the reason for it to occur.

This are only some of the minor problem in environmental racism.

Environmental racism’s major problems are the cause and effect of the

decision of the people about their environment. It usually covers the

problems regarding to health which is caused by wrong decision making.

This research is intending to answer some question regarding about the

environmental racism. It aims to solve problem by sharing some

information that might help the readers. It is purposely made to get actions

from the readers that might solve or help the problem regarding to it.

Significance of the study

Members of the minority group all around the globe wear a greater burden

of the health problems. These problems result from higher exposure to

waste and pollution. This can occur due to unsafe and unhealthy work

conditions. Hazard includes toxic waste, garbage dumps, drainage system

and other sources of Environmental pollution. Working conditions where

no regulations exist affects poor workers, or in neighborhoods that are

uncomfortably chose to toxic materials.

Research shows that sociologists with projects are examining how

environmental racism is addressed in the long term cleanup of the

environmental disasters.
Definition of terms

Climate Change - the change in global or regional climate patterns, in

particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and

attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide

produced by the use of fossil fuels.

Discrimination - the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories

of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.

Environmental Hazard - An environmental hazard is a substance, a state

or an event which has the potential to threaten the surrounding natural

environment / or adversely affect people's health, including pollution and

natural disasters such as storms and earthquakes.

Environmental Racism - Environmental racism is a concept in the

environmental justice movement, which developed throughout the 1970s

and 1980s in the United States. The term is used to describe environmental

injustice that occurs in practice and in policy within a racialized context. In

a national context, environmental racism criticizes inequalities between

urban and exurban areas after white flight.

Hazardous Waste - Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or

potential threats to public health or the environment.

Person of color - a person who is not white or of European parentage.

Pollution - the presence in or introduction into the environment of a

substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

Racism - prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against

someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is

superior.

Toxic Waste - A general term used to refer to chemical compounds

produced by industry which, if they are ingested or breathed in by humans,

can cause physiological damage.

Urban Decay - is the sociological process by which a previously

functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude.