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Environmental Justice: Policies and Equality around Pollution

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Environmental Justice: Policies and Equality around Pollution

Environmental degradation indicates the case in which humans destroy natural resources

without considering the future importance of the project. Environmental justice means that all

persons, irrespective of their race, color and national origin, or income, are pretty treated and

participated in developing, implementing, and enforcing environmental legislation, rules, and

policies. Environmental justice refers to equal conduct and significant contribution of all persons

in the preparation, application, and execution of ecological legislation, rules, and policies,

irrespective of race, color, and nation origin or revenue. The pollution produced by humans has

been deteriorating exponentially throughout the world ever since the industrial revolution in the

18th century. To this day, pollution has developed into a threatening issue that has resulted in

millions of deaths and significant economic losses, necessitating an immediate response to

ensure the security of natural resources and the health of all living lives.

Pollution remediation methods are becoming increasingly successful as people become

more aware of the danger posed by pollution and technology improves. Despite recent

advancements in pollution research, the global environmental problem worsens, particularly in

developing nations where the highest pollution-related fatalities are. The Environmental Justice

Movement was founded by people of color in reaction to global environmental injustices. Certain

factors in the decision-making process must cause this uneven distribution of environmental

problems. This article seeks to answer the question: How do industrial pollution influence

pollution policies and choices? The article uses meta-analysis and case studies to make

conclusions regarding racial and economic bias in pollution policies and choices (Foster, 2016).

Environmental racism highlights that people of color and indigenous people are

disproportionately affected by pollution, rendering them more vulnerable to environmental

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dangers. As a result of colonialism, environmental racism continues to damage indigenous

territories both directly and indirectly.

Following the United Nations' proposal during the assembly's third session, many regions

have taken initiatives to address this impending risk. Equivalent protection against environmental

and health risks and equal participation in decision-making processes is necessary to provide a

healthy environment to live, study, and work. This paper aims to address this question with a

specific focus on industrial pollution, namely: How are pollution policies and decisions biased?

By employing the tools of meta-analysis and case studies, the paper concludes the discriminatory

policies and decisions around pollution concerning race and economic status.

Numerous studies have shown that under-develop areas and societies of color are more

likely to be exposed to outdoor air pollution and have a more significant number of pollutant

sources. The social, economic, and health inequalities faced by these groups may further increase

their vulnerability to the impacts of air pollution. There are many levels of environmental justice.

In addition to the greater degree of pollution, lower-income groups, colored communities, and

indigenous communities frequently lack healthy living facilities, resources, and circumstances.

Social and economic opportunities, excellent education, access to healthcare, safe areas, and

more affect people's health. When they are absent, poor air quality frequently leads to

inequalities in health. The MPCA focuses part of its efforts on areas of the state with a more

significant number of low-income inhabitants, people of color, and tribal communities on

minimizing these unequal effects (Henderson & Lankoski, 2020). This involves more targeted

funding and support, more excellent monitoring of air quality, and enhanced inspection of

emission sources in certain regions. The map below illustrates the environmental justice

communities. The cumulative effects of exposure to pollutants and social stresses result in health
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inequalities. There is increasing interest in understanding these cumulative effects, rendering

inhabitants of lower-income areas and colored populations more sensitive to air pollution health

consequences.

The idea of equality demands everyone to be given the same to live a happy, healthy life.

Equity, by contrast, demands that we tackle obstacles to achieving the same results and

acknowledge that some groups or individuals begin from another location. Health equality

implies that everyone is given a chance to achieve the most significant potential health degree

without limitations imposed by unjust policies, institutions, and investments. In the interests of

fairness, addressing environmental injustice involves MPCA's efforts to reduce unequal

exposures to air pollution. The MPCA also mandates that all Minnesotans be able to participate

meaningfully in environmental decisions. It also involves working with others to enhance

general circumstances for a healthy existence (Henderson & Lankoski, 2020). Together with

many local and national government stakeholders, the MPCA works to achieve environmental

justice and promote health equality.

Colonialism refers to the dominant structure that allows settlers to access territory for

their reasons and, in essence, enables settlers to do whatever they want with the colonized region,

which includes establishing heavy-polluter businesses on their homelands and using them for

direct waste disposal. For instance, the primary goal of the Spanish colonial rulers was to

maintain a constant rise in silver output during the 15th and 17th centuries due to insufficient

expertise and technology involved in the manufacture of vast quantities of mercury,

contaminating the Amazon River Basin in the adjacent form and making the world's most

extensive freshwater system a significant vector for contaminating mercury (Wood, 2015).

During the Cold War, a modern example of polluted native land occurred when the U.S. dumped
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radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean without proper processing near the Pacific Island

countries. Radioactive contamination has since contributed to ocean pollution and reduced public

welfare.

Colonialism also contributed indirectly to pollution degradation. The imperial expansion

process led to unrestricted mining and deforestation of natural resources. As Wood (2015)

observes, previously colonized nations, impoverished by unfair trade, frequently had little other

alternatives but reinvested in their old imperial authority in extractive infrastructure. This has

been the case for Nigeria, Liberia, Nauru, and an extensive list of other nations which have been

stuccoed in a mono-economy, as per Mehta et al. (2014). The increasing deterioration of the

environment to satisfy forced economic demands has weakened the natural protection of the land

from pollutants, which has indirectly led to increased air and water pollution.

Environmental racism is ongoing colonial aggression that leads to the uneven distribution

of pollutants, and in the contemporary post-colonial world, the resultant tragedies are still taking

place. A concrete illustration of this argument is building a 1.172-mile crude oil pipeline, the

Dakota Access Pipeline. The investors want to profit by offering a less costly option to train

transit, ignorant to the environmental dangers the pipeline may pose to water quality and the

cultural heritage of indigenous people in the area (McDonald et al., 2021). The Trump

administration authorized the building license for the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was later

spread five times in 2017, the biggest being a 168-gallon leak. Despite considerable resistance.

Colorful people are sometimes unfairly treated in judgments on pollution, including

decisions on the location of polluting enterprises According to studies done in the U.S., over

a million black Americans reside in about half a mile of natural gas, over one million African

Americans suffer a "cancer risk over the polluting air threshold" of the EPA. Over 6.7 million
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black live in U.S. oil refinery districts. On average, blacks are 75% more likely to live in areas

with significant environmental hazards than whites (Fleischman & Franklin, 2017). The meta-

analysis provided in the study reveals the pervasive proof of race-based environmental

inequalities in the U.S.

Environmental racism may also be seen in the uneven distribution of tree cover in

metropolitan areas. Urban trees are protected by lowering air pollutants levels and maintaining

water quality. Nevertheless, new research shows that colored neighbors are less tree-covered

than white in 67% of U.S. towns, resulting in a 1.5 degree Celsius temperature gap between

white and black communities (McDonald RI et al. 2021). This disparity in tree canopy coverage

has an indirect impact on pollutant dispersion. There is an unequal distribution of contaminants

that may have an economic explanation. This element is influenced by three main components:

the economic circumstances of countries, the economic trading system, and the local income

level.

Global pollution data show that industrial pollution is primarily concentrated in less

developed areas of the globe. The Pollution Haven Hypothesis elucidates these phenomena in

three dimensions. The first is manufacturing facility relocation. Multinational companies often

establish high-polluting enterprises in developing nations with weak environmental laws and

pollution control to reduce production costs. The second component is the illegal dumping of

hazardous waste in developing nations by wealthy countries. One such example is the growing e-

waste problem. Even though wealthy nations have the technological and financial means

necessary to handle garbage, a significant part is not recycled but is instead shipped directly to

poor countries. This hypothesis' last component is the unfettered use of non-renewable natural

resources in emerging countries, particularly fossil fuels and gas.

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Campbell et al.'s (2013) study establish the hypothesis's validity by demonstrating a

positive connection between Foreign Direct Investment and industrial SO2 emissions using data

from 29 Chinese regions. Between 1960 and 1995, they discovered that pollutant emissions

remained largely stable in OECD economies, increased little in newly industrialized nations, and

increased substantially in Asian developing economies. The combined result demonstrates why

pollution is often considerably worse in developing nations than in industrialized ones since

impoverished countries lack pollution-control technologies and strict laws while polluting

businesses have tended to move to those areas. In other words, international trade transfers

sources of pollution from nations that import products to the ones which manufacture them, but

at the same time, it deprives the less developed areas of their natural resources, which are very

similar to the connection between settlers and colonized territory.

The International Trading System is another economic component that significantly

influences the global distribution of pollution, both positively and negatively. The study found

that most nations had lower import tariffs and non-tariff obstacles for filthy industries than clean

ones (Shapiro J.S., 2020). Additionally, the research indicates that if nations implemented

comparable levies on hygienic and dirty businesses, “global CO2” emissions would decrease, but

worldwide real income would mostly stay constant. Additionally, the International Trade System

may help reduce the pace of global pollution. For instance, as the OECD Economic Policy

Committee reports, the “European Union's Emissions Trading” System resulted in a 10%

decrease in carbon emissions in 31 nations between 2005 and 2012. The combined findings show

that economic trade systems may have a beneficial or harmful effect on global pollution

production.
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The local income level provides insight into the state's approach to pollution. Given that

administration behavior is inclined by the radical ability of possibly harmed citizens, it is self-

evident that pollution control would be less stringently implemented in low-income areas.

Konisky (2009) confirms this theory by analyzing data from three federal pollution control

initiatives in the United States. According to his study, a significant and consistent correlation

exists between the poverty percentage in a county and the level of environmental law

enforcement. Governments, in particular, accompanied fewer examinations and imposed fewer

disciplinary activities in regions with advanced poverty rates. Without strict enforcement of

environmental regulations, local pollution increases and eventually presents health risks to

residents.

Race affects both the direct and indirect distribution of pollutants. Individuals of color are

more likely to become subjects of pollution and contamination as a result of colonialism.

Colonialists' excessive resource exploration deprives the land of its ability to purify itself of

pollutants, indirectly resulting in excessive pollution in certain regions. Using indigenous lands

for environmentally dangerous acts such as nuclear experiments directly emits untreated

contaminants into the land. Minority communities often suffer extreme environmental hazards

because regulated facilities are more likely to be situated nearby than black areas, thus getting

less pollution protection (Anguelovski, 2015). Pollution Haven Hypothesis postulates that most

polluting industries are purposefully located in developing countries to reduce manufacturing

costs and avoid regulatory oversight of environmentally unsound practices, resulting in an

intensification of local environmental issues in developing regions, as per Corburn (2017). The

disparity in tariffs between clean and dirty sectors contributes to the deterioration of the global
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greenhouse effect. In summary, the findings indicate that pollution is disproportionately

concentrated in minority populations and developing areas globally.

Contrary to previous studies, minority groups do not suffer more significant

environmental hazards. To further understand the connections between pollution distribution and

race, this study will use worldwide data from a mix of developing and developed nations. The

worldwide dynamics of Foreign Direct Investment and environmental policy is another topic that

needs more research. For example, can a nation shed its reputation as a polluter's haven? Despite

the seriousness of global pollution, the states' and the public's expectations have not been met.

Corburn (2017) Pollution management needs everyone's cooperation, but more crucially, it

requires policymakers to respond appropriately. The results indicate that changing government

policies may help decrease environmental risk inequalities. While the government cannot change

the way hazardous waste is currently distributed, it may increase enforcement against facilities

that violate emission limits and strive to ensure high compliance rates with environmental laws

and regulations.

Moreover, media organizations must improve public understanding of pollution

remediation and environmental protection (Corburn, 2017). Environmental justice is an

acknowledged and compelling viewpoint for assessing environmental conditions and their

impact on people's lives. It recommends considering the broad range of consequences of

environmental burdens on the everyday lives of people exposed to them beyond the health

effects of environmental issues, according to Campbell et al. (2013). Many government agencies,

quasi-governmental organizations, and NGOs adopt a more constructive and aggressive attitude

to improve environmental availability and access.

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References

Anguelovski, I. (2015). From Toxic Sites to Parks as (Green) LULUs? New Challenges of Inequity,

Privilege, Gentrification, and Exclusion for Urban Environmental Justice. Journal of Planning

Literature, 31(1), 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412215610491

Campbell, H. E., Kim, Y., & Eckerd, A. (2013). Local Zoning and Environmental Justice. Urban Affairs

Review, 50(4), 521–552. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087413505736

Corburn, J. (2017). Concepts for Studying Urban Environmental Justice. Current Environmental Health

Reports, 4(1), 61–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-017-0123-6

Foster, S. (2016, June 5). Vulnerability, Equality, and Environmental Justice: The Potential and Limits

of Law. Papers.ssrn.com. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2790584

Henderson, B., & Lankoski, J. (2020). Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Policies.

Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13081

McDonald, R. I., Biswas, T., Sachar, C., Housman, I., Boucher, T. M., Balk, D., Nowak, D., Spotswood,

E., Stanley, C. K., & Leyk, S. (2021). The tree cover and temperature disparity in U.S. urbanized

areas: Quantifying the association with income across 5,723 communities. PLOS ONE, 16(4),

e0249715. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249715
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Mehta, L., Allouche, J., Nicol, A., & Walnycki, A. (2014). Global environmental justice and the right to

water: The case of peri-urban Cochabamba and Delhi. Geoforum, 54, 158–166.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.05.014

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