Page 159 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

Leopold intended that the land ethic would help guide
decision making. “A thing is right,” he wrote, “when it tends to
preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic com-
munity. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” Leopold died
before seeing “The Land Ethic” and his best-known book, A
Sand County Almanac, in print, but today many view him as
the most eloquent philosopher of environmental ethics.

Environmental justice seeks equal
treatment for all races and classes

Our society’s domain of ethical concern has been expanding
from rich to poor, and from majority races and ethnic groups
to minority ones. This ethical expansion involves applying a
standard of equal treatment, and it has given rise to the envi-
ronmental justice movement. Environmental justice involves
the fair and equitable treatment of all people with respect to
environmental policy and practice, regardless of their income,
race, or ethnicity.
The struggle for environmental justice has been fueled FIguRE 6.7 Environmental justice first gained prominence with
by the recognition that poor people tend to be exposed to a this protest against a toxic waste dump in North Carolina.
greater share of pollution, hazards, and environmental deg-
radation than are richer people. Environmental justice advo-
cates also note that racial and ethnic minorities tend to suffer
more exposure to most hazards than whites. Indeed, studies economically neglected region provide jobs to local resi-
repeatedly document that poor and nonwhite communities dents but also pollute water, bury streams, degrade forests,
each tend to bear heavier burdens of air pollution, lead poison- and cause flooding. The mostly low-income residents of
ing, pesticide exposure, toxic waste exposure, and workplace affected Appalachian communities have historically had lit-
hazards. This is thought to occur because lower-income and tle political power to voice complaints over the impacts of
minority communities often have less access to information these mining practices.
on environmental health risks, less political power with which Today, although our economies have grown, the gaps
to protect their interests, and less money to spend on avoid- between rich and poor have widened. And despite much pro-
ing or alleviating risks. Environmental justice proponents also gress toward racial equality, significant inequities remain.
sometimes blame institutionalized racism and inadequate Environmental laws have proliferated, but minorities and the
government policies. poor still suffer substandard environmental conditions (FIguRE
A protest in the 1980s by residents of Warren County, 6.8). Still, today more people are fighting environmental haz-
North Carolina, against a toxic waste dump in their community ards in their communities and winning.
helped to ignite the environmental justice movement (FIguRE 6.7). One ongoing success story is in California’s San Joaquin
The state had chosen to site the dump in the county with the Valley. The poor, mostly Latino, farm workers in this region
highest percentage of African Americans. who harvest much of the U.S. food supply of fruits and
Native Americans have encountered many environmen- vegetables also suffer some of the nation’s worst air pollu-
tal justice issues over the years. For instance, uranium min- tion. Industrial agriculture generates pesticide emissions,
ing on lands of the Navajo nation in the Southwest employed dairy feedlot emissions, and windblown dust from erod-
many Navajo in the 1950s and 1960s. Although uranium ing farmland, yet this pollution was not being regulated.
mining had been linked to health problems and premature Valley residents enlisted the help of organizations including
death, the miners were not made aware of radiation and its the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment, a San
risks. For nearly two decades neither the mining industry Francisco–based environmental justice law firm. Together
nor the U.S. government provided the miners information they persuaded California regulators to enforce Clean Air Act
or safeguards. Many Navajo families built homes and bread- provisions and convinced California legislators to pass new
baking ovens out of waste rock from the mines, not realizing legislation regulating agricultural emissions. Today the farm
it was radioactive. Lung cancer began to appear among Nav- workers and their advocates continue working to strengthen
ajo miners in the 1960s. A later generation of Americans per- and enforce clean air regulations.
ceived this as negligence and discrimination, and they sought Environmental justice is a key component in pursuing the
justice through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of environmental, economic, and social goals of sustainability
1990, a federal law compensating Navajo miners who suf- and sustainable development (pp. 32, 174–175). As we explore
fered health effects from unprotected work in the mines. environmental issues from a scientific standpoint throughout
Similarly, white residents of the Appalachian region this book, we will also encounter the social, political, ethical,
have long been the focus of environmental justice concerns. and economic aspects of these issues, and the concept of envi-
158 Mountaintop coal mining practices (pp. 659–663) in this ronmental justice will arise again and again.

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