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White Politics, Black Lives, & The Cost Of Being Green: Environmental Racism In Emelle, Alabama, Laura M. Wilson

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

In the 1970s, Emelle, Alabama welcomed the establishment of a new corporation and the promise of new economic opportunities. The small settlement, almost exclusively African-American (94%) and in poverty (67%) was selected by Waste Management, Inc., after lobbying by Governor George Wallace to create the largest hazardous waste landfill in the US. When a state policy change significantly increasing costs, production slowed, jobs dissipated (from 430 to 250), and destitution returned. At the same time, other problems began to the surface, including water contamination and increasing rates of childhood cancers, attributable to the toxic seepage. The dump still operates, but …

A Student Primer On Intersectionality: Not Just A Buzzword, Elodie Silberstein, Marisa Tramontano, Meghana V. Nayak

Open Educational Resources

This book:

● lays out the objectives of WS 166, Gender, Race, and Class, taught in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Pace University, New York City campus;

● provides a structure for any course addressing intersectionality, feminism, and oppression;

● describes the framework of intersectionality, which examines societal issues by analyzing the interlocking systems of oppression that shape people’s lives;

● argues for a transnational application of intersectionality that also centers U.S. Black feminists’ contributions to understanding oppression;

● includes journal articles, TED Talks, and class exercises that are generally accessible for most students or interested readers without previous …

Environmental Justice In Little Village: A Case For Reforming Chicago’S Zoning Law, Charles Isaacs

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Chicago’s Little Village community bears the heavy burden of environmental injustice and racism. The residents are mostly immigrants and people of color who live with low levels of income, limited access to healthcare, and disproportionate levels of dangerous air pollution. Before its retirement, Little Village’s Crawford coal-burning power plant was the lead source of air pollution, contributing to 41 deaths, 550 emergency room visits, and 2,800 asthma attacks per year. After the plant’s retirement, community members wanted a say on the future use of the lot, only to be closed out when a corporation, Hilco Redevelopment Partners, bought the lot …

Environmental Justice And Environmental Racism: An Annotated Bibliography And General Overview, Focusing On U.S. Literature, 1996-2002, Robin L. Turner, Diana Pei Wu

Robin L Turner

We review the literature published in academic, non-law journals on environmental justice and environmental racism, focusing on the literature relevant to the environmental justice movement in the United States. In the overview we define major concepts: environment, justice, race and racism. We discuss major trends in the literature and in the movement and current issues and debates, including risk assessment, GIS mapping, and community-based research and campaigns. Annotations are provided for over 100 publications. We also include a table of GIS based studies and findings, a list of publications and dissertations not summarized, and a list of special issues and …

We Speak For Ourselves: Grassroots Movements In The Struggle For Environmental Justice, Christopher O'Brien

Global Studies Student Scholarship

This literature review and thesis examine two main issues, one on grassroots and community organizing and the other discussing the implications of environmental racism. The paper examines the nature of why low income and minority communities experience a disproportionate amount of environmental injustices, and what can be done at the grassroots level to combat this. Through a review of literature on both community/grassroots organizing and the prevalence of environmental racism within the United States, along with experiential findings through a community partnership, the issues of remedying environmental racism and the effectiveness of the remedies are explored. Environmental racism is a …

Environmental Justice And Environmental Racism: An Annotated Bibliography And General Overview, Focusing On U.S. Literature, 1996-2002, Robin L. Turner, Diana Pei Wu

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We review the literature published in academic, non-law journals on environmental justice and environmental racism, focusing on the literature relevant to the environmental justice movement in the United States. In the overview we define major concepts: environment, justice, race and racism. We discuss major trends in the literature and in the movement and current issues and debates, including risk assessment, GIS mapping, and community-based research and campaigns. Annotations are provided for over 100 publications. We also include a table of GIS based studies and findings, a list of publications and dissertations not summarized, and a list of special issues and …