Environmental justice and harm to humans - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 38

Environmental discrimination is at the heart of the EJ project. According
to Stretesky and Hogan (1998) environmental justice researchers
try to do at least two things: first, analysis of the placement of active
waste facilities in minority and poor areas; and second, analysis of the
social and political processes that shape racial, ethnic and economic
demographic patterns around existing hazardous waste sites. Direct
discrimination relates to the 'prejudice leads to discrimination' model,
in which there is express intent to deny or harm another individual
or group based on some characteristics that the targeted individual or
group possesses (for example, put the hazard where 'certain' people do
not find it so offensive).
Indirect discrimination relates to practices that result in negative
and differential impacts on minorities even though the policies or
regulations guiding those actions were established and carried out with
no intent to harm (for example, economic and social forces may serve
to constrain the choices of minorities and the poor when compared to
the choices available to whites and the affluent - that is, what school
to attend, where to live, what kind of work is available, and so on).
Researchers assess broad patterns of urban settlement in order to
establish whether or not there are social inequalities related to the siting
of waste facilities. They also evaluate the social reasons why this may be
the case, incorporating into the analysis consideration of both direct and
indirect discrimination. Risk is never socially neutral. Environmental
justice explores why and how this is the case.
Environmental racism has been used to describe the ways in which,
within the United States context in particular, minority communities
comprised of people of colour (for example, African Americans) have
suffered denial of basic human rights and environmental protection,
and have generally and disproportionately had to live and work close
to polluting industries and toxic dumping grounds. As a concept,
environmental racism refers to 'any policy, practice, or directive that
differentially affects or disadvantages (whether intended or unintended)
individuals, groups, or communities because of their race or color'
(Bullard, 2005b: 32). Those who live in proximity to contaminated land,
air and water tend to be those with less overall social and economic
power, and this, in turn is associated with 'race' and ethnicity (Hurley,
1995; Bullard, 2005a). It may well be that the rich get richer, and the
poor get prison (Reiman, 2000), but people of colour get poison.
The environmental social justice framework seeks to prevent
environmental threats and is premised upon a series of interlinked
propositions and principles (see Bullard, 2005b). These principles
emphasise values such as social equity (in which all individuals should