Humans need clean air, fresh water, healthy soil, and protection from hazards like chemicals, radiation, and toxic waste. Unfortunately, industries like agriculture, construction, chemical production, and others cause severe harm to the environment. According to the World Health Organization, 99% of Earth’s population breathes unhealthy air. In the United States alone, thousands of oil spills pollute the ocean, rivers, and lakes. Who is affected most by these environmental hazards? Research shows communities of color get hit the hardest; this is known as environmental racism. In this article, we’ll define environmental racism, give three examples, and discuss ways to take action.
What is environmental racism?
Environmental racism is a form of racism where health hazards (like polluted air and contaminated water) disproportionately affect ethnic minorities and communities of color. Building landfills, chemical plants, and oil refineries near and in majority Black communities and refusing to address harmful consequences is just one example. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., a civil rights leader, coined the term “environmental racism.” He created it after noticing how often polluting and waste facilities were built in communities of low-income Black Americans, Indigenous people, Hispanic people, and Asian Americans.
Years of research show that environmental hazards affect communities of color more severely than their white peers. Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans are exposed to more pollution from every single type of pollution, including industry, residential sources, construction, agriculture, and industry. Income doesn’t always matter! According to one study, higher-income Black people still had a greater health risk from particle pollution than their white counterparts. Global climate change has a racial dimension, too, as marginalized groups experience the worst impacts.
What are examples of environmental racism?
Environmental racism occurs around the world. Here are three examples from the United States, Nigeria, and Canada:
Lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan
Lead is a naturally occurring element in the Earth’s crust, but it’s been used in paint, pipes, batteries, and cosmetics. When exposure is too high, it can lead to serious health issues, especially in kids six years old and younger. Effects of lead poisoning in kids include slowed growth, anemia, behavioral and learning difficulties, and lower IQs. Pregnant women and adults are at risk of miscarriage, heart disease, decreased kidney function, and reproductive problems. According to A Terrible Thing To Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind, almost 2 out of 5 African-American homes have lead-based paint, even though scientists have known the dangers of lead paint and plumbing since the 1880s.
The story of Flint, Michigan, showcases the devastation of lead poisoning on Black Americans. For years, water issues plagued the Michigan city, which is 56.3% Black. In 2013, the real trouble began when the city began pumping water from the Flint River. The river water was corrosive, but officials didn’t treat it correctly. As the flow rushed through Flint’s lead pipes, it led to a massive leaching of lead into the water people used for drinking, cooking, and bathing. According to A Terrible Thing To Waste, the lead levels put Flint’s water into the EPA’s classification for hazardous waste. After years of denying the lead poisoning, the city finally agreed to replace the pipes, but in March of 2024, a federal court held the city in contempt for violating its required milestones.
Oil contamination in Nigeria’s Niger Delta
The Niger Delta sits on the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria. According to a 2024 paper, the delta is afflicted by several environmental issues, such as pollution, deforestation, oil spillage, and the destruction of plants and animals. Multinational oil companies are to blame. The paper’s author argues this environmental degradation should be seen as environmental racism. In Western countries, companies would not be allowed to pollute with such abandon without serious consequences.
What happened in the Niger Delta? In the 1950s, oil was discovered. For the next half-century, oil spills, natural gas flaring, and other crises caused severe harm to the Ogoni people, the area’s ethnic minority group. In 2011, the UN Environmental Programme released a report showing that the 50+ years of oil operations and contamination was “widespread and severely impacting many components of the environment.” The Shell oil company was the primary culprit and they were urged to clean the area. However, by 2020, clean-up had begun on only 11% of polluted sites and none were completely clean, according to Amnesty International. The contamination in Ogoniland is a clear example of huge corporations trampling on the rights of ethnic minorities for profit.
Toxic air in Chemical Valley, Sarnia
Sarnia, Ontario is the largest city on the banks of Lake Huron in Canada. Known for its successful production industry, the city created chemicals used in plastics, gasoline, fertilizer, pesticides, and more. Most of those plants and refineries were built within a 15-mile radius known as “Chemical Valley.” Production kicked off during WWII when the Allies needed synthetic rubber, but by the 1970s, more companies and chemical industries arrived. Today, production has slowed, but the effects are undeniable: the air is toxic.
Generations of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation have suffered from Chemical Valley’s pollution. The air often smells like sulfur and industrial emergencies like explosions, chemical releases, and flaring events are not uncommon. People are also exposed to frightening levels of benzene, a toxic air pollutant. Benzene causes severe health issues like myeloma and leukemia. Local Canadian officials have consistently failed to take significant action, and in 2020, Aamjiwnaang leaders issued a notice to one of the polluting companies demanding changes. In 2024, Aamjiwnaang First Nation declared a state of emergency due to spiked chemical releases. This was not the first emergency, and if pollution continues, it won’t be the last.
How do we take action against environmental racism?
Like all forms of systemic racism, environmental racism is deeply entrenched. Here are three ways to take action:
#1. Advocate for legislation that advances environmental justice
In 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Environmental racism is a violation of that human right, and it’s up to all of us to advocate for legislation that advances environmental justice on a local, national, and international level. What does this look like? Here are some examples:
- If you live in a country with a representative democracy, contact your representative about the importance of bills that protect the air, water, soil, and all parts of the environment.
- Find organizations that work on legislation and see if they’re committed to environmental protection. If they are, get involved in any way you can, and if they aren’t, talk to them about why environmental racism is a serious issue.
- Volunteer for organizations, grassroots coalitions, and other groups raising awareness of environmental racism.
- Advocate for “green amendments” to local and national constitutions that protect the right to a healthy environment. The nonprofit Green Amendment for the Generations works on this issue. Read The Green Amendment: The People’s Fight for a Clean, Safe, and Healthy Environment for more information.
#2. Give Indigenous people more control over land management
Research shows that Indigenous peoples and local communities do an excellent job conserving land and protecting biodiversity. While their work is often ignored in the modern conservation movement, Indigenous people have made environmental protection a part of their identity for thousands of years. In places like Australia, Brazil, and Canada, land managed by Indigenous people had more vertebrae species than other protected areas. Native-led land management techniques include:
- Traditional fire management practices that suppress large wildfires and control available fire fuel, preventing more severe and dangerous fires later in the year
- Diverse farming systems, like intercropping, which is when farmers plant more than one complementary plant together to enhance productivity, protect against diseases, and keep soil healthy
- Agroforestry, which mixes trees, shrugs, and hedges with crops to improve soil health, provide habitats for animals, protect livestock, and improve food production
- Recovering and protecting wetlands, which have traditionally been used for farming in places like Hawaii and Mexico
#3. Environmental organizations need to put racial justice at the forefront
As a movement, environmentalism has a racist past. Many of the movement’s most important figures and groups advocated for “untouched wildernesses” while ignoring or outright calling for the elimination of the Indigenous people, poor people, and other marginalized communities who depend on the land. For example, John Muir, the founder of The Sierra Club, held derogatory views about Black and Indigenous people. While communities of color have always fought for their right to a healthy environment, their work is often dismissed. Today, environmental organizations need to ensure they’re prioritizing the end of environmental racism. Here are some ideas on how to do that:
- Identify who benefits from your organization’s programs and assess whether you’re reaching the people who need help the most.
- Distribute funds and grants with equity as a primary goal; endowments to BIPOC-led organizations are almost 4 times smaller than white-led organizations.
- Provide technical assistance and expertise to grassroots groups working on environmental justice free of charge.
- Make environmental justice and anti-racism a core part of the organization’s work and not just a snappy buzzword with no action behind it. Bring in experts and consultants who can help develop impactful strategies that work.
