Wisconsin Environmental Justice Coalition
What is environmental justice?
Why are there environmental disparities?
How can environmental justice be achieved?
What is environmental justice?
Environmental justice addresses the disparities of who gets what, why and how much of the benefits and burdens of human expansion and utilization of natural resources. As suspected, statistics show that people and communities are differently impacted, based on race and economic status.
Distribution of Environmental Burdens in DANE County from Scorecard, an online pollution information site at www.scorecard.org
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Distribution of Burdens by Race/Ethnicity |
Distribution of Burdens by Poverty |
|
People of color |
Whites |
People of color/whites ratio |
Families below poverty |
Families above poverty
|
Families below/above poverty ratio |
Releases of Toxic Chemicals (indicator of chemical releases) |
68,000 |
86,000 |
0.79 |
68,000 |
74,000 |
0.94 |
Cancer Risks from Hazardous Air Pollutants (added risks per 1,000,000) |
240 |
190 |
1.26 |
200 |
160 |
1.25 |
Superfund Sites
(sites per square miles) |
0.14 |
0.058 |
2.41 |
0.17 |
0.59 |
2.88 |
Facilities Emitting Criteria Air Pollutants (facilities per square mile) |
7.7 |
5.2 |
1.48 |
5 |
3.1 |
1.61 |
Why are there environmental disparities?
Environmental burdens stem from various factors, such as
- Racism and classism
- an intentional disregard for non-white communities and poor communities
- targeting of non-white and poor communities that are socially isolated and economically limited, and therefore, are less likely to successfully fight back
- historical geographic and social isolation of non-white and poor communities in already less desirable areas that are more likely to be neglected for environmental protection
- racial discrimination and economic limitations that prevent non-white and poor individuals from moving to more desirable areas
- Political disenfranchisement arising from those circumstances
- Lesser connection, knowledge and comfort levels with systems
- Physical segregation: neighborhoods, community centers, political representation, highways dividing places and people
- How systems work:
- i.e., litigation, specific deadlines, specific rules of evidence and process;
- i.e., scientific data or what government agencies will accept as valid data (citizen monitoring)
- Limited time and resources: non-white and poor communities are served by nonprofits that are stretched thin
- Attitudes: citizens’ belief and confidence that governments are there to serve their best interests and won’t make decisions or take actions that would be harmful to people
- Lack of access to data: public hearings, transparency, ability to meaningfully participate, media focus, educational opportunities
How can environmental justice be achieved?
Given the multiple factors causing environmental disparities, environmental justice needs a multi-disciplinary approach.
Different groups and organizations in Madison are starting the WI Environmental Justice Coalition, including:
- Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc—a public law firm with a unique brand of lawyering combining litigation and community organizing.
- Madison Environmental Justice Organization—a grassroots group in the process of incorporating, which has focused on the Monona Bay clean-up and outreach to the Hmong community.
- Clean WI—an environmental organization focusing on clean water, clean air, clean energy and clean government.
- Environmental Justice Action Coalition—a student group at UW-Madison.
- UW-Madison Department of Geology and Geophysics professors and students.
- UW-Madison Law School environmental law professors and students.
- ACLU-WI—a civil rights advocacy group
- and others will be joining us!
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Environmental Justice Links
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