The Importance Of Environmental Climate Change And Environmental Inequalities

Environmental climate change and environmental inequalities are topics that need to be addressed globally, although to bring about changes perhaps the best way to do so is through working with local environmental agencies and the people that are being directly affected. Angela Park quotes Angela Johnson Mezaros in Everybody’s Movement: Environmental Justice and Climate Change, stating that the belief that most mainstream environmentalists view the environment as “…someplace over there. You get in your car and drive to it. It’s not something you’re a part of. There is little space in that definition to incorporate concerns in ways that resonate with others who define the environment differently.”1 Environment means many things depending on

It can mean the mountains around them that they hike or forage for mushrooms, fields where they grow their food or hold their livelihood, creeks that flow beside their homes that they spend summers laying in, or the meadows that they lay in at various times of the day, listening to birds, crickets, cows, and owls. “Environment” is not something that is easy to categorize, because it can hold some many different meanings based upon who the person is who is giving their perspective, and it is not uncommon that this perspective intersects with one’s class or race. These different perspectives can very well relate to how the environmental justice group defines the environment as “the places we live, work, play, and

Lisa Arkin, the Executive Director of Beyond Toxics, stated that environmental inequalities are not uncommon among people of color and/or the poor, and that it is not surprising that factories that contribute to pollution are often placed in areas with higher concentrations of the poor and/or people of color. This is true among areas in Eugene, such as the Bethel neighborhood, and Train Song. Although this is a reality for many poor and/or people of color, communities, and neighborhoods do not have to accept this as a permanent reality. Affected communities and neighborhoods can often find allies within local environmental agencies. As with Beyond Toxics, these agencies will work at local levels to address the environmental issues affecting an area. This is essential because a one-for-everything plan will not work in every situation, and local agencies are better equipped to understand the issues that need to be dealt with, environmental concerns, and what the people in the area need to have executed to achieve greater environmental justice. Local environmental agencies also have a much better ability to interact with local citizens, to learn what their concerns and needs are, because often those living in the area are the ones who best understand those environmental