Since the industrial revolution the United States has experienced tremendous change. This change has created a consumer culture that has resulted in the creation of mass amounts of waste. According to reports, in the year 2003 Americans produced almost 500 million pounds waste. Alone the U.S consumes 30% of the world’s resources and produces 30% of all waste (Conquest, 2). These numbers attest to a consumer culture that has created an undesirable waste problem that is yet to be resolved. However, not everyone is affected proportionately by waste, as predominantly low-income communities live in close proximity to waste related sites. In this paper I will discuss how low-income communities are disproportionately subjected to the detrimental health effects caused by waste, and I will argue that low-income communities have historically and are currently responding to counter the effects of waste to protect their communities.
Low-income communities are disproportionately living in close proximity to waste related sites in the U.S. To support this claim, reports show that three of out five of the largest landfills in the United States are located in predominantly African American or Latina/o American communities (Hamilton, 6). From this report it is evident that low-income communities are left with the burden of supporting the lifestyles of this consumer society. Although they are the least likely to consume and thus create waste, low-income residents live in communities where they are exposed to degraded environments. To understand why low-income communities live in close proximity to waste related sites, waste corporations claim, “Residents on average are much poorer, less well educated and more likely to be African American than t...
... middle of paper ...
...s of unity in order to bring change to their community. Furthermore, to gains national attention, the Kettleman community produced a short documentary in order to expose the illness and death that the landfill is creating. To extent to which the community created a documentary, reveals the motivation and desperation of the small community to gain public support against a corporate giant such as The Chemical Waste Management. Ultimately, the frustration of the residents can be seen as they consistently express, “Why us?”. While the case of Kettleman City awaits the results of toxic analysis to shows that in fact the facility is causing negative health effects in the community, this case is indicative of how even the smallest communities can bring create change and more importantly it shows that low-income communities are currently opposing waste in their communities.
All three of these examples prove that pollution is happening in Texas and that it is important for residents to get involved if they want a change to happen. Sometimes, even governmental agencies cannot stop pollution. We must take care of our natural resources, especially land and water, because they are non-renewable. We want our state to be clean for our grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. This will not happen unless residents of these toxic waste sites take action and let their voices be heard. Besides, whatever happened to the slogan, “Don’t Mess With Texas?”
Americans are accustomed to wasting whenever they get the chance to, without thinking of the consequences it has on the environment. The overconsumption encouraged by the industrial economy has led to environmental issues. The essays "Waste Not, Want Not" by Bill Mckibben and "Forget Shorter Showers" by Derrick Jensen provides readers with various points on waste, how much of it there is, and the dangers it has caused to the environment; each giving their own side on the culprits behind damaging the world. Jensen claims that the largest contributor to the environment problem is the industrial economy (341).
You decide, one Sunday, to take a random drive in the country to enjoy the fresh air and lush scenery of fields lit bright with glowing trees swaying in the afternoon sun. After exploring the countless, sand and dirt covered roads that pave the rolling landscape, you turn down one a little more remote than the others. To the right is a field of beautiful sunflowers, to the left you find an illegal dump site full of rusty old cars, appliances, and tin cans. You are appalled by the sight of such negligence by those who do not take the same pride in the environment as you do. How did this happen? Surely this was not the act of one person.
Landfills in America have taken many square miles of what used to be fertile land, forests and communities and that trend does not seem to have an end. The waste, we as Americans, dispose of each year is in the tons and that number rises annually. One of the reasons why this occurs is actually quite simple; population. Population in modern day America has soared to well above three hundred million, in 1915 that number was hundred million. Urbanization and industry has given way to deforestation and landfill creation. The need for more landfills has caused many health concerns, issues, and problems to not only those living near and
Environmental racism is the “targeting of minorities and low-income communities to bear a disproportionate share of environmental costs. It refers to any policy or practice that differently affects or disadvantages individuals, groups or communities based on race or skin color” (Schill & Austin 1991). Environmental racism focuses on race as the primary factor why poor minorities in the United States are bearing a disproportionate share of the nation’s waste. According to research done by The Commission of Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ, areas containing two or more waste facilities or one of the largest waste landfills in the nation had on average about 40% people of color (Mohai, Pellow & Timmons
For example experts argued that the siting of landfills in Warren County made no scientific sense. This explains that the pollution sources are purposely placed in the vicinity of minorities despite the knowledge of the fact that it will the residents drinking water. Also, as shown in the article, “Environmental justice: Income, Race, and Health, “... Asthma prevalence in the U.S in significantly higher in minority and low-income populations than in the general population. Unequal exposure to environmental factors that triggers or exacerbate asthma may play a role.” This shows how the government places hazardous companies in minority dominant communities, which exposes them to toxic hazardous and unsafe conditions. This demonstrates how environmental racism is marked by contamination from different sources of
Though many will see this as only having an affect on Americans, this wastefulness affects everyone on a global scale. Samuel Blackstone wrote the article Waste management: Food waste is a massive global problem, but the solution starts with your Thanksgiving leftovers in 2016 which states “food that is grown but ultimately wasted occupies 1.4 billion hectares of land, representing 30 percent of the world’s entire agricultural land area.”. We may not cause all the worlds food waste, but the waste that we do cause needs to be
Mohai, Paul and Robin Saha. 2007. “Racial Inequality in the Distribution of Hazardous Waste: A National-Level Reassessment.” Social Problems 54 (3): 343-370.
People in Chester are being discriminated so poorly that their lives are at stake. The best way to solve these problems is to remove the waste treatments out of Chester and more spread across the country. But, this is almost as near to impossible due the amount of resources and time it would take to remove the factories. The next best thing I think that could help is more and more support for the cause. If more people start to act on this issue and attack the waste treatment companies, one will start to see a change in the actions of the companies. Another step people could take to escape is blast the companies on the Internet. If people in Chester blew these problems up internationally or even just in America they could get the support they need. The government needs to stop harassing and discriminating against the Black Community. “The environmental justice movement has bridged the divide between nature and society in another way, urging that environmentalists pursue not just the protection of wilderness and natural systems but also the ecological health of human communities, specifically poor, minority, and indigenous communities” (Cannavó, Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature). To summarize this, Essentially politics and nature are morphing to create both good and bad
Abstract- We are going to clean up the bars and restaurants of licking county, but we need your help to do it. Many bars and restaurants don 't recycle, getting them to recycle would make a huge difference in the community. As the reader take a minute to think of all the drinks that you have had at a restaurant or barn now think of all the drinks they are selling in the bars and restaurants and how much of a difference would be made if they were to recycle all of those bottles. We are going to get them to be apart of the R&B Recycling Race. Be apart of the solution, not the problem.
She suggests that Americans should reduce their overconsumption of such commodities since they are overburdening the non-biodegradable waste load in the garbage collection facilities. It is surprising to note that every Americans disposes more than four pounds of trash on a daily basis (Royte, 2005).
First off, the average American only walks a few steps before dumping their trash on the ground without even searching for a garbage can. For example, all it takes is for some trash in the road and it is a car accident waiting to happen. Whether it is because somebody drove their tiny
The single most important environmental issue today is over-consumerism, which leads to excess waste. We buy too much. We think we always need new and better stuff. Will we ever be satisfied? There will always be something better or cooler on the market. Because we live in a capitalistic consumer culture, we have absorbed things like: “Get it while the getting’s good,” “Offer ends soon, buy while it lasts,” “For great deals, come on down…Sunday Sunday Sunday!” We, kids from 1 to 92, have become saturated with commercials like: Obey your thirst. How much of our consumption is compulsive buying, merely obeying our momentary thirst? Do we actually need all that we buy? Could we survive efficiently, even happily, without making so many shopping center runs? Once after I made a Target run with mom, I noticed that most of the bulkiness within my plastic bags with red targets symbols on them was made up of the products’ packaging. I then thought about all the bags that were piled on the floor near us…all of the bags piled on the floors of many homes throughout America daily.
While walking through the park last Sunday, I observed a shocking scene. There were two cans: one for recycling and one for trash. The recycling receptacle had only an empty Dr. Pepper can and a few used Ozarka water bottles. On the other hand, the trash can had a plethora of half eaten meals, wrappers, banana peels and disgustingly even bottles, cans, newspapers and plastics that could have been recycled. Because people do not understand or do not care to understand about conserving our resources, many reusable items are being put in landfills when recycling these items could help save the environment. People should know the negative impact of throwing away a water bottle or newspaper, purchasing meat from the grocery store or consuming gasoline has on the environment, and many do not. By informing society about how their decisions affect the environment, we can help save our planet and change our attitude toward the land we live on, the water we drink and the air we breathe” and truly show respect for the stuff that we depend on.
The solid wastes are produce not only by households; it’s contributed by hospitals and corporations. Hospitals throw away bandages, use needles and latex gloves, these items hospitals throw away daily all the time because they can’t be reuse for the safety of its patients. Corporations throw away a lot of waste as well such as papers that they use whether in writing or in projects. All of these leftovers after consumptions are waste that is produced by our daily actions.