Earth Day — a global celebratory day of cohesive reflection and focused awareness for sustaining our beautiful planet for present and future generations. It is a necessary observance of the right of all people to be protected from air and water pollution, pesticides, abandoned waste sites and similar hazards, exclusive of ethnicity, income level or any other categorization.
Unfortunately, as individuals from all walks of life participate in Earth Day activities, there are a plethora of places around the world where clean water, air and energy are absent and the hope for such necessities appear to have dissipated away This truth is not only evident in developing countries but also in developed nations across the globe.
Within the context of fairness, one would hope that there are no groups of people that disproportionately suffer adverse environmental and health issues (i.e., birth defects, cancer and various acute and chronic diseases) more than any other group. Additionally, there are certain individuals who would assume that some form of legislation would exist to protect people from such environmental injustices. Despite the presence of robust laws and environmental agencies (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency), it is not atypical for minority and low-income communities to bear the burden of excessive amount of toxins and to reside in environmentally-degraded and polluted areas.
Thorough analyses of over 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), environmental justice cases, recent EPA Toxic Release Inventory release data, census tract and demographic information, air quality, water quality and Superfund site (i.e., abandoned hazardous waste) statistics indicate that at least “3 of every 5 individuals of African-American or Latino background live in communities with 1 or more toxic waste sites and more than 15,000,000 African-Americans reside in communities with 1 or more abandoned or uncontrolled toxic waste sites.”
Additional studies have indicated that “African Americans are heavily concentrated in cities with the dirtiest air and are 79 percent more likely than Whites to live in neighborhoods where industrial pollution is suspected of posing the greatest health danger.”
Notwithstanding such disparities, there are at least several Republican governors in the states of North Carolina, Florida and New Jersey who wish to roll back environmental legislation at the state level. Although there has been tremendous progress in environmental quality over the last 40 years, certain critics such as these governors and members of Congress who voted to cut $1.6 billion from EPA’s budget and $49 million from climate change programs believe that environmental regulations are too onerous and taxing for business growth and are impediments to overcoming deficit woes. Hence, they believe that budgets and personnel at state environmental agencies should be cut, existing conservation laws should be rolled back and new environmental regulations should be precluded from issuance.
While it is very important to restore budgets and to implement sound fiscal responsibility at the state level, it is also essential to understand that environmental permitting programs are necessary cornerstones for reducing pollution throughout the nation. Moreover, environmental laws and regulations are salient and critical in helping to ensure that people of all ethnicities and income levels are protected from intentional placement of toxic facilities, lead poisoning, excessive mercury exposure, illegal waste dumping, air and drinking water contaminants, hazardous waste and other environmental hazards.
To be sure, prudent amendments and careful consideration of new environmental regulations should be considered at the state level But, the passage of propositions to truncate manpower and resources, to defund programs and to impede new regulations by both conservative and progressive proponents could certainly exacerbate historic and present environmental issues that exist in poor and minority communities, especially African-American neighborhoods.
Hopefully, governing officials and legislators can move toward a greener and better tomorrow in lieu of traveling the partisan roads that lead to a “silent spring,” as Rachel Carson once expressed.
