Defintion

Environmental Racism is typically referred to as the disproportionate levels of exposure to harmful toxins and environments experienced by marginalized groups (primarily low-income populations and racial minorities).

Furthermore, it can be elaborated to include “racial discrimination in environmental policy making, the enforcement of regulations and laws, the deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste facilities, the official sanctioning of the life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants in our communities, and the history of excluding people of color from leadership of the ecology movements.”

Origin of the Term

Various studies conducted in the 1970-80s began to link the connection between harmful environments and the communities that lived in close proximity to them. In 1982 the concept of environmental racism became acknowledged after protests erupted due to the North Carolina's dumping of "120 million pounds of soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the county with the highest proportion of African Americans." This act proved that environmental racism was not just an idea, but a reality.

This event resulted in a concept that "middle-class white environmentalists had failed to consider, i.e., that people of color and poor communities were facing ecological risks far greater than they."

Despite almost 50 years since the concept first appeared, the issue of environmental racism is still very prevalent in today’s society. Furthermore, it is not just commonly found in developing countries, but also is widespread amongst developed nations such as the United States of America and right here in Canada