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Course Background
This course will
examine the interplay of race, socio-economic status, and interest group
politics and the formulation and implementation of U.S. federal and state
environmental policy. It will involve an interdisciplinary examination
of some fundamental environmental problems faced by individuals and communities
of color. In particular we will consider the proposition that people of
color and socio-economically disadvantaged individuals, whether residing
in urban or rural communities, bear a disproportionate burden of environmental
pollution and its health consequences. Studies suggesting that people
of color have environmental burdens imposed upon them unfairly due to
over-siting of industrial plants and landfills in their communities and
from exposures to pesticides and other toxic chemicals at home and on
the job will be reviewed and analyzed. Consideration will be given to
the viewpoint that there exists within the United States, as well as globally,
a pattern of environmental inequity, injustice and racism. Furthermore,
we will evaluate the contention that underlying this pattern is an historical
failure on the part of interest groups, particularly the mainstream environmental
movement, to provide a vision and strategy to address environmental racism
and injustice.
Key topics to be
considered during the semester include racism and social justice, environmental
racism, pollution impacts and health effects in communities of color,
risk assessment, community responses to environmental threats, pollution
in developing nations, indigenous peoples, and climate change. We will
review studies and analyses that document environmental injustice. The
possible causes for patterns of injustice will be examined and discussed.
Considerable attention will be paid to grassroots and community-based
efforts to deal with environmental threats. Recent proposals to address
the problem of environmental racism and injustice will be discussed and
analyzed. Occasionally, community leaders, lawyers, organizers, academics,
and government officials will join the class to discuss current issues
and problems.
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