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 Environmental Racism

What is it and who is affected?
To understand environmental racism, you must first define environmental justice. Environmental justice refers to the basic right of all people to be free of poisons and other hazards (Pezzulo & Cox. 2015). Environmental racism refers to the disproportionate environmental injustices that minority groups face as opposed to white communities. African Americans are more likely to live in fence-line communities, areas situated near facilities that produce toxic waste, and are 755 more likely to face the burdens of pollution (Villarosa. 2020). 



Where is this happening? 
People across the globe are affected by environmental racism. In the United States, minority communities across all 50 states suffer from pollution and little to none of these communities are represented when legislation is introduced or passed. Since members from these communities aren't present at meetings, they aren't taken into account when it comes to the health and well being of these areas (Villarosa. 2020).

 

My goal
My goal for this project was to create an informative website about what environmental racism is and to encourage others to help fight against this issue. I chose to make a website because many people have access to the internet and they don't need to follow my social media to see my site. I wanted to create a project that I could spread online so many people would be able to see it. Initially, my goal was to have 200 visitors to my website and to teach them all something they didn't know. By the deadline, I had gone over my goal for viewers and got a total of 247 viewers. I created a survey that visitors could fill out when they visited my website, this is how I was able to track who learned something and who didn't. Most of my respondents voted that they knew about the issues of environmental racism and environmental justice before, but not to a great extent. I had also learned that about half my respondents have witnessed environmental racism and about 99% of them would be willing to help fight the issue. 
                  


kjsotoma.wix.com/environmentalracism

References
Pezzulo, Phaedra C. Cox, Robert. (2018). Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere. 
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Villarosa, Linda. (2020, July 28). Pollution Is Killing Black Americans. This Community Fought Back. The New York Times Magazine. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/magazine/pollution-philadelphia-black-americans.html?referringSource=articleShare

Shaw, Al. Perlman, Claire. Welcome to “Cancer Alley,” Where Toxic Air Is About to Get Worse. ProPublica.
https://www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse
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