The Right to the City and Spatial Justice

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The Right to the City and Spatial Justice

The problems of equity in society and the related domains appeared a long time ago. However, the movement for environmental justice started to arise only in the 1980s (Bullard, 2006). Environmental justice can be defined as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws (Bullard, 2006, p. 144). African Americans started to participate in environmentalism only in the second half of the twentieth century because definitions and understanding of this term were incorrect. Indeed, until the 1990s, people believed that the environmental movement involves paying membership fees (Bullard, 2006). However, a significant difference between classes and their income resulted in many poor people being locked in areas dangerous for human health. The goal of groups concerned about environmental justice was to increase the governments awareness about the lack of protection of poor populations from toxic wastes (Bullard, 2006). Poor people of color have been experiencing environmental injustice for a long time, which caused a new movement that wanted to affirm a right to clean cities.

Once minorities gained consciousness about the importance of their voices in environmental issues, they started to involve in the movement against pollution. However, the major problem was the divide between black and white activists: Negotiations of this type fuel residents perception of an unholy trinity, where the battle lines are drawn along an us-versus-them power arrangement (Bullard, 2006, p. 146). Despite the social disparity, toxic wastes and climate change issues are common and do not target someone based on class or race. Still, many industrial factories that produce toxic waste products are located near residential buildings of poor and black communities (Amanpour and Company, 2020). Therefore, the social equity movement expanded to the environmental justice movement (Bullard, 2006). Activists wanted to claim their rights to safety, health, and clean air (Bullard, 2006). Indeed, they increased the global awareness of these issues and demonstrated the unsustainability of extraction-production and consumerism (The Story of Stuff Project, 2009). It appears that humanity faces a more significant problem that can lead to a disaster.

Accelerated industrial and technological development demands more extraction of resources to produce enough things to meet population needs. The materials economy consists of five main steps: extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal (The Story of Stuff Project, 2009). Indeed, producing goods for people comes at an enormous cost for the Earth. As harsh as it may sound, extraction is just a fancy word for natural resource exploitation, which is a fancy word for trashing the planet (The Story of Stuff Project, 2009, 2:42). The use of natural resources and disposal of toxic wastes results in water, soil, and air pollution that causes climate change and species extinction in developed and developing nations. The world population is in the midst of an environmental crisis that daily contributes to the increase of chronic diseases and early deaths, especially among poor people who cannot afford good healthcare.

Apart from equal involvement of all people in ecology policies, environmental justice activists wanted fair distribution of benefits and hardship, resulting from anthropologic influence on nature. As mentioned previously, houses of poor and black communities are often located in environmentally unfavorable areas. It appears that only affluent people can buy homes that are located in ecologically clean and safe places, which means that only people of higher social class experience environmental justice. On the other hand, poor people often have to live in the polluted areas because they cannot afford better housing. Moreover, African Americans had to solve other crucial issues such as access to education, healthcare, housing, and jobs (Bullard, 2006). However, as Robert Bullard, the father of environmental justice, says, thats not the best way to create & sustainable, resilient cities, but thats what we get when we let market forces drive it&pollution is segregated (Amanpour and Company, 2020, 10:37). The segregation will never allow building a society that will work for a common goal. Therefore, unity and equal task distribution in this struggle for the world without pollution for everyone.

To sum up, the topics of environmental justice and injustice became as crucial as many social problems. Black people started to participate in ecological movements in the late 1980s because they had other pressing issues to solve. Furthermore, many toxic plants are located close to poor and black communities residential properties, but they also possess an equal right to the cities as all citizens. Indeed, the right to the city means that people occupying it should receive similar benefits of governmental protection from pollution. I became interested in environmental justice because my family lived near an industrial plant discharging heavy metal contaminants into the river. Although we moved to a different place, I know that many of our neighbors had to stay due to financial difficulties. Furthermore, some of them told us that their children were born autistic because of these toxic wastes. Although the research shows that heavy metals are not the only contributors to the development of autism, they still harm peoples health. I think environmental activists should raise this issue to convince the government about the importance of helping these people to move to noncontaminated places.

References

Amanpour and Company. (2020). Pollution is segregated says the father of environmental justice. YouTube. Web.

Bullard, R. (2006). People-of Color Environmentalism from dumping in Dixie: Race, class, and environmental quality (1990). In S. M. Wheeler & T. Beatley (Eds), The sustainable urban development reader (3^rd ed, pp. 143-149). Routledge.

The Story of Stuff Project. (2009). The story of stuff. YouTube. Web.

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