Assignment task: Inequity-Equity Dialogue
Since the early 1990s there has been an increase in the claims that poor, heavily minority communities bear a disproportionate amount of the negative health and environmental risks from the sitting of polluting facilities, such as chemical factories, oil refineries, slaughterhouses, and so on. This problem has a name: environmental racism. Environmental social problems need environmental social solutions. They need an environmental sociological imagination for how to bring about justice in the biggest community of all. In this week's initial posting, consider the following questions. How big of a problem is environmental injustice? In other words, should other problems take precedence? What are some of the key moments in the environmental history of the United States? How can fair treatment and meaningful involvement help promote environmental justice? In your follow-up responses, reply to and build on the ideas expressed by your fellow students.