Environmental Justice
Sheila evaluated the environmental justice movements from “ground up” that this, from the lowest social class, especially the residents of Chester, who are predominantly composed of African-Americans. Her work provides readers with a different perceptive concerning environmental justice. Sheila chose to use Chester as her case study environmental setting because of its unique social class. Her concepts can be directly applied in the public health ethics applied in the Baylis article, as discussed below.
The local interventions had significant impacts in the initial stages. The waste facilities which were built by the national and the local authorities have turned out to be the most significant causes of environmental pollution. Between 1986 and 1996, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) permitted more than seven facilities to operate around Delaware County, out of these, five operated in2. Most of the sewage and waste processing activities are carried out around Chester. This shows how initiatives started by various authorities to control waste disposal have turned out to be the greatest threat to the residents of Chester. Various waste treatment facilities around Chester were installed in the 1980s. However, instead of controlling waste disposal, these facilities caused more harm to the people of Chester. The facilities have been attributed to the widespread odor and dust which have ultimately degraded the public health of the people of Chester. Several people around these neighborhoods have been suffering from different respiratory problems and several children have missed school due to malicious sickness.
Due to the widespread environmental degradation, the community found it wise to start an initiative to tackle the environmental assault they were facing. The CECQL filed a case in court of law to stop waste facility permits around Chester. The lawsuit filed described Pennsylvania as an environmental racist body. The Chester residents argued that the pattern of issuing permits around Chester was racially motivated. The residents of Chester that they were through such environmental discrimination due to the fact that they were of color1. In this sense, there argument was true because it is evident that people of lower social classes faced the greatest environmental assaults as compared to the people of higher classes. Commercial facilities are mostly placed in such racially discriminated societies which further endangers there health. People face different environmental challenges depending on their origin, color and race. As such, the quality of public health also varies depending on the race and color of a given society.
The people of Chester were overly denied access to social goods. The rights of the people of Chester were violated. Every human being has a right to enjoy a conducive environment despite their sex, origin, color and race. However, this was not the case with Chester. Many waste treatment facilities have been set up in Chester. The air pollution caused by this facilities has ultimately endangered the general public health3. Chester is a poor society dominated by African-Americans but instead of the government upgrading the lives of these people, it has chosen to destroy them through poor environmental pollution.
Every human being has right to enjoy various social benefits. According to Baylis article, social rights are fundamental to everyone. Sheila then uses Chester to prove how social rights have been violated. Racially motivated environmental assaults should be discouraged. The problems that the people of Chester are facing are racially motivated and as such, there health is also in danger.
Reference
- Foster, S. Justice from the ground up: Distributive inequities, grassroots resistance, and the transformative politics of the environmental justice movement. (1998). L. Rev., 86, 775.
- Cole, L. W., & Foster, S. R. From the ground up: Environmental racism and the rise of the environmental justice movement. (2001). (Vol. 34). NYU Press.
- Baylis, F., Kenny, N. P., & Sherwin, S. A. relational account of public health ethics. Public Health Ethics. (2008). 1(3), 196-209.