Write a note on environmental justice

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Environmental justice refers to the efforts to ensure that hazardous substances are controlled so that all communities receive protection regardless of race or socioeconomic circumstance. After the Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations documented discrimination in the location of hazardous waste sites, an executive order was issued in 1994 that requires all federal agencies to ensure that low-income and minority communities have access to better information about their environment and have an opportunity to participate in shaping government policies that affect their communities' health. Initial efforts to implement the policy have met widespread opposition, including criticism from some proponents of economic development who argue that the guidelines unnecessarily delay or altogether block locating new industrial sites. Low-income communities and areas with significant minority populations are more likely to be adjacent to waste sites, landfills, incinerators, and polluting factories than are affluent White communities.