May 14, 2025 • 34 mins
In this episode, we confront a powerful but often overlooked reality: environmental injustice doesn’t just harm our bodies - it harms our minds and breaks our spirits.
As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, this episode sheds light on the hidden emotional toll of living in neglected, polluted, and disaster-prone communities. From climate anxiety to post-traumatic stress, Dr. Joseph explains how the fear, powerlessness, and injustice faced by frontline communities leads to real, lasting psychological harm. Drawing from research and real-world examples, including Flint, Michigan and global conflict zones, Dr. Joseph explores how trauma, uncertainty, and systemic neglect affect mental wellness just as much as contaminated water or polluted air. And the message is clear: these impacts are not random. They are patterned. They are unjust. And they must be addressed.
This episode is both a call for recognition and a call to action. If we truly care about justice, we must care for the mental health of those most affected. Whether you’re an advocate, policymaker, healthcare provider, or someone seeking to understand more, this episode will expand your perspective and your compassion.
🎧 Tune in now to discover why mental health must be part of every environmental justice conversation.
Resources:
The Mental Distress of Environmental Injustice - Urban Health Council
The Emotional Distress of Living in an Environmental Justice Community - International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being
Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
Instagram: @envjusticelab
YouTube: @envjusticelab
Email: theenvironmentaljusticelab@gmail.com
Don’t forget to subscribe and rate the podcast wherever you listen! Support our work by joining the Supporters Club: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-environmental-justice-lab--5583745/support
As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, this episode sheds light on the hidden emotional toll of living in neglected, polluted, and disaster-prone communities. From climate anxiety to post-traumatic stress, Dr. Joseph explains how the fear, powerlessness, and injustice faced by frontline communities leads to real, lasting psychological harm. Drawing from research and real-world examples, including Flint, Michigan and global conflict zones, Dr. Joseph explores how trauma, uncertainty, and systemic neglect affect mental wellness just as much as contaminated water or polluted air. And the message is clear: these impacts are not random. They are patterned. They are unjust. And they must be addressed.
This episode is both a call for recognition and a call to action. If we truly care about justice, we must care for the mental health of those most affected. Whether you’re an advocate, policymaker, healthcare provider, or someone seeking to understand more, this episode will expand your perspective and your compassion.
🎧 Tune in now to discover why mental health must be part of every environmental justice conversation.
Resources:
The Mental Distress of Environmental Injustice - Urban Health Council
The Emotional Distress of Living in an Environmental Justice Community - International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being
Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
Instagram: @envjusticelab
YouTube: @envjusticelab
Email: theenvironmentaljusticelab@gmail.com
Don’t forget to subscribe and rate the podcast wherever you listen! Support our work by joining the Supporters Club: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-environmental-justice-lab--5583745/support
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Welcome to the Environmental Justice Lab. I am your host,
doctor Leslie Joseph. Thank you so much for joining me,
and I just want you to know that it is May,
and May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and so all
throughout the month we're talking about how to take care
of your mental health, how to think about mental health,
make sure you get some help, make sure you're keeping
(00:43):
your mental health just as healthy as your physical health,
because it's just as important. We have to make sure
our mental health is prioritized. Especially in these days with
so many things changing, so many things around us just
being unsettling and difficult to manage. We need to make
sure our mental health is prioritized, and even especially as
(01:07):
it relates to the environment, environmental justice, environmental inequity. These
things cause mental anguish and stress. When we think about
the fact that many of us live in areas, live
in places that have been forgotten, that have been abandoned,
(01:28):
that have been sacrificed for economic development, for waste dumping,
for industrial activity, all of these things can weigh on
you mentally and emotionally when you think about or when
we think about climate change. Right, it's this big concept
(01:53):
out there where everything is around us is changing. Everything
is not the way it used to be. Because the
climate is changing. It can cause some concern, some anxiety,
some fear. And so for this episode and for this month,
we want to talk about that. And I want to
(02:14):
start off first bout letting you know that it's a
real thing. It's a real thing. I don't know if
people have tried to tell you not to have any
mental or emotional feelings or concerns related to the environment,
related to the way the climate is changing. But these
(02:37):
things are reality. It's even a term for it. The
term is climate anxiety, right, climate anxiety. The idea is
that you can have concerns, fears about current environmental harm
and damage, future environmental harm and damage, disasters, climate change,
(03:02):
wreaking havoc where you live, and it can cause anxiety.
You can experience anger depression PTSD in many cases. There
are several researchers that have shown that after natural disasters,
after major environmental events, chemical spills, nuclear disasters. There was
(03:26):
a study a few years ago about Flint, Michigan and
how the Flint, Michigan water crisis caused PTSD for a
lot of residents. These are real concerns, real issues and
having that anxiety. Having those mental health issues related to
the environment can harm you physically too, Not just the
(03:51):
pollution from where you live, but just anxiety around the
fact that you're experiencing these issues can cause physical harm right.
It can weaken your immune system. It can hurt you
and keep you from recovering from other injuries. If you
have any concerns, any health issues, it can exacerbate them.
(04:14):
It can strain your relationships. If you're in school, if
you're trying to learn, trying to learn the job, it
can hinder your ability to learn and accomplish things. So
many things can happen when you're dealing with climate anxiety.
And so I don't want you to feel like you're
out there alone in the room, concerned about what you're
(04:39):
going to do the next time a hurricane comes through.
What are you going to do? If the sea levels
keep rising on the coast where you live. What are
you going to do when the heat wave comes through
again and you barely made that the last time. What's
(05:00):
going to happen now? It can understandably cause anxiety. There's
a name for it, climate anxiety. Use the term, understand
the term, and recognize that it's a real mental health
concern that people have related to the way the environment
and the climate is changing and the ways in which
(05:23):
they are disproportionately impacted by those changes. Because it's one thing.
If a hurricane comes, a tornado comes, and we kind
of all have the same experience, we help each other recover,
and we're all back on our feet, and we're you know, resilient,
and we're working towards improving our communities and we are
here together. We have support from our local industries, our
(05:45):
local governments, our local elected officials, and we're moving forward.
That's one thing. But if you know that if another
tornado comes, another hurricane comes, another earthquake comes, that you're
going to be an even worse condition than you were
since the last one came. And you know, because climate's changing,
(06:08):
there's a high possibility that you'll get more of these
types of events that will then keep you from recovering
from the last one you experienced, and over and over
and over again. It can cause anxiety, It can cause
a sense of hopelessness, a sense of despair. So many
(06:29):
things can happen, so many issues can come up because
of this feeling of knowing that your community can't take
another disaster, it can't take another crisis. It's just too much.
And so I want us all to just think about
(06:53):
and acknowledge that this can be a reality. And if
it's not for you a reality, it could be for
someone else who's dealing with these kinds of issues and
doesn't know what to do, how to respond, what to
tell their families. The next time the hurricane comes, the
(07:16):
next time the tsunami comes, the next time the earthquake hits,
the next time the heat wave rushes over, the next
time flooding happens, what do we do? What do we
say we didn't get past the last one? Now what
(07:36):
it can cause? Climate anxiety? And so I want to
think about that and furthermore, furthermore, there has been a
lot of work, a lot of research done to investigate
the mental distress of environmental injustice. So a lot of
(07:59):
time we talk about the physical issues, right, we talk
about the asthma, the cancer rates, We talk about COPD,
we talk about heart disease, We talk about respiratory illnesses
and how those are disproportionately found in different communities because
they experience environmental injustice. Right, higher rates of diabetes and cancer,
(08:23):
and black communities that live in certain parts of the
United States, higher rates of heart disease and other issues.
People who live near certain industries, that live near certain
mining activities. All of these things, we talk about them.
We know it's true, we know it happens. But we
(08:46):
need to stop this May Mental Health Awareness Month and
acknowledge that there's mental stress. There's mental distress associated with
these environmental injustices. And so I read an amazing article
(09:06):
written by the Urban Health Council. The title was the
Mental Distress of Environmental Injustice and it's a great report.
I'm going to link it in a description of this episode.
You need to read it either understand that there truly
is a monumental amount of mental health issues related to
(09:34):
environmental injustice. Now, the report focuses on air pollution specifically,
but I think it applies to all types of environmental
injustice that you could experience. And what they do which
I love in the article is that they highlight three
specific aspects of the mental distress that is experienced when
(09:57):
you are faced with environmental injust and the first one
they mentioned is trauma. It's trauma straight out the gate, trauma,
They define trauma as knowing that your family, your friends,
and your neighbors will be exposed to these harmful, debilitating pollutants,
(10:22):
the contamination, and that knowledge, just the knowledge is stressful
and frightening, right. So it's one thing to experience it
comes you didn't know what was coming. Oh no, here
it is. That what we're going to do about it,
that's one thing. But to know that it's coming, To
(10:43):
know that where you live, to know that the people
around that you care about will be exposed disproportionately to pollution,
to contamination, will experience injustice, and will be adversely affected
by the way things go in your canmit. That knowledge
(11:03):
is stressful. It's frightening, right, being aware that you live
in area that's unhealthy. Right, You're looking around and you
know that you need to drink the water because you
need water to drink. You have to walk through breathe
this air because is where you live, and you know
(11:23):
that the people that you care about that around you
have to deal with the same things you're dealing with.
And to know that the quality is poor, that it's
not suitable for people to be exposed to it's traumatic
and distressing, and so just being aware that and knowing
(11:44):
that causes trauma. It causes an experience that it is
highly distressful and hard to deal with and overcome, especially
if you have no resources to protect yourself from this
contamination or if you have no ability to move away
from it. Right, So it's one thing to look around
(12:05):
and say, oh, we can't live here, it's not safe,
and you leave. Fine, Maybe you didn't know, Maybe things
changed over time, you decided it no longer it's safe
to be here. You leave, it's no problem, you're done.
But everybody can't just get up and go. People don't
have the options to just pack up and sell their
(12:28):
house and buy a new one in a different, healthier,
better neighborhood. And so if you're not able to do
that and you know that things aren't going to change,
it is very distressing, very very very distressing, and it
can cause trauma. And it's just the first aspect of
(12:53):
the mental distress of environmental injustice. That's the first one.
The second one that this report kind of outlines, which
I'm telling you this is a great report, Uncertainty and powerlessness. Right,
Uncertainty and powerlessness is the second one. So uncertainty not
(13:16):
knowing right, You don't have the information that you need,
You don't truly understand what's happening around you. So this
happens all the time. There's mistrust and there's concern that
when you meet with a public official, that when you
meet with the person who's responsible for the quality of
your environment, that they're not giving you all the information.
(13:39):
They're not telling you the true risks that are inherent
in what's happening around you. This happens all the time.
Right when a new corporation comes in with a new
industry and they tell you about all the jobs that
are going to come, they tell you about all of
the economic activity that will happen when they show up
to your community, and they know in their mind that
(14:01):
you're going to love all the benefits that come with
having this industry housed in your neighborhood, adjacent to your community.
But then when it's time talk about environmental risks, environmental hazards,
potential contamination, possible pollution, then they start backing up a
(14:25):
little bit. They're less forthcoming, they're less willing to share
with you the true risks that are involved, and so
now you're just uncertain. You just don't know what's going
to happen when they actually land and start operating in
your neighborhood. What are we going to do. What's going
(14:49):
to happen? Are we going to get sick? Are we
going to be healthy? We don't know. You're uncertain, and
that uncertainty that I'm not so sure about this feeling
causes distress, right, It causes continued anxiety because at any moment,
(15:12):
things could go south and you don't know what that
could mean for you and your family, and so you're uncertain.
But then you're also powerless. And this is the story
that we hear all the time from communities right all
around the world that even if they understand and know
(15:33):
that certain things are bad for their community, they have
no ability to even give voice to it, to even
speak to that reality. Right, How are we going to
tell the people who make these decisions that this is
a bad decision, that don't bring that over here unless
you're going to do this to protect us, Right, you
(15:56):
don't have the ability to influence the decision makers to
really determine how your community is protected in what comes
in and out of where you live. And you don't
have any power you don't have any ability to make
that kind of an influence. Right, You're hopeless. You feel helpless, right.
(16:18):
You know things need to be different, but there's no
way to change it. You're stressed out continually. You're tired,
tired of fighting, tired of going to the meetings, tired
of writing letters, tired of signing petitions, tired of complaining
to your neighbors, tired of the process of electing and voting,
(16:43):
and you know, participating in the process because you know
in the end it's not going to result in anything
that changes your reality. And so when you have this
lack of power, this lack of over your own environment,
it makes you unhealthy physically and mentally, and it just
(17:07):
compounds to distress. Right, So think about it. So you
have this traumatic awareness of your environment, how it's unhealthy,
it's not clean, it's not suitable to raise your family in.
You don't have the ability to get out and leave it.
(17:28):
Part one of your distress. You don't know exactly how
bad it could get. You don't know exactly what the
harm is going to be to you, to the people
that you care about. You don't know what's going to happen.
How these companies operate, how this industry functions, What are
they producing? What kind of pollution is possible? What could
happen here? Uncertainty as to the distress you now you're
(17:52):
compounding it, compounding it, and now you feel powerless. You
go to the mean, you speak up, you seek out.
They tell you to go vote, They tell you to
go elect the people that can represent you well and
have your best interest in mind. When they go into office,
they get there, nothing changes, nothing is different. Or you
(18:13):
live so outside of any particular jurisdiction that you don't
actually have representation in front of you that actually represents you. Right,
That happens a lot of times where you might live
outside of the county, You might live in a very
rural part of a city. You might live in a
(18:34):
place that is not necessarily incorporated. And so now who
represents you, who's making decisions on your behalf? The people
who were in power, you didn't vote for them because
you have no representation, and now you're powerless to make
anything different. You don't have any by a point to
(18:55):
to say, I need you to fix this, to help
us to deal with these problems that we're experiencing in
our community. And that feeling, that powerlessness. It just adds
to distress. We're just adding to it. What are you
(19:16):
going to do? What are you going to say? How
are you going to manage this time? That's the second one.
We got trauma, we got uncertainty and powerlessness. And the
last one that they mentioned is injustice. The injustice itself
(19:37):
is mentally distressing, right, because it's one thing if these
random events happen, you happen to be a part of
experiencing it. It's one thing when that's the case. It's
a completely different thing when we know that it's not random.
(20:00):
It might feel random at times. You know, people might
want you to think that when the hurricane comes, it's
all of us, but some of us live in communities
that are less resilient, that are more vulnerable because of
how they've been built and how they've been neglected. And
(20:20):
we know that because of that, these things hurt us more.
We also know just from history that certain communities are
targeted for certain types of pollution. Landfills go in certain areas,
industrial facilities go in certain areas, solid waste management facilities
(20:42):
go in certain areas, like right, we see the research
we know for a fact that this is the case.
And so if you are aware of that, if you
know that there's unadulterated injustice associated with your environmental condition,
it's very mainly just d very distressing. Right. You're discriminated
(21:05):
against right because of your skin color, because of your
immigration status, because of your it could be anything, gender,
religious affiliation, all these things. You could be a Native
American community, and you know it. Because of that classification,
(21:29):
you're experiencing disproportionate environmental harm. That's a problem because you're
in a low income community. It doesn't mean you should
experience more waste dumping, more trash burning, more industrial chemical contamination.
(21:51):
But when you experience that injustice, when you know it's
an injustice, that you're being treated unfairly, unjustly, it in
increases the mental distress that you experience. It increases the depression,
it increases the anxiety, does all those things. Because this
(22:11):
is not a coincidence, right, It's not a coincidence that
the people who look like me deal with more pollution
than people who look like you. It's not a coincidence, right,
And the researchers know it's for a fact. They've outlined it,
they've documented it. We know that this is truly the case, right,
(22:37):
And the experience of injustice, any kind of injustice, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, xenophobia,
all of these things are associated with increases in mental
(22:59):
health issues among those populations. Right. So you put that
injustice on top of the environmental injustice all together, and
now we have a big problem. We have a big issue,
and it's creating a tremendous amount of mental and emotional
(23:25):
distress because of what you're dealing with. And so we
have to be aware that environmental injustice does more than
just harm communities physically in disproportionate ways. We have to
(23:49):
also acknowledge that environmental injustice harms communities disproportionately in mental
and emotional ways. We have to acknowledge that. We have
to recognize that that is the case, and we have
to be aware of that when we start to think
(24:12):
about these different communities and what they're experiencing, it's not
going to be enough to try to just remove the pollution.
To remove the contamination, to remove the pollution, We're going
to have to go in and consider the mental health
(24:34):
of these communities as well. We have to think about
how we can intervene in a way that supports them
mentally as well as physically. We have to do that.
It's so important to consider that. And for those of
you who are experiencing environmental injustice where you live, where
(24:55):
you're from, whether it's you or your family, people you
care about, just know that we understand that it's more
than just a physical problem, more than just an environmental
problem that is also a mental health problem as well.
That your experiences, the way that you have endured environmental
(25:19):
injustice will and will continue to impact you mentally and emotionally,
and we want to make sure that that's clear, and
that when we talk about these injustices, that we also
incorporate an understanding that mental health is just a bigger
(25:43):
part of the fallout and the impact as the physical aspects,
as the emotional aspects, as the environmental aspects, they all matter.
And so in May, in Mental Health Awareness Month, let's
all remember that our mental health is just as important
(26:08):
as our physical health, and that environmental injustice impacts our
mental health just as much as it impacts our physical health.
Some would argue even more so because the mental health
issues can persist long after the physical ones are dealt
(26:30):
with and so let's be aware, let's recognize that that
is the case, and let's at least for this month,
think about that reality for the people who live and
who experience environmental injustice all around the world, all around
(26:56):
the world. I'll say this last thing. So, one thing
that has been really on my heart lately are children
of conflicts. One thing that we know and we talk
about in other episodes that conflict is a big driver
(27:17):
of environmental injustice. Right, wars fighting people who go to
battle with other countries, other militia groups or rebel groups.
They do things to the environment to try and undermine
their enemy's ability to function and to fight back. Right, So,
(27:38):
you cut off water and electricity and fuel and food,
and you destroy different aspects of the infrastructure that they
need to survive on, and you harm the civilian population
in ways that honestly are unlawful but are meant to,
(28:00):
I guess, in the words of the aggressors, bring people
to their knees and bring them to the table to
force them to make a deal and force them to
relent in their engagement. But what people don't think about
are the children who are grossly impacted by these types
(28:23):
of approaches to war and conflict. Right, the children who
don't have the food they need, don't have the medicine
that they need, don't have health care that they need
to survive, don't have clean water, no place to go
to the bathroom, nothing, They have nothing. And we talk
(28:43):
about those things, we talk about the illnesses, we talk
about the disease, the spread of these kinds of diseases,
but we don't talk about the mental impact, the emotional
impact that these have on the children, and it's going
to be with them for the rest of their lives.
(29:06):
A five year old boy whose parents are both killed
in a bombing, the teenager who watches their parents, watches
their siblings die of starvation. The people who have to
(29:26):
hold these children in their hands while they get medical
procedures without any anesthesia, without any painkillers, nothing, These children,
long after the war is over, long after the physical
(29:49):
aspects of their bodies are healed, they're going to carry
this mental anguish, this mental distress for decades at least.
There's a need and this is a call to all
of the mental health professionals out in the world. There
(30:11):
are places where you are needed more than ever in
these days because of these types of conflicts. I'm thinking
specifically about Haiti, where there's just gang violence run amok,
and I have family there who the kids can't go
(30:34):
to school, they don't know where the next meal is
coming from, they don't know what's going to happen. There
is no true governing structure there. The kids are suffering,
and I know they're suffering mentally as well as emotionally
and educationally. I know they are. I'm thinking about children
in Sudan. I'm thinking about children in the Congo. I'm
(30:56):
thinking about children in Gaza. I know you've seen in
the stories. I know you've seen the video. It's it's
on video. These children who don't have parents anymore, These
children who have been shot by snipers, shot by soldiers
who didn't do anything, who have nothing to do with
(31:17):
the war, nothing to do with the conflict, targeted right, hospitals, schools,
everything destroyed. These children will have mental health issues for decades.
They just will. And its conflict is environmental injustice, it
(31:44):
is just in justice in general. It's being forgotten by
the broader international community, is being ignored by international laws.
All of these things, in all these different conflicts. That's
just some of them. There's Ukraine, there's conflicts in parts
of Asia, and I just read about escalating tension and
(32:05):
violence in India and Pakistan. Like all of these things are
going to result in children dealing with these mental health
issues from these conflicts. And I promise you environmental injustice
will be at the center of a lot of these issues,
and so we need to have that in our minds.
(32:26):
We need to consider that as we talk about the
true impact of environmental injustice. We spend a lot of
time on the physical, at least this month, let's talk
about the mental because it's a big problem and we
(32:47):
need everyone to be aware of how important it is
to take care of your mental health. To take care
of your mental health, please, it is just as important
as your physical health. And as you do that, think about,
(33:09):
pray about visit consider the people near you and far
from you who deal with environmental injustice, who cannot get
out and who will who will experience significant mental distress
(33:31):
as a result. Let's think about them, pray about them,
pray for them, and take action to change things around us.
That's what we need to do. And that's our episode
of the Environmental Justice Lab podcast. Thank you so much
for listening where we are, for the people and for
(33:52):
the planet. I will see you next time. Bo
Welcome to the Environmental Justice Lab. I am your host,
doctor Leslie Joseph. Thank you so much for joining me,
and I just want you to know that it is May,
and May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and so all
throughout the month we're talking about how to take care
of your mental health, how to think about mental health,
make sure you get some help, make sure you're keeping
(00:43):
your mental health just as healthy as your physical health,
because it's just as important. We have to make sure
our mental health is prioritized. Especially in these days with
so many things changing, so many things around us just
being unsettling and difficult to manage. We need to make
sure our mental health is prioritized, and even especially as
(01:07):
it relates to the environment, environmental justice, environmental inequity. These
things cause mental anguish and stress. When we think about
the fact that many of us live in areas, live
in places that have been forgotten, that have been abandoned,
(01:28):
that have been sacrificed for economic development, for waste dumping,
for industrial activity, all of these things can weigh on
you mentally and emotionally when you think about or when
we think about climate change. Right, it's this big concept
(01:53):
out there where everything is around us is changing. Everything
is not the way it used to be. Because the
climate is changing. It can cause some concern, some anxiety,
some fear. And so for this episode and for this month,
we want to talk about that. And I want to
(02:14):
start off first bout letting you know that it's a
real thing. It's a real thing. I don't know if
people have tried to tell you not to have any
mental or emotional feelings or concerns related to the environment,
related to the way the climate is changing. But these
(02:37):
things are reality. It's even a term for it. The
term is climate anxiety, right, climate anxiety. The idea is
that you can have concerns, fears about current environmental harm
and damage, future environmental harm and damage, disasters, climate change,
(03:02):
wreaking havoc where you live, and it can cause anxiety.
You can experience anger depression PTSD in many cases. There
are several researchers that have shown that after natural disasters,
after major environmental events, chemical spills, nuclear disasters. There was
(03:26):
a study a few years ago about Flint, Michigan and
how the Flint, Michigan water crisis caused PTSD for a
lot of residents. These are real concerns, real issues and
having that anxiety. Having those mental health issues related to
the environment can harm you physically too, Not just the
(03:51):
pollution from where you live, but just anxiety around the
fact that you're experiencing these issues can cause physical harm right.
It can weaken your immune system. It can hurt you
and keep you from recovering from other injuries. If you
have any concerns, any health issues, it can exacerbate them.
(04:14):
It can strain your relationships. If you're in school, if
you're trying to learn, trying to learn the job, it
can hinder your ability to learn and accomplish things. So
many things can happen when you're dealing with climate anxiety.
And so I don't want you to feel like you're
out there alone in the room, concerned about what you're
(04:39):
going to do the next time a hurricane comes through.
What are you going to do? If the sea levels
keep rising on the coast where you live. What are
you going to do when the heat wave comes through
again and you barely made that the last time. What's
(05:00):
going to happen now? It can understandably cause anxiety. There's
a name for it, climate anxiety. Use the term, understand
the term, and recognize that it's a real mental health
concern that people have related to the way the environment
and the climate is changing and the ways in which
(05:23):
they are disproportionately impacted by those changes. Because it's one thing.
If a hurricane comes, a tornado comes, and we kind
of all have the same experience, we help each other recover,
and we're all back on our feet, and we're you know, resilient,
and we're working towards improving our communities and we are
here together. We have support from our local industries, our
(05:45):
local governments, our local elected officials, and we're moving forward.
That's one thing. But if you know that if another
tornado comes, another hurricane comes, another earthquake comes, that you're
going to be an even worse condition than you were
since the last one came. And you know, because climate's changing,
(06:08):
there's a high possibility that you'll get more of these
types of events that will then keep you from recovering
from the last one you experienced, and over and over
and over again. It can cause anxiety, It can cause
a sense of hopelessness, a sense of despair. So many
(06:29):
things can happen, so many issues can come up because
of this feeling of knowing that your community can't take
another disaster, it can't take another crisis. It's just too much.
And so I want us all to just think about
(06:53):
and acknowledge that this can be a reality. And if
it's not for you a reality, it could be for
someone else who's dealing with these kinds of issues and
doesn't know what to do, how to respond, what to
tell their families. The next time the hurricane comes, the
(07:16):
next time the tsunami comes, the next time the earthquake hits,
the next time the heat wave rushes over, the next
time flooding happens, what do we do? What do we
say we didn't get past the last one? Now what
(07:36):
it can cause? Climate anxiety? And so I want to
think about that and furthermore, furthermore, there has been a
lot of work, a lot of research done to investigate
the mental distress of environmental injustice. So a lot of
(07:59):
time we talk about the physical issues, right, we talk
about the asthma, the cancer rates, We talk about COPD,
we talk about heart disease, We talk about respiratory illnesses
and how those are disproportionately found in different communities because
they experience environmental injustice. Right, higher rates of diabetes and cancer,
(08:23):
and black communities that live in certain parts of the
United States, higher rates of heart disease and other issues.
People who live near certain industries, that live near certain
mining activities. All of these things, we talk about them.
We know it's true, we know it happens. But we
(08:46):
need to stop this May Mental Health Awareness Month and
acknowledge that there's mental stress. There's mental distress associated with
these environmental injustices. And so I read an amazing article
(09:06):
written by the Urban Health Council. The title was the
Mental Distress of Environmental Injustice and it's a great report.
I'm going to link it in a description of this episode.
You need to read it either understand that there truly
is a monumental amount of mental health issues related to
(09:34):
environmental injustice. Now, the report focuses on air pollution specifically,
but I think it applies to all types of environmental
injustice that you could experience. And what they do which
I love in the article is that they highlight three
specific aspects of the mental distress that is experienced when
(09:57):
you are faced with environmental injust and the first one
they mentioned is trauma. It's trauma straight out the gate, trauma,
They define trauma as knowing that your family, your friends,
and your neighbors will be exposed to these harmful, debilitating pollutants,
(10:22):
the contamination, and that knowledge, just the knowledge is stressful
and frightening, right. So it's one thing to experience it
comes you didn't know what was coming. Oh no, here
it is. That what we're going to do about it,
that's one thing. But to know that it's coming, To
(10:43):
know that where you live, to know that the people
around that you care about will be exposed disproportionately to pollution,
to contamination, will experience injustice, and will be adversely affected
by the way things go in your canmit. That knowledge
(11:03):
is stressful. It's frightening, right, being aware that you live
in area that's unhealthy. Right, You're looking around and you
know that you need to drink the water because you
need water to drink. You have to walk through breathe
this air because is where you live, and you know
(11:23):
that the people that you care about that around you
have to deal with the same things you're dealing with.
And to know that the quality is poor, that it's
not suitable for people to be exposed to it's traumatic
and distressing, and so just being aware that and knowing
(11:44):
that causes trauma. It causes an experience that it is
highly distressful and hard to deal with and overcome, especially
if you have no resources to protect yourself from this
contamination or if you have no ability to move away
from it. Right, So it's one thing to look around
(12:05):
and say, oh, we can't live here, it's not safe,
and you leave. Fine, Maybe you didn't know, Maybe things
changed over time, you decided it no longer it's safe
to be here. You leave, it's no problem, you're done.
But everybody can't just get up and go. People don't
have the options to just pack up and sell their
(12:28):
house and buy a new one in a different, healthier,
better neighborhood. And so if you're not able to do
that and you know that things aren't going to change,
it is very distressing, very very very distressing, and it
can cause trauma. And it's just the first aspect of
(12:53):
the mental distress of environmental injustice. That's the first one.
The second one that this report kind of outlines, which
I'm telling you this is a great report, Uncertainty and powerlessness. Right,
Uncertainty and powerlessness is the second one. So uncertainty not
(13:16):
knowing right, You don't have the information that you need,
You don't truly understand what's happening around you. So this
happens all the time. There's mistrust and there's concern that
when you meet with a public official, that when you
meet with the person who's responsible for the quality of
your environment, that they're not giving you all the information.
(13:39):
They're not telling you the true risks that are inherent
in what's happening around you. This happens all the time.
Right when a new corporation comes in with a new
industry and they tell you about all the jobs that
are going to come, they tell you about all of
the economic activity that will happen when they show up
to your community, and they know in their mind that
(14:01):
you're going to love all the benefits that come with
having this industry housed in your neighborhood, adjacent to your community.
But then when it's time talk about environmental risks, environmental hazards,
potential contamination, possible pollution, then they start backing up a
(14:25):
little bit. They're less forthcoming, they're less willing to share
with you the true risks that are involved, and so
now you're just uncertain. You just don't know what's going
to happen when they actually land and start operating in
your neighborhood. What are we going to do. What's going
(14:49):
to happen? Are we going to get sick? Are we
going to be healthy? We don't know. You're uncertain, and
that uncertainty that I'm not so sure about this feeling
causes distress, right, It causes continued anxiety because at any moment,
(15:12):
things could go south and you don't know what that
could mean for you and your family, and so you're uncertain.
But then you're also powerless. And this is the story
that we hear all the time from communities right all
around the world that even if they understand and know
(15:33):
that certain things are bad for their community, they have
no ability to even give voice to it, to even
speak to that reality. Right, How are we going to
tell the people who make these decisions that this is
a bad decision, that don't bring that over here unless
you're going to do this to protect us, Right, you
(15:56):
don't have the ability to influence the decision makers to
really determine how your community is protected in what comes
in and out of where you live. And you don't
have any power you don't have any ability to make
that kind of an influence. Right, You're hopeless. You feel helpless, right.
(16:18):
You know things need to be different, but there's no
way to change it. You're stressed out continually. You're tired,
tired of fighting, tired of going to the meetings, tired
of writing letters, tired of signing petitions, tired of complaining
to your neighbors, tired of the process of electing and voting,
(16:43):
and you know, participating in the process because you know
in the end it's not going to result in anything
that changes your reality. And so when you have this
lack of power, this lack of over your own environment,
it makes you unhealthy physically and mentally, and it just
(17:07):
compounds to distress. Right, So think about it. So you
have this traumatic awareness of your environment, how it's unhealthy,
it's not clean, it's not suitable to raise your family in.
You don't have the ability to get out and leave it.
(17:28):
Part one of your distress. You don't know exactly how
bad it could get. You don't know exactly what the
harm is going to be to you, to the people
that you care about. You don't know what's going to happen.
How these companies operate, how this industry functions, What are
they producing? What kind of pollution is possible? What could
happen here? Uncertainty as to the distress you now you're
(17:52):
compounding it, compounding it, and now you feel powerless. You
go to the mean, you speak up, you seek out.
They tell you to go vote, They tell you to
go elect the people that can represent you well and
have your best interest in mind. When they go into office,
they get there, nothing changes, nothing is different. Or you
(18:13):
live so outside of any particular jurisdiction that you don't
actually have representation in front of you that actually represents you. Right,
That happens a lot of times where you might live
outside of the county, You might live in a very
rural part of a city. You might live in a
(18:34):
place that is not necessarily incorporated. And so now who
represents you, who's making decisions on your behalf? The people
who were in power, you didn't vote for them because
you have no representation, and now you're powerless to make
anything different. You don't have any by a point to
(18:55):
to say, I need you to fix this, to help
us to deal with these problems that we're experiencing in
our community. And that feeling, that powerlessness. It just adds
to distress. We're just adding to it. What are you
(19:16):
going to do? What are you going to say? How
are you going to manage this time? That's the second one.
We got trauma, we got uncertainty and powerlessness. And the
last one that they mentioned is injustice. The injustice itself
(19:37):
is mentally distressing, right, because it's one thing if these
random events happen, you happen to be a part of
experiencing it. It's one thing when that's the case. It's
a completely different thing when we know that it's not random.
(20:00):
It might feel random at times. You know, people might
want you to think that when the hurricane comes, it's
all of us, but some of us live in communities
that are less resilient, that are more vulnerable because of
how they've been built and how they've been neglected. And
(20:20):
we know that because of that, these things hurt us more.
We also know just from history that certain communities are
targeted for certain types of pollution. Landfills go in certain areas,
industrial facilities go in certain areas, solid waste management facilities
(20:42):
go in certain areas, like right, we see the research
we know for a fact that this is the case.
And so if you are aware of that, if you
know that there's unadulterated injustice associated with your environmental condition,
it's very mainly just d very distressing. Right. You're discriminated
(21:05):
against right because of your skin color, because of your
immigration status, because of your it could be anything, gender,
religious affiliation, all these things. You could be a Native
American community, and you know it. Because of that classification,
(21:29):
you're experiencing disproportionate environmental harm. That's a problem because you're
in a low income community. It doesn't mean you should
experience more waste dumping, more trash burning, more industrial chemical contamination.
(21:51):
But when you experience that injustice, when you know it's
an injustice, that you're being treated unfairly, unjustly, it in
increases the mental distress that you experience. It increases the depression,
it increases the anxiety, does all those things. Because this
(22:11):
is not a coincidence, right, It's not a coincidence that
the people who look like me deal with more pollution
than people who look like you. It's not a coincidence, right,
And the researchers know it's for a fact. They've outlined it,
they've documented it. We know that this is truly the case, right,
(22:37):
And the experience of injustice, any kind of injustice, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, xenophobia,
all of these things are associated with increases in mental
(22:59):
health issues among those populations. Right. So you put that
injustice on top of the environmental injustice all together, and
now we have a big problem. We have a big issue,
and it's creating a tremendous amount of mental and emotional
(23:25):
distress because of what you're dealing with. And so we
have to be aware that environmental injustice does more than
just harm communities physically in disproportionate ways. We have to
(23:49):
also acknowledge that environmental injustice harms communities disproportionately in mental
and emotional ways. We have to acknowledge that. We have
to recognize that that is the case, and we have
to be aware of that when we start to think
(24:12):
about these different communities and what they're experiencing, it's not
going to be enough to try to just remove the pollution.
To remove the contamination, to remove the pollution, We're going
to have to go in and consider the mental health
(24:34):
of these communities as well. We have to think about
how we can intervene in a way that supports them
mentally as well as physically. We have to do that.
It's so important to consider that. And for those of
you who are experiencing environmental injustice where you live, where
(24:55):
you're from, whether it's you or your family, people you
care about, just know that we understand that it's more
than just a physical problem, more than just an environmental
problem that is also a mental health problem as well.
That your experiences, the way that you have endured environmental
(25:19):
injustice will and will continue to impact you mentally and emotionally,
and we want to make sure that that's clear, and
that when we talk about these injustices, that we also
incorporate an understanding that mental health is just a bigger
(25:43):
part of the fallout and the impact as the physical aspects,
as the emotional aspects, as the environmental aspects, they all matter.
And so in May, in Mental Health Awareness Month, let's
all remember that our mental health is just as important
(26:08):
as our physical health, and that environmental injustice impacts our
mental health just as much as it impacts our physical health.
Some would argue even more so because the mental health
issues can persist long after the physical ones are dealt
(26:30):
with and so let's be aware, let's recognize that that
is the case, and let's at least for this month,
think about that reality for the people who live and
who experience environmental injustice all around the world, all around
(26:56):
the world. I'll say this last thing. So, one thing
that has been really on my heart lately are children
of conflicts. One thing that we know and we talk
about in other episodes that conflict is a big driver
(27:17):
of environmental injustice. Right, wars fighting people who go to
battle with other countries, other militia groups or rebel groups.
They do things to the environment to try and undermine
their enemy's ability to function and to fight back. Right, So,
(27:38):
you cut off water and electricity and fuel and food,
and you destroy different aspects of the infrastructure that they
need to survive on, and you harm the civilian population
in ways that honestly are unlawful but are meant to,
(28:00):
I guess, in the words of the aggressors, bring people
to their knees and bring them to the table to
force them to make a deal and force them to
relent in their engagement. But what people don't think about
are the children who are grossly impacted by these types
(28:23):
of approaches to war and conflict. Right, the children who
don't have the food they need, don't have the medicine
that they need, don't have health care that they need
to survive, don't have clean water, no place to go
to the bathroom, nothing, They have nothing. And we talk
(28:43):
about those things, we talk about the illnesses, we talk
about the disease, the spread of these kinds of diseases,
but we don't talk about the mental impact, the emotional
impact that these have on the children, and it's going
to be with them for the rest of their lives.
(29:06):
A five year old boy whose parents are both killed
in a bombing, the teenager who watches their parents, watches
their siblings die of starvation. The people who have to
(29:26):
hold these children in their hands while they get medical
procedures without any anesthesia, without any painkillers, nothing, These children,
long after the war is over, long after the physical
(29:49):
aspects of their bodies are healed, they're going to carry
this mental anguish, this mental distress for decades at least.
There's a need and this is a call to all
of the mental health professionals out in the world. There
(30:11):
are places where you are needed more than ever in
these days because of these types of conflicts. I'm thinking
specifically about Haiti, where there's just gang violence run amok,
and I have family there who the kids can't go
(30:34):
to school, they don't know where the next meal is
coming from, they don't know what's going to happen. There
is no true governing structure there. The kids are suffering,
and I know they're suffering mentally as well as emotionally
and educationally. I know they are. I'm thinking about children
in Sudan. I'm thinking about children in the Congo. I'm
(30:56):
thinking about children in Gaza. I know you've seen in
the stories. I know you've seen the video. It's it's
on video. These children who don't have parents anymore, These
children who have been shot by snipers, shot by soldiers
who didn't do anything, who have nothing to do with
(31:17):
the war, nothing to do with the conflict, targeted right, hospitals, schools,
everything destroyed. These children will have mental health issues for decades.
They just will. And its conflict is environmental injustice, it
(31:44):
is just in justice in general. It's being forgotten by
the broader international community, is being ignored by international laws.
All of these things, in all these different conflicts. That's
just some of them. There's Ukraine, there's conflicts in parts
of Asia, and I just read about escalating tension and
(32:05):
violence in India and Pakistan. Like all of these things are
going to result in children dealing with these mental health
issues from these conflicts. And I promise you environmental injustice
will be at the center of a lot of these issues,
and so we need to have that in our minds.
(32:26):
We need to consider that as we talk about the
true impact of environmental injustice. We spend a lot of
time on the physical, at least this month, let's talk
about the mental because it's a big problem and we
(32:47):
need everyone to be aware of how important it is
to take care of your mental health. To take care
of your mental health, please, it is just as important
as your physical health. And as you do that, think about,
(33:09):
pray about visit consider the people near you and far
from you who deal with environmental injustice, who cannot get
out and who will who will experience significant mental distress
(33:31):
as a result. Let's think about them, pray about them,
pray for them, and take action to change things around us.
That's what we need to do. And that's our episode
of the Environmental Justice Lab podcast. Thank you so much
for listening where we are, for the people and for
(33:52):
the planet. I will see you next time. Bo
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.