In this episode of The Environmental Justice Lab, I break down the findings from my latest research publication, entitied “Race, Class, Gender, and Waste: A Spatial Analysis of Landfill Siting and Intersectional Inequities in South Carolina.” This article is not simply a data-driven study; it is an investigation into how race, gender, income, and geography intersect to determine who ends up living next to the landfills in South Carolina… and who doesn’t. I explain why landfills are still important in today’s environmental justice movement. I talk about the history of waste-related activism, and discuss how communities, particularly Black women, Hispanic women, and female-led households in poverty, are disproportionately burdened by the health, environmental, and social harms of landfill placement.
The episode goes beyond statistics. It’s a reflection on the academic resistance to justice-focused research in engineering, an ode to cross-institutional collaboration, and a rallying cry for policy change, intersectional thinking, and true community engagement.
🎧 Tune in now to hear why it’s time we rethink how we manage our waste, and who bears the cost.
Resources:
Race, Class, Gender, and Waste: A Spatial Analysis of Landfill Siting and Intersectional Inequities in South Carolina - Environmental Sociology
Toxic Waste and Race in the United States - Full Report
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
The episode goes beyond statistics. It’s a reflection on the academic resistance to justice-focused research in engineering, an ode to cross-institutional collaboration, and a rallying cry for policy change, intersectional thinking, and true community engagement.
🎧 Tune in now to hear why it’s time we rethink how we manage our waste, and who bears the cost.
Resources:
Race, Class, Gender, and Waste: A Spatial Analysis of Landfill Siting and Intersectional Inequities in South Carolina - Environmental Sociology
Toxic Waste and Race in the United States - Full Report
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'm your host, doctor
Leslie Joseph. Thank you so much for joining me on
this episode. And we have a publication alert a publication alert, so,
as you know or maybe you don't know if you're
new to the podcast, I'm doctor Leslie Joseph. I am
an environmental engineering professor at the University of South Carolina.
(00:45):
So my job is to do research, to teach and
do research, and so I just published a research article
and I want to share it with you on the episode.
I think it's a very important piece of work that
I've done. It's probably the most important thing I've done
in this role up to this point. Hopefully there'll be
(01:05):
more things that come along in the future that continue
to advance environmental justice, advance environmental equity, and continue to
help shed light on the issues that people face throughout
South Carolina where I live now, but across the world.
It's really important to me that we do that, and
(01:27):
this article that I publish is one step towards highlighting
those issues and talking about it in a broader sense.
And so the title of the article I have it
here with me is race, class, gender, and Waste a
Spatial Analysis of Landfill Sighting and Intersectional Inequities in South Carolina.
(01:52):
It's a long title. The idea, though, is we think
about how waste is managed, and you think about who
has to deal with the environmental harm that comes from
that management of waste. It typically falls on people who
make less money, lower income, underrepresented groups, minority groups, and
(02:14):
women and their homes. And that's what this article works
towards understanding more fully. And I want to let everybody
know it's just between us. It's just us here. The
people in my immediate sphere, my colleagues here at the
(02:38):
University Acolone, and did not think that this is something
that an engineering professor should be spending research time and
effort on. It's unfortunate. But when I pitched the idea,
when I talk about it, when I presented some preliminary
work in the department, very little interest, very little acknowledgment
(03:02):
of its value. There was just no interest. There was
this idea that this kind of research is not something
that engineers should be spending time on, even though I'm
an environmental engineer, and even though this is an environmental topic,
and even though the actual way we manage waste is
(03:22):
what environmental engineers do for a living. There was still
no interest, a lot of pushback, a lot of I
don't really know how that, how that works, why that matters,
why you're looking at that versus other things. And so
I want to just start off by saying that no
matter who you are, no matter what you focus on,
(03:43):
whatever your interests are, you're not going to always have
the kind of support that you think you'll get when
you start to do this kind of research work. When
you look at issues of justice, you look at issues
of equity, you look at issues related to the ways
in which our world is structured in ways that disadvantage
(04:05):
certain groups and certain people, there's not going to be
a lot of appetite for that in a lot of places.
If you're in a place where they have that appetite
and you're able to go for it and do it, great,
keep pushing, keep working on it. For someone like me
here in South Carolina, Look, it's just what it is.
(04:26):
When it's time talking about research and justice and equity,
not much interest. It's just not going to happen. And
so thankfully I had some people close to me who
did have interests, who were interested in this kind of
work at the university, and I was able to talk
(04:47):
to them, lean on them for encouragement, and continue to
move forward and get the work done. And so I
don't want anybody to think that this kind of research
is the kind of thing that it everybody wants to
be involved in, that everybody wants to see done, that
everybody has an interest in, because it's just not the case.
(05:07):
And here where I am, you got to work hard,
and you have to be willing to step outside of
the things that people would assume you would be spending
your time on. And so with that, this study was completed.
It took about a year to complete. I had a
(05:29):
great collaborator and her name is doctor Sarah Kamamlek. She
is a professor at Howard University, very amazing researcher, amazing statistician.
She did amazing work on this project and on this article.
And so thank you, doctor Sarah, wherever you are, if
(05:51):
you're listening. Your contributions made this article what it is
and got it published. And that's not even hyperbole. The mapping,
the statistics, the data analysis, that's what made this paper
what it is and made it strong and publishable and
so thank you for that. And so let's just talk
(06:15):
about this research study. Let's talk about it. So we
start off with landfills, right, when then we talk about
waste and waste management. In this particular article, it's about landfills.
And so the first question is always, well, why landfills? Right?
There's so many other ways we manage waste that to
(06:37):
a casual person might seem to be more polluting. Right,
an incinerator that burns waste and smoking, everything goes in
the air. Don't you look at that? What about other
ways that we manage waste? The recycling industries that really working?
How is that going? Maybe you should look into that.
What else we try to compost, We try to do
(06:59):
different things to manage waste. And why are you choosing landfills? Well,
a couple of reasons. One here in South Carolina and
around the country in the United States, landfilling is the
king of waste management. It is how waste is managed
(07:24):
across the board. Wherever you go, people just throw their
trash and the trash can in the garbage. The garbage
truck comes and gets it, dumps it into a landfill.
Is the number one way that waste is managed in
the US and around the world, and so landfills themselves
(07:46):
are becoming, and have always been, and probably for the
foreseeable future, will be the primary concern if you're interested
in the ways in which waste is managed and how
it impacts people. So that's the first thing. Landfills are
the king, and second, landfills contribute to massive amounts of
(08:11):
environmental contamination all across the board from the potential contamination
of groundwater because when it rains, that rain water goes
through the landfill, it filters through the landfill, picks up
toxic metals, toxic chemicals, pollutants, and it's in that water
(08:34):
and it gets filtered down to the bottom of the landfill.
And in America especially, we have you know, engineering standards
where you have a liner and the system that catches
that water and pumps it out and processes it so
they don't it won't contaminate groundwater. But of course our
infrastructure is aging, and so those liners are degrading, those
(08:58):
systems are in the repair, and in many cases you
have contaminated groundwater as a result of these old landfills,
these old massive landfills, and so you can get water
contamination you can get air pollution because this waste is
degrading in the landfill, is decomposing, producing greenhouse emissions, carbon dioxide, methane,
(09:28):
nitrous oxide, all of these harmful pollutants that contribute to
climate change that poison the air. They can come from landfills,
and so we have to be aware of that. Also,
there's other issues with landfill that just because of what
they are. It's just a problem. Right. The smell of
(09:49):
a landfill, I mean, you're literally beside a huge trash
dump that smell moves as the wind blows. Right, There's
insects and vermin and random birds and animals and all
kinds of stuff just crawling all around in the landfill.
(10:09):
It's just really not the place to be, and you
don't want to live near one. You don't want to
be around them because of the way it just is.
When it's there in our environment, it's not the place
to be. And beyond that, when it's time to actually
dump trash into a landfill, you have lots of traffic,
(10:34):
big dump trucks, huge garbage trucks in and out, in
and out dumping trash into a landfill. So you have
additional traffic the smell from those trucks, you have pollution
from those vehicles, you have noise from their operations. I mean,
(10:55):
just being around landfill is not the place to be.
And so for this study, I want to spend some
time looking specifically at landfills in South Carolina to think
about where they're located, and to think about who lives
around them, what those populations are like, and if there
are any environmental justice concerns, any intersectional issues associated with it.
(11:21):
And surprise, maybe not surprise, there are lots and lots
of issues. And it's interesting because South Cline is a
really good state to do this, Right, there's forty six counties,
we got a lot of rural areas, a lot of
urban areas. We have a very diverse population that lives here, right,
a higher percentage of black residents here, higher percentage of
(11:45):
low income residents here, Like, we really do have a
good mix of people and of households and of communities.
To really think this through and to understand what's happening
with where these landfills are located throughout the state. Because
if it's truly a situation where they're evenly distributed, things
(12:05):
are equitable, you'd be able to see it here. There's
enough of each group to know, Okay, there isn't anything
going on with how they put these landfills out here,
because they're managing it well and being cognizant of their surroundings.
But as we'll see that it is not the case.
And so this state was a good place to have
(12:31):
this study done. It's a good place to really investigate
the ways in which landfills are placed and operated throughout
the state. And so that's another reason. A third reason,
and this is a really important reason. Waste management and
(12:51):
landfills in particular, I would argue, and some would disagree,
but I would argue, are the reasons why the environmental
justice movement began and pressed forward the way it did.
If you remember the biggest, i would say, most significant
(13:13):
events in the inception of the environmental justice movement and
in this progression as we continue to learn more and
understand more about this injustice, stem from waste management and
specifically landfills. So, for instance, one of the earliest studies
that environmental justice scholars point to to talk about environmental
(13:38):
justice as a movement occurred down in Texas in the seventies. Right,
So doctor Robert Bullard. He's considered by most to be
the father of environmental justice because of his work when
he was in Houston back in the seventies. You can
read about this in his book Dumping in Dick's. He
(14:01):
found in Houston, Texas that the vast majority of landfills
were located in black communities in Houston, public or private,
and that the waste management infrastructure that dealt with the
waste in Houston was always predominantly found in these black areas.
(14:25):
And so when he published that work, when he made
that known to the public, people begin to see and
understand there's something going on here with the way the
environment is managed, in the way we're dealing with these hazards,
and it's based on race. And then if you fast
forward a little bit, go a little bit further, that's
the seventies, Go to the eighties, nineteen eighty two. All
(14:49):
of you environmental justice scholars, you know the story about
Warren County in North Carolina where the county wanted to
put a hazardous waste landfill in this black township within
Warren County, and the people protested. Civil rights activists protested,
(15:10):
church leaders, protested, community groups, protested. They said, no, we
don't want this landfill here. We don't want this hatcher's
waste here. Why are you dumping it on us. We
don't produce the waste, we're not responsible for it. Don't
put it here, we don't want it. They fought and
fought against it. Now, they didn't win the battle, but
(15:31):
you could argue that they won the war because from
then on people began to see, oh, we really have
a problem here with this waste management situation, and we
can really see how black neighborhoods are being targeted, particularly
in the United States, for these facilities. And so now
(15:54):
it hit the national news. People are on TV, in
the newspapers talking about how this county is trying to
dump their Hajis waste on this black community in Warren
County in North Carolina. Nineteen eighty two. And then from there, right,
this is all landfill. We're talking about landfills. Now from
(16:17):
there we get to nineteen eighty seven, this landmark, I
would argue, bombshell report drops from the Church of Christ
where they look at the placement of Hajus waste landfills
across the United States. It's called toxic waste and race,
(16:41):
that's the name of the report. And what they found
was that the vast majority of HAS waste landfills across
the United States were placed in low income and black neighborhoods.
That's what they found in this report, data driven spatial
(17:05):
analysis all across the country. That was defining. And so
that report brought attention to the world that we have
significant environmental justice issues in this country, and of course
(17:25):
from their spreall over the world. Now everybody looks into
it and wants to know what's happening where they live.
And now we know that environmental injustice is a real thing,
and people have to be mindful of the reality that
if you are in the minority, if you are a
lower income, if you are any of these protected classes,
(17:49):
any of these vulnerable classes, you will be targeted for
environmental harm and injustice. It's just a fact. And this
study just builds on that understanding. And for me, it's
personal for me because in my state, I wanted to
know what's happening in South Carolina specifically, because we haven't
(18:12):
done that work here. People have been resistant to really
do the research and get the data to understand situations. Obviously,
people can kind of see what's happening you live, where
you live. You know it's different, but where's the data,
Where is the analysis that confirms that reality. I didn't
(18:36):
see it, and so I worked hard to produce it
for us so we can have it on the record.
This is what's happening with landfills in South Carolina, and
so that's why I chose it. That's why I believe
that landfills are a great place to start when it
(18:56):
comes to looking at environmental injustice. Wherever you live, whatever
you see, whatever's going on, this is the place to start.
Start with landfills. Start in your neighborhood, around your state,
your country, and you'll learn a lot from what you find.
(19:16):
And so we did the study and it was a
good study. Right. We took the list of landfills from
across the state, one hundred and forty two of them,
one hundred and forty two across this small, little state.
We mapped them, where they located, where can we find them?
(19:40):
We did it by class. If you don't know, in
the United States, we have different classes of landfills. In
South Carolina, there's three different classes. There's class one where
it's just land clearing, debris and trees and shrubs and
plants and that kind of stuff. When you're clearing out
lan you dump it into a Class one landfill. No
(20:03):
big deal, it's not a problem. Class two is where
they put industrial process waste. So not the industrial chemical
let's go into the hazards landfill, which is totally different,
but the processes that industries use to keep their facilities running,
you know, the process of water and the waste that
(20:23):
they produce goes into these landfills along with the land
clearing stuff. That is class two. And Class three is
which you're probably most familiar with, the household municipal solid
waste landfills. That's where your household garbage goes. When you
roll your garbage to the curb and they come pick
(20:43):
it up, put it in the dumpster in a dump truck,
take it to the landfill. When they come to the dumpster,
empty the dumpster, take it to the landfill. Those are
Class threes. They're usually the biggest landfills and the fewest
in number, and so they're always large and they're always unsightly.
(21:05):
And so those are the three landfill classes. So we
map them. My colleague, doctor Sarah got demographic data and
health data, environmental data off of different databases. We use
things like the Census for demographic data, you know, race
and ethnicity and gender and age and economic status, those
(21:28):
kinds of things. And we got environmental data from ejscreen.
Ejscreen is the Environmental Justice Screening Tool, which, by the way,
just as an aside, is no longer active. Our current
government has deactivated that site that has that data and
(21:51):
they are working to scrub all of these federal agency
sites of any kind of information that helps us understand
what's happening in terms of equity and justice in our country.
It's just happening. They've decided that we don't need that
information anymore. We don't want to talk about it, we
don't want to think about it. We're pushing all that
(22:12):
stuff out of the way, and we don't want to
hear about these justice issues. It's just on the side
that's happening now. It's going to continue, I'm sure, because
this current government that we have on that's running this
country then they got problems. They got some problems, so
it makes it hard to do the research, but we're
(22:34):
going to keep doing it. Got the health data from
CDC so all that information has been collected, and we
compared the averages of those different indicators to the population
characteristics around landfills. Right, So if the average is, you know,
(22:59):
twenty five percent African American or black, well, you have
a landfill. What's the percentage of those people around a landfill?
Is it higher or lower than that average. If it's
higher than the average, we would say, oh, there's some
disproportionate landfill placement occurring. If it's lower than that average,
(23:20):
we say, okay, no problem. And so we did that.
We went through all the landfills across the entire state,
mapped them, drew buffer zones around them, and compared the
population of those buffer zones to the state wide average
to see if there were differences and what those differences
(23:42):
could tell us about how those landfills were placed across
the state. And what did we find. Well, you know
what we found. We found significant environmental injustice as it
relates to the sighting of these landfills in South Carolina.
(24:03):
That's what we found. But that's not really news, is it.
You probably already knew that if you heard me talking
ten minutes ago, you already know that waste and landfills
have been consistently placed in communities of color, in low
income communities. That's not a surprise, that's not noteworthy. That's
(24:25):
not worth publishing a paper about. There's no reason to
talk about that. We already know that. We've known that
since the seventies. And so what's the difference. What's the
difference between this paper, this understanding of what's happening, and
what's been done over the last thirty forty fifty years
(24:45):
when it comes to this kind of research. The difference
is The difference is intersectionality. I'm going to say it again. Intersectionality.
It's a theory. It's a theory that's been presented. I
think it started back in the nineteen eighties, and it's
(25:07):
a theory that tells us, let me read it. I
got my paper right here, and when to read it
to you so I can get it right. The theory
of intersectionality proposes that multiple characteristics such as race, gender,
and socioeconomic status interact to produce a variety of individual
(25:28):
and collective experiences that reflect multiple interconnected forms of inequality.
That was nice to read. That was nice. Here's what
it means. It means that when you as an individual
(25:50):
in habit more than one of these types of identities,
you can expect a different type of injustice inequality to
a her around you. And that's what we see, that's
what's been happening. So this theory when it came out,
I'm pretty sure doctor Kimberly Crenshaw was credited with this
(26:10):
theory because she noted that as a black woman, she
would experience racism, sexism, these different types of injustices differently
and at different levels than if she were simply a
black person or simply a woman. And think about it
this way. You have a black person here, you have
(26:32):
a woman here. Black person experiences certain types of injustice
because they're black. A woman encounters certain types of injustice
because she's female. But what if you're a black woman,
you're both of them. Do you just get the same
(26:53):
of both. The theory says, no, you get something very different,
very unique, more expansive, more harmful, because you're both. You're
both of them, you're black and female. You're the same person.
And because of what you experience, it goes beyond what
(27:13):
you would experience if you were simply just black or
simply just a female. And that's what this theory tells us.
And so the question that I had was do we
see this theory in action when we look at the
places in the ways that landfills are placed in South Carolina.
(27:36):
That's the question, that's the big question that's overall this stuff. Now,
we're going to keep looking at the environmental justice angle
because it's very important, But what about this intersectional outlook?
Do we see that as well? And when we looked
at the data, when we looked at the placement of
these landfills, we found several things that are worth mentioning. Now, obviously,
(28:01):
the environmental justice issues are there. The percentages of Black
people around landfills was much higher than the national average
than the state wide average. The percentage of Hispanic residents
around landfills was much higher than the state wide average.
We got it, we know it. It just confirms what
we already know about the environmental justice when it comes
(28:22):
to landfills and waste management. We see it in South Carolina,
we see it all over the place, no problem. But here's
what we learned too, what about the intersectional components. We
were fortunate because the census tracks some of that. So
they tracked percentages of black female headed households. Right, you
(28:48):
get your two identities there. You have your black female households.
There's one female households in poverty. So now you have
a low income household led by a female resident. There's
some intersectionality there, and you have Hispanic female headed households,
another intersectional group shown in our data. So what did
(29:14):
we see. We saw that when you looked at female population,
you got close to the same average of people around
landfills that you got statewide. We didn't see much change there.
Low income households a little bit higher, Black households higher,
(29:40):
Hispanic households higher. But when you combine black female headed
households way up, the percentages go up. You look at
Hispanic female headed households way up, you look at female
(30:03):
headed households in poverty way up. We see very clearly
there's a very strong connection between where these landfills are
placed in these intersectional identities. These the ones that were
tracked by the census, and so it was very important
to make note that when you come to South Carolina,
(30:26):
at least you'll know that these intersectional identities, these communities,
these homes who inhabit these intersectional characteristics will experience the
presence of landfills differently than other parts of the state.
(30:48):
That's what we noticed. That's what we saw in our
research in this paper, and as you read through it,
you'll see the differences. You'll see the graphs, you'll see
the charts, you'll see the figures, and the maps show
us there's a difference. There's a significant difference between simply
looking at race and class and gender independently or we
(31:12):
look at them together in some way. And so that's
what we found, that's what we learned. That's what we
understand now about landfills in South Carolina. Right. So, the
more marginalized you are, the more identities inhabit you're a
(31:34):
black woman, you're a Hispanic woman, you're female, in poverty,
these things work together to further marginalize you. As it
relates to waste management in this state, specifically landfill placement.
You're going to deal with that. And when you look
(31:54):
at our paper as well, you'll see that around landfills,
you have worse health conditions, higher rates of asthma, higher
rates of cancer, higher rates of heart disease, you have
worse pollution, higher percentages of particulate matter, higher values related
to air quality and air toxicity. Like, all of these
(32:18):
things tell us that living near landfills, being close to
landfill is a problem. And if you are inhabiting one
of these multiple identities, you are more at risk, You're
more vulnerable, and you're more likely to be living near
these landfills. It was a fascinating study, and all I
(32:42):
can tell you is when you think about when you
think about what it tells us about the people who
live near landfills, the fact that they are typically lower income,
communities of color, female, even all these things put together,
(33:09):
it tells us, It tells me, and it should tell
all of us that when we start thinking about policies,
we start thinking about ways that we can push back
against this reality, we have to think intersectionally. We have
to think about this not simply from a black versus white,
(33:31):
Hispanic versus non Hispanic, male versus female. We have to
think about it in terms of intersectionality. We have to
remind ourselves that whatever policies we put in place, whatever
we choose to do, we have to think about the
fact that if we aren't keyed in on the demographics
(33:55):
of these communities and understand the true nature of their
vulnerability of these not simply that this is a black
neighborhood or in this bank neighborhood or a poor one,
but that there may be poor Hispanics here, there may
be black women here. We have to think about that
to inform us as to what the best policies would
(34:17):
be to manage the way that our environment is being treated. Right,
you got to go deeper. You have to look closer.
You can't just say, well, I know this is a
black neighborhood, so I'll treat them a certain way and
this old place will do something different. We can't do that.
(34:37):
We have to make sure that we're aware of these
intersectional instances and act accordingly. And the best way to
do that is to actually talk to the community. To
engage the population that you are potentially going to harm, right,
(34:58):
meet with them, have the meetings, have the get together.
It's the public comment periods to ensure that you know
what is happening here. One thing we know in our
in our article is that in South Carolina, there is
no record, there's no requirement for public comments, there's no
(35:20):
requirement to meet with communities. There's just no there's no
You don't have to do it. It's optional. Now, how is
that going to work? How are you going to actually
take care and be mindful of what's going on When
you don't even have to meet with them, you have
to talk to them at all. You can do whatever
you want. And so that's one thing that needs to change.
(35:42):
We need to mandate that when it comes to landfills
waste management facilities, that you have to engage the public
with regards to whatever you're trying to do. You're trying
to build a new one, you're trying to make a
landfill bigger spand it. You're trying to put in a
(36:02):
I don't know what, transfer station, a little hub that
might be a little bit smaller. Whatever you're trying to do,
you need to talk to the community about it. You
need to make sure that you know who you're dealing with,
what they're dealing with, and what can be done to
operate in a way that protects them from the harm
you might inflict from your prices, or to not go
(36:27):
there at all with your waste management facility. We don't
need anyway. Let's do something different, you know, because another
thing we know in the article is that a lot
of our waste management issues. It's not simply that the
landfills are in certain places or do they pollute. It's
(36:50):
that we as particularly Americans, Oh my goodness, Americans consume
so much, we create so much waste that we're having
to find newer and different and innovative ways to throw
(37:13):
our trash away to get rid of our waste. And
so another thing that could be done is, when you
have an issue with waste, let's talk about other ways
to deal with it then just throwing it in a landfill.
(37:33):
What can we do differently to manage this waste and
protect ourselves from environmental harm. That's another way to engage
a community. Say, look, this is what we're thinking about
doing because of the increasing amounts of waste. What do
you think would be a good strategy for managing this stuff?
(37:56):
And let the community come and tell you. They got ideas,
they live, they have innovative solutions. Let it be community driven,
community focused. Engage the community right, bring them into the
discussion about how to manage this waste, how to deal
with pollution, how to deal with these issues. Because I
(38:17):
promise you they don't want pollution either. They don't want
waste either. Nobody does. So let's get together and figure
it out. What can we do, what can be done,
and how can we move forward? And so those are
some of the things that this article talks about, pushes
(38:41):
through presents data regarding these things. And so I will
link the article in the description of this episode. I
want you to take a look at it. It is
very technical, So go through it. Look at the maps,
look at the tables, look at the picture, read the conclusions,
(39:02):
read the introduction, you know, and let's continue to educate ourselves,
continue to learn more about these issues, these environmental justice issues,
these intersectional issues. Today it's landfills, something else tomorrow, who knows.
But let's continue to learn more and more. And I'm
(39:25):
going to end with this with this note. You know,
when we talk about trash, about waste, we want it
out of our site, out of sight, out of mind.
Let's get rid of it. Let's get it out of
our house. Roll that trash can down to the curb,
let the truck come take it away, and it's gone.
(39:46):
But let's not forget that that trash ends up somewhere,
and in most cases it ends up in the landfill.
And in most cases that landfill is located near a
very vulnerable community, and in most cases, that vulnerable community
is impacted disproportionately by that landfill. And so let's remember
(40:11):
that the way we treat our waste, the way that
we deal with our excess, will impact somebody else down
the line. People that we don't see, that we don't know,
will be impacted by the way we manage our waste,
by the way that we manage our consumption. And so
(40:32):
I hope that one thing this paper does for whoever
reads it is it illuminates and it enlightens the reader.
Whoever you are reading this paper, let you know that
there are people who are being impacted by how we
(40:53):
manage waste in South Carolina, in the United States, around
the world. And so let's continue to keep that in
mind as we fight for justice, we fight for equality
and fairness, equity, all these things that are so important.
We know that a lot of it starts with us advocating, pushing,
(41:18):
being aware, being educated, telling others this is what's happening,
this is what's going on where we live. Now I
can go around, I can tell people, look, landfills in
South Carolina are disproportionately impacting black female households Hispanic female households,
(41:39):
female households, and poverty, Black communities, Hispanic communities. All these
places are being disproportionately impacted by these landfills. We need
to do something about it. We need to stop pretending
and closing our eyes and turning away from these realities.
(41:59):
This paper does just that. It's been published in the
Journal of Environmental Sociology, is out there now. The world
knows that, at the very least in South Carolina, we
have these types of issues and we need to deal
with them. And so let's talk about it. Let's push
(42:19):
for changes. We recommend a couple of policy changes in
the paper. Take a look at those, but more importantly,
make sure you're aware and that you know what's happening
where you live and anywhere that you are concerned about,
because I promise you waste management. Landfilling isn't the only
(42:42):
environmental issue that disproportionately impacts communities of color, low income communities,
and people who have intersectional identities. There's so many issues,
and so read the article. It's in the description. Let's
(43:05):
think about our vulnerable communities, vulnerable populations, the people who
aren't speaking to you, who don't hear let's think about them,
Let's continue to do the work that will lift up
their voices, make them more visible, and enable us to
(43:27):
push for changes that make a positive impact in their
lives and the lives of everyone everywhere. And with that,
thanks for listening to the Environmental Justice Lab. Where we
are for the people and for the planet. We'll see
you next time.
Welcome to the Environmental Justice Lab. I'm your host, doctor
Leslie Joseph. Thank you so much for joining me on
this episode. And we have a publication alert a publication alert, so,
as you know or maybe you don't know if you're
new to the podcast, I'm doctor Leslie Joseph. I am
an environmental engineering professor at the University of South Carolina.
(00:45):
So my job is to do research, to teach and
do research, and so I just published a research article
and I want to share it with you on the episode.
I think it's a very important piece of work that
I've done. It's probably the most important thing I've done
in this role up to this point. Hopefully there'll be
(01:05):
more things that come along in the future that continue
to advance environmental justice, advance environmental equity, and continue to
help shed light on the issues that people face throughout
South Carolina where I live now, but across the world.
It's really important to me that we do that, and
(01:27):
this article that I publish is one step towards highlighting
those issues and talking about it in a broader sense.
And so the title of the article I have it
here with me is race, class, gender, and Waste a
Spatial Analysis of Landfill Sighting and Intersectional Inequities in South Carolina.
(01:52):
It's a long title. The idea, though, is we think
about how waste is managed, and you think about who
has to deal with the environmental harm that comes from
that management of waste. It typically falls on people who
make less money, lower income, underrepresented groups, minority groups, and
(02:14):
women and their homes. And that's what this article works
towards understanding more fully. And I want to let everybody
know it's just between us. It's just us here. The
people in my immediate sphere, my colleagues here at the
(02:38):
University Acolone, and did not think that this is something
that an engineering professor should be spending research time and
effort on. It's unfortunate. But when I pitched the idea,
when I talk about it, when I presented some preliminary
work in the department, very little interest, very little acknowledgment
(03:02):
of its value. There was just no interest. There was
this idea that this kind of research is not something
that engineers should be spending time on, even though I'm
an environmental engineer, and even though this is an environmental topic,
and even though the actual way we manage waste is
(03:22):
what environmental engineers do for a living. There was still
no interest, a lot of pushback, a lot of I
don't really know how that, how that works, why that matters,
why you're looking at that versus other things. And so
I want to just start off by saying that no
matter who you are, no matter what you focus on,
(03:43):
whatever your interests are, you're not going to always have
the kind of support that you think you'll get when
you start to do this kind of research work. When
you look at issues of justice, you look at issues
of equity, you look at issues related to the ways
in which our world is structured in ways that disadvantage
(04:05):
certain groups and certain people, there's not going to be
a lot of appetite for that in a lot of places.
If you're in a place where they have that appetite
and you're able to go for it and do it, great,
keep pushing, keep working on it. For someone like me
here in South Carolina, Look, it's just what it is.
(04:26):
When it's time talking about research and justice and equity,
not much interest. It's just not going to happen. And
so thankfully I had some people close to me who
did have interests, who were interested in this kind of
work at the university, and I was able to talk
(04:47):
to them, lean on them for encouragement, and continue to
move forward and get the work done. And so I
don't want anybody to think that this kind of research
is the kind of thing that it everybody wants to
be involved in, that everybody wants to see done, that
everybody has an interest in, because it's just not the case.
(05:07):
And here where I am, you got to work hard,
and you have to be willing to step outside of
the things that people would assume you would be spending
your time on. And so with that, this study was completed.
It took about a year to complete. I had a
(05:29):
great collaborator and her name is doctor Sarah Kamamlek. She
is a professor at Howard University, very amazing researcher, amazing statistician.
She did amazing work on this project and on this article.
And so thank you, doctor Sarah, wherever you are, if
(05:51):
you're listening. Your contributions made this article what it is
and got it published. And that's not even hyperbole. The mapping,
the statistics, the data analysis, that's what made this paper
what it is and made it strong and publishable and
so thank you for that. And so let's just talk
(06:15):
about this research study. Let's talk about it. So we
start off with landfills, right, when then we talk about
waste and waste management. In this particular article, it's about landfills.
And so the first question is always, well, why landfills? Right?
There's so many other ways we manage waste that to
(06:37):
a casual person might seem to be more polluting. Right,
an incinerator that burns waste and smoking, everything goes in
the air. Don't you look at that? What about other
ways that we manage waste? The recycling industries that really working?
How is that going? Maybe you should look into that.
What else we try to compost, We try to do
(06:59):
different things to manage waste. And why are you choosing landfills? Well,
a couple of reasons. One here in South Carolina and
around the country in the United States, landfilling is the
king of waste management. It is how waste is managed
(07:24):
across the board. Wherever you go, people just throw their
trash and the trash can in the garbage. The garbage
truck comes and gets it, dumps it into a landfill.
Is the number one way that waste is managed in
the US and around the world, and so landfills themselves
(07:46):
are becoming, and have always been, and probably for the
foreseeable future, will be the primary concern if you're interested
in the ways in which waste is managed and how
it impacts people. So that's the first thing. Landfills are
the king, and second, landfills contribute to massive amounts of
(08:11):
environmental contamination all across the board from the potential contamination
of groundwater because when it rains, that rain water goes
through the landfill, it filters through the landfill, picks up
toxic metals, toxic chemicals, pollutants, and it's in that water
(08:34):
and it gets filtered down to the bottom of the landfill.
And in America especially, we have you know, engineering standards
where you have a liner and the system that catches
that water and pumps it out and processes it so
they don't it won't contaminate groundwater. But of course our
infrastructure is aging, and so those liners are degrading, those
(08:58):
systems are in the repair, and in many cases you
have contaminated groundwater as a result of these old landfills,
these old massive landfills, and so you can get water
contamination you can get air pollution because this waste is
degrading in the landfill, is decomposing, producing greenhouse emissions, carbon dioxide, methane,
(09:28):
nitrous oxide, all of these harmful pollutants that contribute to
climate change that poison the air. They can come from landfills,
and so we have to be aware of that. Also,
there's other issues with landfill that just because of what
they are. It's just a problem. Right. The smell of
(09:49):
a landfill, I mean, you're literally beside a huge trash
dump that smell moves as the wind blows. Right, There's
insects and vermin and random birds and animals and all
kinds of stuff just crawling all around in the landfill.
(10:09):
It's just really not the place to be, and you
don't want to live near one. You don't want to
be around them because of the way it just is.
When it's there in our environment, it's not the place
to be. And beyond that, when it's time to actually
dump trash into a landfill, you have lots of traffic,
(10:34):
big dump trucks, huge garbage trucks in and out, in
and out dumping trash into a landfill. So you have
additional traffic the smell from those trucks, you have pollution
from those vehicles, you have noise from their operations. I mean,
(10:55):
just being around landfill is not the place to be.
And so for this study, I want to spend some
time looking specifically at landfills in South Carolina to think
about where they're located, and to think about who lives
around them, what those populations are like, and if there
are any environmental justice concerns, any intersectional issues associated with it.
(11:21):
And surprise, maybe not surprise, there are lots and lots
of issues. And it's interesting because South Cline is a
really good state to do this, Right, there's forty six counties,
we got a lot of rural areas, a lot of
urban areas. We have a very diverse population that lives here, right,
a higher percentage of black residents here, higher percentage of
(11:45):
low income residents here, Like, we really do have a
good mix of people and of households and of communities.
To really think this through and to understand what's happening
with where these landfills are located throughout the state. Because
if it's truly a situation where they're evenly distributed, things
(12:05):
are equitable, you'd be able to see it here. There's
enough of each group to know, Okay, there isn't anything
going on with how they put these landfills out here,
because they're managing it well and being cognizant of their surroundings.
But as we'll see that it is not the case.
And so this state was a good place to have
(12:31):
this study done. It's a good place to really investigate
the ways in which landfills are placed and operated throughout
the state. And so that's another reason. A third reason,
and this is a really important reason. Waste management and
(12:51):
landfills in particular, I would argue, and some would disagree,
but I would argue, are the reasons why the environmental
justice movement began and pressed forward the way it did.
If you remember the biggest, i would say, most significant
(13:13):
events in the inception of the environmental justice movement and
in this progression as we continue to learn more and
understand more about this injustice, stem from waste management and
specifically landfills. So, for instance, one of the earliest studies
that environmental justice scholars point to to talk about environmental
(13:38):
justice as a movement occurred down in Texas in the seventies. Right,
So doctor Robert Bullard. He's considered by most to be
the father of environmental justice because of his work when
he was in Houston back in the seventies. You can
read about this in his book Dumping in Dick's. He
(14:01):
found in Houston, Texas that the vast majority of landfills
were located in black communities in Houston, public or private,
and that the waste management infrastructure that dealt with the
waste in Houston was always predominantly found in these black areas.
(14:25):
And so when he published that work, when he made
that known to the public, people begin to see and
understand there's something going on here with the way the
environment is managed, in the way we're dealing with these hazards,
and it's based on race. And then if you fast
forward a little bit, go a little bit further, that's
the seventies, Go to the eighties, nineteen eighty two. All
(14:49):
of you environmental justice scholars, you know the story about
Warren County in North Carolina where the county wanted to
put a hazardous waste landfill in this black township within
Warren County, and the people protested. Civil rights activists protested,
(15:10):
church leaders, protested, community groups, protested. They said, no, we
don't want this landfill here. We don't want this hatcher's
waste here. Why are you dumping it on us. We
don't produce the waste, we're not responsible for it. Don't
put it here, we don't want it. They fought and
fought against it. Now, they didn't win the battle, but
(15:31):
you could argue that they won the war because from
then on people began to see, oh, we really have
a problem here with this waste management situation, and we
can really see how black neighborhoods are being targeted, particularly
in the United States, for these facilities. And so now
(15:54):
it hit the national news. People are on TV, in
the newspapers talking about how this county is trying to
dump their Hajis waste on this black community in Warren
County in North Carolina. Nineteen eighty two. And then from there, right,
this is all landfill. We're talking about landfills. Now from
(16:17):
there we get to nineteen eighty seven, this landmark, I
would argue, bombshell report drops from the Church of Christ
where they look at the placement of Hajus waste landfills
across the United States. It's called toxic waste and race,
(16:41):
that's the name of the report. And what they found
was that the vast majority of HAS waste landfills across
the United States were placed in low income and black neighborhoods.
That's what they found in this report, data driven spatial
(17:05):
analysis all across the country. That was defining. And so
that report brought attention to the world that we have
significant environmental justice issues in this country, and of course
(17:25):
from their spreall over the world. Now everybody looks into
it and wants to know what's happening where they live.
And now we know that environmental injustice is a real thing,
and people have to be mindful of the reality that
if you are in the minority, if you are a
lower income, if you are any of these protected classes,
(17:49):
any of these vulnerable classes, you will be targeted for
environmental harm and injustice. It's just a fact. And this
study just builds on that understanding. And for me, it's
personal for me because in my state, I wanted to
know what's happening in South Carolina specifically, because we haven't
(18:12):
done that work here. People have been resistant to really
do the research and get the data to understand situations. Obviously,
people can kind of see what's happening you live, where
you live. You know it's different, but where's the data,
Where is the analysis that confirms that reality. I didn't
(18:36):
see it, and so I worked hard to produce it
for us so we can have it on the record.
This is what's happening with landfills in South Carolina, and
so that's why I chose it. That's why I believe
that landfills are a great place to start when it
(18:56):
comes to looking at environmental injustice. Wherever you live, whatever
you see, whatever's going on, this is the place to start.
Start with landfills. Start in your neighborhood, around your state,
your country, and you'll learn a lot from what you find.
(19:16):
And so we did the study and it was a
good study. Right. We took the list of landfills from
across the state, one hundred and forty two of them,
one hundred and forty two across this small, little state.
We mapped them, where they located, where can we find them?
(19:40):
We did it by class. If you don't know, in
the United States, we have different classes of landfills. In
South Carolina, there's three different classes. There's class one where
it's just land clearing, debris and trees and shrubs and
plants and that kind of stuff. When you're clearing out
lan you dump it into a Class one landfill. No
(20:03):
big deal, it's not a problem. Class two is where
they put industrial process waste. So not the industrial chemical
let's go into the hazards landfill, which is totally different,
but the processes that industries use to keep their facilities running,
you know, the process of water and the waste that
(20:23):
they produce goes into these landfills along with the land
clearing stuff. That is class two. And Class three is
which you're probably most familiar with, the household municipal solid
waste landfills. That's where your household garbage goes. When you
roll your garbage to the curb and they come pick
(20:43):
it up, put it in the dumpster in a dump truck,
take it to the landfill. When they come to the dumpster,
empty the dumpster, take it to the landfill. Those are
Class threes. They're usually the biggest landfills and the fewest
in number, and so they're always large and they're always unsightly.
(21:05):
And so those are the three landfill classes. So we
map them. My colleague, doctor Sarah got demographic data and
health data, environmental data off of different databases. We use
things like the Census for demographic data, you know, race
and ethnicity and gender and age and economic status, those
(21:28):
kinds of things. And we got environmental data from ejscreen.
Ejscreen is the Environmental Justice Screening Tool, which, by the way,
just as an aside, is no longer active. Our current
government has deactivated that site that has that data and
(21:51):
they are working to scrub all of these federal agency
sites of any kind of information that helps us understand
what's happening in terms of equity and justice in our country.
It's just happening. They've decided that we don't need that
information anymore. We don't want to talk about it, we
don't want to think about it. We're pushing all that
(22:12):
stuff out of the way, and we don't want to
hear about these justice issues. It's just on the side
that's happening now. It's going to continue, I'm sure, because
this current government that we have on that's running this
country then they got problems. They got some problems, so
it makes it hard to do the research, but we're
(22:34):
going to keep doing it. Got the health data from
CDC so all that information has been collected, and we
compared the averages of those different indicators to the population
characteristics around landfills. Right, So if the average is, you know,
(22:59):
twenty five percent African American or black, well, you have
a landfill. What's the percentage of those people around a landfill?
Is it higher or lower than that average. If it's
higher than the average, we would say, oh, there's some
disproportionate landfill placement occurring. If it's lower than that average,
(23:20):
we say, okay, no problem. And so we did that.
We went through all the landfills across the entire state,
mapped them, drew buffer zones around them, and compared the
population of those buffer zones to the state wide average
to see if there were differences and what those differences
(23:42):
could tell us about how those landfills were placed across
the state. And what did we find. Well, you know
what we found. We found significant environmental injustice as it
relates to the sighting of these landfills in South Carolina.
(24:03):
That's what we found. But that's not really news, is it.
You probably already knew that if you heard me talking
ten minutes ago, you already know that waste and landfills
have been consistently placed in communities of color, in low
income communities. That's not a surprise, that's not noteworthy. That's
(24:25):
not worth publishing a paper about. There's no reason to
talk about that. We already know that. We've known that
since the seventies. And so what's the difference. What's the
difference between this paper, this understanding of what's happening, and
what's been done over the last thirty forty fifty years
(24:45):
when it comes to this kind of research. The difference
is The difference is intersectionality. I'm going to say it again. Intersectionality.
It's a theory. It's a theory that's been presented. I
think it started back in the nineteen eighties, and it's
(25:07):
a theory that tells us, let me read it. I
got my paper right here, and when to read it
to you so I can get it right. The theory
of intersectionality proposes that multiple characteristics such as race, gender,
and socioeconomic status interact to produce a variety of individual
(25:28):
and collective experiences that reflect multiple interconnected forms of inequality.
That was nice to read. That was nice. Here's what
it means. It means that when you as an individual
(25:50):
in habit more than one of these types of identities,
you can expect a different type of injustice inequality to
a her around you. And that's what we see, that's
what's been happening. So this theory when it came out,
I'm pretty sure doctor Kimberly Crenshaw was credited with this
(26:10):
theory because she noted that as a black woman, she
would experience racism, sexism, these different types of injustices differently
and at different levels than if she were simply a
black person or simply a woman. And think about it
this way. You have a black person here, you have
(26:32):
a woman here. Black person experiences certain types of injustice
because they're black. A woman encounters certain types of injustice
because she's female. But what if you're a black woman,
you're both of them. Do you just get the same
(26:53):
of both. The theory says, no, you get something very different,
very unique, more expansive, more harmful, because you're both. You're
both of them, you're black and female. You're the same person.
And because of what you experience, it goes beyond what
(27:13):
you would experience if you were simply just black or
simply just a female. And that's what this theory tells us.
And so the question that I had was do we
see this theory in action when we look at the
places in the ways that landfills are placed in South Carolina.
(27:36):
That's the question, that's the big question that's overall this stuff. Now,
we're going to keep looking at the environmental justice angle
because it's very important, But what about this intersectional outlook?
Do we see that as well? And when we looked
at the data, when we looked at the placement of
these landfills, we found several things that are worth mentioning. Now, obviously,
(28:01):
the environmental justice issues are there. The percentages of Black
people around landfills was much higher than the national average
than the state wide average. The percentage of Hispanic residents
around landfills was much higher than the state wide average.
We got it, we know it. It just confirms what
we already know about the environmental justice when it comes
(28:22):
to landfills and waste management. We see it in South Carolina,
we see it all over the place, no problem. But here's
what we learned too, what about the intersectional components. We
were fortunate because the census tracks some of that. So
they tracked percentages of black female headed households. Right, you
(28:48):
get your two identities there. You have your black female households.
There's one female households in poverty. So now you have
a low income household led by a female resident. There's
some intersectionality there, and you have Hispanic female headed households,
another intersectional group shown in our data. So what did
(29:14):
we see. We saw that when you looked at female population,
you got close to the same average of people around
landfills that you got statewide. We didn't see much change there.
Low income households a little bit higher, Black households higher,
(29:40):
Hispanic households higher. But when you combine black female headed
households way up, the percentages go up. You look at
Hispanic female headed households way up, you look at female
(30:03):
headed households in poverty way up. We see very clearly
there's a very strong connection between where these landfills are
placed in these intersectional identities. These the ones that were
tracked by the census, and so it was very important
to make note that when you come to South Carolina,
(30:26):
at least you'll know that these intersectional identities, these communities,
these homes who inhabit these intersectional characteristics will experience the
presence of landfills differently than other parts of the state.
(30:48):
That's what we noticed. That's what we saw in our
research in this paper, and as you read through it,
you'll see the differences. You'll see the graphs, you'll see
the charts, you'll see the figures, and the maps show
us there's a difference. There's a significant difference between simply
looking at race and class and gender independently or we
(31:12):
look at them together in some way. And so that's
what we found, that's what we learned. That's what we
understand now about landfills in South Carolina. Right. So, the
more marginalized you are, the more identities inhabit you're a
(31:34):
black woman, you're a Hispanic woman, you're female, in poverty,
these things work together to further marginalize you. As it
relates to waste management in this state, specifically landfill placement.
You're going to deal with that. And when you look
(31:54):
at our paper as well, you'll see that around landfills,
you have worse health conditions, higher rates of asthma, higher
rates of cancer, higher rates of heart disease, you have
worse pollution, higher percentages of particulate matter, higher values related
to air quality and air toxicity. Like, all of these
(32:18):
things tell us that living near landfills, being close to
landfill is a problem. And if you are inhabiting one
of these multiple identities, you are more at risk, You're
more vulnerable, and you're more likely to be living near
these landfills. It was a fascinating study, and all I
(32:42):
can tell you is when you think about when you
think about what it tells us about the people who
live near landfills, the fact that they are typically lower income,
communities of color, female, even all these things put together,
(33:09):
it tells us, It tells me, and it should tell
all of us that when we start thinking about policies,
we start thinking about ways that we can push back
against this reality, we have to think intersectionally. We have
to think about this not simply from a black versus white,
(33:31):
Hispanic versus non Hispanic, male versus female. We have to
think about it in terms of intersectionality. We have to
remind ourselves that whatever policies we put in place, whatever
we choose to do, we have to think about the
fact that if we aren't keyed in on the demographics
(33:55):
of these communities and understand the true nature of their
vulnerability of these not simply that this is a black
neighborhood or in this bank neighborhood or a poor one,
but that there may be poor Hispanics here, there may
be black women here. We have to think about that
to inform us as to what the best policies would
(34:17):
be to manage the way that our environment is being treated. Right,
you got to go deeper. You have to look closer.
You can't just say, well, I know this is a
black neighborhood, so I'll treat them a certain way and
this old place will do something different. We can't do that.
(34:37):
We have to make sure that we're aware of these
intersectional instances and act accordingly. And the best way to
do that is to actually talk to the community. To
engage the population that you are potentially going to harm, right,
(34:58):
meet with them, have the meetings, have the get together.
It's the public comment periods to ensure that you know
what is happening here. One thing we know in our
in our article is that in South Carolina, there is
no record, there's no requirement for public comments, there's no
(35:20):
requirement to meet with communities. There's just no there's no
You don't have to do it. It's optional. Now, how is
that going to work? How are you going to actually
take care and be mindful of what's going on When
you don't even have to meet with them, you have
to talk to them at all. You can do whatever
you want. And so that's one thing that needs to change.
(35:42):
We need to mandate that when it comes to landfills
waste management facilities, that you have to engage the public
with regards to whatever you're trying to do. You're trying
to build a new one, you're trying to make a
landfill bigger spand it. You're trying to put in a
(36:02):
I don't know what, transfer station, a little hub that
might be a little bit smaller. Whatever you're trying to do,
you need to talk to the community about it. You
need to make sure that you know who you're dealing with,
what they're dealing with, and what can be done to
operate in a way that protects them from the harm
you might inflict from your prices, or to not go
(36:27):
there at all with your waste management facility. We don't
need anyway. Let's do something different, you know, because another
thing we know in the article is that a lot
of our waste management issues. It's not simply that the
landfills are in certain places or do they pollute. It's
(36:50):
that we as particularly Americans, Oh my goodness, Americans consume
so much, we create so much waste that we're having
to find newer and different and innovative ways to throw
(37:13):
our trash away to get rid of our waste. And
so another thing that could be done is, when you
have an issue with waste, let's talk about other ways
to deal with it then just throwing it in a landfill.
(37:33):
What can we do differently to manage this waste and
protect ourselves from environmental harm. That's another way to engage
a community. Say, look, this is what we're thinking about
doing because of the increasing amounts of waste. What do
you think would be a good strategy for managing this stuff?
(37:56):
And let the community come and tell you. They got ideas,
they live, they have innovative solutions. Let it be community driven,
community focused. Engage the community right, bring them into the
discussion about how to manage this waste, how to deal
with pollution, how to deal with these issues. Because I
(38:17):
promise you they don't want pollution either. They don't want
waste either. Nobody does. So let's get together and figure
it out. What can we do, what can be done,
and how can we move forward? And so those are
some of the things that this article talks about, pushes
(38:41):
through presents data regarding these things. And so I will
link the article in the description of this episode. I
want you to take a look at it. It is
very technical, So go through it. Look at the maps,
look at the tables, look at the picture, read the conclusions,
(39:02):
read the introduction, you know, and let's continue to educate ourselves,
continue to learn more about these issues, these environmental justice issues,
these intersectional issues. Today it's landfills, something else tomorrow, who knows.
But let's continue to learn more and more. And I'm
(39:25):
going to end with this with this note. You know,
when we talk about trash, about waste, we want it
out of our site, out of sight, out of mind.
Let's get rid of it. Let's get it out of
our house. Roll that trash can down to the curb,
let the truck come take it away, and it's gone.
(39:46):
But let's not forget that that trash ends up somewhere,
and in most cases it ends up in the landfill.
And in most cases that landfill is located near a
very vulnerable community, and in most cases, that vulnerable community
is impacted disproportionately by that landfill. And so let's remember
(40:11):
that the way we treat our waste, the way that
we deal with our excess, will impact somebody else down
the line. People that we don't see, that we don't know,
will be impacted by the way we manage our waste,
by the way that we manage our consumption. And so
(40:32):
I hope that one thing this paper does for whoever
reads it is it illuminates and it enlightens the reader.
Whoever you are reading this paper, let you know that
there are people who are being impacted by how we
(40:53):
manage waste in South Carolina, in the United States, around
the world. And so let's continue to keep that in
mind as we fight for justice, we fight for equality
and fairness, equity, all these things that are so important.
We know that a lot of it starts with us advocating, pushing,
(41:18):
being aware, being educated, telling others this is what's happening,
this is what's going on where we live. Now I
can go around, I can tell people, look, landfills in
South Carolina are disproportionately impacting black female households Hispanic female households,
(41:39):
female households, and poverty, Black communities, Hispanic communities. All these
places are being disproportionately impacted by these landfills. We need
to do something about it. We need to stop pretending
and closing our eyes and turning away from these realities.
(41:59):
This paper does just that. It's been published in the
Journal of Environmental Sociology, is out there now. The world
knows that, at the very least in South Carolina, we
have these types of issues and we need to deal
with them. And so let's talk about it. Let's push
(42:19):
for changes. We recommend a couple of policy changes in
the paper. Take a look at those, but more importantly,
make sure you're aware and that you know what's happening
where you live and anywhere that you are concerned about,
because I promise you waste management. Landfilling isn't the only
(42:42):
environmental issue that disproportionately impacts communities of color, low income communities,
and people who have intersectional identities. There's so many issues,
and so read the article. It's in the description. Let's
(43:05):
think about our vulnerable communities, vulnerable populations, the people who
aren't speaking to you, who don't hear let's think about them,
Let's continue to do the work that will lift up
their voices, make them more visible, and enable us to
(43:27):
push for changes that make a positive impact in their
lives and the lives of everyone everywhere. And with that,
thanks for listening to the Environmental Justice Lab. Where we
are for the people and for the planet. We'll see
you next time.
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