Introducing Students to Environmental Justice:

A North Carolina Case Study

Sarah Yelton, MSUNC Superfund Research Program

July 18, 2012

ENGAGEMENT

• Read the scenario provided.

The Problem

Community leaders who are upset about this situation believe that the

landfill site was intentionally selected due to its being located

in a poor, rural, predominantly minority community.  They are determined to fight this decision and prevent the landfill from being constructed.

EXPLORATION

How might the community be both positively and negatively affected by the

siting and construction of the

PCB Landfill?

Identify the key groups in this story

• Concerned Citizen Group• Media• Scientists/Public Health Experts• EPA (Federal Government)• NC Department of Natural Resources

(State Government)• Town and County officials (Local

Government)

EXPLANATIONRead A North Carolina Case Study

Afton, NC (Warren County)

Hazardous Waste:How did it get there?

• Ward Transformer, Morrisville, NC, reconditioned electrical transformers since 1964

• 1978 - Ward sprays 30,000 tons of PCB-contaminated oil along 243 miles of NC roads in 14 counties

• 1982 - EPA moves soil to new landfill in Warren County

NPL Site: PCB Spills

Population 69% minority, over 20% low-income Spurred the Environmental Justice Movement

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)

• Man-made class of oil-like chemicals used in the manufacture of electrical equipment due to the molecules’ insulating properties.

• Banned from manufacture in the US in 1977.

      

PCBs in the Environment

– Do not readily break down and thus persist in the environment

– Stick to particles and bottom sediments in water

– Build up in fatty tissues of animals due to their fat-soluble (lipophilic) properties (bioaccumulation)

– Ingested by aquatic organisms and increase in concentration through food chain (biomagnification)

PCBs & Human Health

• “Probably carcinogenic” - EPA• Humans/Animal models exposed to

PCBs have exhibited:– Acne-like skin conditions– Liver damage– Impaired reproduction– Low birth weight babies– Impaired immune systems

PCB Landfill Detoxification

• PCB contaminated soil (82,000 tons) was treated by indirect thermal desorption (Aug 2002-October 2003)

• 4,500 gallons of concentrated PCB oil was recovered and taken to a hazardous waste facility

http://www.tdxassociates.com/Indirect%20Fired.html

What is Environmental Justice?Think-Pair-Share

It has been documented that…

• Minorities and poor more frequently live near environmental hazards; the 2007 Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty report found people of color make up more than 56 percent of the residents living in neighborhoods within two miles of commercial hazardous waste facilities.

It has been documented that…

• Superfund site listings in minority and poor areas are discovered to a lesser extent despite legislation designed to prevent the disproportionate environmental effects of federal programs and policies on minority and low-income populations.

Source: Superfund: Evaluating the Impact of Executive Order 12898 http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.9903

What is Environmental Justice?

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color,

national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of

environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Definition from USEPA: www.epa.gov

Principles of EJ

• Adopted by the delegates at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held in October 1991.

• “served as a defining document for the growing grassroots movement for environmental justice”

http://www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html

What strategies can community members use to address environmental injustices?

The Role of Government

• What should the role of government be in preventing environmental injustice?

The Role of Youth

• What is the role of youth in addressing environmental injustices?

DISCUSSION:

• How can you make this topic relevant to your students?

• What local issues (past or present) have negatively impacted a subset of the population?

Ecojustice Education

• The ecological crisis is really a cultural crisis… a crisis in the way people have learned to think and thus behave in relation to larger life systems and toward each other.

• This book offers a model for examining the cultural roots of the ecological crisis.

Superfund Research ProgramUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hillhttp://www.sph.unc.edu/srp/ Research Translation Core

Sarah Yelton, Environmental Education Coordinatorsarah.yelton@unc.edu(919) 966-0895

Contact Information