Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility

Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility

<p>From St.<br>Louis to New Orleans, from Baltimore to Oklahoma City, there are poor and<br>minority neighborhoods so beset by pollution that just living in them can be<br>hazardous to your health. Due to entrenched segregation, zoning ordinances that<br>privilege wealthier communities, or because businesses have found the ‘paths of<br>least resistance,’ there are many hazardous waste and toxic facilities in these<br>communities, leading residents to experience health and wellness problems on<br>top of the race and class discrimination most already experience. Taking stock of the recent environmental<br>justice scholarship, Toxic Communities examines the connections among residential segregation, zoning, and exposure to<br>environmental hazards. Renowned environmental sociologist Dorceta Taylor focuses<br>on the locations of hazardous facilities in low-income and minority communities<br>and shows how they have been dumped on, contaminated and exposed.</p><p>Drawing on an array of<br>historical and contemporary case studies from across the country, Taylor<br>explores controversies over racially-motivated decisions in zoning laws,<br>eminent domain, government regulation (or lack thereof), and urban renewal. She<br>provides a comprehensive overview of the debate over whether or not there is a<br>link between environmental transgressions and discrimination, drawing a clear<br>picture of the state of the environmental justice field today and where it is<br>going. In doing so, she introduces new concepts and theories for understanding<br>environmental racism that will be essential for environmental justice scholars.<br>A fascinating landmark study, Toxic<br>Communities greatly contributes to the study of race, the environment, and<br>space in the contemporary United States.</p>