In light of the recent surge in discussions of racism and inequality, I feel the need to discuss the ideas of environmental racism and environmental justice. Within the environmental movement, the issue of race and the role it plays is often glossed over, or seen as a “separate issue”, when really the two could not be more intertwined; in fact, they have been since the beginnings of colonization. Europeans began colonizing other parts of the world in order to exploit resources and expand political and economic control. On top of their violence and oppression of native cultures, colonists also disrupted the natural ecosystems in these areas, enforced harmful farming practices, and forced countries to become more “developed”, i.e. build more unsustainable infrastructure and become industrialized. As time progressed, those of us in the so called “developed world” realized that our practices of industrialization and unsustainable infrastructure had begun the devastating phenomenon of climate change. Rather than taking responsibility for the creation and promotion of these unsustainable practices, we turned to the so called “developing world”, the countries whom we had previously colonized and who were still in the process of industrializing, and scolded them for the unsustainable practices which we had brought and enforced in the first place, demanding that they adopt new, more sustainable technology. Meanwhile, most “developed” countries have barely made a dent in reducing their own contributions to climate change.
On top of this, people in “developing” countries suffer the most from the effects of climate change, despite contributing far less to the problem. Most “developed” countries participate in something known as “waste colonialism”, where “developed” countries ship their trash to “developing” countries, where it gets put into landfills, allowing those in the “developed” countries to continue to live unsustainably without having to face the consequences of their lifestyle, and worsening the quality of life for people in other countries, who live more sustainably. It’s super important for those of us in “developed” countries to acknowledge our role in this problem and do our part to consume and waste less.