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Social justice in the Great Lakes Areas of Concern
Citation:
Josephs, J., T. Hollenhorst, M. Wick, AND T. Angradi. Social justice in the Great Lakes Areas of Concern. Presented at National Monitoring Virtual Conference, Duluth, MN, April 19 - 23, 2021. https://doi.org/10.23645/epacomptox.14461959
Impact/Purpose:
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to integrate environmental justice (EJ) through materials, programs, tools, and research initiatives to protect vulnerable and marginalized populations from the harmful effects of environmental contamination. Framing our talk around the concepts of adverse community experiences, trauma and marginalization, we will relate environmental justice to specific AOC projects and explore potential factors preventing marginalized populations from achieving equitable benefit from AOC clean up. We will conclude with alternative approaches and frameworks as possible bridges between AOCs and whole-community health and well-being. Our talk will contribute to a national discussion about community empowerment and environmental improvements.
Description:
It is well documented that marginalized, often non-white, populations in the United States are disproportionately exposed to environmental contaminants, suffer greater well-being consequences and are at the same time confronted with institutional barriers such as institutional racism and inequitable access to resources. Communities experiencing sustained conditions that support these barriers may enter a cycle of disparity and diminished resilience that influences their capacity to meet basic needs. To address harmful impacts of social inequity and environmental injustice, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to integrate environmental justice (EJ) through materials, programs, tools, and research initiatives to protect vulnerable and marginalized populations from the harmful effects of environmental contamination. Calls from marginalized communities to address racial justice and equity within a variety of social, economic, political, and environmental contexts invites an opportunity to advance EPA’s EJ and equity priorities, including support for marginalized communities impacted by contamination in Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC). Using GLWQA, GLRI and EPA EJ website information, we frame our study around the concepts of adverse community experiences, trauma, and marginalization. Using existing studies from the St. Louis River and Milwaukee AOCs, we explore the above concepts as well as innovative strategies that could extend EPA and community collaborations beyond standard AOC project efforts and boundaries to sustainably address factors preventing marginalized populations from achieving equitable benefit from AOC clean up. We discuss alternative approaches and frameworks as possible bridges between AOCs and whole-community health, wealth, and well-being.
