Environmental racism throughout the history of economic globalization

Abstract

Environmental racism plagues the history and contemporary realities of globalization. To control resources, stake holders seek to dominate lands and peoples in order to produce at a maximum profit. Left in the wake of consumerism are populations of ethnic, religious, and racial minorities. These groups traditionally have an attachment to ancestral lands they wish to protect or are unable to compete with large corporations who establish environmentally unfriendly conditions and unfair working situations for under-served populations. Since a mentality of ‘Not in My Backyard’ (NIMBY) perpetuates apathy for addressing iniquities, remediation of these issues has been slow to non-existent. The value of exploring specific instances and recurring trends within regions of inequity and destructive ecological policy cannot be understated. Without awareness, change is impossible. Inherently, methodologies used to analyze current global systems are imperialist in nature and create further distance from the subjects exposed to detrimental corporate and policy decisions. This research provides an historic overview of globalized environmental racism in order to address and combat negative choices affecting marginalized communities throughout the world.