Ch. 2 The Political Economy of Environmental Racism

Chapter 2 explained how communities that become vulnerable to environmental racism tend to have a particular social, economic, and political history that leads to their situations. Chapter 2 gave an example of a small town in Pennsylvania called Chester. Chester was a small town with a population of 39,000. Though only 6.2% of Delaware County, where Chester is located, is African American 65% of Chester is African American. Chester was historically an industrial town, and today is one of the most economically depressed communities in Pennsylvania. The social conditions in Chester are also very poor, it has one of the worst school districts in the state, and crime rates are the highest in the state.

Due to its lack of jobs and poor living situations the government was looking for anything to come to Chester to provide jobs. Their desperate situation lead the Political powers in Chester to allow the area to become a toxic wasteland. Political and economic investment in waste management can explain why many decisions have been made that in turn have harmful effects on social and environmental factors. This was the case in Chester, a Republican powerhouse had control over almost all decision making in Chester and his irresponsible social responsibility eventually lead to uprise, formation of organizations, and a legal matter.

Identifying the causes of environmental hazards and reasons for neglecting potential issues, mainly economic factors or political influence, can help us to prevent profits from getting in the way of progress towards sustainable societies.