This map is a fascinating and important image as it does NOT show the many sites of (ongoing) nuclear radiation contamination in communities impacted by uranium extraction and processing. For example, the Navajo Nation has around 270 unreclaimed open pit tailings piles. This is not official "waste" but is quotidian waste that creates longstanding environmental harm.
This image hides many things, including:
1. the slow but steady dispossession of smallholder (often African-American) farms that have been overtaken/bought out by Smithfield Foods to enlarge the industrial footprint of CAFOs;
2. the hogs themselves, whose hooves never touch the ground as they stand on "hog slats" inside the hangers as they move through the Fordist stages of transformation from individual animals into packaged pork;
3. the human operators, themselves, who are rarely wealthy, and are contracted for decades (or life) to purchase all "inputs" (feed, semen, etc) from Smithfield; in 2010, I took my EJ class from UNC-Chapel Hill to visit one of these operators at his CAFO, outside Raleigh, NC, and he was battling Smithfield and Duke Energy to be allowed to erect and operate a small-scale, experimental wind turbine that ran on methane captured from his pigs; years later, individual efforts at small-scale biogas would be overtaken by entities like Align LNG which now, in Sampson County, proposes the "Grady Road Project" to scale-up factory-farmed methane gas capture from much larger operations;
4. the legacy of resistance to this form of agricultural production, led by community-based intellectuals like Gary Grant, who as early as the 1980s was speaking out, traveling to state and federal lawmakers, publishing, and organizing against the growing harms of CAFOs in his home territory of Halifax County, NC. [See the suggested readings by Gary Grant and Steve Wing, Naeema Muhammed and others, that tracks this organized resistance and the formation of several community-based EJ groups in response].
The Sampson County landfill can be smelled before seen. This olfactory indicator points toward the sensory scale of these pungent emissions but also toward the geographic scope: this landfill receives waste from as far away as Orange County (the state's most expensive property/tax base), among dozens of other distant counties, making this "hazardous site" a lesson in realizing impact beyond the immediate locale. So when we answer the question, "What is this hazard?" we must think not only about the landfill as a thing in itself but as a set of economic and political relations of capital and the transit of other peoples' trash, into this lower-income, rural, predominantly African-American neighborhood. In this way, 'thinking with a landfill' (like this one in Sampson County) enables us to analyze wider sets of relationships, NIMBY-ist policymaking, consumerism, waste management, and the racialized spatial politics that enable Sampson County to be the recipient of trash from all over the state. At the same time we think spatially and in transit, we can think historically to (a) inquire about the DEQ policies that enable this kind of waste management system; and (b) the emergent "solutions" in the green energy sector that propose to capture the landfill's methane in order to render the stench productive for the future -- that is, to enable more consumption, by turning garbage into gas. As such, the idea of "hazard" can expand beyond the site itself - impactful and affective as that site might be - to examine the uneven relations of exchange and capitalist-driven values of productivity that further entrench infrastructures such as these. [This offers a conceptual corrollary to thinking, as well, about the entrenchment of CAFOs for "green" biogas development, as we address elsewhere in the platform].
The Newark Resilience Action Plan (RAP) team comprises of the Ironbound Community Corporation, New Jersey Environment Justice, and Clean Water Action.
The fact that when the government went to collect samples of lead, they didn't go to all the sites. Also the fact that EPA has an action level for lead in the water.
A sacrifice zone or sacrifice area (often termed a national sacrifice zone or national sacrifice area) is a geographic area that has been permanently impaired by environmental damage or economic disinvestment. These zones are most commonly found in low-income and minority communities. Children that grow up near these areas are more likely to have asthma and other lung issuesd
The article talks about improving pollution in industrial neighbourhood but they forget to realize that there is water contamination in Newark and also the fact that what can be done to improve pollution rather than just stating to improve pollution but they forget about the pollution thats already been emitted, what can be done regarding that.
Full annotation
Annotate ONE of the readings assigned for the week. The reading you choose must have an asterisk next to it in the syllabus (hint: the longer readings will almost always have an asterisk). Annotations should be at least 200 words, excluding the quotes and citations. Please use the following format:
1. Citation: ACNJ (2018, March). Newark Kids Count Report 2018 . Retrieved from Kids Count Data Center:https://acnj.org/kids-count/newark-kids-count/2. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text (include page numbers)?Newark has high rates of both. As indicated in this year’s Newark Kids Count, 37 percent of Newark families with children live under the poverty level. Additionally, Newark’s housing stock is relatively old, with 73 percent of households living in homes built before 1980, two years after lead paint was banned. The most up-to-date science recognizes that even very small amounts of lead in a child’s body can cause lifelong damage. The State of New Jersey has recognized this fact by lowering the blood lead level necessary to trigger state action, from 10 micrograms per deciliter to 5. This reflects federal CDC recommendations (ACNJ 7,2018)Importance: There was a common misconception that the issue with lead in the city of newark came from the water systems when actually it came from lead based paint. Newark is extremely old in it history along with its housing, Some homes date back to almost three hundred years, which dates back to when leadbased paint was the only option.When a family spends too much money on rent, they have less to spend on other necessities, such as food or transportation. The 30 percent of income standard has been in use since the 1930s. 1 In 2016, 59 percent of Newark families spent a significant portion of their income on rent — far higher than the statewide figure of 49 percent. The 2016 median monthly rent for Newark residents was $1,013, just $231 less than the statewide median rent. With a median income of less than $35,000, Newark families with children face disproportionately high housing costs.(ACNJ 24,2018)Importance: The Price of housing in the city of newark economically handicaps the majority of its inhabits. When a family has to spend more than 30% of the total monthly income not only are they unable to save but also it could possible make them unable to afford other basic nessesities such a healthy non processed food, if any.Students who miss 10 percent of school days (about two days a month) are more likely to fall behind in school and not graduate on time.(ACNJ 43 ,2018)Importance: For children that come from a low income background, education for many is the only way that some are able to change their socio-economical status.3. What is the main argument of the text, AND how does the author support it?The Report starts off by giving the statistics of the demographic background of the children of newark and how the population is growing, birthrates and foreign born children. LAstly it mentions the number of single parent homes in the area. This directly flows into the economical portion because these single parent homes account for 87% of those that live in poverty. Then it goes into the economic scope while highlighting "Family Economic Security " and " Economically Disadvantaged Children" along with Unemployment and how it influencese children . Housing Costs and how they directly determines the remaining portions that can be alloted to Food, and the lack of Nutritional Benefits children our left with. The report mentions programs that aid to contributing nutritional diet that impact health for example, School Breakfast. More topics such as : education,child neglect, prenatal care4. Responses, reflections, or questions:Does HUD plan on increase the amount of affordable housing in Newark?Does Newark plan one creating a lead removal fund program for current home owners?Should Pre-K be mandartory? Would that be wise to do in Essex County and would it influence the Academic preformance?The new initiative mentioned in the article wants to enhance Environmental Justice, good stewardship, and suistainable economic development by protecting the health of the residents in Newark, minimizing pollution, and by encouraging development that does affects Newark positively.
The Resilience Action Plan Team got a grant from the Kresge Foundation's Climate Resilience and Urban Opportunity Initiative and they have the support of the city of Newark to enable their work and possibly shape their way of thinking about disaster and health.