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Sylvia Wynter (2003) suggests that our current struggles in Western colonized society regarding racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, ethnicism, climate change, environmental destruction, and the unequal distribution of resources are rooted in what she argues is the overrepresentation of the descriptive statement of Man as human, which only recognizes white, wealthy, able-bodied, heterosexual men as "human." As such, just as I argue Black feminist writers and scholars have drawn on speculative methods and Afrofuturism, the use of twentieth-century technology and speculative imagination to address issues within Black and African diasporic communities (see Dery & Dery, 1994), to insist on and explore the full humanity of Black girls, women, and femmes, so too have Black and African diasporic scholars called on Afrofuturism to imagine new ways technology and traditional knowledge practices can address environmental injustice. Suékama (2018) argues that as a form of resistant knowledge building and theorizing, an Afrofuturist approach to environmentalism “integrates speculation with the ecological and scientific, and the spiritual or metaphysical'' to make our environmental justice less European, male, human, (and I would add capitalist) centered. Thus, an Afrofuturist approach to environmental injustice asks us to think about our collective struggle for environmental justice as a part of and connected to other forms of systemic oppression rooted in the rejection of African diasporic and Indigenous people and their knowledge practices through the overrepresentation of Man as human in Western society. In this way, a speculative and Afrofuturist approach to environmental injustice draws on African diasporic knowledge practices in conjunction with modern and traditional technologies to imagine new solutions to environmental injustice that center the needs, values, and traditional practices of African diasporic people. 

Image source: Still from "Pumzi" Directed by Wanuri Kahiu

Peterson-Salahuddin, Chelsea. 2023. "An Afrofuturist Approach to Unsettling Environmental injustice." In 4S Paraconference X EiJ: Building a Global Record, curated by Misria Shaik Ali, Kim Fortun, Phillip Baum and Prerna Srigyan. Annual Meeting of the Society of Social Studies of Science. Honolulu, Hawai'i, Nov 8-11.

The hazard in this artifact is in relation to the polluted water system throughout urban New Jersey areas. The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission and the D.E.P are working together to create new infrastructure upgrades to the local sewer systems. This long term plan will help limit the amount of toxic waste that runs off into the drinking water for surrounding urban communities. 

one of the main issues that presents itself when hurricanes do occur is that the drainage systems become very clogged and end up flooding the streets. In response to this, on July 1, "new state permits went into effect for the 25 municipalities, sewage treatment plants, and sewage authorities that manage systems with CSOs. In addition to the steps these entities already have taken to control overflows, they now must develop comprehensive Long-Term Control Plans." (paragraph 5) If everything is able to function properly, we will be able to unclog the drainage systems allowing for the roads to not flood and people to move around if need be. 

In this article, It talks mainly about New Jerseys CSO communities and how the CSO's are and have been making steps towards reducing overflow and even though the current solutions being used right now is a way to help reduce the overflow, these systems are also major sources of water pollution. however, CSO's plan to help reduce overflow and help prevent extensive damage from hurricanes will, be beneficial to the public even though it may take a few years for it to be completed and be of use to the public. 

as stated in the article two things have been done to help prevent sewage in overflow systems.one is that, "Nearly 65 overflows already have been permanently closed off, according to the Dept. of Environmental Protection." also, many other communities spent millions of dollars to install grates and shields on the overflow pipes. this would help prevent most trash from entering the system. 

the community as a whole, along with the CSO, can be seen as a resilience due to the fact that the CSO community and many peopole in the community as a whole have helped to improve the system that is currently in use especially since many of the systems  are outdated. granted, there are those who could care less in the community, but there are those that are taking steps toward the end goal of cleaning up our environment.

one of the main vulnerabilities is that there is a large amounts of sewage and trash polluting the water and it gets sucked into the overflow system that are used to prevent flooding. this further pollutes the surrounding are and further poisons the environment. 

This artical taliking about new jersey urban water quality. Now CSO finding a solution to that hazard. It allready taken substantial steps toward reducing or ending overflows. This “solids and floatables” control is an example of system optimization,This also has reduced the amount of trash getting dumped into waterways via CSO outfalls.

The aim of this organization is to address the problem of sewage overflows in the cities of New Jersey. They want to address these issues combining alongwith the aiding in water conservation, flooding resiliency measures, and solutions to innovative financing. 

The kind of technology and/or infrastructure that they rely on are one big road map. Having an eye on each area as a whole not only helps the organization aide in seeing where the problem relys, but also has the commuities be able to keep an eye out to pinpoint the exacy areas that have the problems. This also helps by not only the organizations but also the communities being able to come up with better and quicker solutions.