Community based collaboration for environmental justice: south-east Halifax environmental reawakening

Abstract

The paper describes environmental racism and its underlying causes and then presents a case study of environmental racism in the United States where a toxic dump and large hog production factories are systematically sited in poorer areas. These are also areas with an above average proportion of African Americans and American Indians. The paper also describes a programme of environmental awakening in one area to fight environmental racism and to support isolated, rural and semi-rural communities in their efforts to recover environmental values. This programme includes community workshops; environmental health consultations; a quantitative analysis of environmental justice; seminars to raise awareness of environmental health; and festivals and other means of promoting greater awareness of the main environmental issues.