(Photo courtesy of Gail Gunst Heffner)

An illustrated companion to Chapter 11 of Beyond Stewardship: New Approaches to Creation Care. To view main webpage, click here:

"As we were walking, we rounded a bend to see two people fishing! ...In that moment, I made a number of assumptions. I assumed this pair lived near the creek because they were African American and African American communities are prevalent in this part of the city. I assumed they were low-income because the man was fishing rather than working on a weekday. And I assumed they did not know the creek was contaminated with high levels of E. coli and other bacterial pollutants."

"Numerous research findings have documented that, in the United States, people of color and those in economically impoverished communities are exposed to greater environmental hazards in their homes, in their neighborhoods, and in their workplaces."

"Land use patterns and policy-making are often tools of systemic racism, and they can produce racial and environmental inequality. When siting a landfill, city planners often choose land that is less expensive and less desirable—often land that is closer to where people of color live."

"Environmental racism is twofold—the unequal protection against environmental harm and the exclusion of people of color from environmental decisions affecting their communities."

To read about how several communities are affected by nearby landfills, click the following links:

"In Michigan, people of color are providing leadership to confront lead poisoning, an explicit example of environmental racism in their communities."

To learn more about Parents For Healthy Homes and their fight for safe homes and healthy living conditions, click on the following link to their website:

"Plaster Creek Stewards, working to return health and beauty to a highly degraded urban waterway, created the Green Team to introduce urban youth to environmental problems in their watershed through educational sessions and hands-on experience."