Author: Victoria Cruz-Solano

“Today, zip code is still the most potent predictor of an individual’s health and well-being” (Environmental Health News). In the 1900s, white people discriminated against BIPOC from purchasing houses in their white neighborhoods. This led to segregated neighborhoods. Landfills and highways directly through these neighborhoods, homeless shelters leading to increased pollution in groundwater and low air quality resulting in poor school systems and healthcare systems. This is an example of environmental injustice. 

What is environmental justice? How can the environment be just or unjust? 

Environmental injustice is when some communities have a higher level of environmental risk than other communities in society. Environmental injustice occurs when some communities have more environmental burdens due to racial and socioeconomic injustices. BIPOC neighborhoods faced increased risk of poor health from the polluted air and water resulting in a greater risk of environmental injustice. According to Scientific America, “environmental justice concerns are more prominent along race/ethnicity lines, rather than measures of poverty.” Environmental justice is still a huge problem because people of color are disproportionately affected by increased exposure to toxic chemicals, lead poisoning, unsafe workplaces, water contamination and climate change. This is expanded by not having access to healthcare, lack of good jobs, and increased crime. 

In BIPOC neighborhoods, health is drastically affected due to environmental hazards. There is a great example of this from the movie Erin Brockovich (highly recommend watching this!) based on a real life story where a small town lived near a plant and they used a hazardous chemical, Chromium 6 that seeped into the town’s groundwater. This BIPOC community began having major health problems and took years to find out that it was related to the plant’s use of chromium 6 and years to get compensation. This is an example of the environmental injustice this BIPOC community faced from a big corporation that would have not happened in a big city full of wealthy residents. 

Environmental injustice is relevant inside and outside of the United States. I recently learned that at the end of World War II, the industrial age ramped up and we began producing more waste and we needed someplace to ship it off too. Most of the waste ended up being shipped off to South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Third World nations accept the waste in exchange of money. This has been deemed “garbage imperialism” or “toxic colonialism.” This leaves these nations having a larger environmental risk, environmental injustice, due to waste polluting groundwater, and having a toxic environment. 

What can I do to combat environmental injustice?

In environmental activism, we need to focus climate justice and racial equity at the center of our discussion. We need to bring those most affected by environmental injustice into these discussions. Lastly, we need to vote for politicians and policies that will advocate for environmental justice for all. 

Citations

Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade.” Environmental Justice Organisations Liabilities and Trade, www.ejolt.org/2013/02/environmental-injustice/. 

“A Look at Environmental Justice in U.S.A. Today.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 20 Jan. 2014, www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-look-at-environmental-justice-in-usa-today/. 

“5 Ways Businesses Can Take Action to Reduce Environmental Racism.” Greenbiz, www.greenbiz.com/article/5-ways-businesses-can-take-action-reduce-environmental-racism. 

Ranniger, Gwen. “The Father of Environmental Justice.” EHN, EHN, 26 Feb. 2021, www.ehn.org/environmental-justice-2646185608/the-father-of-environmental-justice. 

Victoria Cruz-Solano

During quarantine, I would spend hours browsing through shein, urban outfitters, and forever 21 looking through endless pages of clothes to buy stuff. Did I really need more clothes? No. But I loved the serotonin kick that I got looking through the clothes, checking out, and receiving my package in the mail. I would see influencers on Instagram do shein hauls making me more inclined to go buy stuff. But I started seeing tiktoks about fast fashion and how most of these common clothing brands partake in this ‘fast fashion industry’. I started researching and learning about fast fashion and realized how many brands are fast fashion brands. 

What is fast fashion? Fast fashion is when clothing is produced quickly to keep up with new trends. Fast fashion is very common because of the extremely low prices. Why spend $35 on a shirt where on clothing websites like Shein and Romwe you can spend $10? Although fast fashion produces very cheap costs for consumers it comes at a cost. Fast fashion brands often exploit workers by paying them very little and having them work in very unsafe conditions. Fast fashion also has a drastic effect on the environment producing microplastic pollution, textile dye pollution, and increased carbon emissions. The fast fashion industry contributes to the ever-growing plastic pollution in the ocean through microplastics. 

Microplastics are from the fibers of your clothing. Surprisingly, most clothes are made with some plastic fibers, microfibers. Microfibers are usually very small and are found in acrylic and polyester clothing. When your clothes are washed once, up to 700,000 fibers can come off and go into the sea. According to Intelligent Living, the United States and Canada produce about 500,000 tons of microplastics from fibers that are deposited into the ocean. That’s the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles. The microfibers are now incorporated in the food chain because small fish mistake them for food and they work their way up the food chain where we eventually consume microplastics.

 

 

 

The fast fashion industry also is responsible for 10% of the world’s carbon emissions. People are buying more to keep up with trends, and the fast fashion brands are pushing out more clothing to keep up with demands. People bought 60% more clothes in 2014 than 2000 but only keep clothes half as long (McFall-Johnsen). While people are buying more clothing, they are keeping them for a shorter period of time. “The equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is dumped or burned in a landfill every second” (McFall-Johnsen).

The fast fashion industry produces cheap clothing to keep up with trends at a huge environmental cost. So what other options are there? Today, there are more options available for people looking to shop elsewhere. There are a number of sustainable clothing brands such as Boden and Patagonia. Many people can’t afford sustainable brands so they are turning to secondhand shopping. There are many second-hand shops available today through online sites such as depop, Poshmark, and mercari, and there are many thrift stores and consignment stores in cities. 

The fast fashion industry provides cheap clothes at an environmental cost. We realize the impact of buying new on the environment and turn towards more environmentally friendly ways.

Citations

McFall-Johnsen, Morgan. “The Fashion Industry Emits More Carbon than International Flights and Maritime Shipping Combined. Here Are the Biggest Ways It Impacts the Planet.” Business Insider, 2019, www.businessinsider.com/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emissions-waste-water-2019-10. 

Hayes, Adam. “How Fast Fashion Works.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 16 Sept. 2020, www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fast-fashion.asp. 

Steffen, Luana, et al. “’Fast Fashion’ Is Polluting The Oceans With Microfibers.” Intelligent Living, 25 Feb. 2020, www.intelligentliving.co/fast-fashion-is-polluting-the-oceans-with-microfibers/.