No
scientific or social analysis of environmental problems can any
longer be considered complete unless it includes an inquiry into
the issue of environmental justice. The Federal Environmental
Protection Agency defines environmental justice as, "The
fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with
respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of
environmental laws, regulations, and policies."1
Since demonstrations surrounding the siting of a toxic burial
facility in the predominately Black community of Warren County,
North Carolina brought environmental justice to national prominence
in 1982, numerous studies, reports, and academic publications
have emerged to define, interpret, and remediate concerns surrounding
the distribution of environmental risks.2
On February 11, 1994, President Clinton issued Executive Order
12898 titled "Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice
in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations." This
order requires that "[E]ach federal agency shall make achieving
environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing,
as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health
or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities
on minority populations and low-income populations …."3
Two factors are essential to understanding the issue of environmental
justice and establishing programs to mitigate the effects of environmental
injustice. They are education and citizen participation. Environmental
justice programs must effectively combine work both in the classroom
and on the street. With regard to an academic understanding, however,
environmental justice issues are often difficult to fit within
the standard university setting with its strict disciplinary boundaries
since environmental justice issues often entail combinations of
chemical and biological analysis, economics, environmental policy
and law, as well as philosophical concerns regarding equity, intent,
and the meaning of "fairness." As scholar and author
Evan Ringquist has cogently expressed it, environmental justice
presents the interface of empirical evidence and normative concerns.4
An effective classroom program on environmental justice would
have to be broadly interdisciplinary in its methods and subject
matter. With regard to correcting past acts of environmental injustice
and protecting poor and minorities from future avoidable risks,
public participation would have to come from both White and minority
communities. The efforts would have to be multiracial, multicultural,
and collaborative. In other words, education aimed at the issue
of environmental justice needs to train students who are both
intellectually sophisticated and socially concerned. The surest
path to success would appear to be an interdisciplinary effort
that would join the classroom and the street, urban and rural
perspectives, as well as White and minority college students who
would work together in both scientific research and public policy
analysis.
This need for a joint, interdisciplinary effort is heightened
by the lack of attention given to these issues in the past. For
example, African-Americans have traditionally not been involved
in environmental concerns that seem to deal more with wilderness
preservation and endangered species than with problems that affect
their immediate concerns. White college students, particularly
those interested in outdoor education or resource conservation,
often lack the urban perspective and historical context necessary
to appreciate the problems of poverty, apathy, and a low sense
of political efficacy facing minority Americans. It was with these
concerns in mind that an effort was begun in 1997 to create and
implement a joint program on "Environmental Justice and Environmental
Policy" at Johnson C. Smith University and Warren Wilson
College. What follows is a report on what we attempted, what we
achieved, and the lessons that we learned.
A Collaborative Project
Johnson C. Smith University is an historically Black institution
located within metropolitan Charlotte, North Carolina. The student
enrollment is 2,300 with approximately 98% of that number being
African-American. Warren Wilson College is a small (700 students),
liberal-arts school situated in a rural setting 120 miles west
of Charlotte near Asheville. Beyond some multiracial students
from foreign countries, the overwhelming number of American students
at Warren Wilson are Caucasian. Over the years, the two schools
have instituted several initiatives aimed at coordinating projects,
programs, and activities. The presidents of the two schools, for
example, serve on each other's board of trustees. Since Johnson
C. Smith University (JCSU) has an established reputation for training
leaders of the African-American community, and since Warren Wilson
College (WWC) in noted for its commitment to environmental issues,
a collaborative effort between the two schools built around the
issue of environmental justice seemed a worthwhile and promising
endeavor.
In the fall of 1997, initial contacts were made with the goal
of exploring the possibility for a joint project on environmental
justice. At JCSU, the effort was headed by Dr. Godwin E. Mbamalu,
the O'Herron distinguished Professor of Chemistry, who has an
impressive record of creating innovative, independent, student-based
projects. At Warren Wilson, the possibility attracted the attention
of Dr. Franklin Kalinowski, who holds a joint appointment in the
departments of Political Science and Environmental Studies. By
March of 1998, the first joint project was under way. Fourteen
undergraduates at Warren Wilson enrolled in a two-credit course,
"Environmental Justice and Environmental Policy." They
studied the history of the environmental justice movement, relevant
federal and local policies that affect problems such as toxic
waste, noise, water quality, and land use; and explored the various
interpretations that have been offered to account for the existence
of environmental injustice. At Johnson C. Smith, students enroll
in "Introduction to Environmental Studies" and a select
number of advanced science majors undertook field research. The
collaborative project was funded through the Washington-based
Council of Independent Colleges, while the scientific research
at JCSU was supported by the Program for Environmental Justice,
Education, and Research (PEJER). PEJER is administered by the
Federal Environmental Protection Agency. Activities that grew
out of the class included student presentations to other classes
on the topic of environmental justice, and student exchanges between
the two schools where joint ventures such as campus clean-ups
and work projects were performed. Small-group discussions and
social gatherings on the topic of environmental justice were organized
to build team spirit and reward students for their enthusiastic
participation.
Research
on Water Quality
The central research project in the Spring of 1998 involved testing
water-quality inside homes in a minority neighborhood near Johnson
C. Smith University. Mbamalu's students selected forty-nine homes
in three Charlotte neighborhoods. All of the private residences
were owned by African-Americans. Throughout the Spring and early
Summer, JCSU students first gained the trust of the residents
(a task that sometimes proved formidable), and then acquired samples
of the household water supply at various times during the day.
These samples were returned to the chemistry laboratory at JCSU
where these same students conducted a series of chemical tests
to measure the amount of lead in the drinking supply. While the
chemical data was being collected, further information surrounding
the issues was obtained. In addition to their chemical findings,
JCSU students put together a brief, accessible, but accurate pamphlet
on the health risks involved with lead ingestion. The pamphlet,
containing suggestions for minimizing the risks associated with
lead contamination (e.g., flushing the tap water before drawing
morning coffee or cooking water), was distributed to the neighborhood
residents. Here was an excellent example of combining scientific
research and social concern.
When the preliminary chemical results were tabulated, it was discovered
that although most of the homes had lead concentrations below
the EPA standard of 15 parts per billion, the concentrations were
often high enough to cause concern. This was particularly true
if one takes into consideration the long-term and cumulative effects
of lead on the human body. Why did these African-American households
have relatively high levels of lead in their water? In order to
answer this question, JCSU students acquired data on the quality
of water coming into the homes from the Charlotte municipal water
system. This water was virtually lead free. The proper inference
seems to be that the existence of lead in the water supply of
these homes was a result of older construction that employed lead
pipes and solder rather than any deliberate attempt to discriminate
against minority citizens. Poverty, rather than racism, was the
cause of the environmental risk these homeowners were experiencing.5
Back
at Warren Wilson, students considered these findings and joined
with their colleagues at JCSU in discussing possible remedies.
The long-term solution, retrofitting the piping in these older
homes, was not economically feasible. Remediation through public
policy similarly held out little promise since the City of Charlotte
was in full compliance with all local, state, and Federal water
quality regulations. What was needed was a low-cost, private initiative
that could make an immediate impact on the neighborhood residents
and increase the communities' awareness of the lead issue. The
"Environmental Justice" class at Warren Wilson decided
to use part of its Council of Independent Colleges funds, and
with additional support from the Environmental Leadership Center
at WWC, purchased several water filter systems that could be attached
to the faucets in selected homes. These filters would correct
the problem in some homes, highlight the issue of lead in the
drinking water, and provide a model for the other citizens on
how they could reduce the risk to their health. Under the direction
of the JCSU students, the filters were installed, and the chemical
monitoring of the forty-nine homes continues. Both groups of students
ended the semester having learned valuable lessons on chemical
analysis, environmental field research, the economic sources of
health risks, and the need for community action to address local
issues. More might possibly have been done (it would have been
interesting to compare the lead in the homes of White residents
of Charlotte with similar economic status), but both the JCSU
and WWC participants judged the initial effort at "Environmental
Justice and Environmental Policy" to be a success worth replicating.
The Fall of 1998 was spent evaluating the previous endeavors and
preparing for the next joint project to be conducted in the Spring.
Mbamalu and Kalinowski met on a regular basis. At JCSU, Mbamalu's
chemistry students continued their lead study. At WWC, Kalinowski
reviewed the student evaluations from his spring class. The three
most important recommendations that emerged from those student
surveys were (1) the class should be made longer (WWC operates
on both a term and a semester system), (2) more frequent contact
and interaction between the two schools was necessary, and (3)
the research at JCSU and WWC needed to be more closely coordinated.
Action on the last of these goals was facilitated when Mbamalu
and his chemistry majors significantly expanded the scope of their
research. In addition to the lead in residential-water project,
Johnson C. Smith students began targeting a number of surface
water locations throughout Charlotte and Mecklenberg County. The
design was to regularly test these streams, rivers, and ponds
and record the levels of a range of pollutants including lead,
chromium, nitrates, and chlorine. Dissolved oxygen and pH levels
would also be recorded. The areas to be tested included parks
in affluent neighborhoods and streams that flowed though lower-income
minority communities. This offered a better opportunity to empirically
test some of the environmental justice hypotheses regarding the
relationship between race, income, and risk. It also provided
a stronger link between the scientific study and the public policy
analysis, for while the JCSU students were conducting the field
research, WWC students could explore the various policies directed
at both environmental justice and the quality of surface water.
The Second Year
As the spring semester approached, a fortuitous event occurred
that provided a stage upon which to demonstrate our collaborative
project on environmental justice. The Southeastern chapter of
the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) selected Warren
Wilson as the site of its Spring conference. Students from colleges
throughout the region would gather at the Asheville campus for
two days of meetings centered on the topic of environmental activism.
This seemed a perfect opportunity to publicize our environmental
justice project and our surface water study.
The second time around, "Environmental Justice and Environmental
Policy" had a much sharper focus. The initial topics included
an introduction to the issue (the class read Robert Bullard's
Dumping in Dixie) and an analysis of various interpretations of
environmental injustice (our source here was Evan Ringquist's
"Environmental Justice: Normative Concerns and Empirical
Evidence"). Then, with the SEAC conference in mind, the Warren
Wilson students broke into five teams to do research and prepare
presentations on: (1) the history of the environmental justice
movement, (2) interpretations and explanations of environmental
injustice, (3) Executive Order 12898 and its impact, (4) the Clean
Water Act with special attention given to surface water quality,
and (5) local environmental quality regulations and land-use issues
within Mecklenberg County and the city of Charlotte. Efforts were
made to keep close contact between the JCSU and WWC students through
phone and e-mail. Unfortunately, these proved to be less than
completely successful due to the number of minor, correctable,
yet irritating obstructions such as confusion over addresses,
uneven computer skills, and conflicting schedules. The most important
interaction came when the classes traveled to each other's campuses
for face-to-face exchanges.
On
the weekend of April 16 - 18, 1998, the Johnson C. Smith chemical
research team came to Warren Wilson for the SEAC conference. The
members of the collaborative effort attended various panel sessions
and met to finalize their presentations. Then, with students from
other colleges in attendance, the five Warren Wilson teams and
the group of researchers from Johnson C. Smith delivered their
reports on surface water quality and environmental justice. The
WWC team on local zoning and the JCSU students agreed that interesting
future research needed to be done correlating water quality with
housing patterns, racial demographics, and income distribution.
One unexpected finding was that the preliminary data seemed to
show that surface water near, or immediately downstream from,
major industrial sites tended to be relatively clean, while water
that one might expect to be fairly "pure" (i.e., streams
and ponds near city parks or residential areas) showed disturbingly
high levels of pollutants. The tentative explanation was that
public policy aimed at rectifying "point source" pollution
was being reasonably successful, with "non-point" surface
run-off pollution being an under-appreciated problem in urban
(and rural?) areas.
The
end of the SEAC conference, the continuing research at JCSU, and
the final examination for academic credit at WWC concluded the
second year of the joint project on environmental justice. Once
again, the student evaluations were positive. Comments included,
"I learned a lot; good discussions. Made me think about wanting
to do this as a job." "[I appreciated] the opportunity
to experience real life problems (through Dr. Mbamalu at JCSU)
and figure out possible solutions, and to work to educate the
public." "I thought the idea of a collaborative effort
between two colleges was great," "A great combination
of science and social issues that is often overlooked," and
"I think this class was a wonderful combination of theory
and practice. We were taking what we learned in class and applying
it to tangible issues in Charlotte. Students were intimately involved
in directing and participating in their own education."
The
Third Year
The 1999-2000 academic year proved to be the high water mark of
the project. In the fall, Mbamalu and Kalinowski submitted a paper
and presentation proposal to the Greening the Campus Conference
at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. This nationally recognized
gathering is held every-other year and brings together leading
academics, university staff, administrators, students and professionals
to discuss continuing trends in environmental studies and to consider
innovative attempts at building principles of sustainability into
campus life. Kalinowski had attended the Ball State Conference
in 1997 and felt this was an excellent venue for showcasing the
collaborative program on environmental justice. The two professors
co-authored a report on the work that had been accomplished to
that time (this essay is an expanded version of that account).6
Most significantly, seven students (four from JCSU and three from
WWC) worked together to create and present a slide show, Power
Point, and oral presentation. Again with funding from CIC and
PEJER, the nine traveled to Muncie for three days. From all points
of view, our efforts were well received, with several attendees
acknowledging that this collaborative program was probably unique
in higher education.
That
spring, the courses were repeated for the third time. Warren Wilson
students used Andrew Szasz Ecopopulism as a text; joint meetings
with the JCSU classes and chemical research team were held; and
policy research teams built on the work of the previous SEAC conference.7
Despite
the obvious successes of these first three years, Mbamalu and
Kalinowski recognized that there was still considerable room for
improvement. The academic portion of the course needed to be "tightened"
with more specific readings, lectures, and discussions spelled
out in detail in a course syllabus.8
Logistics involved in travel between schools and arranging time-off
from other classes needed to be more carefully planned before
the semester began. Students were eager to design future research
on demographics and income in order to empirically test the various
environmental justice and "ecoracism" theses. Most of
all, students at both JCSU and WWC wanted more opportunity to
actually meet with each other, exchange ideas and perspectives,
and jointly pursue a common research interest and social action.
If it is generally true that a new course offering takes two or
three tries before most of the problems have been identified and
corrected, then an inter-disciplinary, collaborative effort such
as this between two schools at some distance probably requires
at least four or five efforts before all the pedagogical wrinkles
are ironed out.
Lessons
Learned
Acknowledging these challenges, and prepared to continue making
improvements, it was disappointing to everyone involved when we
were unable to procure funding for a fourth year and, as a result,
the Johnson C. Smith / Warren Wilson collaborative project on
environmental justice came to at least a temporary end and was
not offered in academic year 2000-2001. Mbamalu still had his
PEJER funds (although they could only be used for minority students).
Kalinowski's sole source of funding, however, was the Council
of Independent Colleges grant, and that was for start-up projects
only. After three years, Warren Wilson College was unable to find
further financial assistance.9 We
believed (and still believe) that what we did was a significant
undertaking and may be the only one of its kind in environmental
education. We were combining the best of two institutions and,
as a result, achieving a blending of racial diversity, urban and
rural settings, scientific analysis and social policy, and demonstrating
the interface of academic and field research. In both substance
and pedagogy, we have every reason to be proud of our accomplishments.
Valuable
lessons were learned that could possibly serve as a starting point
for other efforts along these lines. We came to appreciate the
enormous rewards that are part of such a project as well as the
frustrations involved. We gained insights that we were not expecting
when we began. For example, the significance of non-point pollution
as a contributor to surface water degradation (as compared to
pollution from point sources), was a surprising and unexpected
finding. It was also interesting to note the differences in the
perceptions of the students regarding the issue. White Warren
Wilson students, when asked to evaluate the five explanations
for environmental injustice described by Ringquist, consistently
favored the "ecoracism" thesis.10
For these students, incidents of unequal environmental risk were
seen as the deliberate targeting of minority groups. African-American
students from Johnson C. Smith, on the other hand, saw the events
not as examples of conscious racism, but the tendency of all negative
policy decisions to be implemented where the least resistance
exists. These students favored Ringquist "power thesis"
which argues that locally undesirable land uses (LULUs) will be
cited where community opposition fails to become organized. Perhaps
not surprisingly, each group of college students interpreted the
situation in terms that left them in charge of the solution. White
students saw the problem as White racism (hence the solution is
to change White attitudes). African-American students saw the
problem as a lack of Black power (hence the solution is to empower
Black communities). Although there are obvious similarities and
subtle differences between the two interpretations, the rather
uniform adoption of alternative explanations was both unforeseen
and worthy of note.
As
is no doubt the case with many efforts in environmental education,
we came to recognize the difficulties involved in attempting genuine
interdisciplinary education. The sad fact is that Ph.D.s in most
colleges and universities acquired their education in a process
of ever-increasing specialization. When confronted with problems
that cross-disciplinary lines (as do most environmental issues),
the tendency is to fragment the subject, address the portion that
fits the parameters of your training, and pass the remainder off
to colleagues, hoping that the sum of the individual solutions
will be equal to the whole of the crisis. This, alas, is very
seldom the case. Mbamalu is a chemist and Kalinowski is a political
scientist. We struggled with the incorporation of both disciplines
into a unified effort, but too often, real interdisciplinary education
was abandoned in favor of much safer, and more convenient, multidisciplinary
approaches.
These
misgivings notwithstanding, we reiterate the excitement and promise
of collaborative efforts such as this and encourage other institutions
to attempt similar undertakings. In the field of environmental
justice and collaborative education, much is left to be done.
The final version of this project has yet to be established. We
are convinced, however, that this joint project on Environmental
Justice and Environmental Policy has had an important impact on
the education of many students who have shared a positive experience
focused on building social awareness, environmental health, and
racial harmony.
Endnotes
-
"Environmental Justice Strategy: Executive Order 12898,"
United States Environmental Protection Agency publication, EPA/200-R-95-002,
April 1995.
-
Robert D. Bullard, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental
Quality (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994).
- "Environmental
Justice Strategy: Executive Order 12898," op. cit…
-
Evan J. Ringquist, "Environmental Justice: Normative Concerns
and Empirical Evidence," in Norman J. Vig and Michael E.
Kraft, Environmental Policy (4th ed.), (Washington, D.C.: Congressional
Quarterly Press, 2000), pp. 232-256.
-
For academic evidence that supports this thesis see James P.
Lester and David W. Allen, "Environmental Justice in the
U.S.: Myths and Realities," a paper presented at the 1999
Western Political Science Association meeting, Seattle, Washington,
March 25-27, 1999.
-
See the conference proceedings, "Greening the Campus III,"
Ball State University, Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, 1999, pp. 65 - 70.
-
Andrew Szasz, Ecopopulism: Toxic Waste and the Movement for
Environmental Justice (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 1994).
-
Other sources might include Christopher Foreman, The Promise
and Peril of
Environmental Justice (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institute,
1999); or Bunyan Bryant and Paul Mohai (eds.). Race and the
Incidence or Environmental Hazards (Boulder, CO: Westview Publishers,
1992).
-
The actual cost of the project was modest. Total Warren Wilson
expenditures for travel, supplies, meals while away from campus,
and faculty compensation for teaching an overload were $2,800
per year.
-
Evan Ringquist, "Environmental Justice: Normative Concerns
and Empirical Evidence," op.cit., pp. 243 - 247.
Franklin A. Kalinowski is a professor of Environmental Studies
and Political Science at Warren Wilson College.
Godwin
E. Mbamalu is distinguished professor of Chemistry in the Department
of Natural Science at Johnson C. Smith University.
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