Discussion
  • Read More
    Achillobator55Anne Branigin
    3/12/19 12:37pm

    “Rather, they were simply consuming more products and services that cause pollution than black and Latinx Americans.”

    Non-Hispanic white people are 60%+ of the US population. Of course they consume MORE goods and create more pollution. I mean...this is a relatively straightforward finding, not at all surprising. Did anyone legitimately not know this?

    We know that black and Latinx people live in inner cities and industrial zones at a higher rate. We know that these areas have higher rates of air pollution and particulate matter. We know that rural and suburban areas have lower rates of air pollution because they are rural and suburban; likewise, we know that suburban areas are mostly white, and that rural areas are heavily, disproportionately white.

    We know that these patterns are the result of a range of factors, including de facto and de jure segregation, redlining, white flight, housing and jobs discrimination, the intertwined legacies of public housing and the failed promises of democratic machine politics - all major contributors to the persistent wealth gap - and further back, post-reconstruction policies of reconciliation and Jim Crow laws, coupled with the draw of industrial wages, that stimulated the Great Migration to rust belt cities with higher levels of industry and significantly higher levels of air pollution. 

    It’s all terrible, but it’s not at all surprising.

    Reply
    • Read More
      Anne BraniginAchillobator55
      3/12/19 12:51pm

      Quick clarifying note: it shouldn’t matter that white people make up a greater part of the population, this study looks at an average consumption rate.

      Also, I mention this in the article, but will include it in its entirety here here.

      From the paper:

      “Some may find it intuitive that, on average, black and Hispanic minorities bear a disproportionate burden from the air pollution caused mainly by non-Hispanic whites, but this effect has not previously been directly established, let alone quantified.”

      The phenomenon isn’t new or surprising. The numbers—being able to quantify how and whom—are new, as is the lens these researchers look at the issue through (is it fair that the people who are the primary drivers of pollution experience it less?).

      I think a lot of people *know* this on an intuitive level, and I think a lot of people are unaware or don’t think about it. As I see it, these studies (and the articles about them) are about data points which help people understand (and maybe down the line, address the issue), but also amassing a record of the problem.

      Reply
    • Read More
      #WhatmeworryAnne Branigin
      3/12/19 1:00pm

      Im calling Shenanigans on that too.  If this paper wants to go there, then it should also note that ‘poor people’ drive older and less well maintained cars that spew more pollutants, heat there homes and cook on wood or charcoal....

      Reply
  • Read More
    SimuLordAnne Branigin
    3/12/19 12:01pm

    If it’s any comfort, those rich whiteys’ oceanfront property will soon be all ocean and no front due to climate change...

    Reply
    • Read More
      KalxSimuLord
      3/12/19 12:19pm

      Yeah, but they’ll Columbus their way to our neighborhoods and displace us.

      https://www.theroot.com/color-of-climate-is-climate-change-gentrifying-miami-s-1797516942

      Reply
    • Read More
      Not Enough Day DrinkingSimuLord
      3/12/19 12:38pm

      Yeah, that’s not how this works. What will happen is we’ll spend literally hundreds of billions of dollars ‘protecting’ and rebuilding that property that otherwise could’ve been spent on the poor.

      Texas (which produces most of the country’s oil) and has sent many climate change deniers to congress, now wants $6 billion to build itself a wall to keep the Gulf of Mexico out of Houston

      Illustration for article titled
      Reply
  • Read More
    Mr.DuckSauceAnne Branigin
    3/12/19 1:23pm

    It’s the 2019 version of Blankets with Smallpox and disease, white people “Manifest Destiny: ReDux”

    Reply
  • Read More
    Uncle RemusAnne Branigin
    3/12/19 1:12pm

    I know that interchange.  That’s down there in the undisputed Blackest City in America.  Isn’t that where the highway caught of fire?

    Reply
  • Read More
    WoshiernogAnne Branigin
    3/13/19 1:45pm

    In other news water is wet :\

    Reply
  • Read More
    iculookinAnne Branigin
    3/12/19 3:05pm

    All this tea is scalding lol. The chalkasians are going to be pissed on this thread.

    Reply