Environmental Justice Project
Nuestras Raíces is working with partners to organize a Holyoke-based Environmental Health Coalition. Funded by the EPA's CARE program, this coalition will spend two years identifying environmental risks to health and building community capacity to address those risks. Air pollution and land use are particular interests of the coalition at this point. Contact Milagros Guzman, enviro@nuestras-raices.org, or call (413) 535-1789.
A team of youth from Nuestras Raíces is learning all about the environment of our new land by the Connecticut River as part of the Tierra de Oportunidades Project. The youth have been researching all about the plants, animals, soil and watershed on our site. They have been preparing nature trails with bilingual educational signs along the Connecticut River and around the farms. They have been removing invasive species of plants and restoring the riparian buffer zone along the river's edge with native species such as wild grapes, mulberries, hickory and plums.
What is environmental justice?
As defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
"Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no group of people, including a racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies."
The Holyoke Environment
In Holyoke, low-income residents and residents of color of inner city neighborhood may be bearing a disproportionate share of the negative consequences resulting from industrial, municipal and commercial operations. According to data from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) records and the US-EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, 5 of the 7 large quantity generators of hazardous waste and 8 of the 10 large quantity toxic users in the city are locate in or near areas where Latinos make up more than half the residents and where more than 50% are considered low income.
Between 1988 and 1999, more than 3.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals where released to the environment of Holyoke. Most of these toxic chemicals were released by industrial and electric power operations located in inner city neighborhoods, where the majority of the residents are low-income and Latino (see maps below). The toxic chemicals included among others, Methyl Ethyl Ketone (.5 million lbs), Toluene (.5 million lbs) Glycol Ethers (.2 million lbs.) and Benzene (50,000 lbs). These toxic chemicals have been recognized as or are suspected of having negative effects in the development of children, which can cause learning disabilities. They may also affect the cardiovascular and hematopoietic systems (the cardiovascular system is composed of the heart and blood vessels; the hematopoietic system is composed of various blood cell types: erythrocytes (red blood cells), leukocytes (white blood cells), and platelets). In addition, they can affect the kidney, liver, brain and nervous system, reproductive system, respiratory system and the skin and of being carcinogens.
Another environmental problem affecting Holyoke's inner-city residents is the large number of vacant and possibly contaminated sites in these neighborhoods. Years of economic decline and disinvestment, arbitrary demolition policies and arson fires have created a landscape of rubble and of vacant lots that blight these neighborhoods and impair their redevelopment. Many of the vacant lots have become illegal dumpsters where used cars, trash and drug paraphernalia can be found. When asked, residents have complained about odors coming out from the lots, and about rats and other pests that have found shelter in those lots. The lots also present a threat to resident's health, reduce property values and diminish the pride of residents.
What are we doing about it?
Nuestras Raíces is working with a group of youth from the community to learn more about the environmental problems affecting our community. We are gathering information about the types of contaminants present in our neighborhoods, how are they getting there and what may be the effects of those contaminants on the health of the residents. We are also meeting with residents to learn about their concerns and inform them about our findings.
Rosa Velázquez and Alex Núñez, youth leaders working with Nuestras Raices help Holyoke's inner city residents understand what they mean about environmental justice at a community forum in South Holyoke.
More information on environmental justice
- EPA environmental justice information
- EPA en español
- Hear a WFCR ¡Tertulia! radio program on the environment with a Nuestras Raíces segment
