Accessibility: Shifting Power into the Hands of the Oppressed

This quarter, graduate students enrolled in ENVS 597: Power, Privilege, and the Environment are writing short responses emerging from readings and/or discussions in class.

 

Accessibility: Shifting Power into the Hands of the Oppressed

by Ali Burdick

 

It’s no secret that the United States has relied on nonrenewable energy sources and toxic waste treatments since the rise of its industry. The impact this has had on communities over decades has yet to be fully understood. With each technological advance and change to the system, a new hazard appears that needs to be researched and studied; however, we do understand that what we’ve been doing has certainly come at a cost. Communities are being poisoned, exposed to toxic environments out of their control, unable to get clean water and air. This is not to say that research hasn’t been done regarding the toxic effects of coal, waste treatment, oil refineries, etc… But where has this research gone?

I recently watched a documentary on Netflix, Knock Down the House, which is about four women aiming to unseat career-politicians in their hometown districts running for Congress. One woman, Paula Jean Swearengin, ran on a platform based in environmental justice. Her hometown was built on coal mining, and now her community faces a growing cancer epidemic because waterways are contaminated with mine runoffs. What struck me about this story was the way Paula Jean realized her town was in trouble. As a child, she moved to North Carolina for a short time before returning, and while she was there she had access to clean water and air, realizing just how bad things were in her town.

Now, I’m not saying all of this to suggest that there was no other possible way for Paula Jean to find out the health conditions of her town. What I do believe is that we should be questioning is who really has access to that kind of information. Sure, there are websites out there that you can use to compare the environmental health conditions of various locations. Speaking from personal experience, they’re hard as hell to navigate. As someone with incredible privilege, especially academically, I found myself confused and frustrated with the national mapping tools available (For reference, I used the EJSCREEN tool put out by the EPA). When it is this difficult for someone with at least some experience digesting academic mapping tools and data, how available is it really for the public? Sure, the public can access it (if they have a computer, internet access, etc…), but can they navigate and understand it in a meaningful way?

Its apparent that this kind of information is being held just out of grasp for the public to access and use to their advantage– and obviously so, right? If the general public knew the full extent of the health hazards they were being exposed to, they might be able to rise up and fight against it. In Paula Jean’s case, she was fighting against what many would call a corrupt Democrat, who was backed by toxic industry companies and failed to represent his working-class constituents in the state of West Virginia. Rural towns in WV aren’t the only communities being impacted by toxic industries, though. All across the U.S., marginalized communities are forced onto the frontlines of hazardous toxin exposure.

So the question is not, “Why is this information inaccessible?” Right now, there will always be some community that those in power need to absorb the worst of the risks, be it a working-class coal town in West Virginia or the working folks in poverty up by the oil refinery in Ferndale, WA. The fight for environmental justice in communities facing hazardous exposure needs to start with accessible and reliable information. What we should really be asking is, “How can we make research accessible to all?” Only then can we start to answer the question of, “Where do we go from here?”