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Except that while everyone might enjoy the lower prices, the poor and minorities bear the brunt of pollution externalities.
by ipqk 6y ago
Except that while everyone might enjoy the lower prices, the poor and minorities bear the brunt of pollution externalities.
- yostrovs 6y agoAre minorities more susceptible to environmental pollution?
- ip26 6y agoPoor folks can't afford fancy air quality monitors, filtering, well-built houses without leaks, or houses on the clean-air side of town. They are more likely to work outside. Poor communities are almost always on the east side of town because (in the Northern Hemisphere) prevailing west winds usually blow the town's pollution east. This is also how the "right" and "wrong" side of the tracks came about. It bears similarities to heat waves, which mainly kill the poor. You never see headlines about how the last heat wave killed twenty-three investment bankers in their penthouses.
- yostrovs 6y agoYou're talking about poor people, not minorities, though there's an overlap. There's also an overlap with white people. Actually, the focus should be on people that are disproportionately affected by pollution, regardless of their skin tone. There are towns around refineries and heavy industry that are predominantly white. Are you implying we should care less about them?
- tptacek 6y agoNo, but they tend disproportionately to live in areas near pollution sources.