Environmental racism plagues the history and contemporary realities of globalization. To control resources, stake holders seek to
dominate lands and peoples in order to produce at a maximum profit. Left in the wake of consumerism are populations of ethnic,
religious, and racial minorities. These groups traditionally have an attachment to ancestral lands they wish to protect or are unable
to compete with large corporations who establish environmentally unfriendly conditions and unfair working situations for underserved populations. Since a mentality of ‘Not in My Backyard’ (NIMBY) perpetuates apathy for addressing iniquities, remediation of
these issues has been slow to non-existent. The value of exploring specific instances and recurring trends within regions of inequity
and destructive ecological policy cannot be understated. Without awareness, change is impossible. Inherently, methodologies used
to analyze current global systems are imperialist in nature and create further distance from the subjects exposed to detrimental
corporate and policy decisions. This research provides an historic overview of globalized environmental racism in order to address
and combat negative choices affecting marginalized communities throughout the world.
Published Jun 21, 2019
Mcintyre-Brewer, C. (2019). Environmental racism throughout the history of economic globalization. AUC Geographica, 54(1), 105–113. https://doi.org/10.14712/23361980.2019.10