ER Midwest / Great Lakes: Difference between revisions

  This article reports on federal civil-rights findings related to Chicago’s handling of polluting industries, including allegations that polluting activities were shifted away from white neighborhoods and toward Black and Latino communities.

[https://www.injusticewatch.org/archive/2021/epa-investigation-southeast-side-chicago-scrapyard/ | María Inés Zamudio | Injustice Watch | January 28, 2021]

  This article examines Detroit’s trash incinerator and the surrounding neighborhoods affected by odor and air pollution. It reports that nearly 90 percent of those living within a mile of the incinerator were people of color, making the facility a strong example of environmental racism in urban waste infrastructure.

  This article examines Detroit’s environmental justice crisis, including toxic air, lead exposure, water shutoffs, and industrial pollution. It highlights the 48217 ZIP code, a majority-Black area near Marathon’s refinery and other industrial sources, as an example of how segregation and pollution intersect.

  This article reports on the closure of Detroit’s controversial trash incinerator after years of community organizing. It frames the shutdown as a victory for environmental justice advocates who had long argued that the incinerator harmed nearby low-income and predominantly Black communities.

  This article profiles Hazel Johnson of Altgeld Gardens, Chicago, often called the mother of environmental justice. It describes the “Toxic Doughnutâ€� of landfills, industrial sites, and contaminated areas surrounding a Black public-housing community.

=====What a Gutted EPA Could Mean for Chicago’s “Toxic Doughnut�=====

  This article discusses Altgeld Gardens on Chicago’s South Side, a Black community surrounded by toxic sites and industrial pollution. It explains how the neighborhood became a major example of environmental racism and why federal enforcement matters for communities facing cumulative pollution.

=====Chicago’s Toxic Doughnut, USA=====

  This case profile describes Chicago’s “Toxic Doughnutâ€� around Altgeld Gardens as an early environmental justice struggle. It documents community-led research and organizing against hazardous waste, contaminated land, and industrial pollution in a predominantly Black community.

  This article discusses Altgeld Gardens as a Chicago neighborhood shaped by toxic industry, environmental injustice, and the legacy of Hazel Johnson’s organizing. It is useful for documenting how community groups continue to address the long-term harms of pollution in a Black neighborhood.

=====Perceptions of Environmental Health Risks Among Residents in the “Toxic Doughnut�=====

  This peer-reviewed article examines residents’ perceptions of environmental health risks near Chicago’s Altgeld Gardens and surrounding industrial hazards. It is useful for documenting community experiences in one of the best-known environmental justice neighborhoods in the United States.

  This article examines Chicago’s environmental racism and health inequality. It discusses how communities of color face disproportionate climate and pollution risks and how city leadership has been pressured to address these long-standing burdens.

  This law review article connects coal-fired power plant pollution to environmental racism and energy injustice. It discusses communities such as Detroit’s 48217 ZIP code, where Black residents face heavy fossil-fuel pollution burdens.

[https://www.nrdc.org/stories/east-chicago-knowing-your-soil-toxic-only-half-battle

| Sasha Lyutse | Natural Resources Defense Council | May 23, 2017]

  This report examines federally assisted housing located near hazardous waste sites, including East Chicago’s West Calumet Housing Complex. It is useful for documenting how low-income residents and people of color can be exposed to toxic contamination through housing policy.

  This article discusses Southwest Detroit’s 48217 community, often described as Michigan’s most polluted ZIP code. It is useful for documenting how Black and Latino residents have faced decades of refinery, industry, and traffic pollution.