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Environmental justice is at the heart of the debate over how to solve the problem of climate change. At the global level, international negotiations are stalled on the issue of how to distribute the burdens of global emissions reduction between countries. Within the U.S., the political stalemate over climate policy can be explained, at least in part, by concerns over the potential for unequal class and geographic impacts of a carbon cap or tax.

There is an expansive literature documenting environmental disparities along race and class lines, yet a recent paper by Michael Ash, James Boyce, Grace Change, and Helen Scharber at the Political Economy Research Institute reaches a surprising conclusion: environmental justice is good for white folks too.   

It is well known that minorities and low-income communities face disproportionate exposure to toxic air pollutants. This new study examines exposure to toxic air pollution from industrial facilities in urban areas of the U.S. to determine whether greater racial and ethnic disparities in pollution contribute to higher overall levels of exposure. The study finds that greater racial and class discrepancies in exposure to toxics are associated with higher levels of exposure for whites as well as minorities. In other words, greater inequality in the distribution of environmental burdens is associated with higher burdens overall.

As the authors explain:

The results reported in this study imply the existence of a tight nexus between environmental quality, race, and power in the United States. […] The evidence presented here suggests that efforts to reduce these disparities could lead to environmental improvements that benefit all Americans. (Full report)