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Articles on Environmental racism

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International human rights mechanisms alone cannot offer reliable solutions to racism, including racism affecting racialized migrants. Protestors support migrant worker rights in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, in Toronto, in August 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

Overcoming racism depends on respect for every person’s dignity

Dignity is at the centre of many rights-based declarations, but to eradicate racist policy and practices, we must commit to noticing each other’s personhood in new ways.
Leonardo DiCaprio, right, speaks with Earth scientist and deputy director of NASA’s Goddard Sciences and Exploration Directorate, Piers Sellers, for the climate change documentary, ‘Before the Flood.’ (Flickr/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Popular climate change documentaries often privilege wealthier countries and offer unbalanced coverage

Many popular climate change documentaries rely on white male narrators and experts, reinforce social stereotypes and provide unbalanced coverage of the regions most affected.
Environmentally dangerous dumps, landfills and pulp and paper mills are more likely to be sited in African Nova Scotian and Mi'kmaw communities. These communities suffer from high rates of cancer and respiratory illness. (Shutterstock)

Environmental racism: New study investigates whether Nova Scotia dump boosted cancer rates in nearby Black community

Black residents of Shelburne, N.S., spent decades living near a dump, worrying about its possible connection to elevated cancer rates. A new study will investigate the dump’s long-term consequences.
Aamjiwnaang First Nation is surrounded by ‘Chemical Valley,’ a large complex of petrochemical plants, located near Sarnia, Ont. (Jon Lin Photography/flickr)

Bill C-230 marks an important first step in addressing environmental racism in Canada

Addressing environmental racism in Canada is not only a matter of justice, but also of meeting Canada’s human rights obligations
African Canadian communities in Nova Scotia use community green spaces like parks, parking lots and other open spaces to gather, celebrate and strengthen community ties. (Shutterstock)

Why Nova Scotia has to take environmental racism seriously

Nova Scotia’s African Canadian communities have grappled with racism for decades. By looking at community green spaces, we can see how they serve the community’s unique needs.
A Tsaatan community in northern Mongolia, herding reindeer. (Shutterstock)

COP25 climate summit: Action must include divestment, decolonization and resistance

Who wins, who loses and whose natures are being talked about when nature-based solutions are proposed?
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, centre left, joins a coalition of youth climate leaders and environmental groups during a climate strike outside the United Nations, Aug. 30, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

#Fridaysforfuture: When youth push the environmental movement towards climate justice

A research team of youth climate activists and academics is examining how environmentalists learn about solidarity and justice.
Activists, federal workers and union representatives rallied for environmental protection policies at the EPA. American Federation of Government Employees

In planned EPA cuts, US to lose vital connection to at-risk communities

The EPA served as a conduit between the federal government and at-risk communities. Communications scholars look at how environmental justice issues could be set back in scaled-down EPA.

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