Environmental concerns are globally affecting everyone. However, some people are not as well equipped to tackle these issues as others simply because they are not as privileged as the majority of the population. Environmental issues that occur in underprivileged communities are known as environmental injustices.
These injustices may not affect all members of the NC State community, but as a home to future leaders of our state and country, and given our plethora of resources as members of the NC State community, we should stand as voices of reason against these injustices occurring in North Carolina.
In Richmond County, a wood pellet producer known as Enviva has plans to establish a wood pellet factory in the county. Enviva states that they were founded with “a clear purpose in mind: to develop a cleaner energy alternative to fossil fuels.” While wood pellets are undoubtedly a better energy alternative to fossil fuels, they are not a better alternative to environmental injustice. Enviva has merely proposed another “solution” that negatively impacts the environment as well as the health of the people living in the surrounding area.
Enviva has developed a procedure that causes mass deforestation and allows for environmental injustices to occur in our North Carolina communities. They claim to use sustainable techniques that protect our forests, but in no way does sustainability result in the destruction of forests or the targeting of low-income areas, such as those located near the future site of Enviva.
Meanwhile, Robeson County, one of the poorest counties in the state, is one of the eight counties in the proposed path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). The possible route of the pipeline would run directly through the sacred cultural grounds of the Lumbee Tribe. The pipeline would disproportionately affect Native Americans in our state by presenting environmental hazards in these communities, and would blatantly disregard the sacred grounds that the pipe would pass through.
Fortunately, the ACP permitting process was suspended: a victory for environmental justice. However, the fact that the pipeline was proposed to run through disadvantaged communities further proves the immorality of the threats that face the people living in these areas.
The Lumbee Tribe represents a portion of the population that has little access to financial resources and little political power, despite making up 40 percent of the population in Robeson County. This lack of resources unfairly places the Lumbee Tribe in a situation that hinders their ability to take action on preventing the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline — just as the low-income communities neighboring the future site of Enviva lack the resources to fight for their forests.
Why are we ignoring the fact that we are throwing the burden of environmental disasters on underrepresented groups in our state? The time to take action is now, and the students of NC State should rally together as leaders in the prevention of environmental injustices in our state by working with organizations on and off campus, such as Climate Reality Project, the Sierra Club and Dogwood Alliance. These organizations are incredibly influential groups that actively work on fighting environmental injustices such as these every day. It is never too late to join the fight.
