Environmental Racism: Landfills and Superfund sites in Dayton, Ohio

This poster reflects research conducted as part of a course project designed to give students experience in the research process. Course: GEO 450

Presentation time: 2:00-2:20

Link to live Zoom presentation.

Description

Environmental racism is an injustice many minorities face even in Dayton, Ohio. Using GIS data, an analysis was done on Dayton to better understand its environmental injustices regarding pollution sites. Looking at the resulting data, landfills and superfund sites tend to be more highly concentrated in communities where the average housing income is lower than the average. Since minorities tend to receive lower rates of income than whites, minorities are often seen in communities where these landfills and superfund sites frequently occur. Not only is this a form of discrimination, but it affects the community's overall health and wellbeing. Landfills and superfund sites contain toxins that can go into the soil, air, and water. These contaminates can therefore affect the health of nearby communities making environmental justice an issue of health. Many minorities in Dayton are subject to environmental injustices that they cannot control due to the income they receive. In order to change these injustices, we must all come together to bring awareness to these issues and fight for change. Environmental racism is all around us.