The Dakota Pipeline Protest has been dominating the news lately. Anger has flooded the entire country as people participate in demonstrations to protect the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota and their drinking water in the Missouri River. These pipes have previous evidence of leaking or seeping oil, therefore nearby residents to the river, as well as the rest of the country, don't want to risk their personal health and contamination within the environment. These protests have been cause for vast misunderstanding and violence within the country. It's interesting how the effects of environmental maltreatment can negatively affect people’s health and daily lives.
Another problem that is not given enough support is that of Cancer Alley. This name was given to the small town of St. Gabriel, Louisiana in 1987 because of the increased number of cancer victims in the tiny community. It became efficient that there was fifteen cancer victims living within a two block radius, and seven more living in a neighborhood about a half mile away.
Interestingly enough, this increased spike of cancer patients is caused by the eighty-five mile span of the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Citizens of Cancer Alley live in an oil patch with constant accidental chemical releases. These toxic chemicals in the atmosphere are unhealthy for all those that breath air within this region, thus the vast diagnosis of cancer is directly correlated to air pollution.
Those that live in Cancer Alley are experiencing environmental injustice. The population of the town is mainly African American and low-income citizens. Rates of unemployment and lack of education are very high. People live in this town because they don’t have the money to leave, likewise, workers don’t leave because of the money that they make within the chemical plants. In essence, citizens are forced to stay in an unhealthy environment because of their low-income, therefore death and disease are natural consequences.
Cancer Alley and the Dakota Pipeline Protest share many commonalities in experiencing the turmoils of environmental injustice. One can only hope that people will put aside their differences in order to protect individuals that deserve the right to a healthy living environment. Those with higher income need to understand the effects of oil, coal, and gas in the environment and the increasingly negative effects that they have the human race.
