Pollution: The Ethics of NIMBY

"When it comes to pollution, people respond with a cry of NIMBY and let loose the dogs of influence. This shows that everyone gets what is obviously true: pollution is unsightly, unpleasant, and unhealthy. Air pollution alone is deadly, killing millions of us each year. It is also obviously true that our civilizations flood our home with pollution, and we must decide where this pollution goes."

"As one would expect, the cost of pollution is regularly shifted onto those with less influence. The wealthy and politically influential use this power to ensure that pollution is concentrated in places where the poor and uninfluential live. To illustrate, we do not see incinerators or coal burning power plants constructed near the residences of Nancy Pelosi, Ted Cruz, Bill Gates, or Oprah."

"In the United States (and elsewhere) race is also a factor: pollution is concentrated along racial lines, even accounting for disparities of income. To illustrate, highways tend to run through minority neighborhoods and industrial plants tend to be located near minority residences. While some might rush to point out that white Americans are also subject to horrific levels of pollution, this is hardly the devasting riposte that one might think it is."

Pollution is universally recognized as unsightly, unpleasant, and unhealthy, with air pollution killing millions annually. Political influence and wealth shift pollution costs onto those with less power, concentrating dirty facilities away from affluent neighborhoods. Race compounds the disparity: pollution patterns align with racial lines, with highways and industrial plants frequently placed near minority communities even after accounting for income. Some pollution siting is intentional; other outcomes follow from the politics of influence. The cumulative effect disproportionately harms the poor, children, and minorities, exposing systemic environmental injustice driven by unequal political and economic power.

Read at A Philosopher's Blog