Dr. Sara DiazWGST 303: The *isms: Race, Class, and GenderGonzaga University

Environmental Justice

Food Justice• Food Deserts• Little access to fresh fruits and vegetables, let alone organic

foods.• Industrialized Food vs. Traditional Diets• Cheap processed foods with high fat/sugar contents• Also contain endocrine disrupting chemicals (shown to trigger

diabetes and other health problems)• Food Insecurity/Hunger• Under SNAP: A mother with a teenage child would receive

$297/mo for food. That works out to $9.90 per day for two people for all three meals.

Affordable healthy food?

Healthy foods isn’t affordable for Low-income families compared to fat/sugary foods!

Environmental Racism

• Three of the five largest waste facilities dealing with hazardous materials in the United States are located in poor black communities.• 96 percent of African American children who live

in inner cities have unsafe amounts of lead in their blood.• Pesticide exposure among predominantly Latino

farm workers causes more than 300k illnesses each year• High lung and thyroid cancer mortality in native

communities – uranium mining and nuclear testing.

Population, Waste, Consumption 1990s

Population

Hazard

ous Wast

e Producti

on

Fossi

l Fuel

Metal

sPap

er5

72

25 20 3317

18

35 60 4278

1040

20 25

US Other Developed CountriesDeveloping Countries

Gendered Effects• Gendered Division of

Labor:• Collecting wood to

burn for cooking• Finding clean water

sources• Nursing ill

children/elders• Working in off-shore

production zones

Environment & Women’s Health

• Breast cancer• 1 in 8 women will be

diagnosed with breast cancer

• Early menarche increases risk

• Average age of Menarche (onset of first menstrual period)• Rates of early onset (7-

8 yr/old) higher in communities of color 1830 1920 1980 2006

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

17

14

12.5

10.5

Average age of Menarche US