Environmental and social injustice seems to become easier the larger the society is.  The more distance you can put between yourself from the problem the less relevant the issue is.  A b.s. excuse can be made out of just about anything.  One thing that can't be denied is that humans are social individuals and when we wall ourselves off from the rest of the world that is where problems begin.  Being unsocial with each other and the world at large is the root of environmental injustice.  If a person has relationship with nature or another human then they have a connection with them and it will make it easier for them to understand the potential pain that can be incurred from decisions.

  I lived in San Diego for many years and now live in Chico and noticed a difference in the people immediately from the two cities.  In San Diego there I felt a supression of people that were not making what is considered good money and able to afford all the brand new gadgets.  The city of Chico is smaller than San Diego and the community comes together more to promote change and cooperation.  Seeing the difference in the way people act  in the two cities I decided to look at distribution of burdens between the two. I borrowed two graphs from www.scorecard.org that are from 2002 that show the seperation of environmental burdens depending on poverty levels in Butte county which is where Chico is located and San Diego county which is where the same named city is.  The first graph shown is for Butte county and the one below it is for San  Diego:

DISTRIBUTION OF BURDENS BY POVERTY

Releases of Toxic Chemicals		(indicator of chemical releases)			Ratio
Families Below Poverty		14000			0.67
Families Above Poverty		21000
Cancer Risks from Hazardous Air Pollutants		(added risk per 1,000,000)			Ratio
Families Below Poverty		220			1.10
Families Above Poverty		200
Superfund Sites		(sites per square mile)			Ratio
Families Below Poverty		.062			2.30
Families Above Poverty		.027
Facilities Emitting Criteria Air Pollutants		(facilities per square mile)			Ratio
Families Below Poverty		.43			1.39
Families Above Poverty		.31

DISTRIBUTION OF BURDENS BY POVERTY

Releases of Toxic Chemicals		(indicator of chemical releases)			Ratio
Families Below Poverty		13000			2.20
Families Above Poverty		5900
Cancer Risks from Hazardous Air Pollutants		(added risk per 1,000,000)			Ratio
Families Below Poverty		330			1.32
Families Above Poverty		250
Superfund Sites		(sites per square mile)			Ratio
Families Below Poverty		.02			1.43
Families Above Poverty		.014
Facilities Emitting Criteria Air Pollutants		(facilities per square mile)			Ratio
Families Below Poverty		4			2.00
Families Above Poverty		2

   Talking to your crazy neighbor may not be the answer to cure all the environmental justice problems in the world but it would be a great start.  One other thing that comes from these graphs is that the large the city or group of people are the large the gap is between the fortunate and unfortunate,  maybe living in smaller populations wouldn't be such a bad idea.

-Reggie