Essay on Environmental Racism

Environmental Racism Causes a Hygenic Hell is an important topic to discuss because it is a big issue in the world today and affects many people. The author Catherine Flowers is the founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice. She is the vice-chair of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory. The other author Mitchell Bernard is the chief of the Natural Resources Defense Council. The immediate occasion in an article like this affects most people when it relates to a majority of people going through the same problem. The larger occasions in this article are an ongoing problem since the 1972 Clean Water Act. The purpose is to change the perspective of the majority of the audience who most likely have working pipes and water systems. The subject is that the sewage and wastewater pipes keep breaking in more black communities and no one is doing anything about it. The evidence provided clearly supports the arguments presented above.

The article cited and expert saying “by no means unique.” In the past few years, the nation’s grade has decreased dramatically in most black communities. This article states, “the nation’s wastewater infrastructure gets a D-plus from the American Society of Civil Engineers”. This quote shows how bad our world’s wastewater infrastructure has gotten. It should not be a D-plus. That just means no one cares about how the wastewater pipes keep breaking in family’s houses. This is presented by giving a valid grade for how poorly our wastewater systems are in most black communities. This supports the claim because it is talking about how our world has decreased in having good pipes and clean water in a lot of communities in today’s world. This evidence supports the main argument because a lot of the article talks about how the Clean Water Act was in place and people are in need of it but they are not fixing the problem. The audience would see all of this as a help because it is good information about how the world is going and how the sewage and wastewater pipes are decreasing because they keep breaking. All of this would support the main argument because it proves how our world is going downhill with this specific problem.

The article had historical background that they tried but it failed. The government has failed in the 1972 Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act was in place to help with wastewater and sewage pipes breaking. The article says, “For three decades, though, congress has cut this funding, slashing it to roughly a quarter of its levels in the late 1979s, leaving cities and towns struggling to close the gap.” The 1972 Clean Water Act used to be in place and now it has sort of just gone away and is not in use anymore. This act was very necessary for poor communities that could not afford to fix their pipes. This is presented by explaining more how the Clean Water Act has decreased in our world dramatically. Taking historical background supports the claim because it also talks about how it has decreased in the world and how the Clean Water Act is barley set in place to help people now. This evidence supports the main argument because it is explaining how people are struggling to close gaps in getting their pipes fixed when it is desperately needed. The audience would see all of this as a help to the argument because it is talking about the Clean Water Act that should still be in place which it just is not. This supports the main argument because it is talking about the Clean Water Act has decreased and it is barley in place anymore for poorer communities.

One assumption that founds this argument is how the government has a responsibility to care for citizens. I can assume this because in the article it directly said, “President Biden’s agenda to Build Back Better would increase desperately needed federal funds to help cities cope with a widening wastewater crisis impacting rural and urban areas.” This quote is showing how president Biden is trying to change what is going on and is wanting to make an impact on people. I get the assumption from this because president Biden already made an effort to try and get this changed by making an agenda to “Build Back Better”. This underpins the main argument because this whole article is talking about how much of a problem wastewater and sewage pipes are and how it needs to be fixed. The audience would see this as a help because president Biden is trying his hardest to make a change and make an agenda for something that could help the communities with this issue. This supports the main arguments because it is proving that at least someone is trying to help these people that are going through this hard time. 

So basically, the sewage and wastewater pipes keep breaking in more black communities. These types of communities can not get it fixed because they can not afford it, so they have had to deal with it for a long time now in their houses. Therefore, the government needs to either put the 1972 Clean Water Act back in place or figure out a way that this issue can be fixed for the poorer communities. Doing this analysis on such topics is important because most people do not know this is a problem in the world. Doing this analysis is explaining to people and giving them information on issues in the world that not many people think are a huge deal to some people.