This online exhibit for Professor Heather Bedi’s Environmental and Social Justice class allows Dickinson College students to reflect on environmental injustices and demographic trends in their neighborhood, town, city, or state. In defining just sustainabilities, Agyeman et al. (2003) argue that social and economic inequalities across place exacerbate environmental injustices. They advocate for human equality to be central in sustainability efforts. Students explore (un) just sustainabilities in their place through a paper and a publicly exhibited zero-waste visual or audio project.

Proximity to Toxic Waste Sites in East Hartford

Connecticut is a state that has many very wealthy towns and counties and like all other places also has towns and areas that are much less fortunate. There are multiple toxic waste sites in the general Hartford area. Though there are sites everywhere a majority of the toxic waste sites that are in close proximity to people’s homes are located in East Hartford. In Hartford, there is a severe distinction between East and West Hartford, West Hartford is a very nice and affluent area where East Hartford is a struggling community that has to overcome many environmental bads especially when it comes to ‘proximity to toxic waste’. During my research through EJ Screen maps, I found that the East Hartford population is largely made up of minorities, less educated, or people living below the poverty line. Living in the proximity of a toxic waste site is never a desirable place to live as they can cause many un-needed challenges in a persons life. It is no surprise that the citizens of East Hartford face the closest proximity to these toxic waste sites while the residents of West Hartford don’t need to worry as much about the proximity of the toxic waste sites that are in their area. These people in East Hartford face an arsenal of challenges every day and because of these toxic waste sites they now have to try and overcome the challenges that come from being forced to live so close to several of Hartford’s worst sites.MapsPoems

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