The quality of the environment in the United States is subject to the socioeconomic status of the people. The events that followed Hurricane Katrina clearly reveal that the government has invested in disaster response infrastructure more intensely in regions occupied by the Whites (Frickel and Edwards 215). The disaster also revealed that the communities living near the industrial corridor had complained repetitively about the quality of the environment with limited positive response from the government. Studies have revealed that the affected communities continue facing elevated risks of cancer and respiratory diseases because of the poor quality of the air.
Additionally, the lack of adequate infrastructures like temporary homes and disaster response equipment saw many people losing their lives in this region, as opposed to other regions that were also hit by the hurricane. As the situation stands, the poor people in the minority groups still face higher rates of vulnerability to environment-related disasters than the Whites in the Southern States. The lack of financial power elevates the risks associated with the lack of the ability to respond quickly to disasters among the members of the community, but the Southern States highlights a situation where even the Blacks, Latinos, and Asians face inequality in environmental quality (Frickel and Edwards 217). The situation should compel the government to develop relevant plans to alleviate the situation.
Works Cited
Frickel, Scott, and Michelle Edwards. “Untangling Ignorance in Environmental Risk Assessment.” Powerless Science, vol. 1, no. 1, 2014, pp. 215-233.