Juneteenth, Environmental Racism, and
How We Can Support Justice
Juneteenth commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States in 1865. While the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law more than two years earlier, it wasn’t until after the war’s end that it was enforced in Texas, freeing 250,000 enslaved African Americans there.
Today, the fight for racial equality continues. We’ve written before on how the issues of racial and environmental justice often intersect with the way we design and build our cities and buildings. Air pollution is one example. Airborne toxins lead to poor indoor air quality, which can worsen asthma and increase the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and other serious illnesses. Many of these diseases disproportionately harm racial and ethnic minorities because of residential segregation. Decades of redlining—the practice of promoting racial segregation by preventing minorities from accessing suitable housing—means that minorities tend to live where there is greater exposure to air pollution. (You can see what this looks like on a reconstructed version of the EPA’s Environmental Justice Map).
The Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool
This screenshot shows the level of particulate matter coinciding with areas where low-income and POC residents are disproportionately present in Louisiana.
You can also see it in known and documented case studies across the country, like the infamous Cancer Alley located in Louisiana. The approximate 85-mile stretch of communities between New Orleans and Baton Rouge also houses around 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical operations. Residents in the area face elevated rates and risks of maternal, reproductive, and newborn health harms, cancer, and respiratory ailments. Some of these areas bear the highest risk of cancer from industrial air pollution in the country, and the residents are disproportionately Black. It’s one of many instances of environmental racism in our country–you can find more examples here.
Taken individually, it’s tempting to write these problems off as accidents of poor urban planning or individual failures to secure better housing in healthier environments, but one of the most sinister tricks of institutionalized racism and environmental injustice is that these forces are invisible to those who do not encounter them in their daily lives. Another myth is that we can’t do anything about it.
The Passive House Network recognizes that the struggles for racial and environmental equality are deeply intertwined, and that institutional problems call for institutional and structural change. It’s why we advocate for the Passive House building standard—because Passive House creates safer, healthier, more efficient homes—and why we urge all jurisdictions to adopt the standard into their building codes—because while one Passive House building might protect the clean air of the occupants who live there, it will take much more to eliminate our use of fossil fuels and ensure a safer, healthier future for everyone. It’s one of the best ways to address the health, housing, and environmental inequalities that have plagued our country for centuries.
We all have a part to play in the fight for justice and equality. If you’re an architect, designer, engineer, builder, or policymaker, we urge you to continue that work by becoming a Certified Passive House Designer or Consultant. If you are BIPOC, you’re eligible for a 50% incentive towards your training. Learn more about the course here and join us as we work to build a sustainable, equitable, inclusive future for all.
