The Gulf Oil Spill: An Environmental Justice Disaster

Now researchers have discovered that British Petroleum (BP), the oil company that owns the rig—with U.S. government approval—has been disposing of garbage from the oil spill cleanup in landfills located in communities where the majority of residents are people of color. Because of these circumstances the Gulf oil spill has become both an environmental disaster and an environmental justice disaster. This lesson has students examine data that show that disproportionately high percentages of people of color are being adversely affected by the oil spill cleanup.

Professional Development

For background on the environmental justice movement, see: “Environmental Justice: The Birth of a Movement.” [1]

Read the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of environmental justice [2].

Read Executive Order 12898, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations.” [3]

Middle Grades [4] (6-8)

Upper Grades [5] (9-12)

Standards [6] 

Activities and embedded assessments address the following standards (McREL 4^th edition)

Civics

Standard 14. [7] Understands issues concerning the disparities between ideals and reality in American political and social life

Geography

Standard 9. [8] Understands the nature, distribution and migration of human populations on Earth's surface

Standard 14. [9] Understands how human actions modify the physical environment

Mathematics

Standard 3. [10] Uses basic and advanced procedures while performing the processes of computation