Save Planet Earth

Toxics In Our Communities

The Problem

Communities across the United States are located near industrial sites that are contaminated with toxic wastes. To address this problem, Congress passed a law called Superfund to pay for cleaning up the nation’s worst toxic waste sites. One in four Americans lives within four miles of a Superfund toxic waste site. Toxic chemicals at many of these sites have been linked to birth defects, brain damage and cancer. A California study showed that children born to women within a quarter mile of a Superfund site are at increased risk of birth defects. However, in recent years, funding for cleaning up Superfund sites has fallen dramatically, and the rate of cleanup has slowed.

In addition, industrial facilities across the country emit tens of thousands of tons of toxic chemicals into our air, land and water. Right to know laws require that companies report their releases of toxic chemicals, but in recent years many companies have pushed to weaken these reporting requirements, citing security concerns in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Who Is Affected?

A disproportionate number of toxic waste sites are located in or near low income communities and communities of color. In addition, many sites that are still releasing toxic chemicals into the environment are located in these communities in large part because many companies believe that low income citizens lack the knowledge and power to fight against toxic plants locating in their communities. Extreme examples of this phenomenon include Lousiana’s “Cancer Alley” a string of largely low income and African American communities where many of the nation’s largest chemical manufacturing plants are located. Residents of these communities suffer from high rates of cancer and their children suffer from birth defects and neurological damage due to high rates of exposure to dangerous chemicals.

What You Can Do

Find out what sources of toxic chemicals are located in your community. The Environmental Defense Scorecard contains a wealth of information about toxic releases into the environment in a database that can be searched by zip code. It also gives information on the health impacts of the chemicals that are released in your community, allows you to compare your community with other communities across the country and provides opportunities and ideas for taking action.

Work with others in your community to advocate change—start a letter writing campaign to the polluters in your neighborhood or to your elected officials asking for them to cut down or stop putting harmful chemicals into your neighborhood. Many of the most polluted areas already have citizen’s groups dedicated to getting the polluters out of their communities.

Find out where your elected officials stand on toxics issues. Attend town meetings and ask them tough questions or write letters and ask for their position on the issue. You can also look for information from national and state groups that track the environmental voting records of elected officials such as the League of Conservation Voters or your state conservation voter league.

Register to vote and vote for candidates who will reduce toxic emissions, fund the cleanup of toxic waste and make all communities safer and healthier.

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Environmental impact of plastic shopping bags

* The raw material of plastic bags is oil. Therefore, the more we use plastic bags, the more we waste oil - a non-renewable energy source.
* The petroleum-based plastic bags take decades to break down, so if they are not recycled they litter. It creates visual pollution: in the streets, on the beaches etc. Also, they can clog roadside drains, which could cause street flooding during heavy rainfall.
* Plastic bags can be recycled but it rarely happens: according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, only 1% of plastic bags were recycled in 2000, against twenty percent for paper bags.
* They endanger wildlife and particularly sea life such as sea turtles and dolphins which can die of entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion because they assume that these bags are jellyfish.

What is being done

For the past few years, there has been rising international awareness regarding the damaging and dangerous impact on the environment of plastic bags. Governments all over the world have decided to get involved in that particular issue: Some governments have decided to ban them: Bangladesh, Bhutan and Zanzibar.Plastic bags should no more be given for free in China from June 1st. These bags are surcharged in Germany, South Africa, Ireland and Israel. Several countries try and promote, trough major retailers, the use of cloth bags, paper bags or grocery bags: United Kingdom (with Tesco), France (with Carrefour), New Zeland.


In the U.S.

Plastic bags are already used less than paper bags by American consumers, and there have been no government actions to further curb their use. But large cities such as San Francisco and Portland, OR, have planned or plan to ban plastic bags, whereas Seattle, WA will certainly launch a 20 cent “green fee” on plastic bags.

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