Ironically, the Staten Island landfill was located on the South Shore, which is where I live (it’s predominately Italian American residents). And, as much as it pains me to say, the zero waste movement and environmental racism are definitely interlinked.Įnvironmental racism refers to the way in which minority group neighborhoods, predominately populated by BIPOC, are burdened with a higher number of hazards, including garbage dumps, toxic waste facilities, and other sources of environmental pollution.
Greenify vs amplify free#
According to Beryl Thurman, president of the North Shore Waterfront Conservancy, “ a low-income community of color…if Staten Island is the ‘forgotten borough’ then on the food chain, we’re way down low.” This is Staten Island, my home, and it is far from being free of environmental racism – or racism in general. North Shore residents have the boroughs lowest household income, and 48 percent of its population are black or Hispanic. While the South Shore is where the landfill was located, the media has largely ignored Staten Island’s other toxic sites – largely located on the North Shore. Not to mention Eric Garner, strangled by a cop on Staten Island in 2014 for selling loose cigarettes. This was only further confirmed by the slow official response to the devastation brought on by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The landfill has long since contributed to Staten Islander’s sense of being the forgotten borough. Thyroid cancer rates on Staten Island are 67% higher than the other four NYC boroughs and 69% higher than New York State excluding NYC.
It opened in 1947 as a temporary dump on a salt marsh and agricultural land – obviously, it became more than temporary, functioning as New York’s main dumping grounds. It closed in 2001, but it was open for almost 70 years. Before I was born, Staten Island, New York was the home of the largest landfill in the world.
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