Environmental Problems Discussion

2 Questions overall! (I added both textbooks in case you needed them for this assignment.

1. What environmental problems do the authors in this section document regarding the impact of resource expropriation on North American tribes?

2, Research if the tribe you are writing your final paper about is experiencing “environmental racism,” “resource expropriation,” or any other environmental concerns. Share what you find with your peers in the discussion board for this week.

Terms/Concepts:

Environmental racism – Environmental racism refers to any policy, practice or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages (whether intended or unintended) individuals, groups, or communities based on race or color. Racism is reinforced by government, legal, economic, political, and military institutions. Environmental racism extends to the export of hazardous waste, risky technologies, and pesticides, and the application of nonsustainable and exploited development models targeted toward people of color, working-class people, and poor people in this country.

Resource expropriation: The lands of native tribes may be seized by ‘civilized’ outsiders (read white, dominant culture) for the development and exploitation of natural resources. Either the tribes are simply dispossessed and become dependent on the invaders, or they are relocated on land (reservations), which is usually of poor quality. If minerals or other resources are found on reservation territory, they may be expropriated without compensation to the tribes.

The purpose of expropriation is to allow the government the ability to force the sale of private property when there is a legitimate public need. Federal, state, and local governments have the power of expropriation. Most often, the government uses expropriation for infrastructure purposes. Common examples include roads, railways, public utilities, parks, schools, or public health buildings.

This is similar to eminent domain, but when it is tribal lands and it centers upon the extraction of resources it is called resource expropriation.

It might be the case that the government wants to build a new road, but the property they want to use is privately owned. They could use expropriation to force the property owners to sell the land for them. The owner doesn’t have to agree to the sale. In fact, there have been many cases of people who sue the government as a result of expropriation, sometimes successfully and sometimes not.