Environmentalism not an excuse for racist attacks

Wednesday, November 12, 1997

Environmentalism not an excuse for racist attacks

ENVIRONMENT Blaming immigrants for America’s pollution, overuse
of resources result of prejudice

Recently it has come to my attention that certain
environmentalists seem to think that immigration has negative
effects on the environment.

The argument is that when people move from areas of low energy
consumption to areas of high energy consumption, they are causing
more damage to the earth than they would be had they stayed where
they originally were.

The web page for the Federation for American Immigration Reform
(FAIR) – as misleading an acronym as any I’ve ever heard – reads
"Most immigrants to the United States come from less
technologically-advanced countries. Because of the low-technology
lifestyles of those countries, their people tend to deplete and
damage the earth’s resources more slowly. That is, they have a
lower rate of environmental degradation than U.S. consumers.
Immigrants tend to adopt the lifestyle of their new country. As
they do, they become greater consumers and damagers of natural
resources. Their individual rate of environment degradation
increases. For example, the rate at which the average immigrant
uses fresh water is 63 percent higher than the rate at which he
would have been using it up at home." So, the argument goes, people
should be forced to stay where they are and deal with the
environmental problems of the areas where they live and not be able
to leave.

This argument highlights the fact that U.S. citizens use 63
percent more water than people in lesser developed countries but
then blame the people who deplete fewer resources. The real problem
is that the United States consumes a huge percentage of the world’s
resources though it is a country with a small percentage of the
world’s population. The disparity between fossil fuel use in less
developed countries and the United States dwarfs the difference in
water use. If we really want to focus on the most pressing
environmental problems, the priority should be placed on reducing
the amount of pollution we in the U.S. create. By focusing on this
we would be working to solve the problem which we ourselves are
creating rather than scapegoating people from poorer areas who are
only attempting to emulate our own opulent lifestyle.

The arguments of organizations like FAIR assume that people move
here and instantly begin to consume the same amount as the rest of
us do. In my own experience, most recent immigrants to this country
are extremely poor. Often these people have no access to things
like cars – one of the largest sources of pollution – which the
rest of us take for granted.

Recent immigrants to this country have always been the object of
racist attacks. This was true of such groups as Scandinavians,
Chinese, Irish, Germans, Japanese and many others. Today attacks
are being made on immigrants from Latin America. When will we learn
that targeting immigrants is not a solution? It is merely a way of
deflecting the blame for a problem away from ourselves.

Since immigration began to be limited in this country it has
constantly been a very touchy issue. Basically, the way immigration
policy has functioned in this country is that when we need cheap
labor we make it easy for people to immigrate. For example, during
the building of the trans-continental railroads in the 19th century
it was made extremely easy for Chinese people to immigrate so that
they could work on the railroads. During World War II, when many
people were off fighting, it was made easy for Mexicans to
immigrate here in order to work on farms. As soon as these problems
were resolved, either by the end of the war or by the finishing of
the railroads it was made much more difficult for the Mexicans and
Chinese to move here.

Never was it taken into account that these people had provided
extremely valuable services to this country when it was in great
need. Never were the thousands of Chinese immigrants who died
during the building of those railroads taken into account
(obviously, they had already served their purpose). Never was it
taken into account that except for a very small percentage of
indigenous people, all of us have ancestors who immigrated to this
country sometime during the past 505 years. All these things have
been ignored so that we can demonize immigrants as the cause of
whatever problem is going on at the time. Ecological problems make
up only a few items in a long series of things blamed on
immigrants.

If we really want to work on slowing down immigration, why don’t
we examine why people come to the United States from other
countries? In my experience, most people don’t leave their homes,
cultures and families for minor reasons, so there are probably some
fairly compelling reasons involved.

If we look at the wealth distribution between countries we will
see that the United States is by far the richest country around.
How did it come to be this way? Partially through our role as the
world’s arms-dealer, but probably even more through the
exploitation of the Third World. This has become very clear in the
past few decades with the emergence of neo-liberalism. U.S.-based
transnational corporations have gone into countries such as Mexico,
Vietnam and the Philippines and obtained labor at extremely low
costs while keeping all the profits.

Coincidentally, it is from these same countries that most of the
immigrants to this country come from. Reactionaries in this country
yell and scream about these same people coming here because they
see that we have accumulated wealth through their blood and sweat.
If we want to curb immigration, let’s deal with these problems.

Environmentalists need to realize that immigration and
environmental concerns are separate issues. Groups like FAIR should
not be allowed to interfere in environmental politics. Working
towards a more sustainable lifestyle for humans is an admirable
goal. I try to do my part to fulfill it because it is necessary if
we wish to have future generations of humans grow up in an
environment like the one we have now. However, preserving the
environment should never be used to justify harming certain people
while allowing others to maintain a luxurious lifestyle without
regard to the rest of the world. Perhaps if we focused on changing
ourselves for once, instead of trying to change the rest of the
world, we might actually do some good.

Garrick Ruiz