The Washington Post and Environmental Justice

The Washington Post did not cover the First People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1992. The Post did not cover the second environmental justice conference in 2002. Will The Washington Post cover The State of Environmental Justice in America 2007 Conference? Not if the environmental reporters have anything to do with it.

The Washington Post recently ran an article in the Style section on the environmental injustice perpetrated upon Shelia Holt-Orsted and her community in Tennessee. Exhaustive article. A whole page. Just like with Damu Smith. Got us thinking that the only way environmental justice gets covered in the Post is if you are a black person suffering or dying from cancer. Per Osted and Smith. Even in those cases, Black reporters at the Post wrote the stories, otherwise they would not have been written.

The environmental reporters at The Washington Post write about everything environmental except environmental justice. The nasal condition of the Alaskan snow owl will get coverage before environmental justice. Are the environmental reporters uncomfortable with the subject matter? Do they prefer to simply ignore people of color and pretend that these communities do not exist? Do they not see environmental justice as a legitimate environmental issue. Is it racism? Maybe a black Washington Post reporter should write s story about why environmental reporters at The Washington Post do not write about environmental jsutice.