Slow disasters are routine forms of pollution affecting primarily the soil, water, and air. We call them "slow" disasters because the impacts are drawn out and cumulative, causing harm slowly by increasing rates of asthma, cancer, heart disease, and other health issues. In many ways, slow disasters are more difficult to deal with than fast, explosive disasters because people don’t pay attention to them or even think they are normal – especially in communities of color.
[Adjacent terms]
Related concepts: social determinants of health
Polluting facilities are facilities that are generally regulated by the EPA and have permits to emit a certain amount of certain harmful chemicals. These include metal plating facilities, power plants, refineries, and industrial agriculture. This is an image of an ExxonMobil oil refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Legacy hazardous waste sites, also known as Superfund sites, are sites where toxic chemicals and other forms of hazardous waste were dumped that are now being remediated by the EPA. Roughly 1,300 of the worst of these sites are included on the EPA'S National Priorities List.
Hazardous waste management facilities are sites where toxic chemicals and other forms of hazardous waste are actively being disposed. While the environmental impacts of these facilities are regulated, they are still sources of pollution.
Most forms of transportation (freeways, major roadways, railroads, and airports) also pose a threat through the production of large amounts of air, soil, and noise pollution. California freeways are an example of slow hazards because the health of surrounding communities are affected by vehicular emissions.
Various aspects of physical infrastructure can also be sources of slow disasters. The most high profile infrastructural slow disaster is lead, which can be present in the paint and water pipes of older homes and buildings. Asbestos, mold, poor ventilation, and many other chemicals are also infrastructural hazards.
READ: EiJ Talks: Slow Disaster
WATCH: A Brief History of the Environmental Justice Movement (3 min)
WATCH: Place Matters (30 min)
READ: Susie Cagle, A Year After a Refinery Explosion, Richmond, Calif., is Fighting Back (5 pages)
READ: Jane Kay and Cheryl Katz, North Richmond in Shadow of Poverty and Pollution (5 pages)
WATCH: Shelter in Place (49 min)
WATCH: Flint: The Poisoning of an American City (85 min)
READ: California Environmental Injustice Alliance, Green Zones Across California (p. 2-6)
READ: Minorities in the US breathe in more air pollution caused by white people. (1 page)
READ: Pollution, Health, and Disaster: Emerging Contributions in Ethnographic Research
