In the capitalistic industrial world that we live in, and with nearly 7 billion
people who want a higher material standard of living and have been socialized
by advertisements to want a high standard of living, we have come to the
point where we have created and are increasingly creating a lot of waste and
do not know what to do with it all (Gore, 2000, p. 151). Landfills are piling
up. States are trying to send their waste to other states. Along with this consequence
of a huge buildup of waste is that it is usually stored on the cheapest
land, typically near where poorer people and minorities live (p. 149).
Hence, poorer people and minorities are the ones who, more often than not,
have ended up living nearest the waste sites.