Justice

Mapping Where Environmental Justice Is Most Threatened in the Carolinas

Eight places have long been vulnerable—and without them, we may not have the language, knowledge, and tools to fight environmental injustice in the age of climate change.
Tree limbs can't pass under a railway bridge as Russell Maloy checks the level of the Cape Fear River, which has been rising in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence.David Goldman/AP

For more coverage of environmental justice in the Carolinas and Hurricane Florence, see The Black Communities That Have Fought for Their Right to Exist in the Carolinas.”

When it comes to the environmental justice movement in the U.S., few states can lay claim to as many origin sites, case studies, and defining landmarks as North and South Carolina. The historical narratives of African Americans across both urban and rural landscapes in these two states constitute much of the canon of the environmental justice movement.