...and justice for all

I think we are all three very interested in how less wealthy communities are affected by environmental issues in these United States. Not sure who we will talk to or what communities we'll visit but their voices will be incredibly important on this trip.
Knowing that learning is impaired without proper nutrition/rest/exercise, and that people who are living at or below the poverty level in the US are dealing with immense amounts of stress on a daily basis, we can gather that environmental friendliness might not be the highest priority for people who feel like they are just surviving. I haven't done ANY research on this but I wouldn't be surprised if most inhabitants of, say, housing projects in NYC, don't give a jack about recycling and could not care less about how much fertilizer went into the soil to grow the greens they're eating.
It is easy to say, "Eat organic, It's better for you and for the earth," "Buy only organic cotton," "Choose to build a sustainable home," "Use your computer instead of paper," "Drive a hybrid!" when you have an income and a time schedule that sustains your going every week to the farmer's market, having a personal computer, buying organic Levi's, not to mention buying a car, much less a new car, much less a hybrid. Not so easy to do in less affluent communities where people are just getting by, and where shrines of cheap mass consumption like Walmart and McDonalds seem like the only affordable options to feed and clothe families.
In Sustainable Planet; Solutions for the Twenty-first Century, there is a very interesting essay: "In Search of Justice," written by Rep. Nydia M. Velasquez, that suggests that minorities are more than underpriveleged when it comes to businesses cleaning up the environment - that minority neighborhoods are in fact targeted by major polluters as good areas to locate plants/dumps/brownfields. I wondered Why? Because the offending companies don't think these communities know any better? Velasquez offers: "Believe me, Latinos and African Americans know what the environment is. It's air they can see and water they can't drink. Polling consistently shows that African Americans and Hispanics put a higher priority on protecting the environment than nonminority voters. And no wonder. Study after study has shown that racial minorities disproportionately bear the brunt of this pollution." And she goes on to cite major studies linking toxic waste sites to minority neighborhoods...hopefully we will be able to talk to some of the people in these communities and find out more about their personal experiences.
Maybe we will open our own eyes and then some...