Dr. Bullard and Nyah Estevez in Port Arthur, TX

Watch a recording of Plastic Pollution Coalition’s webinar “From the Frontline: Petrochemicals, Plastics, and Cancer Alley” with panelists Shamyra Lavigne, and Rev. Yearwood and Dr. Robert Bullard, ‘Father of Environmental Justice’. Dr. Bullard is a distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy, and founding director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University. He is also co-founder of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium and the National Black Environmental Justice Network.

Environmental justice is a commitment that prioritizes the protection of all people— regardless of race, color, nationality, or income— from environmental and health hazards, and seeks to ensure equitable access to participation in decision-making processes.

Plastic production disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color in Texas, Louisiana and Appalachia, where the bulk of production is concentrated, and where fossil fuel, plastics, and chemical companies intend to build even more facilities. People of color and those living below the poverty line are more likely to live within two miles of multiple facilities, and be sickened with cancer and other diseases at disproportionately high rates.