Sacrifice zone
Commentators including Chris Hedges, Joe Sacco, and Steve Lerner have argued that corporate business practices contribute to producing sacrifice zones.
Another important aspect of sacrifice zones is that they are often located in low-income communities with a large presence of ethnic or religious minorities which benefits majority groups.
[7] The concept of Sacrifice Zone has its origins in the field of livestock management, being used to refer to the spaces where farmers concentrated cattle waste in order to protect the remaining pasture land.
[6] However, the concept would be appropriated by the American Indian Movement and some environmentalist struggles transforming it from a technical term used for land and animal management to a way of conceiving geographical spaces in which the destruction of natural resources is a problem.
[14] Reports from Argentinian and foreign public agencies[15][16] have confirmed the presence of lead, chromium, benzene and other hazardous chemicals in the water supplies of the neighborhood, in amounts far in excess of what is allowed by international regulations.
[20] In August and September 2018 there was a public health crisis in Quintero and Puchuncaví, where over 300 people experienced illness from toxic substances in the air, coming from the polluting industries.
[22] The US EPA affirmed in a 2004 report in response to the Office of Inspector General, that "the solution to unequal protection lies in the realm of environmental justice for all Americans.
[2] In 2017 a West Calumet public housing project in East Chicago, Indiana built at the former site of a lead smelter needed to be demolished and soil replaced to bring the area up to residential standards, displacing 1000 residents.
[29] In 2014, Naomi Klein wrote that "running an economy on energy sources that release poisons as an unavoidable part of their extraction and refining has always required sacrifice zones.
[33] Another study in 2007 revealed the presence of toxic metals in part of the subway aquifers connected to the lake basin; the samples taken had values well above the limits allowed for drinking water according to national and international regulations.
[35] Klinger states that "the environmental geopolitics of Earth and outer space are inextricably linked by the spatial politics of privilege and sacrifice – among people, places and institutions".
[35] Dunnett has called outer space the 'ultimate sacrifice zone' that exemplifies a colonially framed pursuit of infinite opportunities for accumulation, exploitation, and pollution.
