In the city of San Francisco, we pride ourselves on being eco-friendly. We are at the forefront of composting and recycling and we promote riding MUNI, BART or bicycles over driving. But no level of “green” will solve the problems that have simmered, and even erupted in our industrial areas. According to multiple federal laws and work regulations, every person has the right to a clean, safe place to live and work. Despite our city’s commitment to progressive policies, environmental injustice occurs every day in specific pockets of the city, increasing health risks to citizens and decreasing the ability of our society to provide a life whose health is based on true equality and justice.

Environmental justice, by its definition, is the equal treatment of all human beings concerning the development, implementation and enforcement of all environmental laws, regulations and policies. While we would like to believe that environmental injustice is no longer a problem, it is a class issue. Despite our hopes for equal access to a healthy lifestyle which disregards economic status, large companies take advantage of the poor’s lesser power in society to pollute their environments.

In San Francisco, environmental injustice largely targets people of minorities and low-income citizens. According to a Distribution of Environmental Burdens report regarding San Francisco, families with annual incomes of less than $25,000 are exposed to 2.59 times more toxic chemical releases than higher-income families. Also, the ratio of families living below poverty to families living above poverty who are exposed to toxic releases is 2.63.

Bayview and Hunter’s Point, neighborhoods where the majority of residents are low-income, are the most afflicted neighborhoods of environmental injustice in our city today. From 1929 to 2006, Pacific Gas & Electric’s Bayview-Hunter’s Point power plant annually spewed 600 tons of toxic chemicals and pollutants, according to Scorecard, an organization that lets people know about environmental conditions in their zip code. Not a pretty picture less than a mile away from a congested residential area, the PG&E pollution included 321 tons of nitrogen oxides, 164 tons of carbon monoxide, 52 tons of particulate matter, 13 tons of ammonia, 13 tons of volatile organic compounds and 12 tons of sulfur dioxide, according to Green Action, a nonprofit environmental protection organization which protests environmental injustice.

Our society takes advantage of low-income people where pollution and environmental degradation are concerned. People with less wealth may be less empowered to fight against environmental injustices because of the necessitation of money for power in our society, and with slow legal processes, the time it takes to fight back is far too long. Yet the Bayview Hunter’s Point community responded in March 2005, when 100 people protested outside of the PG&E plant, calling for the plant’s immediate closing, according to Green Action. The protest, and resultant publicity, was helpful — the plant finally closed in 2006, after 77 years of pollution and health problems for Bayview. But that in no terms makes up for the pollution brought onto San Francisco’s citizens and the injustice to come. Though the plant is no longer running, it still releases 29 pounds of toxic chemicals a year through leftover airborne chemicals, according to Scorecard’s website.

Along with PG&E’s power plant, most of the city's unwanted pollutants and industrial factories are found in the Bayview District. Half the land in San Francisco dedicated to industrial usage is in Bayview and Hunter's Point. According to the organization Literacy for Environmental Justice, the Bayview District contains over 325 toxic sites, including the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard Superfund site, which releases 28,942 pounds of toxins a year. The residents in these neighborhoods have an increased risk of developing diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and childhood asthma. The rate of incidents birth defects in the area is 44.3 per 1000, while the rest of the Bay Area sees a rate of 33.1 out of 1000 births, according to Green Action. The rate of hospitalization for diseases such as diabetes and emphyszema are more than three times California’s average. What the city overall — unexposed to these conditions — does not realize is that citizens of these areas are breathing pollution caused by our industrialized society. We do not intend to contribute to the illnesses and suffering of fellow human beings, yet we benefit from the energy and goods that these toxic industries produce. How is it justifiable to allow people to live in places that increase their risk of illness or death? We must pay attention and support citizens’ activism and cleanup efforts in order to produce a healthier environment for all of us.

Senior Amiame Fanaika, whose aunt is a volunteer for Green Action, occasionally assists her in protests which gain news coverage for environmental issues, such as the possible destruction of Glen Cove Park in Vallejo to make way for a parking lot. “People don’t know what’s happening in our community unless it’s in the news,” she said. She encourages others to be activists and participate in community events. “Attend community meetings. In Bayview, they have meetings about what’s going on with environmental justice,” she said. “During the meetings, they plan what to do about current issues and ask questions.”

While the victimization of San Francisco’s citizenry is impossible to forgive, as a city-wide community we can still take action by protesting the building of more industrial sites in our city and demanding the closing down and cleaning up of those existing, including the naval shipyard. When it comes to the environmental protection of all human beings, the San Francisco community needs to band together in support of all our neighborhoods, just as was done in the 2006 protest against the PG&E power plant.

Rather than place dangerous toxic sites in the heart of populated residential areas, we should put them in secluded areas, far away from human beings, and work to find healthier alternatives to the energy-producing methods that release heavy pollution. If we do not heavily protest against the companies that pour out chemical toxins and pollutants, we will have accepted discrimination and inhumane practices in our own city. If you are ready to fight back against the (literal) machine, find out about volunteer opportunities and protests on Green Action and Literacy for Environmental Justice’s websites. When it comes to environmental protection, not fighting back is as toxic as doing the initial deed.

A version of this article first appeared in the Oct. 7, 2011 print edition of The Lowell.

Illustrations by Hoi Leung.