Environmental justice of the City of Industry and toxics release inventory sites

For more than twenty years, environmental justice has been a point of focus for social activists and environmentalists who have seen that issues of a safe environment expand beyond the ideals of traditional environmentalism. It has long been the belief that factors of race and income are critical in determining areas that are disproportionately impacted by environmental inequalities such as the location of toxic release inventory sites (TRI) in proximity to these communities. It is the geography of environmental inequalities that make Geographic Information Systems (GIS) an important tool in examining the spatial distribution and relationships of these variables.; This thesis explores methodologies that have been used in environmental justice research as well as the history of environmental justice and its applications into varying regions. This paper looks specifically at the City of Industry, its growth as an industrialized city in Southern California and the impact of that growth on surrounding residential communities. Variables that were examined were minority populations and persons living at or below the poverty level. These variables were examined on the basis of their proximity to TRI facilities within the City of Industry.