Chapter IX: Making Connections in Understanding prejudice and discrimination
What is your reaction to the Dalai Lama’s statement about Saddam Hussein?
What does environmental justice link?
What age was Thich Nhat Hanh when he was ordained a Buddhist monk?
What is the name of the small community Thich Nhat Hanh established southwest of Paris?
What do you see when you look at a piece of paper?
What does Thich Nhat Hanh suggest is real strength?
What does Thich Nhat Hanh suggest sows the seeds of violence and is a form of pollution for us and for our children?
Thich Nhat Hanh (1990) suggests that “If I had been born in the village of the pirate and raised in the same conditions as he was, there is a great likelihood that I would become a pirate…If you take a gun and shoot the pirate, you shoot all of us, because all of us are to some extent responsible for this state of affairs” (p. 438). Write about your reaction to this statement, particularly is you could imagine yourself becoming that pirate.
Choose two of the fourteen precepts of the Order of Interbeing and discuss how you can incorporate those precepts into your daily life (if you choose to do so – incorporate them, that is – you still have to answer the question even if you do not choose to incorporate any of the precepts).
How can you help your children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews or friends children to experience the flower of tolerance, as described by Thich Nhat Hanh?
What does the fact that scapegoats of different breeds are so often harnessed together show?
When did a national movement for environmental justice really take root in mainstream civil rights organizations? (Note: It should be noted however, that early settlement house workers, particularly Jane Addams and Ellen Starr on Hull House in Chicago) also made this an issue).
Where did the first major protest in the environmental justice movement take place?
What is the difference between the penalties for violating federal environmental laws in White communities and minority communities?
Describe the setting for the Altgeld Gardens in Chicago.
How many waste disposal facilities have been proposed for Native American lands?
In what region is the most industry-befouled air, water and land?
What hazardous waste “importer” state is ranked forty-ninth in overall environmental quality?
What is the infant mortality rate ranking for the state in question 18?
What has the area mentioned in questions 18 & 19 been nicknamed?
In reading about the Louisiana communities that have disappeared because of the petrochemical industry, what seems particularly common about the founding of those communities?
What did the study by the Commission for Racial Justice find to be the single most important factor in the location of abandoned toxic waste sites?
What is the leading method of disposal for toxic waste? What does this method release into the environment?
What preventable disease has been tagged the “number one environmental health threat to children?”
The author suggests that it is time for environmental justice to become what?
Reference
Hanh, T. N. (1990). Peace is every step: The path of mindfulness in everyday life. In S. Plous (Ed.) Understanding prejudice and discrimination (pp. 431-441). New York: McGraw-Hill.