National Sacrifice Areas

Presentation by Ray Pierotti

Uses of the term "National Sacrifice Area" 

Surface mining without reclamation removes the land forever from productive use; such land can best be classified as a national sacrifice area. 

Genevieve Atwood (1975) The Strip-mining of Western Coal. Scientific American 223(6): 23-29.

...“sacrifice zones,” an Orwellian term originally coined in the Soviet Union to describe populated areas irrevocably polluted by nuclear fallout

Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Exposure in the United States reviewed in Washington Post

Mapping activity

1. What is the environmental issue and where were activities located?

2. Who are the affected communities? 

3. What consequences have there been to the affected communities?

4. Who benefitted?

5. Has anything been done to improve the environmental conditions?