ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM IN SÃO PAULO

Abstract

The city of São Paulo, located in the state of São Paulo, and being known as the largest Brazilian metropolis, is also the scene of the greatest social inequalities in the country, inequalities that are not limited to reflecting only on the financial and economic issue of its own population, but also in terms of geography and the environment, with the environment being one of the most worrying. Understanding that, more and more, environmental issues have become worse, and thus demonstrating greater relevance and need for academic understanding, this study, through a socio-environmental reading, proposes to present an environmental issue that is linked to ethnic prejudice itself, which is racism environment present in the city of São Paulo. This scientific article of bibliographic and qualitative methodology performs in its composition a comparative analysis of some of the neighborhoods of the city of São Paulo, thus seeking to denote the environmental racism present among them, once recognizing that the most humble neighborhoods are mostly composed of racial minorities and economical. At first, throughout the article, it is demonstrated and explained what the very concept of structural racism is and how it sustains, later its consequences are detailed and how it affects the city of São Paulo and its inhabitants. Considering that environmental racism, by offering housing risks, lack of access to green areas and less afforestation, it also becomes harmful to the quality of life of São Paulo citizens, by denying them a sustainable and safe environment.