战争视域下的美国城市环境危机——以尼亚加拉瀑布市为个案

American Urban Environmental Crisis on the Sight of War——A Case Study on Niagara Falls City

第二次世界大战与冷战对美国社会历史进程产生了深远影响。在此期间,美国本土进行了大规模的军事战备行动,尼亚加拉瀑布市凭借得天独厚的自然条件成为美国军方重要的军用化学品生产和铀矿石冶炼基地。然而,由此带来的众多有毒化学废弃物填埋地与大型放射性废弃物倾倒场对该市的城市环境,特别是底层城市居民的生存环境造成严重威胁。20世纪70年代末,该市爆发的拉夫运河事件成为美国环境正义运动标志性事件,在一定程度上揭露了底层民众在爱国名义裹挟下所遭受的不合理环境胁迫。

World War II and Cold War had exerted a far-reaching influence on the social and historical process of the United States.During the time,America has carried out large-scale arms actions,and Niagara Falls city became a major military manufacturing base for chemicals and uranium ores due to its superior natural conditions.However,the resulting landfills of toxic chemical wastes and the large radioactive waste dump site constituted a grave threat against urban environment,especially the living environment of low-income residents.In the late 1970 s,the outburst of love canal incident in the city,which is one of the landmark events of the American Environmental Justice Movement,at least partly exposing the unreasonable environmental stress of low-income residents under the name of patriotism.