ecoapartheid means A pattern in which poor and minority populations suffer more from environmental degradation than wealthy people. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
Why “ecoapartheid” is a great word
ECOAPARTHEID — [Noun] A system of institutionalized segregation where marginalized communities are structurally consigned to disproportionate environmental harm. From the prefix eco- (from ecology or ecological) + apartheid (from Afrikaans, meaning 'separateness' or the former South African policy of racial segregation). Unlike "environmental racism," which specifically denotes racial discrimination in policy, or "environmental injustice," a broader term for unequal distribution, ecoapartheid implies a deliberately engineered, geographic caste system. It is the benzene-laced air of the fence-line refinery town, the lead leaching from the pipes of a forgotten municipal system, and the floodwall built exclusively around the affluent district—a cartography of calculated sacrifice, where one's postal code determines one's proximity to poison.
Etymology
From eco- + apartheid.
noun
- A pattern in which poor and minority populations suffer more from environmental degradation than wealthy people.“Hence, the growing ecological sacrifice and segregation (“ecoapartheid”) of the world's people along economic and racial lines have led to charges of environmental racism and calls for environmental justice in countries as economically and socially disparate as South Africa and the United States.”