My relationship to the environment...is a sticky situation.

          I'm not exactly sure what my race or ethnicity has to do with a connection to the environment, or I don't know why it should be involved (leave the color of your skin out of it). I believe that your class, unfortunately, has the greatest effect on your relationship to the environment. How much money you have pretty much determines how you'll grow up and how people will treat you.
I find that many people, if not all, have a choice on how they view their environment, once they become an adult...where their environment has to be, and how they react to their environment. You don't have to remain in a "run down" area once you know what it takes to make a life for yourself. You can go out and get a job, educate yourself, and make enough money to live comfortably.
           I know there are many people who think they are stuck in the place they grew up, or that their environment influenced them so much so that they cannot make a change in their life. I was fortunate enough to be born into a loving family. My parents were responsible and they work hard to provide for me and my sisters. I think anyone who attends a public school, like I did, or is able to watch TV, can find out that there are many facets to the environment and if you are growing up in one that is holding you back and suppressing your people...then YOU can leave that area and make a life for yourself somewhere else.

         I can only define my environment as the people, places, and things around me that influence my various decisions. If I were to try and define it any further it would become a massive list of various descriptions of ...well everything I grew up around.
         I believe the thoughts and opinions of others can be threatening. Everyone is classified and put into a category without "due process". Judging a book by its cover tends to be a popular problem in society that people always say not to follow, yet they do anyway. From my point of view, based on environmental degradation when referencing society, I think a threat only exists when you give into stereotypes. From the ridiculous- "Asians can't drive, all white people can't dance, all black girls can sing"...to the more serious types like " all white people are privileged" and "all black people are ghetto and uneducated". These general and unrealistic stereotypes are what many people believe. Since they are so personally degrading and disrespectful you have to make sure you don't fall into these "categories" and start believing them yourself.