Onondaga Lake is located in Syracuse, New York in the heart of the city. It has been home to about 150,000 people who reside within Syracuse. But before the city of Syracuse was established, it was home to the Onondaga people who are indigenous to this area. The lake, whose people it is named after, has been subjected to many years of neglect and multiple cases of Environmental Injustice. There are many issues facing the lake today such as pollution, excessive sedimentation, and other toxic metals and chemicals. In some instances, the lake was so contaminated that it was deemed not swimmable and was closed to the public. For the Onondaga people, they have been very mistreated when looking at the control of the lake.
If Environmental justice was to be brought to Lake Onondaga, then we would see some significant changes. First off, I think that the pollution would definitely decrease because of the clean up efforts that would be put in place. Currently, there are some clean up efforts going on, but I think that more can be done especially with the city or even state would give more funding into these projects. Another thing that would change is the attitude toward the indigenous people and what this lake means to them culturally and spiritually.
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