Race and class are extremely reliable indicators as to where one might find the good stuff, like parks and trees, and where one might find the bad stuff, like power plants and waste facilities.

Carter is pointing to environmental injustice: in many U.S. cities, amenities that support health and quality of life (green space, street trees, waterfront access) are disproportionately located in wealthier, often whiter neighborhoods, while polluting or hazardous land uses (power plants, waste transfer stations, heavy industry) are concentrated in poorer communities and communities of color. The quote frames this pattern as predictable rather than accidental, implying that planning, zoning, and political power have historically distributed environmental benefits and burdens along racial and class lines. It also functions as a call to treat access to “good stuff” as a civil-rights and public-health issue, not merely an aesthetic preference.