Environmental Literacy:Environmental Justice

JoAnn CarminDepartment of Urban Studies and Planning

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Streams in Environmental Sociology

• Human-environment relationship• Risk perception and communication• Environmental movements and organizations• Corporate social responsibility• Environmental governance and policy• Environmental inequity and justice

Classic View of Environmental Injustice

Warren County, North Carolina

Photo: www.ncwarn.org/Campaigns/WarrenCounty/12-05-03WarrenCountyHistory.htm

Environmental Injustice

Group bears a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies (U.S. EPA, 1998)

Disproportionate Burden

• Exposed community did not generate problem• Exposed community receives marginal benefits• Exposed community bears environmental burden

Emerging Paradigm

• Classic– Local concerns and local inequities– Emphasis on race and class– Focus on US, but some consideration of international locales

• Emerging – Demand and consumption patterns in one part of the world

imposing a disproportionate environmental burden in distant regions

Source: Friends of the Earth International

Tales of Gold in the Hills:Mining in Rosia Montana, Romania

Photo: www.truestory.ro

Major Drivers of Disparities

• Demand for quality of life Consumption • Global dumping groups• GHGs & climate impacts

• Demand for goods Extraction• Mining• Bio-prospecting

• Demand for affordable goods/ profitability Workplace exposure

• Go tech! Go pork!

Coming Full Cycle

– Pressure from demand– Leads to government or corporate response– Causing unequal burden– That gives rise to public response

Constellation of Considerations

Environmental Justice

Environmental ImpactsHuman Health Impacts

Politics and Policy Stratification

Cultural Survival

Participation Mobilization

• Justice as Equitable Distribution– Theories of justice, political economy/ resource curse,

and globalization

• Justice as Recognition– Theories of identity, social stratification

• Justice as Procedure– Theories of public participation, participatory

governance, and collective action

Environmental Justice and Environmental Literacy:Theory

Local, national, and global impacts associated with:– Technology development and transfer– Production processes, outsourcing, labor standards,

Consumption– Economic development and poverty alleviation

Environmental Justice and Environmental Literacy:Environmental and Human Impacts

• International governance:– International treaties and judicial procedures

• National policy, planning, and development– Adoption of Aarhus Convention / Principle 10– Laws and judicial procedures– Market mechanisms– Institutional and stakeholder assessments– Social and environmental impact assessments– Participatory decision-making

• Corporate social responsibility– Voluntary programs, codes, and certification– Good Neighbor Agreements

Environmental Justice and Environmental Literacy:Policy and Planning Tools