Environmental Justice Reflection

Writer, William Blumenfield, in his Huffington Post article, “ Environmental Justice a Form of Social Justice,” details the perceptive and political fallibilities of the Republican party in regards to their courses of action towards environmental justice aims. His inclination is to convey the err in their claims and capitalistic objectives, and to promote his ideology that social justice cannot occur without there first being strives to combat against environmental degradation. He develops a strong, but misplaced, pathos throughout his article, devoid of purposeful facts, resulting in a weak argument seemingly based on his resentment towards the Republican party. Blumenfield’s argument is weak in the fact that is argues based on unapologetically tearing down the other side instead of advocating his point while respectfully pointing out the flaws of conflicting views.

The concept of social justice, and the environment have always been under great threat. However is it possible to mend the two, combine them together, in order to create an equal atmosphere and a sustainable society? The majority of the population have always wanted to prevent the minority in gaining their rights in fear of losing their power, and the nature conquerors have disregarded the wilderness’ needs in fear of losing their profit. Environmental activists and advocates have sought to bridge the gap between the complicated and divisive relationship between the natural world and the advancing technological world. Rebecca Solnit, Wendell Berry, and John Muir all recognize the explicit relationship between social justice and the respect for the natural world.

In Brian Parham’s article “There Are Multiple Threats to the Earth’s Environment,” published by The Bridge website on November 18, 2012, Parham claims that Earth’s environment is threatened by a wide variety of issues. Parham 's "There Are Multiple Threats to the Earth 's Environment" is an effective argument due to the strong uses of ethos and pathos, despite the weak use of logos.

Environmental justice links a number of social movements—anti-racism, Aboriginals rights, and the mainstream environmental movement—and addresses the problem of environmental racism (Gosine & Teelucksignh, 2008, p. 11). The concept of environmental justice in the U.S was associated with the struggles over toxic waste sites and the call for equal treatment of all communities, radicalized or not (p. 9). It was about looking at human health rather than preserving areas deemed as “playgrounds for the rich.”

The concept of environmental inequality appeared at the end of the 70s and at the beginning of the 80s after researchers, activists and government officials began to collect data that in turn showed patterns where social inequality and environmental harm became evident (Brehm, 2013). An additional term used to describe the situation is environmental justice, which according to the sociologist Robert Bullard, misled the reality by giving the impression that all people and communities are entitled to equal protection by environmental

The Earth itself is being neglected and abused by thoughtlessness and waste products of American Feed corporations. There is so much pollution that the atmosphere and Earth are being destroyed. This is a world hit by environmental disasters, the severity of which can only be read between the lines. There can only be synthesized clouds now that the atmosphere will not allow actual clouds to form and is not able to support natural weather patterns. This is a world where living creatures can no longer reproduce without assistance. And this is a world where startling

The purpose of this piece is to draw awareness to the many contradictions relating environmental justice movements and to create a society more conscious of decisions by considering consequences.

While I started my volunteer educational program, another man was well ensconced in his own. Al Gore took up a cause that many people seemed to be ignoring, our environment. The issues of climate change and general environmentalism are very important to me. I see similarities between the challenges of managing a clean environment for our globe and the challenges of managing good health to me. Through concerted efforts to make routine changes we have the capacity to live more ecologically friendly, and often healthier lives. I have seen that with just a few adjustments, I can control my diabetes to the point where most people do not even know I have it. Likewise, I believe that if we commit to making fundamental changes in the way we go about our lives, we can easily remedy several environmental issues we face today. By going to Berkeley Law School and focusing on Environmental Law, I can apply my own life’s lessons

So truly this proves that sustainability is a wicked problem as there is no way to win. From southern United States, to northern Canada, there is environmental injustice everywhere with no answer in sight. A point that was brought up in these three lectures is that there is nothing I, nor my peers can do. It is up to these people, the Inuit’s and Americans to stand up to their battle, and for us to support them. Especially in America where these people are facing these environmental problems, and yet are voting to worsen it. With most of the population being lower class, and having health issues, they are the people who voted against Obama Care, and voted in Trump who abandoned them after the first major hurricane (pers. comm., R. Bullard, October 26, 2017).

“We feel helpless in the face of our knowledge, and we’re not sure we want to know anything more,” (Steingraber 674). Due to the fact that this crisis has multiple causes, those who accept the responsibilities that go along with solving this environmental issue feel as though their to-do list is never done, filling with one problem after another. Often times these activists begin to feel helpless. There isn't just one cause of the problem but multiple. Sandra Steingraber stated “the environmental crisis is actually two crisis, although they share a common cause. You could view it as a tree with two main branches,”(672). She understands that it isn't just one single problem but multiple problems with the same cause. People may fix one “branch” but they don’t realize that there are other “branches” that needs to be

So, I offer this statement in the belief that universal human dignity and a thriving biodiverse planet are not only achievable but also inherent. It is my hope that these words raise awareness and help people live a reflective and intentional life by committing to the processes, already underway, to mitigate the climate change. Unfortunately, debates, conferences, and discussions about the environment have too often been dictated, dominated, and manipulated by the extremes, and the dogmatism of fossil fuel companies, which in turn fuels bigotry. I hope this statement advances and improves the quality and tenor of the dialogue about how to protect the environment in the 21st century. From there, we take action to leave this world better than we found it. But now is the time to take bold and unprecedented! “The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.” Abraham

Environmental sociology began to emerge in conjunction with the environmental justice movement. Environmental sociology can be defined as the study of how human societies interact with their environment. One important individual, Dr. Robert Bullard, acted as a key person throughout the environmental justice movement. He served as a technical advisor on civil right lawsuits and is now a professor at Texas Southern University. Because of his research dedicated to environmental issues pertaining the African American community, he is known as the father of environmental justice. Under the umbrella of environmental sociology it discusses concepts such as environmental justice and environmental inequalities. When racial and socially marginalized

Social sciences and social justice are both based on the structure of rights. Our rights were designed to create equality for all. However, there are always outliers in our justice system and these outliers can be seen by all. My background and demographic are aggressively average growing up in a small, rural community with little diversity which has affected my views about justice. The class Social Problems and Social Injustice has aggressively opened my eyes to new statistics about society and has made some of my intuitions validated and destroyed some of my prior views. My new understanding of social justice is that is was created for all by excluding some. Justice is the structure of our institutions and society.

Living in a highly industrialized world that is ruled by capitalism, the concern for the environment often takes a back seat. Individuals or companies nowadays prioritize achieving optimal profit without putting into mind what their respective actions or productions may have an effect on the environment. They do not realize how important the role of our environment plays in the quality of human life. We can say that a good environment leads to a better quality life, while a bad environment could lead to a harmful and unproductive life. Now, it becomes unfair and unjust when the risks and costs of a company affect a certain group of people and on the opposite side of the spectrum another group of individuals enjoy the benefits without costs. The individuals that are affected badly are usually from Third World Countries where the distribution of risk and costs are not even (Low and Gleeson 1999). This is where Environmental Justice comes in. Environmental Justice mainly concerns the welfare of human beings (Low and Gleeson 1999). Talking about cities where capitalism surges from, it has been argued that these cities are ‘unfairly structured’ (Low and Gleeson 1999). Basically, what this is saying is that the wealthier you are, the better or cleaner the environment. On the other hand, if you are poor, then the environment around you will have more health risks. This kind of injustice or disparity is what adds fuel to the fire of environmental justice. In

The connection between humans and nature is very weak. Due to future advancement we are basically losing our grip on reality, which brings up the point of destruction to nature that we are not aware of. At one point in time nature was the most beautiful thing you could ever witness. Now people exploit it for money. They are selling land, resources, even water for a profit. They don’t think twice or blink an eye at the damage they cause. The disconnect is so huge the debate of protecting the earth is treated as a forbidden topic. “Second, environmental injustices critics challenge the mainstream environmental idea of what environmental problems are in the first place. They say its focused on the beautiful outdoors, it has anti-urban bias, it isn’t engaged enough with artificial human environments like neighborhoods and workplaces” (Purdy 4) That just baffles me how you can turn the place we call home and the wellness of it to a political debate when all we should want to do is preserve it.