Introduction To reach a more sustainable world, everyone's cooperation and participation are

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.

Today we’re faced with multiple forms of inequalities and injustices. None of them are in no way, shape or form are okay or justifiable. While we as a people are striving to deal with the obvious forms of injustices, there is another form that is a real quiet one, but it can be heard throughout the world that we are living in and is a severe problem that needs to be addressed. The type of injustice that I’m speaking on is called: Environmental Racism. This has been a definite issue that not only affects the environment, but it also has effects on communities, individuals and it effects the economic system in the long run as well. Environmental Racism needs to be brought up in conversations within our communities as well as our local governments, so they will not forget their remains a problem.

Here the authors address an important solution; allow residents to hire their own experts from the community who are well versed in delivering the proponents message to the residents in a manner that does not exclude anyone from the process. The landfill began operating in 2006, as the proponents deemed there was not any substantive opposition to the project through official Environmental Impact Assessment (Deacon & Baxter, 2013). Deacon and Baxter in this case set out to understand the role and relation between power and participation as it relates to procedural environmental justice in order to challenge understanding of environmental justice and cease production and reproduction of environmental injustice. The residents protested as they felt they were being sacrificed for economic growth, “the landfill has become a symbol of the slow decline of the community of Lincolnville” (Race and Waste in Nova Scotia, 2006). They call this environmental racism, which is the racial discrimination in the enforcement of environmental rules and regulations, targeting minority communities for the siting of polluting industries or the exclusion of people of color from public and private boards, commissions and regulatory bodies (Race and Waste in Nova Scotia,

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.”

Certain environmental justice frameworks attempt to turn the dominant environmental paradigm on its head and seek to prevent environmental threats before they occur. This paradigm is known as the Precautionary

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.

Over the years, the poor and people of color have always been treated badly by others. They mostly lived in polluted environments which negatively affect the way they live and work. In these communities, the placement of waste facilities emitted large amounts of chemical pollutants into the air. Individuals exposed to pollutants have increased chances of getting sick because they pose a huge threat to their health. The sudden environmental changes caused by landfills and industrial plants triggered countless environmental justice movements. Activists like Emelda West fought environmental injustice attempts to find ways to create public awareness about their community. Despite dozens of companies deliberately building hazardous facilities in

The overall objective to this Goal is to ensure that the public is both involved in identifying, avoiding and minimizing environmental justice concerns. In addition, another objective to this Goal is maintenance and assurance of Tribal Relations. Furthermore, another objective is to maintain a database of national and community based organizations and networks concerned with environmental justice. Moreover, this goal has U.S.D.A. performance measures and target dates in similar fashion as the other

Environmental justice “is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies” (www.epa.gov.). The case of Navajo-Hopi Struggle to Protect the Big Mountain Reservation provides evidence of an environmental justice framework.

It is often believed that for people to feel a sense of worth in their life, there has to be a standard of unhappiness and suffering for them to compare their life to. Many would argue that for the majority to feel privileged, there has to be an underprivileged, unspoken for, minority. The marginalization of certain groups has occurred all throughout history with people being left to feel inferior and being left without access to equal rights. If it was not bad enough that this happens to people, the environment has been marginalized as well. This is where social justice movements and environmental activism come into play.

In an article written by Patrice Lumumba Simms, it is described that when looking at classic environmentalism so far, most of the policies implemented follow three broad categories. The first is pollution amelioration which targets reduction of pollutants. The second is hazard and risk management which, unsurprisingly, focuses on protecting humans from toxins that are hazardous to human health or the environment. The third, and final, is resource protection and conservation which seeks to prevent over utilization of natural resources and preserve nature. A common response to these categories is that they function as a “rising tide that lifts all boats,” (15) meaning that any type of environmental improvement is going to improve conditions for everyone. When using this argument, there is no problem with the classic environmental thinking because everyone benefits, potentially minority and low-income individuals more than anyone else. However, this argument is false. When creating policies, the EPA and organizations like it usually “do not approach programmatic decision-making with an eye toward ensuring comprehensive protection of every community” (16). For example, when discussing hazardous waste regulation, the EPA has regulations in place to manage disposal. However, many

My report is on Environmental Justice across Class and Race. Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and fair distribution of environmental protection. It is the meaningful involvement of all people regardless or face, color, sex, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. It is the civil right of all people to be able to enjoy equally high levels of environmental protection. Environmental justice supporters have shown that this is no accident. Those communities of African American and Latinos, which are often low income, are regularly target to host hazards facilities that have negative environmental impacts.

It shows the fundamental socio-political factors that calculate which group of people get exposed to the hazardous man made environmental pollutants. Pellow uses a combination of ethnographic and historical research to show that it is not an accident or a coincidence that garbage automatically finds its way to regions inhabited by African Americans, Hispanics, immigrants and other defenseless communities. The book, thus, addresses with what the author calls, environmental racism; The book also shares the stories of people who have to struggle with these environmental problems and their search for environmental

One of the worse natural disasters to ever impact the Earth was undoubtedly Hurricane Katrina. It impacted New Orleans causing many casualties. This lead to psychological pain as the city tried to regain its prior image. Also, leading to environmental racism, which is a form of discrimination against minority groups and individuals from less unfortunate countries who are exposed to environmental hazards (Ravelli & Webber, 2013). Individuals in New Orleans had been endangered to discrimination due to being left in areas exposed to disasters. Furthermore, how New Orleans coped with the situation, comes from Bullard’s ideas of ecological righteousness, changing the burden of proof to polluters also equalizing current inequalities. The city faced

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