Language
Country/Area
No result found
The truth about environmental racism: Why do disadvantaged communities bear an unfair environmental burden?
The environmental justice movement is a social movement that addresses the harms experienced by disadvantaged or marginalized communities as a result of hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses. However, they never received corresponding benefits. The movement began in the United States in the 1980s and was deeply influenced by the American civil rights movement, focusing on domestic environmental racism. With the development of the movement, people have also begun to pay attention to issues such as gender issues and international environmental injustice, and continue to expand their goals to the global level.
The environmental justice movement has become part of globalization, and some of its goals are now on the agenda of the United Nations.
The primary goal of the environmental justice movement is to give marginalized communities a voice in decisions about the environment in which they live. Residents of these communities often face resistance from multinational corporations operating in resource extraction or other industries, and they often become victims of resource extraction. And as the movement globalizes, the environmental burden of many communities has gradually shifted to the global South, sometimes through resource plunder or the global waste trade.
The definition and background of environmental justice
Environmental justice, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is the fair and meaningful participation of all people, regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, in the development, enforcement, and implementation of environmental laws, norms, and policies. It also means that no group should bear a disproportionate share of the environmental burden, especially in industrial, urban and commercial operations.
Environmental justice is not just distributive justice, it is also about procedural justice and recognition of marginalized groups.
In addition, environmental injustice is also closely related to environmental racism or environmental inequality. Within the environmental justice movement, the impact of sociologically derived factors (such as race and socioeconomic status) on environmental decision-making has often become a focus of research. In this movement, the Aboriginal concept of environmental justice is relatively divorced from the influence of the legal system, emphasizing the importance of culture and religious beliefs in their environmental decision-making.
The impact of environmental poverty and chronic violence
As the environmental justice movement expands, more and more research points to the "chronic violence" suffered by disadvantaged communities - a slow-motion violence that ranges from climate change, the spread of toxic substances, deforestation and war. environmental disaster. This form of violence is often difficult to detect but causes long-term harm to people living in vulnerable circumstances.
The presence of chronic violence increases the fragility of ecosystems and exacerbates social conflicts among vulnerable groups.
Additionally, these scholars have also developed the concept of "environmental poverty," which emphasizes the necessary participation of marginalized communities in the global South in environmental conflicts. Not only addressing current environmental issues, but also considering the social and economic inequalities legacies of the past
Critical Environmental Justice
As the movement deepened, Critical Environmental Justice (CEJ) emerged. This idea emphasizes the need for researchers to cuestionar assumptions and expand the scope of environmental justice, thereby challenging entrenched social inequalities and governmental power structures.
Critical environmental justice values diverse and intersectional perspectives, which is key to understanding environmental injustice.
This concept is leading scholars and activists to think about how to promote social transformation that does not rely solely on existing political structures. Scholar David Pellow emphasizes that people need to look for democratic practices that go beyond state power to promote social justice and environmental sustainability.
Conclusion
The future of the environmental justice movement lies in giving disadvantaged communities a real voice and influence to fundamentally change the current unequal environmental burden. How can these communities effectively participate in decision-making when faced with global environmental issues?
