Just 357 Midterm

Rachel Carson/Silent Spring (1962)

highly influential; powerful impact on global environmental movements. Demonstrated effects of pesticides & other synthetic chemicals on humans, wildlife, & environments (stimulated policy changes)

Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta

-National Farm Workers Association -1962
-Latino & African American farm workers organized for protection from harmful pesticides in California's San Joaquin Valley

1964-8 legislation of US Civil Rights Movement

civil rights act of 1964,
voting rights act of 1965,
Civil (Housing) Rights Act of 1968

1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike

Early intersection of Civil Rights Movement and Environmental Activism

1970s & 80s: Hazel M. Johnson

"mother of environmental justice" people for community recovery; public housing & toxic waste, southside chicago; built on landfill, surrounded by toxic facilities, polluted water; local mitigation & national policies

1978: Love Canal

- working-class neighborhood in Niagara Falls, NY
- Abandoned canal project turned chemical landfill
- investigative journalism & grassroots door-to-door health surveys revealed high levels of rare illnesses (epilepsy, asthma, migraines, nephrosis) & abnormally high rates of birth defects & miscarriages in the neighborhood
- president Carter declared 2 national emergencies in 1978 & 1981 which relocated hundreds of families
- 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund)
- important early example effectiveness of grassroots organizing for EJ action

1982 Sit-in Against Warren County, NC PCB Landfill

- toxic waste disposed in an African-American neighborhood with state support
- galvanized research & activism into the unequal burdens of environmental degradation borne by minority & working-class communities

1987 landmark study by the Commission for Racial Justice, United Church Christ

toxic wastes & race in the US: A national report on the racial and socioeconomic characteristics of communities with hazardous waste sites
- key finding: race = most significant among variables tested in association with the location of commercial hazardous waste facilities (a consistent national pattern)
- some scholars have questioned the methods and findings but most continue to reinforce the original findings of the report

In 1994, President Bill Clinton signs executive order 12898

-directed federal gov't to make environmental justice a part of the federal policy-making process
- created EJ offices in EPA, DOJ, & other agencies

White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC)

advises White House & other agencies on integrating EJ priorities government wide

white house environmental justice interagency council (IAC)

develops accountability metrics, including the climate & economic justice screening tool

2022: Justice40 whole-of gov. initiative

40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, & overburdened by pollution

water crisis in Flint, MI

- 2014 switched from Detroit water & sewer dept to the flint river (which led to lots of lead in the water from aging piper)
- procedural injustice

Standing Rock/Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)

allowed to stay in operation, pending environmental review due in September
- failure of recognition

Atlantic coast pipeline

-Union Hill, VA dominion energy (DE) put buckingham compressor station (BCS) part of the Atlantic coast pipeline (would significantly increase air pollution, etc.)
- Union Hill= 83% of people within 1 mile of BCS were minorities
-abandoned by dominion energy in July
- distributive injustice

environmental justice

global social movement & interdisciplinary academic field of study encompassing a broad literature of various theories, concepts, & dimensions of justice as they relate to environments & ecoological systems

US EPA definition of environmental justice

the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, & enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies

EPA sets this goal for all communities & people in the US. it will be achieved when everyone enjoys:

- the same degree of protection from environmental & health hazards &
- equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment which to live, learn, and work

environmental racism

disproportionate burden of environmental hazards & risk borne by individuals and communities of color
- EJ is the movement's response to ER

environmental equity

- what some in the EJ movement see as the US government's response
- redistribution of environmental risk
-EJ movement seeks the elimination of environmental risk

environmentalism

advocacy for the protection of our environments & ecosystems from adverse impacts of humanity

Dr. Robert D. Bullard

"Father of Environmental Justice"
- Bean v. Southwestern Waste Management, Inc (shows relationship between toxic waste & race)
- update: toxic wastes & race at twenty 1987-2007

environmental protection paradigm

- Exists to manage, regulate, & distribute risks
- Reinforces rather than challenges existing unjust stratifications of people & places

EJ provides a bottom-up challenge to

environmental protection paradigm

toxic wastes & race at twenty 1987-2007

- racial disparities in the distribution of hazardous wastes are greater then before
- POC make up majority of those living in host neighborhoods within 3 km of hazardous waste facilities (56% compared to 30% in non-host)
- poverty rates in host neighborhoods 1.5x greater then non-host

The 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit

drafted and adopted 17 principles of environmental justice

3 dimensions of EJ

distribution, procedure, recognition

distributive justice

- how are environmental harms and amenities distributed? do certain groups or individuals suffer/enjoy more exposure/access?
- dominant & most researched dimension of Ej
- distributive injustice= Atlantic pipeline & union hill

procedural justice

how decisions are made & who has the privilege, rights, or responsibilities to participate in making them
- who & what groups get to weigh in on policies, rules, laws?
- procedural injustice: Flint, MI

justice as recognition

accommodation & respect of different peoples, their cultures, their relations with nature & the environment, their identities, and their knowledge systems
- respect of social & cultural difference & varying claims to justice
- malrecognition
- without recognition and respect one cannot participate in decision-making

malrecognition

related to discrimination and/or disrespect based on race, ethnicity, gender, SES, ETC.

3 key mechanisms for justice as recognition

- formal or customary institutions. (ex. land tenure systems dominated by men)
- cultural norms (ex. leadership positions unavailable to women and minorities)
- forms of knowledge and related discourse (ex. privileging modern scientific knowledge systems or failing to recognize TEK)

failures of recognition

- aftermath of Hurricane Katrina New Orleans 2005
- camp of the sacred stones, Standing rock reservation & DAPL (1/2 mile from reservation and under the sacred lake)

Global North/Global South Distinctions

- geography & history (former colonizers vs. former colonies)
- economic standing & political hegemony (uneven access to power in the international arena)

recognition justice

coloniality, or the failure to recognize and respect social difference
- colonization of the mind

unequal ecological exchange

- underlying source of most environmental distribution conflicts
- economically wealthy & powerful centers of the world economy sustain their own high consumption levels while shifting the ecological burden onto less powerful places
- burden shifting
- ex. beef consumption in Global North and deforestation/land grabbing in Global South

ecological debt

-liability of the most developed economies for the problems caused by resource extraction, waste dumping, & other environmental hazards, both within & outside of their borders

environmental externalities

real costs related to negative impacts of businesses, such as pollution, biodiversity erosion, waste, etc. that societies must address rather than the firms themselves

parallels between EJ in USA & Global EJ

- inequity: unfair distributions of burdens & benefits
- dominance & hegemony: unequal participation & lack of recognition & respect
- ineffective legal institutions & norms: deficient international treaties & lack of procedural remedies

environment

biotic and abiotic surroundings of an organism or population
- ranges from microscopic to global

2 conceptual dichotomies

- nature & society
- West (Europe + derivatives) & the rests (Indigenous & ancestral communities colonized or imperial subjects)

social construction

the theory that any category, condition, or thing is understood to have certain characteristics because (certain groups oof) people agree that it does
- ex. wilderness, nature, & race

social context

set of social relations that determines which concepts are created, which take hold, & which are dismissed

wilderness areas, forest parks

products of interactions among
- biophysical processes
-specific phhysical environments
- long histories of human occupation, labor, and management
ex. Shenandoah NP, Amazon Rainforest

western social construction of nature developed and reinforced by

-culture (concepts of 'wilderness', untouched 'nature', and 'civilized' society)
-politics & economics ('mastery' of nature)
- science and the academy (natural & social sciences)

negative consequences of nature-society divide

- notion society can be freed from nature
- notion that society works against nature rather then with it
- erases non-western contributions to environments
- dismissed non-western environmental values & forms of management
- displaces Indigenous & traditional communities from parks
- privileges certain kinds of biophysical and ecological processes
-isolated humans from their environments, creating a false dichotomy of economics & ecology

pristine myth

-the belief that Americans in 1491 were almost unmarked, even Edenic land 'untrammeled by man'

terra nullius

international legal framework for land expropriation
"nobody's land"
justified settler colonialism

reality of the pristine myth

- native american landscape of early 16th century was a humanized landscape
- large populations, modified forests, cultural grasslands, wildlife disrupted, and sever erosions in places
- earthworks, roads, fields, & settlements ubiquitous
- old world disease, Indian depopulation, and environmental recovery

making of the pristine myth

-the columbian exchange
- old world diseases (PIGS) triggered NA depopulation and environmental recovery

smallpox 1525

- single sick Spaniard in Mexico
- arrived in peru 7 years before the spanish
-killed half of Incan empire including the leader which created a political vacuum & wars of succession

old world diseases in Peru/Incan empire

Typhus (1546), Influenza and smallpox (1558), Diphtheria (1614), Measles (1618)

collapse of society

-population of 40-80 million people live in the Americas before 1493
- by 1650 85% decline to 5-6 million

indigenous landscape transformations

-large populations
-agriculture (domesticating potato and corn)
- deforestation through fire and cultural savannas
-wildlife management
-earthworks, roads, fields, & settlements

ecological Indian stereotype

-Native Americans live in harmony with the natural world stereotype
- dehumanizing
- related to 'vanishing Indian' & 'noble savage' tropes
- justifies violent conquest & dispossession

environmental history of injustice

social construction of race, environments, and land in the US

race & environmental history

- Native Americans removed from the homes for the creation of national parks & national forests
- slavery & soil degradation= interlinked systems of exploitation

traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)

- A cumulative body of knowledge, practices, & representations that describes the relationships of living beings with one another & with their physical environment, which evolved by adaptive processes & has been handed down through generations by cultural transmission
- the knowledge base acquired by indigenous & local peoples over many hundreds of years through direct contact with the environment, intimate details & knowledge, technologies, "world view," ecology

recognizing TEK

-validity
- difference
- complexity
- ecological relationships

Rio Earth Summit 1992

Rio declaration on Environment & Development
- Principle 22: indigenous ppl & their communities have a vital role in environmental management & development bc of their knowledge & traditional practices, states should recognize & support their identity, culture & interests & enable their effective participation in the achievement of sustainable development

Rio+20 (2012): Indigenous Peoples International Declaration on Self-Determination & Sustainable Development

-We affirm w/ 1 voice that it is time to assume the historical responsibilities to reverse centuries of predation, pollution, colonialism, & the violation of rights & genocide
- time to assume responsibilities towards future generations
1. culture as a fundamental dimension of sustainable development (recognition justice)
2. full exercise of human & collective rights (procedural justice)
3. strengthening diverse local economies & territorial management (distributive justice)

terra preta

black earth, anthrosols, anthropogenic dark earths (ADEs), incorporated charcoal
- high levels of stable soil organic matter
- highly fertile soil relative to surrounding soils
- ability to persist in the landscape

(un)just conservation

-indigenous peoples = original conservationists
(tek as library of best practices)
- reify nature-society divide (reproduce colonial practices, neglect indigenous rights & knowledge systems)
"ecology without equity"

conservation as a modern concept

-preserving 'pristine' non-human landscapes, waterscapes, habitats, & species
- with little regard to social/human implications & issues

conservation injustices

- forced REMOVAL of local people to create protected areas
- torture & intimidation of local people to ENFORCE protection policies
- restricting local people's ACCESS to natural resources
- excluding local ppl from PARTICIPATING in decision-making & management of local protected areas

yellowstone model

Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Glacier National Parks
- forced off & restricted from their lands to conserve or develop
- displaced tribal homelands, sacred spaces, economic livelihoods & sustainable subsistence practices
-process of eviction and control

biosphere reserves

est. by UNESCO program on man & the biosphere in 1971
- 2018- 669 BRs in 120 countries
-sought to (re) connect biodiversity & human livelihoods
-failed to recognize value of TEK
-limited access to procedures, limited effectiveness in both objectives
- western scientific hegemony over TEK

3 characteristics identify a Indigenous & Community Conserved Areas (ICCA)

1. an indigenous people or local community has a strong & profound connection with a territory, area, or species' habitat [distributive justice]
2. that people or community is a major player in decision-making & implementation of decisions regarding that territory, area, or habitat [procedural justice]
3. the people's or community's governance decisions & management efforts lead to the conservation of nature in the territory, area, or habitat, & to the associated conservation of cultural values & community well being (nature-society) [justice as recognition]

Chico Mendes

-rubber tapper in Brazilian Amazon
- legacy for local management of rainforest ecosystems & livelihoods
- creation of extractive reserves (conservation territories in which local communities are allowed sustainable use of resources

Nature society divide is a recognition issue (T/F)

true

studies show that community-managed forests consistently out perform "protected" forests-- less deforestations & more plants/animal biodiversity (T/F)

true

REDD+

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, plus the sustainable management of forests, & the conservation & enhancement of forest carbon stocks
-recognized indigenous communities as vital stakeholders
- agreements between UN & government actors

problems with REDD+

-distributional & procedural justice in doubt
-national governments remain ultimate decision-makers
-commodifies forests & their "ecosystem services"
-restricts tenure, rights, access, & economic activity
-exacerbates inequalities within communities
-many ecosystems excluded altogether
- difficult to measure effectiveness
- payments generally to national or state governments

UN (& others) provide payments, support for:

- reducing emissions from deforestation
- reducing emissions from forest degradation
-conservation of forest carbon stocks
- sustainable management of forests
- enhancement of forest carbon stocks

greenwashing

spending more time and money claiming to be "green" through ads and marketing rather than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impacts

widespread deforestation in Brazilian Amazon

- agribusiness (Cattle)
- policy changes
- diminished enforcement
- political rhetoric
- global demand
- global and local economic forces converge to commodify forest resources (timber, beef, gold, etc)

COICA

511 nations, 300 languages in 9 countries; comprised of indigenous communities who propose to protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025 for people, diversity, and climate stability

biocultural/ socioecological conservation

-protect environment by working with local communities
- Indigenous or local cultures, values, & rights integrated into conservation planning, decision-making, management
- prioritized long-term relationships & livelihoods (over profits)

environmental justice is closely aligned with

social justice

Country of EJ origin

USA but has expanded internationally
-environmental racism
-sustainable & just development
-resource extraction
-modernized agriculture, genetic modification
-hazardous waste

Environmental injustice is about _________ and __________ and _____________

race, economics, and politics

human presence was less visible in 1750 than in 1492 (T/F)

true

The Secret El Dorado film

Meggers stated that there was no way a civilization like El Dorado (in Amazon) could exist because of the land, and the indigenous lack of sophistication in managing it
-colonization effected her ability to analyze
- she talked down on indigenous people and lacks recognition of their wisdom
-scientists found tera preta was the reason these civilizations thrived, and meggers still denied it
-El Dorado likely disappeared due to disease, likely could be from the Spanish discovery of it

TEK also known as

local knowledge
traditional knowledge
folk knowledge
farmers knowledge
indigenous knowledge
tacit knowledge
fishers knowledge

TEK and western science creates different ______ of the same terrain

maps

cultural & biological diversity are NOT mutually-constitutive & mutually supportive (T/F)

False

community managed forests do not hold majority of above ground carbon (T/F)

False- it does hold majority of above ground carbon (24%)

scholarship/science as argument

function of power
-who is powerful enough to exert his/her will?