Environmental justice: Difference between revisions
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=== What is | === What is environmental justice? === | ||
Environmental Justice (EJ) is a powerful and evolving concept, movement, and framework that seeks to | Environmental Justice (EJ) is a powerful and evolving concept, movement, and framework that seeks to remedy the disproportionate environmental burdens borne by marginalized communities—particularly communities of color, Indigenous peoples, and low-income populations. It is both a critique of environmental racism and a vision for a more just and sustainable future. | ||
Environmental justice is not defined by a single, universally accepted definition. Instead, it is shaped by a constellation of lived experiences, legal frameworks, grassroots activism, and scholarly inquiry. | Environmental justice is not defined by a single, universally accepted definition. Instead, it is shaped by a constellation of lived experiences, legal frameworks, grassroots activism, and scholarly inquiry. | ||
These definitions vary not only | These definitions vary, not only across stakeholders, but also by scale. Globally, environmental justice may focus on climate justice and colonial legacies. Nationally, it may address systemic racism in environmental regulation. At the state and local levels, environmental justice often centers specific communities and their exposures to environmental hazards. | ||
At its core, | At its core, environmental justice demands that all people—regardless of race, class, gender, and geography—have the right to live, work, play, and pray in places that are safe, healthy, and free from harm. It contends that when that right has been violated, repair is required. | ||
=== Environmental Justice as a Movement === | === Environmental Justice as a Movement === | ||
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As a framework, EJ provides a lens through which to analyze the intersections of environment, race, class, and power. It informs policy, planning, and research by centering the voices and experiences of frontline communities. Key concepts within the EJ framework include: | As a framework, EJ provides a lens through which to analyze the intersections of environment, race, class, and power. It informs policy, planning, and research by centering the voices and experiences of frontline communities. Key concepts within the EJ framework include: | ||
* Cumulative impacts: recognizing that communities often face multiple, overlapping environmental and social stressors. | * '''Cumulative impacts:''' recognizing that communities often face multiple, overlapping environmental and social stressors. | ||
* Precautionary principle: advocating for proactive measures to prevent harm, rather than reacting after damage is done. | * '''Precautionary principle:''' advocating for proactive measures to prevent harm, rather than reacting after damage is done. | ||
* Meaningful participation: ensuring that affected communities have a real voice in decision-making processes. | * '''Meaningful participation:''' ensuring that affected communities have a real voice in decision-making processes. | ||
=== Environmental Justice as a Remedy === | === Environmental Justice as a Remedy === | ||
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* Protect sacred lands and cultural heritage | * Protect sacred lands and cultural heritage | ||
* Live in harmony with the natural world | * Live in harmony with the natural world | ||
These principles are not merely aspirational—they are a call to action. | |||
=== Environmental Justice in Virginia === | === Environmental Justice in Virginia === |
Revision as of 21:36, 12 June 2025
What is environmental justice?
Environmental Justice (EJ) is a powerful and evolving concept, movement, and framework that seeks to remedy the disproportionate environmental burdens borne by marginalized communities—particularly communities of color, Indigenous peoples, and low-income populations. It is both a critique of environmental racism and a vision for a more just and sustainable future.
Environmental justice is not defined by a single, universally accepted definition. Instead, it is shaped by a constellation of lived experiences, legal frameworks, grassroots activism, and scholarly inquiry.
These definitions vary, not only across stakeholders, but also by scale. Globally, environmental justice may focus on climate justice and colonial legacies. Nationally, it may address systemic racism in environmental regulation. At the state and local levels, environmental justice often centers specific communities and their exposures to environmental hazards.
At its core, environmental justice demands that all people—regardless of race, class, gender, and geography—have the right to live, work, play, and pray in places that are safe, healthy, and free from harm. It contends that when that right has been violated, repair is required.
Environmental Justice as a Movement
Environmental justice is a grassroots movement led by those most affected by environmental harms. It challenges the dominant paradigms of environmentalism that have historically prioritized wilderness preservation over human health and equity. EJ activists work to expose and dismantle the systemic inequalities that allow polluting industries to be concentrated in communities with the least political power.
The movement is diverse and decentralized, encompassing struggles against toxic waste, air and water pollution, climate change, extractive industries, and more. It is also a movement for self-determination, emphasizing the right of communities to define their own environmental priorities and solutions.
Environmental Justice as a Framework
As a framework, EJ provides a lens through which to analyze the intersections of environment, race, class, and power. It informs policy, planning, and research by centering the voices and experiences of frontline communities. Key concepts within the EJ framework include:
- Cumulative impacts: recognizing that communities often face multiple, overlapping environmental and social stressors.
- Precautionary principle: advocating for proactive measures to prevent harm, rather than reacting after damage is done.
- Meaningful participation: ensuring that affected communities have a real voice in decision-making processes.
Environmental Justice as a Remedy
Environmental justice is also a remedy—a response to the legacy and ongoing reality of environmental racism, which refers to the deliberate or negligent siting of polluting industries and infrastructure in communities of color. EJ seeks to redress these injustices through legal action, policy reform, community organizing, and public education.
Historical and Intellectual Roots
The environmental justice movement emerged in the United States in the late 20th century, rooted in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. One of the pivotal moments came in 1982, when residents of Warren County, North Carolina—predominantly Black and working-class—protested the siting of a hazardous PCB landfill in their community. Though the protest did not stop the landfill, it catalyzed a national conversation about environmental racism.
In 1991, the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit convened in Washington, D.C., bringing together activists, scholars, and community leaders from across the country. From this summit emerged the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice[1], a foundational document that continues to guide the movement today. These principles articulate a vision of justice that is intersectional, international, and deeply democratic.
The 17 Principles of Environmental Justice
The 17 Principles of Environmental Justice, adopted in 1991, remain a cornerstone of the movement. They affirm the rights of all peoples to:
- Participate as equal partners in environmental decision-making
- Be free from ecological destruction
- Receive full compensation and reparations for environmental harms
- Protect sacred lands and cultural heritage
- Live in harmony with the natural world
These principles are not merely aspirational—they are a call to action.
Environmental Justice in Virginia
In Virginia, environmental justice has become an increasingly visible issue in state policy and public discourse. The Virginia Environmental Justice Act,[2] passed in 2020, defines EJ as “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.”
Despite this legal recognition, implementation remains uneven. Communities across the state continue to face challenges related to industrial pollution, energy infrastructure, and land use decisions that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations.
Environmental Justice in Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads, a coastal region in southeastern Virginia, is home to several coal export terminals, including those in Norfolk and Newport News. These facilities handle millions of tons of coal annually, much of it stored in open-air piles and transported by uncovered railcars. Residents in nearby neighborhoods—many of whom are Black, low-income, or both—report frequent coal dust exposure.
Coal dust is a fine particulate matter that can contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Community members have documented black dust on homes, cars, and playgrounds, raising concerns about long-term health impacts.
Local EJ advocates argue that these communities were not meaningfully involved in decisions about coal terminal siting and operations. They also point to a lack of real-time air monitoring and limited enforcement of environmental regulations.
EJ and Coal Dust: Differing Approaches
Different stakeholders approach the issue of coal dust and EJ in Hampton Roads in distinct ways:
- Community groups focus on lived experience, health impacts, and the need for accountability and reparations.
- Regulatory agencies may emphasize compliance with existing air quality standards, which often do not account for cumulative or long-term exposure.
- Academic researchers may study the spatial distribution of pollution and its correlation with race and income.
- Industry representatives may highlight economic benefits and voluntary mitigation measures.
These differing approaches can lead to conflict, but they also reflect the complexity of environmental justice as a field that spans science, policy, law, and activism.