What is Environmental Justice?
EJ usually refers to the belief that all citizens, regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic class, should equally share in the benefits of environmental amenities and the burdens of environmental health hazards. Most definitions have common “themes” of justice in distribution, procedures, and process (Pijawka et al. 1998 and Collins 1992).
Environmental Justice (EJ) is not universally defined. EJ has different meanings to various communities and institutions; therefore, the EJ definition is based in place, time, and perspective. It is often explained using examples of environmental injustices, focusing on the distribution of environmental risks.
Most definitions talk about the “environment” as a place where we live, work, play, and pray; it is the environment of the everyday. Because of this new view of the environment, the Environmental Justice Movement (EJM) has caused a major shift in the idea of environmentalism (Taylor, 2000 and Pena, 2005).
Distributional Justice refers to spatial fairness of the physical distribution of environmental benefits and burdens.
- Unequal siting of landfills
- Unequal siting of polluting industries
- Unequal extraction of natural resources
- Disparate access to recreational space
- Disparate exposure to toxicants on the job
- Unequal arrangement of public infrastructure, such as high ways, public transportation, garbage collection, etc.
Procedural Justice refers to providing equal protection from environmental hazards regarding rulemaking and enforcement.
- Unequal protection in cleaning up environmental hazards
- Unequal enforcement in environmental quality control
- Disparate risks in safe food consumption standards
- Disparate impact of cumulative assessment of environmental quality control (i.e. a city may meet air quality standards, but certain neighborhoods within the city may exceed air quality standards)
Process Justice refers to providing opportunities for meaningful citizen involvement in decisions that affect environmental health, including access to information and adequate authority for local knowledge (Pena, 2005).
- Disparate access to information on exposure to toxicants
- Disparate access to regulatory agencies during review on rules, and regulations
- Disparate access to the scientific community on research priorities, and design
- Unequal study subject participation in clinical trials
Let's use the EPA's definition as an example:
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. Fair treatment means
that no group of people, including a racial, ethnic, or a socioeconomic
group, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative
environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and
commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and
tribal programs and policies. Meaningful involvement means that:
- potentially affected community residents have an appropriate opportunity to participate in decisions about a proposed activity that will affect their environment and/or health;
- the public's contribution can influence the regulatory agency's decision;
- the concerns of all participants involved will be considered in the decision making process; and
- the decision makers seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially affected.