Theoretical Perspectives on Environmental Inequalities

Isabelle Anguelovski, UAB-ICTA

July, 3, 2012

Multiple dimensions of Environmental (In)justices

Justice as Distribution

Environmental Injustice: Unequal division of environmental bads, risks, and goods This must be addressed

Rawls: Justice is the appropriate division of social advantages Need for more social redistribution and equity

Walzer:Different things are valued differently by people, which means that the very criteria for distribution will differ according to how we value things

Distributive Sphere (conceptions of Justice are limited in place and time)

Justice as Recognition

Iris Marion Young: Injustices exist because of a lack of recognition of individuals (i.e., women) and groups (i.e., African Americans, indigenous people)This lack of recognition impairs people in their positive understanding of themselves – oppression and dehumanization

Honneth:Three kinds of disrespect: violation of the body, denial of rights, and denigration of ways of life

Need for developing self-esteem, voice, and self-empowerment for individuals and groups

People must be recognized for their particular distinctiveness (Politics of difference as defined by Taylor)

Justice as Procedure

Injustices stem from a lack of voice in decision-making and participation

Young:Need to eliminate institutionalized domination and oppression and promote democratic decision-making procedures.

Enhanced participation can address issues of distribution and cultural misrecognition.

Conclusion: There is an interplay of Equity, Recognition and Participation in Environmental Justice:

These 3 concepts must be fully integrated.

The 3 notions of J must be also interrelated

Justice as Capabilities

Focus on individual agency, functioning, and well being (Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum)

Person's opportunities to do and be what they choose in the context of a given society

Focus on individual agency, functioning, and well-being.

Environmental Injustices: Processes and Actors

Social Metabolism and Global TradeGlobalization of extraction and production

Treadmill of production: Continued need of the capitalist economy for investment to generate goods for sale on the market, which puts increasing pressure on natural resources and increases social inequalities

Life cycle of products difficult to track

Role of capital and its movement/relocation

Continuous restructuring of spatial reconfiguration for capital

Cycles of capitalization and development with desinvestment and abandon

Failed transnational schemes

Individual Behavior of Corporations

Lobbying and political collusion

Unfair labor practices

Low environmental standards

Lack of consultation of affected communities

Purchase of small businesses by large corporations

Role of the State

National political projects: colonization of remote regions

Rebuilding economy

Lack of regulation of env. and labor issues

Not adequate and democratic forms of decision-making

Weak monitoring and enforcement agencies

Multi scale policies: Local policies (ex. Zoning laws favoring suburban business development, white flight and urban renewal in US ciities)

National policies (ex: farm subsidies and food stamps)

Corruption around contracts and bidding, development and redevelopment programs

Alliances and Dynamics

Growth machine:

Confluence of stakeholders who manage to frame a problem a certain way

Alliances between banks, real estate, designers, planners

Alliance between state, international financial institutions, and international corporations

Socio-spatial dynamics

Groups with contradictory and shifting interests and allegiances

Environmental Movements

Environmentalists with one-sided view (at least in some countries)

Over-value given to scientific studies rather than lay knowledge

Weaker local movements in comparison with national organizations willing to compromise and work on smaller objectives, often at the detriment of local realities

Not able to rebuild the entirety of systems (ex.food systems)

Racist PracticesLack of valuation of poor and minority community health (people of color, indigenous people, etc)

Non recognition of people’ and group’ needs and preferences

Racism by white workers and unions

Private practices: Redlining, high risk rating of neighborhoods, high mortgage rates, no housing subsidy or preference for black people

Public policies favoring business in suburbs or richer communities and sponsoring white flight & urban renewal

Lack of Political Power

Lack of access to decision-makers and to resources to defend oneself.

Forms of resistance that reshape environmental inequalities

Deeper history and processes of env. inequalities and soc. Inequalities

Lack of adequate participation spaces in decision-making

Processes and Actors: The example of food deserts

Food desert: Area “with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominately lower income neighborhoods and communities” (USDA 2009).

In the US and UK, food deserts disproportionately impact people of color (Smoyer-Tomic, Spence, and Amrhein 2006; Beaulac, Kristjansson, and Cummins 2009)

Available food reduced to corner stores, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants: low availability of fruit and vegetables, over-presence of saturated fat and sugars

Food deserts directly related to food security, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases

Structural role of capital and political decisions in leading to the development of food deserts

DEMARCATED DEVALUATION

- Dilapidated post- industrial landscape-Desinvestment- High unemployment- Splitting up of neighborhood- Closure of retail and of (independent) supermarkets

FOOD DESERTS

THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOOD DESERTS

Reshaping of Ecosystemic Processes

Urban Planning:- Zoning- Low-income housing in lowlands- Urban renewal and new transportation corridors

Corporations:- Redlining- Move towards a service economy rather than old industrial and agric. economy- Large supermarkets in suburbs

Individual Groups:- Racist homeowner associations and voters - Exclusionary labor movement- Lack of poor resident resources and access to decision-making

Broader Policies:-Subsidies for suburban investment- Dispersal of industry and workers- Conservative tax policy

Core Concepts

• Environmental Racism: Extension of racism. Institutional rules, regulations, policies, or corporate decisions that deliberately target certain minority communities for least desirable land uses, resulting in the disproportionate exposure of toxic and hazardous. Unequal protection against toxic and hazardous waste exposure and the systematic exclusion of people of color from decisions affecting their communities

• Environmental Justice : Cultural norms and values, rules, regulations, behaviors, policies, and decisions to support sustainable communities where people can interact with confidence that the environment is safe, nurturing, and productive. Is supported by decent paying safe jobs; quality schools and recreation; decent housing and adequate health care; democratic decision-making and personal empowerment; and communities free of violence, drugs, and poverty. Community cultural and biological diversity are respected and distributed justice prevails

• Environmental Inequality: Broader dimensions of the intersection between environmental quality and social hierarchies. Addresses questions such as the unequal distribution of power and resources in society.

• Environmental Inequality Formation: Different stakeholders struggle for access to scarce resources within the political economy, with the benefits and costs of those resources unevenly distributed and accessed

• Life Cycle Analysis: Study of the origin, use, and disposal of products, which helps us understand the full costs and benefits of production and consumption on people, communities, or ecosystems

• Treadmill of production: Continued need of the capitalist economy for investment in order to generate goods for sale on the market, which puts increasing pressure on natural resources and increases social inequalities

• Stakeholder Analysis in Environmental Injustice: Analysis of all the actors, institutions and organizations (state, corporate, non profit, civil society, etc) which all have a stake in the pursuit or resolution of a particular conflict. Their position and alliances might shift over time based on their interest.

• Spatial injustice: Unequal allocation of socially valued resources (i.e. jobs, political power, social status, income, social services, environmental goods) in space, as well as unequal opportunities to make use of these resources over time

• Environmental Double Movement: Economic activities, contributing to significant environmental problems in the context of a self-regulating market, which in return spurs social movements dedicated to reducing the severity of these problems through political, social, and cultural change.