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What is Environmental Justice?

The origins of environmental justice are in the 1980s, in which there was a more heavily vested interest in environmental betterment. Since its emergence as an area of public interest, the term has been used in two particular ways: as a theoretical concept, and as a social movement.

Environmental justice as theoretical concept

In one frame, environmental justice is used as a term that describes an avenue of social science literature. In the frame of environmental justice that concerns the social sciences, environmental justice covers a range of different theories concerning the probable intersections between political ideology, environmental policy, sustainability, governance, and other related concepts.

Environmental justice as a social movement

In the frame apart from the theoretical application, environmental justice refers to an engine for potential social change whose proponents aim to work on enacting a more equitable distribution of environmental benefits. The most desirable outcome for environmental justice supporters would be to see a more spirited investment in the upkeep of environmental welfare through better awareness and governmental intervention.

Interaction with adjacent low-income communities

At the time of its initial emergence as a social initiative, there was a level of push-back from minorities in low-income areas who expressed doubts. In essence, the low-income minorities opposed to the advocacy for environmental justice were concerned that the fixation on environmental welfare would lead to disregard for the potential negative side-effects on job growth in adjacent communities.

The Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) was one of the more notable bodies of resistance to environmental justice, epitomized in their written dissent in the form of Letter to the Group of 10. The reassignment of locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) to low income communities would potentially expose those in low-income communities to a higher risk of toxin exposure, which resulted in the coining of the Place-In-Minorities’-Backyard (PIMBY) principle.

Legal definition of the term

The Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental justice as equal accommodations and opportunities for involvement for people of all races and creeds for the pursuit and execution of environmental legislation. The outcome goals of the EPA for equal opportunity and ability to invest in environmental welfare are extended to all different American communities.

EPA goals

The ultimate objective of the Environmental Protection Agency, as outlined by its definition of environmental justice, is to ensure that all members of all communities in the nation are adequately protected from significantly threatening hazards in their environments. In addition to being protected from health hazards, the EPA aims to see that all community members have an audible voice and ability to create a tangible effect on the health of the environment in which they live.

Global integration

Since the concept of environmental justice emerged as an American term in the 1980s, various countries in other areas of the world made efforts in similarly-minded campaigns to see the objective of environmental welfare through. Some of the countries that made a notable effort in the pursuit of environmental justice included Hungary, South Africa, India, the United Kingdom, and Uganda.

Conclusion

Environmental justice both a philosophy and an organized measure in community action towards bettering both the health of the environment and upholding the environment-related rights of the people. The EPA aims not only to give community members better chances at improving their environment, but also to protect them from problematic health hazards.