Environmental Justice

By the end of this class, you will be able to

1. Define environmental justice
2. Give an example of environmental injustice in history
3. Describe multiple environmental hazards

On a sheet of paper...
Answer:
1. What is justice? what does justice look like?

2. What do you think environmental justice is?

Environmental Justice
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) defines it 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. EPA has this goal for all communities
and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone
enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health
hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a
healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work...... whew!!

In other words...
EJ has to do with the FAIR distribution of and access to
-CLEAN drinking water
-CLEAN air to breathe
-CLEAN and accessible places to recreate
Repeat after me: environmental justice is about PEOPLE!
As a group, lets list examples of environmental hazards
-pollution -fertilizer -animals
-oil -people litter, waste -smoke
-dogs -sewage -co2
-cars -factories -h20

Did you think of these?

hazardous waste sites (dumps, treatment facilities)
polluters (industrial sites, mines, fracking sites, oil wells)
dams
industrial farming (pesticide spray, animal waste - methane, CO2)
its not just the people living around it- think about who has to work at these
places.

DRIFT documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQesfTX2-4U

EJScreen
Now we are going to play with an online tool, EJScreen, in order to recognize
environmental injustice in the communities that we live in.
Lets start with San Francisco, California.
Your directions for this activity are on your handout.
Pick one town or city to research, your ticket to leave class is the last question
on the handout.
http://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper