ENVIRONMENTTAL JUSTICE:

Economic boom had created countless opportunities and improved the quality of life. However,
paralleled to the development and increase of economy is the rise of environmental global treats such
as global warming and climate change.

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.
Environmental justice is a concern of social justice in the view that everyone deserves equal
economic, political and social rights and opportunities. Environmental justice is basic human
right, thus, it is a right belong to and are to be enjoyed by all human beings without
distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex or language, religion, political and other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other stature. In other words,
environmental justice belongs to everyone wherever they are because they are human
beings endowed with dignity. Environmental justice pleads for equality. Throughout the
years, the world has been subjected to countless environmental injustices.

Environmental justice seeks to address environmental discrimination and racism.

Environmental racism refers to any policy, practice, or directive that differentially affects or
disadvantages (whether intended or unintended) individuals, groups, or communities based
on race or color. Sometimes, environmental racism is reinforced by government, legal,
economic, political, and military institutions. Racism and discrimination against minorities
center on a socially-dominant group's belief in its superiority, often resulting in privilege for
the dominant group and the mistreatment of non-dominant minorities. The combined impact
of these privileges and prejudices are just one of the potential reasons that waste
management and high pollution sites tend to be located in minority-dominated areas. A
disproportionate quantity of minority communities play host to landfills, incinerators, and
other potentially toxic facilities. Environmental discrimination can also be the placement of a
harmful factory in a place of minority. This can be seen as environmental discrimination
because it is placing a harmful entity in a place where the people often don't have the
means to fight back against big corporations. (Schlosberg, David, 2007)

Environmental discrimination has historically been evident in the process of selecting

and building environmentally hazardous sites, including waste disposal, manufacturing, and
energy production facilities. The location of transportation infrastructures, including
highways, ports, and airports, has also been viewed as a source of environmental injustice.

Philippines is known as a mega diverse country in the world. Thousands of species

of floras and faunas and abundant natural resources had been abundant in the country.
Throughout the years, however, the country has been subjected to environmental disasters
and treats causing fast environmental deterioration.

Deforestation had been one of the major causes of environmental crisis in the
country. Aside from logging, whether legally and illegally, mining is one of the major causes
of deforestation. . With such vast deforestation and mining operations, the soil losses it
forces and capacity to absorb the rain and wind which causes massive flooding and
landslides. With this catastrophe, the most victims are poor peasants, farmworkers and
urban poor who live in river banks in the floor and within the mountainous areas in the
cramp shanty towns. They are being endangered of being buried with muds and logs. The
landslide in Itogon, Benguet on September 15, 2018 which claimed 98 lives and landslide in
Naga, Cebu on September 20, 2020, five days apart from the Itogon landslide, which
claimed 78 lives are just some of the countless tragedies which has stuck the country
caused, directly or indirectly, by mining, quarrying, logging and other deforestation
operations. Recently, President Rodrigo R. Duterte had threatened to shut down all mining
operations and ensure the strict enforcement mining operations policies. In response to the
president threat, several mining corporations had been shut off by the government due to
breaches in environmental rules. Many mountains had been freed to the devastation caused
by mining and people became secured for their safety, however, thousands of employments
were also lost.

The country’s plastic pollution is not only the country’s concern but rather climbed as
a global issue. The Philippines produces 2.7 million tons of plastic waste yearly and known
as the third largest plastic waste producer in the world as shown by research conducted by
Ocean Conservancy and MCkinsey Center of Business and Environment in 2015. An audit
was conducted by Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and Mother Earth Foundation
revealed that leading plastic polluters are multinational brands. Audit reports also pointed
out that about 79 percent of branded plastic residual wastes came from food packaging,
followed by household and personal care products with 12 and eight percent, respectively.
Thus, plastic packaging by food and consumer goods companies has been blamed for the
marine pollution crisis, however, it shall be noted that there is no other material is as
effective in ensuring the safe transportation of food.

Manila Bay, Pasig River and other bodies of water seems to be a landfill with tons of
plastic garbage floating. Clogging of sewerage and drainage systems causing floods
pertinent due to improperly disposed plastic wastes. Plastic pollution has been choking
waterways across the country and worsens disaster, particularly during rainy season. Also,
plastics wastes are dangerous and impose great treat to the marine wildlife. Although the
Philippines has not only hundred but thousands of open dumpsites, controlled dumps and
sanitary landfills, 70 percent of the Filipino population has no access to disposal facilities
and sanitary landfill, causing leaks to the ocean. Diseases are plunging around the slumps
near of those plastic polluted areas. Fisherman had also been greatly affected due to water
contamination which causes massive fish kills and poison. Indeed, the Philippines have a
very refined law to address waste management crisis such as the Ecological Solid Waste
Management Act of 2000. However, the implementation of the legislations and statutes to
address waste management crisis had been lacking.

Plastic is no evil; it is the disposal of it. Studies conducted by Green Alliance showed
that alternative materials like paper and glass may generate higher carbon emissions than
plastic. Thus, the usage of alternative materials may bring about greater an even bigger
challenge. The trade-offs between plastics and substitutes are therefore complex and could
create negative knock-on impacts on the environment. To combat the fast growing plastic
pollution on the country, brand owners and other stakeholders such as producers, retailers
and waste management companies need to come together to develop solutions to reduce
plastic pollution.

With all the environmental issues on the country, the people that are most affected
and vulnerable are those unprivileged and poor groups of people. With little power, those
unprivileged people have no effective and efficient means to sway their concerns and to be
heard by the government. Thus, environmental injustices are born. Those people are
suffering the costs and devastation with very little or even no benefit received. Big
companies such as mining and plastic packaging companies are economically booming
sacrificing the environment adversely affecting innocent people. Their human rights are
being violated. They lose their right to safe environment, right to livelihood, right to their
home and most of all, their right to life.

Attaining environmental justice is possible. The unity, active involvement and

participation of every individual regardless of race, color, sex or language, religion, political
and other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other stature with the support of
government through responsible decision making shall bring environmental justice to
everyone. It is necessary to achieve economic development, however, economic
development without environmental development will bring imbalance and could ignite a
mankind doom. Every state shall unify to the common purpose of attaining sustainable
development. Sustainable development warrants economic, environmental and cultural
development of every individual and improvement quality of life to the whole without
compromising the ability of the future generations’ right to safe environment and to life.

Mother Nature has been pleading for a long time to re-evaluate our actions. Now is
the right time for our collective actions. You might not know but you are contributing to the
suffering of the nature and brought injustices to other people. We shall now take action,
otherwise, we will be judged and face oblivion together with the innocent future generation.

References:

Difference and Conflict in the Struggle over Natural Resources: A Political Ecology
Framework by Arturo Escobar

Environmental Justice by Marina de Olivera Finger & Felipe Botoncello Zorzi

Environmental Justice in the 21st Century: Race Still Matters by Robert D. Bullard

Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature. (Oxford University

Press) by David Schlosberg

Philippines 3rd largest Contributor to Ocean Plastic by Delon Porcalla

Why plastic-clogged Philippines must face up to dearth of waste disposal and recycling by

Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez - https://www.eco-business.com/news/why-plastic-clogged-
philippines-must-face-up-to-dearth-of-waste-disposal-and-recycling/#:~:text=After%20China
%20and%20Indonesia%2C%20the,plastic%20waste%20generated%20each%20year.
Plastic Pollution by Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser - https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-
pollution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_justice#References

Cebu Landslide: Should Mining be Banned in the Philippines by Dave Petley

Philippines’ Duterte Says to End Mining “One of these Days” by Manolo Serapio

DENR Announces Closure of 23 Mining Operations by Jee Y. Geronimo

Environmental Issues in the Philippines by NAFCON USA

Climate Justice by GMA Public Affairs