Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm
Page 1
Environmental Justice
MARIA CHRISTINA FRAGKOU
University of Chile, Chile
THE EMERGENCE OF THE
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
MOVEMENT
Environmental justice is a concept that
merges concerns about social equity and
environmental issues, broadly defined as the
equal distribution of environmental goods
(i.e., access to good environmental conditions
and services) and bads (e.g., contamination),
and the equal enforcement of environmental
laws and policies on all people, regardless of
race, gender, and economic status. It started
out as an urban issue but soon developed to
reach rural and global dimensions. The term
refers both to an activist movement and to an
interdisciplinary academic field of research
k that converges issues of environmental poli-
tics, ethics and law, spatial and social justice,
and sustainability, among others.
The origins of environmental justice go
back to the US grassroots social move-
ments of the late 1970s, when the first social
concerns about the spatial and social distri-
bution of toxic and waste treatment hazards
arose in the United States, given that related
facilities are associated with local health
and environmental risks, such as soil con-
tamination, air pollution, and loss of clean
watercourses, among others. At that time,
various studies were demonstrating a direct
correlation between the location of toxic and
contaminating activities and the social and
racial status of nearby inhabitants. These
first preoccupations on the siting of toxic
and hazardous facilities were framed as envi-
ronmental racism, as most of these facilities
Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. Edited by Anthony Orum.
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2019 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
k Orum eurs0091.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:13 P.M.
were situated in low income and minority
communities, principally Afro-American
and Latino.
Although concerns about environmental
injustice have always existed, the consol-
idation of the term as a concept and a
sociopolitical question is attributed to two
incidents. The first is the infamous case of
Love Canal: in 1977 the basements of houses
built on top of a closed landfill, in Buffalo,
New York, were filled with noxious liquids,
causing serious health effects in children
of the area. The second is the resistance of
an Afro-American community in Warren
County, North Carolina, to the siting of a
toxic waste landfill, in 1982. According to
Robert Bullard (2005), the protests in Warren
County can be considered as the process that
gave birth to environmental justice, both as a
concept and a social concern.
Some scholars detect its roots even ear-
lier than the 1980s, arguing that relevant
concerns were an important part of the k
civil rights movement led by Martin Luther
King, Jr., who was supporting the garbage
strike of black Memphis sanitation workers
in Tennessee during the period before his
assassination in 1968. Ever since, various
studies have provided evidence of the siting
of hazardous facilities in predominantly
Afro-American communities, but this cor-
relation was not brought to public attention
until the publication of Robert Bullard’s
study on the siting of waste facilities in the
American South (Bullard 1983).
Later, the term “environmental justice” was
consolidated at an institutional level through
the establishment of the US Environmental
Protection Agency’s Environmental Equity
Working Group in 1990, and the publication
of the first textbook on the issue in the same
year, Bullard’s book Dumping in Dixie; Race,
k
 Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm
2 E N V I RON M E N TAL J U ST IC E
Class and Environmental Quality (Bullard
1990). The first National People of Color
Environmental Leadership Summit remains a
milestone in the environmental justice move-
ment, as it resulted in the definition of the
term through a 17-point manifesto. The sum-
mit, held in October 1991, in Washington DC,
attracted more than 1,000 participants and
brought together members of the diverse and
localized environmental justice movements
across the USA at the time.
These events brought the issue of envi-
ronmental justice to the US governmental
agenda; in 1992, Congressman John Lewis
and Senator Albert Gore introduced the Envi-
ronmental Justice Act to the US Congress,
and the Environmental Protection Agency
published Environmental Equity: Reduc-
ing Risk for All Communities, one of the first
government reports on environmental justice.
Unavoidably, environmental justice soon
moved beyond its original framing in the
k USA, and related studies expanded their
focus geographically, first to Europe and later
on to other parts of the world, particularly to
the Global South, not only to include other
cities around the world but also in order to
transfer it to rural settings and globalize the
concept, applying it between nations.
The first studies on urban environmental
justice in Europe were conducted at the end
of the 1990s, initially in the United Kingdom,
Germany, France, and Eastern Europe. These
studies maintained the original concerns on
the distribution of the health and environ-
mental impacts of locally unwanted land
uses (LULUs) to low income and minority
communities. Nevertheless, the parameter of
injustice moved from race to class, as Euro-
pean urban communities were not as racially
diverse as US ones at the time. This focus was
somewhat modified when it was applied to
cities in the developing world. In their case,
the research agenda was enriched, advocating
for a broader set of issues, such as social
k Orum eurs0091.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:13 P.M. Page 2
justice, indigenous rights, and access to land
and water, thus reflecting the diverse nature
of urban societies and the sociopolitical
contexts of southern megacities.
The application of the concept to rural
areas, mainly in the Global South, is identi-
fied with struggles of the rural poor whose
livelihoods depend on good environmental
conditions, like peasants and fishermen who
are affected principally by extractive projects,
like mining, forestry, and aquaculture, and
energy and waste disposal facilities. These
concerns have been prominently framed
under the environmentalism of the poor the-
sis, suggested by Joan Martínez Alier (2003).
The amplification of the term to include issues
of environmental justice on a global scale,
typically within a North–South approach,
focuses on the ecological debt between
countries, attributed to the expansion and
globalization of the extraction, production,
and disposal chain. In other words, the distri-
k
bution of the environmental burdens of these
activities is not even, disassociating the places
of consumption (Global North), from the
places of extraction, production, and disposal
(Global South). A European research pro-
gram, Environmental Justice Organisations,
Liabilities and Trade (EJOLT), has created a
world atlas of environmental justice, mapping
conflicts around the world (EJOLT 2014).
IMPLICATIONS
FOR ENVIRONMENTALISM
The environmental justice movement not
only disclosed the racial and class aspects
of urban environmental degradation; it also
achieved a paradigm shift in environmental
concerns and policies on four distinct levels.
First, it transformed environmentalism
radically. In its origins, the environmental
movement was engaged in issues of nonurban
nature and wildlife conservation, omitting
k
 Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm
social aspects and human quality of life. The
mainstream environmental organizations of
the time had an ecocentric view and were
in line with the political power of the time
(Harvey 1996), while they had a corporate
structure and outlook in order to be accept-
able and credible (Bullard 1990). By putting
onto the environmental agenda issues of
inequality and of the survival of the poor
and marginalized, the environmental justice
movement radicalized the environmental
discourse, thus questioning the status quo of
power, decision-making processes, and law
enforcement on environmental issues.
Second, it deeply influenced our definition
of the environment and capitalist spatiality,
collapsing the established dichotomy between
the polluting city and pristine nature. By
bringing to the forefront issues of urban qual-
ity of life, the environmental justice move-
ment established a new and much broader
definition of the environment, defined as
k the place where we work, play, and socialize,
thus opening the path to new dimensions of
analysis for urban sustainability.
Third, and as a consequence of the above
points, the structures of environmental
groups were modified and diversified under
the influence of the environmental justice
movement, and their social, racial, and gen-
der composition enriched. By the 1980s,
environmental organizations were princi-
pally big, nongovernmental, professional
organizations (like Greenpeace, Friends of
the Earth, and World Wildlife Fund [WWF])
composed of white middle-class profession-
als largely dissociated from communities
and social movements; citizens would only
participate through donations and mem-
berships. The movements that arose around
environmental justice concerns were not
only structurally and ideologically differ-
ent, but included grassroots organizations
and affected communities with no expertise
in environmental issues. These popular
k Orum eurs0091.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:13 P.M. Page 3
E N V I RON M E N TAL J U ST IC E 3
movements have been principally led by
working-class women, resignifying the role
of gender in environmental issues as well.
Finally, the latter came to put in doubt
the care for environmental issues as a post-
materialist value. By then, it was generally
assumed that environmental issues could
only be a matter of concern for individu-
als who had all their basic needs met, thus
making environmental sensibility a First
World issue. The implication of urban poor
and marginalized communities in the envi-
ronmental movement demonstrated that
a healthy environment affects the health,
well-being, and cohesion of communities,
positioning it as a global value and concern.
These paradigm shifts had as outcomes
the strengthening of grassroots communities
and the creation of environmental protection
partnerships between communities and state
authorities. What is more, they opened the
way for the creation of a new research agenda
that would provide a theoretical ground and k
fill research gaps in the field of environmental
justice.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THEORY
The expansion of environmental justice to
an academic field of research enriched the
concept with theoretical complexity at dif-
ferent levels of analysis. Although the first
environmental justice concerns primarily
dealt with the spatial and social distribution
of facilities that were associated with local
health and environmental risks, related aca-
demic studies have broadened their view and
have become more holistic in scope in the last
two decades. Scholars working in this field
needed a clearer definition of the term than
the engaged activists did, in order to compre-
hend the political mechanisms that permit
and produce these injustices. In other words,
they advanced toward a conceptualization
k
 Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm
4 E N V I RON M E N TAL J U ST IC E
and analysis of environmental justice as a
process rather as a result.
Three main lines – or dimensions – of
research can be distinguished as the focus of
academic research on environmental justice,
namely distributional, procedural, and, more
recently, sustainability (Davies 2006). The first
line focuses on the results of environmental
justice, the second on its causes, and the third
expands the environmental justice argument
to other species and future generations, giving
it a more holistic scope. Environmental jus-
tice studies are thus developed and advanced
based on these three dimensions, principally
considered as complementary rather than
mutually exclusive.
Studies on distributional environmental
justice examine the spatial and social distri-
bution of polluting facilities in territories of
minority and low income groups, as well as
the poor access of the latter to environmental
services and good environmental conditions,
k compared to that of more privileged commu-
nities. Scholars who follow this line of study
examine the local health and environmental
risks associated with polluting facilities and
their selective impacts on racial minority and
working-class communities. Concerning its
theoretical grounds, this line of research is
based on Schlosberg’s theory of distributive
justice (Rawls 1971) and seeks to give an
insight into the question of equity and the
distribution of social goods and burdens in
society. The distributional issue has been cen-
tral in the environmental justice movement
and its demands; nonetheless, it has some
drawbacks that have made clear the need
for amplifying this view and complementing
it with other dimensions of analysis. First,
researchers have found it difficult to establish
a direct association between specific facilities
and health impacts, given the existence of
other factors that contribute to health dete-
rioration (such as other sources of pollution,
personal lifestyles, consumption habits, etc.).
k Orum eurs0091.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:13 P.M. Page 4
Second, a strong focus on the matter of equity
implies that a fair solution would be the redis-
tribution of these risks equally within social
groups, without questioning their existence,
or the system that produces them.
These concerns, in line with activists’
demands for equal and meaningful partic-
ipation in decision-making processes, led
to the development of the second line of
studies. The relevant literature demonstrates
how procedural inequities result in the
unequal distribution of environmental risks
and services between communities. With
regard to the political component, schol-
ars have detected unequal enforcement of
environmental laws and policies and limited
participation or representation of minor-
ity and low income groups in environmental
matters, identified more concretely during the
decision- and policy-making processes that
determine the siting of hazardous materials
and polluting industries. The main compo-
nents of analysis of procedural environmental k
justice are distribution, recognition, and par-
ticipation (Schlosberg 2007), with social
recognition of marginalized groups being a
fundamental obstacle to their meaningful
participation in decision-making processes.
In this vein, Schlosberg, who draws on the
works of Young and Fraser, establishes that
inequality is the result of these processes,
stating that “Democratic and participatory
decision-making procedures are then both
an element of, and a condition for, social
justice” (Schlosberg 2007, 519). The inclusion
of recognition in the environmental justice
debate amplifies its specter and expands its
argument; this means that injustice, dis-
empowerment, and political exclusion can
apply to any community unable to influence
decision-making processes, irrespective of
ethnicity and economic status. Correspond-
ingly, studies along this line examine the
lack of political access, and a series of cul-
tural, political, and structural obstacles, as
k
 Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm
the fundamental barriers to an authentic
participation in decision-making processes.
More recently, a new line of thought has
enriched environmental justice scholarship,
broadening, challenging, and complementing
the debates on its distributional and pro-
cedural dimensions. The need to include
communities that have no voice – and thus
cannot be recognized nor participate in
the related debates – led to the third line
of research, which some authors named
just sustainability (Agyeman and Evans
2004). Scholars in this field deal with justice
in relation to nature, future generations,
and nonhuman species. Just sustainability
scholarship challenges the anthropocentric
character of the environmental justice dis-
course and moves it beyond its distributional
dimension, to include the aim of preventing
the creation of risks for all species and soci-
eties, in the mode of sustainable development.
k strengthen the issue of socioenvironmental
NEW DIMENSIONS OF URBAN
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Environmental justice studies have not only
deepened their complexity and diversified
their levels of analysis but also broadened
their scope and objects of study, as a direct
result of redefining the urban environment.
Subsequently, related studies, traditionally
analyzing the location of “brown” facilities
(understood as polluting and potentially
harmful to human health and the environ-
ment), have been enriched by including the
provision of “green” facilities and services.
Updated environmental justice concerns
embrace the elements that define urban qual-
ity of life to include issues of equal access
to affordable and clean transport and con-
nectivity, waste management and recycling
opportunities, street cleaning, clean air and
water, green and public spaces, healthy food
options, and affordable and green housing.
k Orum eurs0091.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:13 P.M. Page 5
E N V I RON M E N TAL J U ST IC E 5
These advances, and the consideration of
urban features, have connected environmen-
tal justice to other concepts and struggles
relevant to urban studies. Incorporated
health, community development, and quality
of life concerns have been enclosed by the
term urban liveability, where these issues
are a major factor in defining urban justice
and equity between local communities and
neighborhoods.
The same justice concerns link environ-
mental justice to (urban) sustainability.
Justice is a central concern in sustainabil-
ity debates, both as an intergenerational
(concerning future generations) and an
intragenerational (concerning existing com-
munities) factor. The environmental justice
movement and studies have reinforced the
second, resulting in more holistic definitions
of urban sustainability, by considering oppor-
tunities and hazards for all social spheres
and species. What is more, they enrich and
k
equity in sustainability debates, offering a
space for reflecting on the dynamics that
create inequity and the new links between
economy, society, and the environment. As
a result, the urban environmental justice
movement and scholarship have contributed
to moving debates on urban sustainability
beyond its dominant technocratic interpreta-
tions of eco-efficiency and green capitalism.
Ultimately, the unequal distribution of
the impacts caused by urban environmen-
tal change has been a main concern in the
field of urban political ecology, linking it
with environmental justice studies and the-
ories. Within the tradition of Marxist urban
political ecology, it is held that urban socioen-
vironmental conditions are a consequence of
the uneven production of urban space and
organization of urban metabolic flows. This
line of research complements environmental
justice in examining the social, political,
and economic conditions that influence the
k
 Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm
6 E N V I RON M E N TAL J U ST IC E
patterns of urban configuration (Swynge-
douw and Heynen 2003), advancing the main
streams of environmental justice research on
distributional and procedural processes.
In conclusion, the environmental justice
movement, and its related scholarship, have
gradually overcome geographical and dis-
ciplinary borders over the last decades, in
order to detect, comprehend, and denounce
socioenvironmental inequalities worldwide.
Regarding urban settings, recent develop-
ments in urban environmental justice studies
have linked it to struggles on spatial and
social justice, and the right to the city, as
broader demands for urban residents around
the globe. What is more, a globalized idea of
environmental justice, coupled with struggles
around the new food justice, water justice,
and climate justice movements, is opening
a path to a holistic understanding of the
term, offering an analytical frame that merges
the complex issues of sustainability, human
k vulnerability, and environmental protection,
both as future lines of research and as political
concerns.
eurs0256 SEE ALSO: Racial/Ethnic Residential
eurs0271 Segregation; Right to the City; Sociospatial
eurs0302
eurs0376 Differentiation; Urban Liveability; Urban Social
eurs0397
Movements; Urban Sustainability; Social
eurs0399
eurs0486 Exclusion; Spatial Justice; Ecology and Cities
eurs0489
eurs0513
REFERENCES
Agyeman, J., and B. Evans. 2004. “Just Sustain-
ability: The Emerging Discourse of Environ-
mental Injustice in Britain?” The Geographical
Journal, 170(2): 155–164. DOI: 10.1111/j.0016-
7398.2004.00117.x.
Bullard, R. 1983. “Solid Waste Sites and the Black
Houston Community.” Sociological Inquiry,
k Orum eurs0091.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:13 P.M. Page 6
53(2–3): 273–288. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-682X.
1983.tb00037.x.
Bullard, R. 1990. Dumping in Dixie; Race, Class and
Environmental Quality. Boulder, CO: Westview
Press.
Bullard, R. 2005. The Quest for Environmental Jus-
tice: Human Rights, and the Politics of Pollution.
San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.
Davies, A. R. 2006. “Environmental Justice as
Subtext or Omission: Examining Discourses
of Anti-Incineration Campaigning in Ire-
land.” Geoforum, 37: 708–724. DOI:10.1016/
j.geoforum.2005.06.005.
EJOLT. 2014. “Environmental Justice Atlas.”
Accessed December 1, 2015, at https://ejatlas.
org/.
Harvey, D. 1996. Justice, Nature & the Geography of
Difference. Singapore: Blackwell.
Martínez Alier, J. 2003. The Environmentalism of
The Poor: A Study of Ecological Conflicts and Val-
uation. Bath: Edward Elgar.
Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Schlosberg, D. 2007. Defining Environmental Jus-
tice: Theories, Movements and Nature. New York,
NY: Oxford University Press.
k
Swyngedouw, E., and N. C. Heynen. 2003. “Ur-
ban Political Ecology, Justice and the Poli-
tics of Scale.” Antipode, 35(5): 898–918. DOI:
10.1111/j.1467-8330.2003.00364.x.
FURTHER READING
Anguelovski, I. 2013. “New Directions in Urban
Environmental Justice: Rebuilding Community,
Addressing Trauma, and Remaking Place.” Jour-
nal of Planning Education and Research, 33(2):
160–175. DOI: 10.1177/0739456X13478019.
Dobson, A. 1998. Justice and the Environment:
Conceptions of Environmental Sustainability and
Dimensions of Environmental Justice. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
k
 Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm k Orum eurs0091.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:13 P.M. Page 7

Please note that the abstract and keywords will not be included in the printed book, but are
required for the online presentation of this book which will be published on Wiley’s own
online publishing platform.
If the abstract and keywords are not present below, please take this opportunity to add them
now.

ABSTRACT
Environmental justice is an urban-born activist movement that evolved to be an analytical frame and
an interdisciplinary field of academic research. It is defined as the equal distribution of environmen-
tal goods (i.e., good environmental conditions and services) and bads (e.g., contamination), and the
equal enforcement of environmental laws and policies on all people, regardless of race, gender, and
economic status. The main levels of analysis refer to distributional and procedural environmental
justice. Current discussions on environmental justice link it with concerns on urban sustainability,
urban liveability, political ecology, and a broader understanding of the right to the city.

KEYWORDS
activism; environment; ethnicity and race; political ecology; social class
k k