Environmental Justice

GENUS-SPECIES = ____ IS _____ - ATTRIBUTES DIFFERENTIATING FORM ANOTHER

Environmental Justice is the right to a safe, healthy, productive, and sustainable environment for all,
where "environment" is considered.

Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race,
color, national region, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement
of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

No nation can achieve sustainable development if it lacks environmental justice.

SYNONYM = MORE COMMONLY KNOWN AS

Many activists used the term Environmental racism instead of Environmental Justice as a way of
connecting their concerns to the civil rights movement.

Environmental justice is the movement's response to environmental racism.

ORIGIN = DERIVED FROM - DEFINED BY ETYMOLOGY AND SEMANTIC HISTORY

The term Environmental Justice first emerged in the United States as a political issue in the late 1980's,
after the United Church of Christ (UCC) issued a report arguing that low-income communities, and
particularly communities of color, suffer a disproportionate share of the burden of environmental
hazards.

FUNCTION = FUNCTION AS THE BASIS OF DEFINITION

Environmental justice protects the right of victims of environmental injustice to receive full
compensation and reparations for damages as well as quality health care.

LIKENESS = EXPLAINING INTO MORE RELATABLE AND CONCRETE

Environmental justice is a profoundly anthropocentric ethic, meaning that human beings are the central
moral concern. Endangered species and the health of ecosystems are not dismissed as inconsequential,
but human welfare and social equity are presented as central concerns.

CONTRAST = DETAILING DIFFERENCES

Environmental Justice refers to the conditions in which such a right can be freely exercised, through
which individual and group identities, requirements, in a way that provides for self-actualization and
personal and community empowerment. On the contrary, Environmental injustice refers to the past and
present actions that harm the environment while simultaneously alienating specific groups and
communities.

NEGATION = DEFINING THAT IT IS SIMPLY NOT

Environmental Justice is not Environmental equity.

environmental justice is an integral part of social justice.

environmental justice movement seeking to address the inequitable distribution of environmental

hazards among the poor and minorities.

Residents living near commercial hazardous waste facilities, chemical plants, metal plating shops, and
other facilities storing or using highly-toxic chemicals, looked at those facilities with worry and suspicion
as the cases of childhood leukemia and rare cancers multiplied within their communities. People in poor
rural areas saw their once bucolic environments irrevocably changed as large concentrated animal
feeding operations sprang up, emitting unbearable smells and contaminating water supplies. These
affected areas were predominantly people-of-color neighborhoods, and the residents began to wonder
why this was so. These are some of the conditions that caused local organizing efforts to coalesce into a
national effort later called the environmental justice movement.

Many farm workers and farm communities face increased health risks due to pesticide exposure.

The siting of toxic waste facilities is often environmental justice issue.

Environmental justice is an important part of the struggle to improve and maintain a clean and
healthful environment, especially for those who have traditionally lived, worked and played closest to
the sources of pollution.

The principles of environmental justice say that access to clean air, water and soil and to a healthy, safe,
livable community are intrinsic human rights.

(WordPress.com, 2008) Environmental Justice | GIS (wordpress.com)

(Gauna, 2002) An Essay on Environmental Justice: The Past, the Present, and Back to the Future
(unm.edu)

(Rachel Carson Council, 2019) Clear Cut - Rachel Carson Council

(Salem, 2019) https://booksc.org/ireader/75041374

(Warner & DeCosse, 2009) Lesson Five - Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (scu.edu)

(Douglas, et al., 2016) Environmental Justice | Communities for a Better Environment (cbecal.org)