Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Background on Environmental Justice and Racism

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability

  • 53 Accesses

Abstract

Beginning with its roots in the USA in the 1980s, the idea of environmental justice has expanded around the globe. Like the term “sustainable development,” the term environmental justice provides a big tent, supported by key principles. Within, differing principles of justice, applicable at differing scales and to differing communities and contexts, can fit comfortably. There are, however, important methodological and conceptual debates. Understanding both the overarching principles and areas of difference are key to understanding environmental justice.

This chapter begins by briefly assessing the relationships between environmental justice and sister movements, including sustainable development, energy justice, and climate justice. It describes the genesis of the environmental justice movement in the USA, and then describes how the principles have diffused into international environmental politics as well as environmental disputes within nations in both the Global North and Global South. Turning to principles of environmental justice, the chapter explores distributive, participatory, recognition, corrective, and social justice principles, addressing select methodological and conceptual issues.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 799.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 1,299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adger WN, Paavola J, Huq S, Mace MJ (2006) Fairness in adaptation to climate change. The MIT Press, Boston

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ageyeman J, Bullard R, Evans B (2002) Exploring the nexus: bringing together sustainability, environmental justice and equity. Space Polity 6(1):70–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Alston D (1992) Transforming a movement: people of color unite at summit against ‘environmental racism.’. Sojourners 21(1):30–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Arthur J, Shaw WH (1978) Justice and economic distribution. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  • Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (2021a) Intersections of environmental justice and sustainable development: framing the issues. In: Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (eds) The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 1–19

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (eds) (2021b) The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker S (2011) Unmasking project finance: risk mitigation, risk inducement, and an invitation to development disaster. Tex J Oil Gas Energy L 6(2):273–334

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker S (2021) Revolutionary power: an activist’s guide to the energy transition. Island Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker S, DeVar S, Prakash S (2019) The energy justice workbook. Initiative for Energy Justice, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Been V, Gupta F (1997) Coming to the nuisance or going to the barrios? A longitudinal analysis of environmental justice claims. Ecol Law Q 24(1):1–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhutta N, Chang AC, Dettling LJ, Hsu JW (2020) Disparities in wealth by race and ethnicity in the 2019 survey of consumer finances, Feds Notes. https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/disparities-in-wealth-by-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-2019-survey-of-consumer-finances-20200928.htm. Accessed 29 Sept 2021

  • Blais L (1996) Environmental racism reconsidered. N C Law Rev 75(1):75–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullard RD (ed) (1993) Confronting environmental racism: voices from the grassroots. South End Press, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullard RD (1994) Dumping in dixie: race, class and environmental quality, 2nd edn. Westview Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  • California Strategic Growth Council (2021) Transformative climate communities: community-led transformation for a sustainable California. https://sgc.ca.gov/programs/tcc/. Accessed 1 Oct 2021

  • Carley S, Konisky DM (2020) The justice and equity implications of the clean energy transition. Nat Energy 5:569–577. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0641-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chavis BF Jr (1993) Foreword. In: Bullard RD (ed) Confronting environmental racism: voices from the grassroots. South End Press, Boston, p 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole LW (1992) Empowerment as the key to environmental protection: the need for environmental poverty law. Ecol Law Q 19(4):619–684

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole LW, Foster SR (2000) From the ground up: environmental racism and the rise of the environmental justice movement. NYU Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Commission for Racial Justice, United Church of Christ (1987) Toxic wastes and race in the United States: a national report on the racial and socioeconomic characteristics of communities with hazardous waste sites

    Google Scholar 

  • Coolsaet B, Néron PY (2021) Recognition and environmental justice. In: Coolsaet B (ed) Environmental justice: key issues. Routledge, Abingdon, pp 52–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutter SL (1996) Vulnerability to environmental hazards. Prog Hum Geogr 20(4):529–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change (2009) Principles of climate justice. http://www.ejnet.org/ej/

  • Equitable & Just National Climate Platform (2019). https://ajustclimate.org/index.html#platform

  • Fears D, Dennis B (2021) ‘This is environmental racism:’ how a protest in a North Carolina farming town sparked a national movement. The Washington Post (April 6, 2021)

    Google Scholar 

  • First National People of Color Leadership Summit (1991) The principles of environmental justice. https://www.communitycommons.org/entities/f5511283-eaa3-4c01-9c63-31ba3a4a6ad9. Accessed 29 Sept 2021

  • Flocks JD (2012) The environmental and social injustice of farmworker pesticide exposure. Georget J Poverty Law Policy 19(2):255–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster S (1998) Justice from the ground up: distributive inequities, grassroots resistance, and the transformative politics of the environmental justice movement. Calif Law Rev 86(4):775–841

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gauna E (1995) Federal environmental citizen provisions: obstacles and incentives on the road to environmental justice. Ecol Law Q 22(1):1–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland B (2021) Capabilities, well-being, and environmental justice. In: Coolsaet B (ed) Environmental justice: key issues. Routledge, Abingdon, pp 64–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Hossain K, Punam NP (2016) Climate change impact and human rights of rural women in Bangladesh. In: Abate R (ed) Climate justice: cases studies in global and regional governance challenges. Environmental Law Institute, Washington, D.C., pp 493–515

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaswan A (1997) Environmental justice: bridging the gap between environmental laws and “justice.”. Am Univ Law Rev 47:221–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaswan A (2003) Distributive justice and the environment. N C Law Rev 81(3):1031–1148

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaswan A (2014) Domestic climate change adaptation and equity. Environ Law Rep 42(12):11125–11143

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan SA (2021) Chemical pollution and the role of international law in a future detoxified. In: Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (eds) The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 243–256

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Konisky DM, Reenock C (2018) Regulatory enforcement, riskscapes, and environmental justice. Policy Stud J 46(1):7–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuehn RR (2000) A taxonomy of environmental justice. Environ Law Rep 30:10681–10703

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert T, Boerner C (1997) Environmental inequity: economic causes, economic solutions. Yale J Regul 14:195–234

    Google Scholar 

  • MacGregor S Gender matters in environmental justice. In: Coolsaet B (ed) Environmental justice: key issues. Routledge, Abingdon, pp 234–248

    Google Scholar 

  • McGregor D (2021) Indigenous environmental justice and sustainability. In: Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (eds) The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 58–71

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • McGurty EM (1997) From NIMBY to civil rights: the origins of the environmental justice movement. Environ Hist 2(3):301–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohai P, Saha R (2015) Which came first, people or pollution? Assessing the disparate siting and post-siting demographic change hypotheses of environmental injustice. Environ Res Lett 10. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/11/115008

  • Natarajan U (2021) Environmental justice in the global south. In: Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (eds) The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 39–57

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen Q, Tsang L, Yang T (2021) China’s cancer villages. In: Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (eds) The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 257–270

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Nozick R (1974) Anarchy, state, and utopia. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Olawuyi DS (2021) Gender, indigeneity, and the search for environmental justice in postcolonial Africa. In: Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (eds) The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 208–224

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Outka U (2012) Environmental justice in the renewable energy transition. J Environ Sustain Law 19(1):60–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Outka U (2017) Fairness in the low-carbon shift: learning from environmental justice. Brooklyn Law Rev 82(2):789–824

    Google Scholar 

  • Principles of Environmental Justice (1991). https://www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html

  • Rawls J (1971) A theory of justice. Belknap Press, Boston

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez I (2021) Latin American decolonial environmental justice. In: Coolsaet B (ed) Environmental justice: key issues. Routledge, Abingdon, pp 78–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothstein R (2017) The color of law: a forgotten history of how our government segregated America. Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Salcido R (2016) Reviving the environmental justice agenda. Chicago-Kent Law Rev 91(1):115–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlosberg D (2004) Reconceiving environmental justice: global movements and political theories. Environ Polit 13(3):517–540. https://doi.org/10.1080/0964401042000229025

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith AA, Scott DN (2021) Energy without injustice? Indigenous participation in renewable energy generation. In: Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (eds) The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 383–397

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Straw LJ Jr (1995) Environmental justice: racial gerrymandering for environmental siting decisions. Virginia Environ Law J 14(4):665–686

    Google Scholar 

  • Talmadge M (2019) What is holding back renewable energy development in Indian Country? Clean energy finance forum, Yale center for business and the environment. https://cleanenergyfinanceforum.com/2019/12/11/what-is-holding-back-renewable-energy-development-in-indian-country

  • Temper L, del Bene D, Martinez-Alier J (2015) Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas. J Polit Econ 22:255–278

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2021) EJSCREEN: Environmental justice screening and mapping tool. https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen. Accessed 1 Oct 2021

  • United Nations (2015) Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development (A/RES/70/1). United Nations, New York. https://sdgs.un.org/publications/transforming-our-world-2030-agenda-sustainable-development-17981

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our common future, Report Of The World Commission on Environment and Development. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations World Summit for Social Development (1995) Copenhagen declaration on social development

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker G (2012) Environmental justice: concepts, evidence and politics. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Warner EAK (2021) The indigeneity of environmental justice: a Dakota Access pipeline case study. In: Atapattu SA, Gonzalez CG, Seck SL (eds) The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 354–367

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman R (1994) Issues of classification in environmental equity: how we manage is how we measure. Fordham Urban Law J 21(3):633–670

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of San Francisco School of Law, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Alice Kaswan

Authors
  1. Alice Kaswan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alice Kaswan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Robert Brinkmann

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Kaswan, A. (2023). Background on Environmental Justice and Racism. In: Brinkmann, R. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01949-4_70

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation