JUSTICE AND THE ENVIRONMENT: CONCEPTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

JUSTICE AND THE ENVIRONMENT: CONCEPTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

“The environment is man's first right. Without a safe environment, man cannot exist to claim other rights, be they political, social, or economic”. - Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941 to 1995) The environment is defined as all the external factors influencing the life and activities of animals, plants and people. Thus, the environment refers to whatever it is that is in the surrounding that has the capacity to influence human and non-human lives (Miller and Tyler, 2003). The environment of Mr. X would for example include trees, waters, sun, air and other humans, among others. To imagine Mr. X‟s existence without the environment is defective and specious. The hypothetical Mr. X needs the support of other humans to realize and actualize his humanity (friends and relations); he needs the trees for food, clothing and oxygen; he needs water(s) for travels; and, the sun, for energy and measurement of time. Man, in essence, not only needs his environment, he also needs to understand the workings of his environment (MacShane, 2012). As identified earlier, it is not just human lives that are influenced by, or exist in, the environment. Non-human lives, plants and animals are also influenced by activities n their surroundings. When humans cut down trees, plant and animal lives are affected. Studies in ecology continually prove the interdependency of living organisms and their interactions with the environment (Howe and Lynn, 1990). The way the environment is treated then calls for concern. Normative questions come up: are humans just in the way they treat the environment? Do non-human lives (animals for example) have a right to the environment? Are the lifestyles of the present and past citizens of the globe fair to future citizens of the globe? These, among others are ethical questions about the environment. The questions become more forceful when we attempt to see the interplay between man‟s development and the environment. The perennially present interplay between development and the environment birthed the phenomena environmental justice (EJ) and sustainable development (SD). With particular reference to Europe for example, the concern for fairness with respect to the ways man relates with the environment dates back to the 18th century. The earliest documented local struggle for EJ in Europe is rooted in the loss of Native American lands in the course of Spanish colonization in the 18th century (Martin, 1995; Taylor 2011). Similarly Cesar Chavez mobilized farm workers in California in historic fights for the implementation of work place protections against toxic pesticides in the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, local struggles for EJ became pronounced across the globe, and in the United States in particular. Corollary to the EJ movements are the anti-environmental racist movements across the globe which birthed the convening of the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit (FNPCELS, 1991) held in Washington DC in 1991 (Merchant and Gottlieb, 1994).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

These questions are, first who are the people that receive environmental justice?

What is it to be distributed?

What is the pattern or principle of distribution?

PROBLEM STATEMENT

On the issue of what is to be distributed, Walker (2011) observes that the contemporary knowledge of environmental justice covers a wide range of environmental features. These features include both benefits (energy consumption, green space, access to water and services) and burdens (waste, noise, air pollution and flood risk). However, Boardman et al. (1999) maintain that the difference between burdens and benefits is malleable, for instance, whilst clean air is a benefit, air pollution is a burden. Certain features or objects, depending on their evaluation and context, may shift from benefit to burden. For example, the consumption of energy can be seen as simultaneously a benefit by providing necessary energy services and a burden by contributing to carbon emissions, and its distribution can be at issues in both cases. In a similar instance, flooding can be a threat to others and a positive resource for others (Boardman et al., 1999). In the context of environmental justice, Schroeder et al.