122-513: Climate justice is a type of environmental justice that focuses on the unequal impacts of climate change on marginalized or otherwise vulnerable populations. Climate justice seeks to achieve an equitable distribution of both the burdens of climate change and the efforts to mitigate climate change . The economic burden of climate change mitigation is estimated by some at around 1% to 2% of GDP . Climate justice examines concepts such as equality , human rights , collective rights , justice and
244-598: A comprehensive global movement, introducing numerous concepts to political ecology, including ecological debt, environmental racism, climate justice, food sovereignty, corporate accountability, ecocide, sacrifice zones, and environmentalism of the poor. It aims to augment human rights law, which traditionally overlooked the relationship between the environment and human rights. Despite attempts to integrate environmental protection into human rights law, challenges persist, particularly concerning climate justice. Scholars such as Kyle Powys Whyte and Dina Gilio-Whitaker have extended
366-425: A concept David Pellow calls “Indispensability”. Joen Márquez introduces the concept of “racial expendability” in his book Black and Brown Solidarity , in which he argues that “black and brown bodies are, in the eyes of the state and its constituent legal system, generally viewed as criminal, deficient, threatening, and deserving of violent discipline and even obliteration.” Critical EJ builds on this work by countering
488-539: A conversation of equity. Bullard writes that equity is distilled into three board categories: procedural, geographic, and social. From his publication “Confronting Environmental Racism in the Twenty-First Century,” he draws our the difference between the three within the context of environmental injustices: Procedural equity refers to the “fairness” question: the extent that rules, regulations, evaluation criteria and enforcement are applied uniformly across
610-532: A criterion for determining responsibility for climate change, individual causal contribution does not matter as much as responsibility for the perpetuation of carbon-intensive practices and institutions. These structures constitute the global politico-economic system, rather than enabling structural changes towards a system that does not facilitate exploitation of people and nature. For others, climate justice could be pursued through existing economic frameworks, global organizations and policy mechanisms. Therefore,
732-474: A crossroads of all their identities, with privilege and marginalization in the intersection between their class, race, gender, sexuality, queerness, cis- or transness, ethnicity, ability, and other facts of identity. As David Nibert and Michael Fox put it in the context of injustice, “The oppression of various devalued groups in human societies is not independent and unrelated; rather, the arrangements that lead to various forms of oppression are integrated in such
854-698: A few years : from 2009 to 2013 the C.I. of electricity in the European Union fell on average by 20%, So while comparing different values of Carbon Intensity it is important to correctly consider all the boundary conditions (or initial hypotheses) considered for the calculations. For example, Chinese oil fields emit between 1.5 and more than 40 g of CO 2e per MJ with about 90% of all fields emitting 1.5–13.5 g CO 2e . Such highly skewed carbon intensity patterns necessitate disaggregation of seemingly homogeneous emission activities and proper consideration of many factors for understanding. Emission factors assume
976-461: A flourishing community is a further criteria for a just society. However, initiatives have been taken to expand the notion of environmental justice beyond the three pillars of distribution, participation, and recognition to also include the dimensions of self-governing authority, relational ontologies, and epistemic justice. Robert D. Bullard writes that environmental justice, as a social movement and ideological stewardship, may instead be seen as
1098-554: A genocidal kind before federal recognition. Origins of the environmental justice movement can be traced to the Indigenous Environmental Movement, which has involved Indigenous populations fighting against displacement and assimilation for sovereignty and land rights for hundreds of years. The terms 'environmental justice’ and ‘ environmental’ racism ’ did not enter the common vernacular until residents of Warren County, North Carolina protested against
1220-416: A given pollutant relative to the intensity of a specific activity, or an industrial production process; for example grams of carbon dioxide released per megajoule of energy produced, or the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions produced to gross domestic product (GDP). Emission intensities are used to derive estimates of air pollutant or greenhouse gas emissions based on the amount of fuel combusted ,
1342-406: A landfill designed to accept polychlorinated biphenyls in the 1982 PCB protests . Thirty-thousand gallons of PCB fluid lined 270 miles of roadway in fourteen North Carolina Counties, and the state announced that a landfill would be built rather than undergoing permanent detoxification. Warren County was chosen, the poorest county in the state with a per capita income of around $ 5,000 in 1980 , and
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#17328009053221464-406: A large interdisciplinary body of social science literature that includes contributions to political ecology , environmental law , and theories on justice and sustainability . The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental justice as: the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to
1586-466: A linear relation between the intensity of the activity and the emission resulting from this activity: Emission pollutant = Activity * Emission Factor pollutant Intensities are also used in projecting possible future scenarios such as those used in the IPCC assessments, along with projected future changes in population, economic activity and energy technologies. The interrelations of these variables
1708-631: A long and troubling history, with many examples dating back to the early 20th century. For instance, the practice of "redlining" in the US, which involved denying loans and insurance to communities of colour, often led to these communities being located in areas with high levels of pollution and environmental hazards. Today, environmental racism continues to be a significant environmental justice issue, with many low-income communities and communities of colour facing disproportionate exposure to pollution and other environmental risks. This can have serious consequences for
1830-530: A lot of CO 2 when burnt: it has a high CO 2 emission intensity. Natural gas, being methane ( CH 4 ), has 4 hydrogen atoms to burn for each one of carbon and thus has medium CO 2 emission intensity. In an August 31, 2018 article by Masnadi et al. which was published by Science , the authors used "open-source oil-sector CI modeling tools" to "model well-to-refinery carbon intensity (CI) of all major active oil fields globally—and to identify major drivers of these emissions." They compared 90 countries with
1952-497: A rapid transition were to be implemented the number of jobs could increase overall at least temporarily due to increased demand for labor to e.g. build public infrastructure and other green jobs to build the renewable energy system. The urgent need for changes, especially when seeking to facilitate lifestyle-changes and shifts on an industry scale, could lead to social tension and decrease levels of public support for political parties in power. For instance, keeping gas prices low
2074-566: A result; when sea life suffers from exposure to toxins such as mercury, we find that human beings also endure the effects of mercury when they consume those animals; and the intersecting character of multiple forms of inequality is revealed when nuclear radiation or climate change affects all species and humans across all social class levels, racial/ethnic groups, genders, abilities, and ages. David Pellow applies his concept of Critical EJ towards modern-day movements in his publication Toward A Critical Environmental Justice Studies , in which he applied
2196-647: A series of “genuine solutions” that echoed the Bali Principles. Initially, the environmental justice movement focused on addressing toxic hazards and injustices faced by marginalized racial groups within affluent nations. However, during the 1991 Leadership Summit, its scope broadened to encompass public health, worker safety, land use, transportation, and other issues. Over time, the movement expanded further to include considerations of gender, international injustices, and intra-group disparities among disadvantaged populations. Environmental justice has evolved into
2318-647: A significant contribution from movements in the United States, and recognized that economic inequality, ethnicity, and geography played roles in determining who bore the brunt of environmental pollution”. At the 2007 United Nations Climate Conference , or COP13, in Bali, representatives from the Global South and low-income communities from the North created a coalition titled “ Climate Justice Now! ”. CJN! Issued
2440-479: A social movement addresses environmental issues that may be defined as slow violence and otherwise may not be addressed by legislative bodies. Slow violence exacerbates the vulnerability of ecosystems and of people who are poor, disempowered, and often involuntarily displaced, while fueling social conflicts that arise from desperation. Drawing on concepts of anarchism , posthumanism , critical theory , and intersectional feminism , author David Naguib Pellow created
2562-612: A way that the exploitation of one group frequently augments and compounds the mistreatment of others.” Thus, Critical EJ views racism, heteropatriarchy, classism ,nativism, ableism, ageism, speciesism (the belief that one species is superior to another), and other forms of inequality as intersecting axes of domination and control. The organization Intersectional Environmentalism, founded by Leah Thomas in 2020, builds from this theory to argue that intersectional environmentalism means that “social [and] environmental justice are intertwined and environmental advocacy that disregards this connection
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#17328009053222684-473: Is fair . This may make it more difficult for countries to reach an agreement. Developing effective, legitimate and enforceable agreements could be complicated. This is especially the case if traditional methods or tools of policy-making are used. Fundamental fairness principles could include: Responsibility, capability and rights (needs). For these principles, country characteristics can predict relative support. Fridays For Future launched an appeal saying it
2806-449: Is Critical Environmental Justice that while “a molecule of carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide can occur in an instant, … it remains in the atmosphere for more than a century, so the decisions we make at one point in time can have dramatic ramifications for generations to come”. Pollution does not stay where it starts, and so consideration must be taken as to the scale of an issue rather than solely its effects. The third pillar of Critical EJ
2928-468: Is a contentious issue. In this context, fundamental disagreements arise between conservative environmental groups on one side and leftist organizations on the other. While the former often tend to blame the excesses of neoliberalism for climate change and argue in favor of market-based reform within capitalism, the latter view capitalism with its exploitative traits as the underlying central issue. Other possible causal explanations include hierarchies based on
3050-532: Is also discussed as environmental racism or environmental inequality . Environmental justice is typically defined as distributive justice , which is the equitable distribution of environmental risks and benefits . Some definitions address procedural justice , which is the fair and meaningful participation in decision-making . Other scholars emphasise recognition justice , which is the recognition of oppression and difference in environmental justice communities . People's capacity to convert social goods into
3172-474: Is also happening unevenly, with people of color, the poor, indigenous peoples, peoples of the global South, and women suffering the most.” Pellow further contextualizes scale through temporal dimensions. For instance, how does the emergence and use of coal-fired power plants and petroleum-based economics develop and change over historical periods, and in turn unveiling the social causes of our ecological crises. Pellow observes in his 2017 publication What
3294-473: Is harmful and incomplete.” The second pillar of Critical EJ is a focus on the role of scale in the production and possible resolution of environmental injustices. Critical EJ embraces multi-scalar methodological and theoretical approaches order to better comprehend the complex spatial and temporal causes, consequences, and possible resolutions of EJ struggles. Julie Sze writes, “thinking globally and acting locally also demands that people more fully comprehend
3416-474: Is impossible to ensure climate justice without peace and disarmement. To prevent societal collapse, the appeal says, we must limit consumption and adapt a sharing economy and this will not happen as long as wars continue, because to achieve higher military potential, countries must increase consumption. The appeal mentions that the effects of wars and an unjust economy-such as climate change-will be felt not only by those with low incomes. Developed countries , as
3538-500: Is inequitably distributed. The movement began in the United States in the 1980s. It was heavily influenced by the American civil rights movement and focused on environmental racism within rich countries. The movement was later expanded to consider gender, international environmental injustice, and inequalities within marginalized groups. As the movement achieved some success in rich countries, environmental burdens were shifted to
3660-481: Is known as the 'triple injustice' of climate change. Conceptions of climate justice can be grouped along the lines of procedural justice and distributive justice . The former stresses fair, transparent and inclusive decision-making. The latter stresses a fair distribution of the costs and outcomes of climate change ( substantive rights ). There are at least ten different principles that are helpful to distribute climate costs fairly. Climate justice also tries to address
3782-539: Is necessary to reduce these impacts. According to a 2020 report by Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute , the richest 1% of the global population have caused twice as much carbon emissions as the poorest 50% over the 25 years from 1990 to 2015. This was, respectively, during that period, 15% of cumulative emissions compared to 7%. A second 2023 report found the richest 1% of humans produce more carbon emissions than poorest 66%, while
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3904-463: Is often "really good for the poor and the middle class". Some may see climate justice arguments for compensation by rich countries for natural disasters in developing countries as a way for "limitless liability". High levels of compensations could drain a society's resources, efforts, focus and financial funds away from efficient preventive climate change mitigation towards e.g. immediate climate change relief compensations. Fossil fuel phase out
4026-560: Is projected to affect states and their citizens with large or central industries of fossil-fuels extraction – including OPEC states – differently than other nations. These states have obstructed climate negotiations and it has been argued that, due to their wealth, they should not need to receive financial support from other countries but could implement adequate transitions on their own in terms of financial resources. A study suggested governments of nations that have historically benefited from extraction should take
4148-905: Is that a crucial instance of different responsibilities is that in fairness developed countries' responsibilities must be greater. How much greater continues to be debated politically. In 2000, at the same time as the Sixth Conference of the Parties (COP 6) , the first Climate Justice Summit took place in The Hague . This summit aimed to "affirm that climate change is a rights issue" and to "build alliances across states and borders" against climate change and in favor of sustainable development. Subsequently, in August–September 2002, international environmental groups met in Johannesburg for
4270-597: Is the view that social inequalities - from racism to speciesism - are deeply embedded in society and reinforced by state power, and therefore the current social order stands as a fundamental obstacle to social and environmental justice. Pellow argues in his 2017 publication What is Critical Environmental Justice that social change movements may be better off thinking and acting beyond the state and capital as targets of reform and/or as reliable partners. Furthermore, that scholars and activists are not asking how they might build environmentally resilient communities that exist beyond
4392-500: Is to say a decrease by 10%. Almost 40% of the reduction in CO 2 intensity is due to increased use of energy carriers with lower emission factors. Total CO 2 emissions per unit of GDP, the “CO 2 intensity”, decreased more rapidly than energy intensity: by 2.3%/year and 1.4%/year, respectively, on average between 1990 and 2007. However, while the reports from 2007 suggest that the CO 2 emissions are going down recent studies find that
4514-500: Is treated under the so-called Kaya identity . The level of uncertainty of the resulting estimates depends significantly on the source category and the pollutant. Some examples: A literature review of numerous total life cycle energy sources CO 2 emissions per unit of electricity generated, conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2011, found that the CO 2 emission value, that fell within
4636-544: Is understood in many ways, and the different meanings are sometimes contested. At its simplest, conceptions of climate justice can be grouped along the following two lines: The objectives of climate justice can be described as: "to encompasses a set of rights and obligations, which corporations, individuals and governments have towards those vulnerable people who will be in a way significantly disproportionately affected by climate change." Climate justice examines concepts such as equality , human rights , collective rights , and
4758-655: The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil. The 17 Principles have a likeness in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. In the summer of 2002, a coalition of non-governmental organizations met in Bali to prepare final negotiations for the 2002 Earth Summit . Organizations included CorpWatch, World Rainforest Movement, Friends of the Earth International, the Third World Network, and
4880-473: The 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories . These and many more greenhouse gas emission factors can be found on IPCC's Emission Factor Database. Commercially applicable organisational greenhouse gas emission factors can be found on the search engine, EmissionFactors.com. Particularly for non-CO 2e emissions, there is often a high degree of uncertainty associated with these emission factors when applied to individual countries. In general,
5002-755: The Climate Justice Action Network was formed during the run-up to the Copenhagen Summit . It proposed civil disobedience and direct action during the summit, and many climate activists used the slogan 'system change not climate change'. Environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste , resource extraction , and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has generated hundreds of studies showing that exposure to environmental harm
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5124-547: The Earth Summit . At this summit, also known as Rio+10, as it took place ten years after the 1992 Earth Summit , the Bali Principles of Climate Justice were adopted. Climate Justice affirms the rights of communities dependent on natural resources for their livelihood and cultures to own and manage the same in a sustainable manner, and is opposed to the commodification of nature and its resources. Bali Principles of Climate Justice, article 18, August 29, 2002 In 2004,
5246-1000: The Global South (as for example through extractivism or the global waste trade ). The movement for environmental justice has thus become more global, with some of its aims now being articulated by the United Nations . The movement overlaps with movements for Indigenous land rights and for the human right to a healthy environment . The goal of the environmental justice movement is to achieve agency for marginalized communities in making environmental decisions that affect their lives. The global environmental justice movement arises from local environmental conflicts in which environmental defenders frequently confront multi-national corporations in resource extraction or other industries. Local outcomes of these conflicts are increasingly influenced by trans-national environmental justice networks. Environmental justice scholars have produced
5368-524: The Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories , developed and published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as the emission estimation methods that must be used by the parties to the convention to ensure transparency, completeness, consistency, comparability and accuracy of the national greenhouse gas inventories. These IPCC Guidelines are the primary source for default emission factors. Recently IPCC has published
5490-551: The US Energy Information Administration . Annual data between 1980 and 2009 are averaged over three decades: 1980–89, 1990–99, and 2000–09. In 2009 CO 2 intensity of GDP in the OECD countries reduced by 2.9% and amounted to 0.33 kCO 2 /$ 05p in the OECD countries. ("$ 05p" = 2005 US dollars, using purchasing power parities). The USA posted a higher ratio of 0.41 kCO 2 /$ 05p while Europe showed
5612-622: The right to health , the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity, ... — The Glasgow climate pact 13 November 2021 Climate justice may often conflict with social stability. For example, interventions that establish more just product pricing could result in social unrest. Decarbonization interventions could lead to decreased material possessions, comfort, maintained habits. Multiple studies estimate that if
5734-730: The 50th percentile of all total life cycle emissions studies were as follows. Note: 3.6 MJ = megajoule(s) == 1 kW·h = kilowatt-hour(s), thus 1 g/MJ = 3.6 g/kW·h. Legend: B = Black coal (supercritical)–(new subcritical) , Br = Brown coal (new subcritical) , cc = combined cycle , oc = open cycle , T L = low-temperature/closed-circuit (geothermal doublet) , T H = high-temperature/open-circuit , W L = Light Water Reactors , W H = Heavy Water Reactors , #Educated estimate . The following tables show carbon intensity of GDP in market exchange rates (MER) and purchasing power parities (PPP). Units are metric tons of carbon dioxide per thousand year 2005 US dollars . Data are taken from
5856-437: The CO 2 budget while bearing a relatively minor share of the reduction effort if this would involve leaving subsequent generations with a drastic reduction burden and expose their lives to comprehensive losses of freedom. — German Federal Constitutional Court April 2021 The rights of nature protect ecosystems and natural processes for their intrinsic value, thus complementing them with
5978-708: The Durban Group for Climate Justice was formed at an international meeting in Durban , South Africa. Here representatives from NGOs and peoples' movements discussed realistic policies for addressing climate change. In 2007 at the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP 13) in Bali , the global coalition Climate Justice Now! was founded, and, in 2008, the Global Humanitarian Forum focused on climate justice at its inaugural meeting in Geneva . In 2009,
6100-462: The EPA. They rely on distributive justice , centered around the nature of private property. Native Americans do not fall under the same statutory frameworks as they are citizens of Indigenous nations, not ethnic minorities. As individuals, they are subject to American laws. As nations, they are subject to a separate legal regime, constructed on the basis of pre-existing sovereignty acknowledged by treaty and
6222-494: The Environmental Equity Work Group (EEWG) in 1990 in response to additional findings by social scientists that “racial minority and low-income populations bear a higher environmental risk burden than the general population’ and that the EPA's inspections failed to adequately protect low-income communities of color”. In 1992, the EPA published Environmental Equity: Reducing Risks for All Communities -
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#17328009053226344-562: The European Commission, in order to achieve the EU goal of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990, EU-based energy investment has to double from the previous decade to more than €400 billion annually this decade. This includes the roughly €300 billion in yearly investment required for energy efficiency and the roughly €120 billion required for power networks and renewable energy facilities. One of
6466-952: The First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991, held in Washington, DC. The four-day summit was sponsored by the United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice. With around 1,100 persons in attendance, representation included all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and the Marshall Islands. The summit broadened the environmental justice movement beyond its anti-toxins focus to include issues of public health, worker safety, land use, transportation, housing, resource allocation, and community empowerment. The summit adopted 17 Principles of Environmental Justice , which were later disseminated at
6588-577: The Indigenous Environmental Network. They sought to articulate the concept of climate justice. During their time together, the organizations codified the Bali Principles of Climate Justice , a 27-point program identifying and organizing the climate justice movement. Meena Raman, Head of Programs at the Third World Network, explained that in their writing they “drew heavily on the concept of environmental justice, with
6710-531: The Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice. The working group sought to address environmental justice in minority populations and low-income populations. David Pellow writes that the executive order “remains the cornerstone of environmental justice regulation in the US, with the EPA as its ventral arbiter”. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, grassroots movements and environmental organizations advocated for regulations that increased
6832-587: The Middle East. Total CO 2 emissions from energy use were 5% below their 1990 level in 2007. Over the period 1990–2007, CO 2 emissions from energy use have decreased on average by 0.3%/year although the economic activity (GDP) increased by 2.3%/year. After dropping until 1994 (−1.6%/year), the CO 2 emissions have increased steadily (0.4%/year on average) until 2003 and decreased slowly again since (on average by 0.6%/year). Total CO 2 emissions per capita decreased from 8.7 t in 1990 to 7.8 t in 2007, that
6954-562: The PCB dumping after reading newspapers meant for their garden mulch, and days later he and Rev. Leon White led a “humane blockade” to prevent trucks from arriving at the landfill. After being arrested for the demonstration, Furriccio continued his defiance against the county by refusing to post bail and going on a nineteen-day hunger strike. Rev. Benjamin Chavis was serving for the United Church of Christ (UCC) Commission for Racial Justice when he
7076-611: The Rights of Mother Earth, People's Agreement, April 2010, Cochabamba, Bolivia The concept of climate justice was deeply influential on climate negotiations years before the term "climate justice" was regularly applied to the concept. In December 1990 the United Nations appointed an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to draft what became the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), adopted at
7198-681: The U.S. Constitution. Environmental justice to Indigenous persons is not understood by legal entities but rather their distinct cultural and religious doctrines. Environmental Justice for Indigenous peoples follows a model that frames issues in terms of their colonial condition and can affirm decolonization as a potential framework within environmental justice. While Indigenous peoples’ lived experiences vary from place to place, David Pellow writes that there are “common realities they all share in their experience of colonization that make it possible to generalize an Indigenous methodology while recognizing specific, localized conditions”. Even abstract ideas like
7320-739: The UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. As the name "Environment and Development" indicated, the fundamental goal was to coordinate action on climate change with action on sustainable development . It was impossible to draft the text of the FCCC without confronting central questions of climate justice concerning how to share the responsibilities of slowing climate change fairly between developed nations and developing nations . The issue of
7442-528: The US escalated throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Many impacted countries do not have adequate disposal systems for this waste, and impacted communities are not informed about the hazards they are being exposed to. The Khian Sea waste disposal incident was a notable example of environmental justice issues arising from international movement of toxic waste. Contractors disposing of ash from waste incinerators in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania illegally dumped
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#17328009053227564-403: The US, race is the most important determinant of environmental injustice. In other countries, poverty or caste (India) are important indicators. Tribal affiliation is also important in some countries. Environmental justice scholars Laura Pulido and David Pellow argue that recognizing environmental racism, as an element stemming from the entrenched legacies of racial capitalism , is crucial to
7686-504: The ability of minority groups to adapt, unless steps are taken to provide these groups with more access to universal resources. Indigenous groups are affected by the consequences of climate change even though they historically have contributed the least to causing it. Indigenous peoples are unjustifiably impacted due to their low income, and continue to have fewer resources to cope with climate change. One generation must not be allowed to consume large portions of
7808-588: The aforementioned pillars towards the Black Lives Matter movement and the problem of state violence. Pellow argues that within conventional studies, “the Black Lives Matter movement and the struggle against environmental racism … is a connection that many scholars might not make at first glance because police brutality and environmental politics would appear to be only tangentially related.” Following his four pillars of Critical EJ, his ties
7930-478: The anarchist-inspired Common Ground Collective , which was co-created by Scott Crow to provide services for survivors of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast in 2005. Crow gave insight as to what change outside of state power looks like, telling Pellow: We did service work, but it was a revolutionary analysis and practice. We created a horizontal organization that defied the state and did our work in spite of
8052-728: The board and in a non-discriminatory way. Unequal protection might result from nonscientific and undemocratic decisions, exclusionary practices, public hearings held in remote locations and at inconvenient times, and use of English-only material as the language in which to communicate and conduct hearings for non-English-speaking publics. Geographic equity refers to the location and spatial configuration of communities and their proximity to environmental hazards, noxious facilities and locally unwanted land uses (Lulus) such as landfills, incinerators, sewage treatment plants, lead smelters, refineries and other noxious facilities. For example, unequal protection may result from land-use decisions that determine
8174-463: The burden of climate change. This illustrates that emissions produced by any given generation can lock-in damage for one or more future generations. Climate change could progressively become more threatening for the generations affected than for the generation responsible for the threats. The climate system contains tipping points , such as the amount of deforestation of the Amazon that will launch
8296-537: The concept of Critical Environmental Justice (CEJ) in his work What is Critical Environmental Justice . Critical EJ is a perspective intended to address a number of limitations and tensions within EJ Studies. Critical EJ calls for scholarship that builds on research in environmental justice studies by questioning assumptions and gaps in earlier work in the field, embracing greater interdisciplinary, and moving towards methodologies and epistemologies including and beyond
8418-514: The concept to the Black Lives Matter movement and associated movements, demonstrating: (1) how attention to multiple categories of difference and inequality (including more-than-human species and the built environment); (2) an emphasis on the role of scale as a way of understanding the violence of racism and the promise of resistance movements; (3) a focus on linking the entrenched character of social inequalities with transformative, anti-authoritarian and anarchist perspectives; (4) and an application of
8540-506: The concepts of racial and socioecological indispensability can produce an enriched account of that movement's core concerns, its limitations, and its possibilities. The first pillar of Critical EJ Studies involves the recognition that social inequality and oppression in all forms intersect, and that actors in the more-than-human world are subjects of oppression and frequently agents of social change. Developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality theory states that individuals exist in
8662-442: The costs of hazardous waste disposal in the US and other industrialized nations. However, this led to a surge in exports of hazardous waste to the Global South during the 1980s and 1990s. This global environmental injustice, including the disposal of toxic waste, land appropriation, and resource extraction, sparked the formation of the global environmental justice movement. Environmental justice as an international subject commenced at
8784-529: The degree to which scholars should place emphasis on one or more social categories of difference (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, species, etc.) versus a focus on multiple forms of inequality; (2) the extent to which scholars studying EJ issues should focus on single-scale versus multi-scalar analyses of the causes, consequences, and possible resolutions of EJ struggles; (3) the degree to which various forms of social inequality and power—including state power—are viewed as entrenched and embedded in society; and (4)
8906-592: The developed country Parties should take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof." The first principle of climate justice embedded in Article 3.1 is that calculations of benefits (and burdens) must include not only those for the present generation but also those for future generations . The second is that responsibilities are "common but differentiated", that is, every country has some responsibilities, but equitable responsibilities are different for different types of countries. The third
9028-440: The development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies. Fair treatment means that no group of people, including racial, ethnic, or socio-economic groups, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies Environmental justice
9150-666: The discourse on environmental justice concerning Indigenous peoples and settler-colonialism. Gilio-Whitaker critiques distributive justice, which assumes a capitalistic commodification of land inconsistent with Indigenous worldviews. Whyte explores environmental justice within the context of colonialism's catastrophic environmental impacts on Indigenous peoples' traditional livelihoods and identities. The environmental justice movement seeks to address environmental discrimination and environmental racism associated with hazardous waste disposal, resource extraction, land appropriation, and other activities. This environmental discrimination results in
9272-620: The domain of transport, where the top 10% consume 56% of vehicle fuel and conduct 70% of vehicle purchases. A 2023 review article found that if there were a 2C temperature rise by 2100, roughly 1 billion primarily poor people would die as a result of primarily wealthy people's greenhouse gas emissions. People need to make changes, including sacrifices, to enable climate justice for future generations . This could include uncomfortable lifestyle-changes, alterations to public spending and other individual actions on climate change . Preventable severe effects of climate change are likely to occur during
9394-555: The eighties you couldn't just say there was discrimination. You had to prove it.” Fighting for change, not recognition, is an additional factor of environmental justice as a social movement. In response to the Warren County Protests, two cross-sectional studies were conducted to determine the demographics of those exposed to uncontrolled toxic waste sites and commercial hazardous waste facilities. The United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice studied
9516-574: The environmental aftermath of war can be characterized as slow violence . The term “slow violence” was coined by author Rob Nixon in his 2011 book Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor . Slow violence is defined as “violence that occurs gradually and out of sight, a violence of delayed destruction that is dispersed across time and space, an attritional violence that is typically not viewed as violence at all”. Environmental justice as
9638-641: The exposure of disadvantaged groups to harmful effects of climate change. The damage is worsened because disadvantaged groups are last to receive emergency relief and are rarely included in the planning process at local, national and international levels for coping with the impacts of climate change. Communities of color, women, indigenous groups, and people of low-income all face higher vulnerability to climate change. These groups will be disproportionately impacted by heat waves, air quality, and extreme weather events. Women are also disadvantaged and will be affected by climate change differently than men. This may impact
9760-565: The fair terms for sharing responsibility was raised forcefully for the INC by statements about climate justice from developing countries. In response, the FCCC adopted the now-famous (and still-contentious) principles of climate justice embodied in Article 3.1: "The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Accordingly,
9882-669: The first time the agency embarked on a systematic examination of environmental risks to communities of color. This acted as their direction of addressing environmental justice. In 1993 the EPA founded the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC). In 1994 the office's name was changed to the Office of Environmental Justice as a result of public criticism on the difference between equity and justice. That same year, President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12898 , which created
10004-449: The forest's irreversible decline. A generation whose continued emissions drive the climate system past such significant tipping points inflicts severe injustice on multiple future generations. Disadvantaged groups will continue to be especially impacted as climate change persists. These groups will be affected due to inequalities based on demographic characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, and income. Inequality increases
10126-641: The global emissions are rapidly escalating. According to the Climate Change 2022 Mitigation of Climate Change report, conducted by the IPCC, it states that it 2019 the world emissions output was 59 gigatonnes. This shows that global emissions has grown rapidly, increasing by about 2.1% each year compared from the previous decade. The Commodity Exchange Bratislava (CEB) has calculated carbon intensity for Voluntary Emissions Reduction projects carbon intensity in 2012 to be 0.343 tn/MWh. According to data from
10248-486: The greatest consequences. Depending on the country and context, this may include people with low-incomes, indigenous communities or communities of color . They might also be further disadvantaged by responses to climate change which might exacerbate existing inequalities around race, gender, sexuality and disability. When those affected the most by climate change despite having contributed the least to causing it are also negatively affected by responses to climate change, this
10370-405: The group differences and the nature of the fossil fuel industry itself. It has been argued that the unwarranted rate of climate change, along with its inequality of burdens, is a structural injustice. There is political responsibility for the maintenance and support of existing structural processes. This is despite assumed viable potential alternative models based on novel technologies and means. As
10492-461: The health and well-being of these communities, leading to higher rates of asthma, cancer, and other illnesses. Addressing environmental racism requires a multifaceted approach that tackles the underlying social, economic, and political factors that contribute to its persistence. More particularly, environmental justice scholars from Latin America and elsewhere advocate to understand this issue through
10614-471: The historical responsibilities for climate change. Climate justice recognises that those who have benefited most from industrialisation bear a disproportionate responsibility for the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere, and thus for climate change. Meanwhile, there is growing consensus that people in regions that are the least responsible for climate change as well as the world's poorest and most marginalised communities often tend to suffer
10736-451: The historical responsibilities for climate change. There are procedural dimensions of climate change mitigation , as well as distributive ethical ones. Recognition and respect are the underlying basis for distributive and procedural justice. Related fields are environmental justice and social justice . Whether fundamental differences in economic systems, such as capitalism versus socialism, are the, or a, root cause of climate injustice
10858-453: The human right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment. The rights of nature, like all constitutional rights, are justiciable and, consequently, judges are obliged to guarantee them. — Constitutional Court of Ecuador 10 November 2021 There are three principles of justice in burden-sharing that can be used in making decisions on who bears the larger burdens of climate change globally and domestically: a) those who most caused
10980-709: The human/nonhuman divide and their relationships to one another. Pellow expands writing in Toward A Critical Environmental Justice Studies that “racial indispensability is intended to challenge the logic of racial expendability and is the idea that institutions, policies, and practices that support and perpetrate anti-Black racism suffer from the flawed assumption that the future of African Americans is somehow de-linked from the future of White communities.” Traces of environmental injustices span millennia of unrecorded history. Indigenous peoples experienced environmental devastation of
11102-438: The ideology of white supremacy and human dominionism, and articulating the perspective that excluded, marginalized, and other populations, beings, and things - both human and nonhuman - must be viewed not as expensable but rather an indispensable to our collective futures. Pellow uses racial indispensability when referring to people of color and socioecological indispensability when referring to broader communities within and across
11224-457: The importance of including their perspectives and needs in environmental decision-making. Martinez-Alier's work also introduces the concept of "ecological distribution conflicts," which are conflicts over access to and control of natural resources and the environmental impacts that result from their use, and which are often rooted in social and economic inequalities. The violence wrought by climate change, toxic drift, deforestation, oil spills, and
11346-507: The largely unexamined question of the expendability of human and non-human populations facing socioecological threats from states, industries, and other political economic forces. In his 2017 publication What is Critical Environmental Justice , David Pellow writes as an example of the four pillars working in-tandem: Where we find rivers dammed for hydropower plants we also tend to find indigenous peoples and fisherfolk, as well as other working people, whose livelihoods and health are harmed as
11468-522: The largest drop in CO 2 intensity compared to the previous year (−3.7%). CO 2 intensity continued to be roughly higher in non-OECD countries. Despite a slight improvement, China continued to post a high CO 2 intensity (0.81 kCO 2 /$ 05p). CO 2 intensity in Asia rose by 2% during 2009 since energy consumption continued to develop at a strong pace. Important ratios were also observed in countries in CIS and
11590-537: The lead, with countries that have a high dependency on fossil fuels but low capacity for transition needing some support to follow. In particular, transitional impacts of a rapid extraction phase-out is thought to be better absorbed in diversified, wealthier economies as they may have more capacities for enacting absorptive socioeconomic policies. Different interpretations and perspectives, arising from different interests, needs, circumstances, expectations, considerations and histories, can lead to highly varying ideas of what
11712-503: The lens of decolonisation. The latter underlies the fact that environmental racism emanates from the colonial projects of the West and its current reproduction of colonial dynamics. As environmental justice groups have grown more successful in developed countries such as the United States, the burdens of global production have been shifted to the Global South where less-strict regulations make waste disposal cheaper. Export of toxic waste from
11834-461: The lifetime of the present adult population. Under current climate policy pledges, children born in 2020 (e.g. " Generation Alpha ") will experience over their lifetimes, 2–7 times as many heat waves , as well as more of other extreme weather events compared to people born in 1960. This raises issues of intergenerational equity as it was these generations (individuals and their collective governance and economic systems) who are mainly responsible for
11956-420: The location of residential amenities and disamenities. The poor and communities of colour often suffer a “triple” vulnerability of noxious facility siting, as do the unincorporated—sparsely populated communities that are not legally chartered as cities or municipalities and are therefore usually governed by distant county governments rather than having their own locally elected officials. Social equity assesses
12078-570: The loss of land-based traditions and economies, armed violence (especially against women and indigenous people) environmental degradation , and environmental conflict . The global environmental justice movement arises from these local place-based conflicts in which local environmental defenders frequently confront multi-national corporations. Local outcomes of these conflicts are increasingly influenced by trans-national environmental justice networks. There are many divisions along which an unjust distribution of environmental burdens may fall. Within
12200-456: The main cause of climate change, in assuming their historical responsibility, must recognize and honor their climate debt in all of its dimensions as the basis for a just, effective, and scientific solution to climate change. (...) The focus must not be only on financial compensation, but also on restorative justice, understood as the restitution of integrity to our Mother Earth and all its beings. World People's Conference on Climate Change and
12322-570: The most important uses of emission factors is for the reporting of national greenhouse gas inventories under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The so-called Annex I Parties to the UNFCCC have to annually report their national total emissions of greenhouse gases in a formalized reporting format, defining the source categories and fuels that must be included. The UNFCCC has accepted
12444-717: The movement, with white supremacy continuing to shape human relationships with nature and labor. Environmental racism is a pervasive and complex issue that affects communities all over the world. It is a form of systemic discrimination that is grounded in the intersection of race, class, and environmental factors. At its core, environmental racism refers to the disproportionate exposure of certain communities, mostly those that are marginalised, to environmental hazards such as pollution, toxic waste, and other environmental risks. These communities are often located near industrial sites, waste facilities, and other sources of pollution that can have serious health impacts. Environmental racism has
12566-412: The number of animals in animal husbandry , on industrial production levels, distances traveled or similar activity data. Emission intensities may also be used to compare the environmental impact of different fuels or activities. In some case the related terms emission factor and carbon intensity are used interchangeably. The jargon used can be different, for different fields/industrial sectors; normally
12688-495: The placement of hazardous waste facilities in the US and found that race was the most important factor predicting placement of these facilities. These studies were followed by widespread objections and lawsuits against hazardous waste disposal in poor, generally Black, communities. The mainstream environmental movement began to be criticized for its predominately white affluent leadership, emphasis on conservation, and failure to address social equity concerns. The EPA established
12810-542: The principles of justice in burden-sharing to maintain fairness. By December 2022, the number of climate change-related lawsuits had grown to 2,180, more than half in the U.S. (1,522 lawsuits). Based on existing laws, some relevant parties can already be forced into action by means of courts. ... acknowledging that climate change is a common concern of humankind, Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights,
12932-485: The problem, b) those who have the most burden-carrying ability and c) those who have benefited most from the activities that cause climate change. A 2023 study estimated that the top 21 fossil fuel companies would owe cumulative climate reparations of $ 5.4 trillion over the period 2025–2050. Another method of decision-making starts from the objective of preventing climate change e.g. beyond 1.5 °C, and from there reasons backwards to who should do what. This makes use of
13054-694: The provisions of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). The European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) Task Force of the European Environment Agency has developed methods to estimate emissions and the associated emission factors for air pollutants, which have been published in the EMEP/CORINAIR Emission Inventory Guidebook on Emission Inventories and Projections TFEIP. Coal, being mostly carbon, emits
13176-408: The relationship between the local and the global or, in other words, to consider scale”. Scale is deeply racialized, gendered, and classed. While the conclusions of climate scientists are remarkably clear that anthropogenic climate change is occurring at a dramatic pace and with increasing intensity. David Pellow writes in his 2016 publication Toward A Critical Environmental Justice Studies that “this
13298-478: The right to a clean environment, a human right according to the United Nations, contradicts Indigenous peoples understanding of environmental justice as it reflects the commodification of land when seen in light of property values. Joan Martinez-Alier 's influential concept of the environmentalism of the poor highlights the ways in which marginalized communities, particularly those in the Global South, are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation and
13420-533: The role of sociological factors (race, ethnicity, class, culture, life styles, political power, etc.) on environmental decision making. Poor people and people of colour often work in the most dangerous jobs and live in the most polluted neighbourhoods, their children exposed to all kinds of environmental toxins in the playgrounds and in their homes. In non-Native communities, where toxic industries and other discriminatory practices are disproportionately occurring, residents rely on laws and statutory frameworks outlined by
13542-461: The root causes could be found in the causes that so far inhibited global implementation of measures like emissions trading schemes . The responsibility for climate change differs substantially among individuals and groups. Many of the people and nations most affected by climate change are among the least responsible for it. The most affluent citizens of the world are responsible for most environmental impacts. Robust action by them and their governments
13664-554: The site was set for the predominantly Black community of Afton. Its residents protested for six-weeks, leading to over 500 arrests. That the protests in Warren County were led by civilians led to the basis of future and modern-day environmental, grassroots organizations fighting for environmental justice. Deborah Ferruccio, a contributor to the protest, explained in an interview with The Warren Record that those present were ordinary people. Her husband Ken Ferruccio learned of
13786-609: The social implications of climate change mitigation . If these are not addressed properly, this could result in profound economic and social tensions. It could even lead to delays in necessary changes. Climate justice actions can include the growing global body of climate litigation . In 2017, a report of the United Nations Environment Programme identified 894 ongoing legal actions worldwide. Use and popularity of climate justice language has increased dramatically in recent years, yet climate justice
13908-523: The social sciences. Critical EJ scholars believe that since multiple forms of inequality drive and characterize the experience of environmental injustice, the EJ field would benefit from expanding in that direction. Differentiation between conventional environmental studies and Critical EJ studies is done through four distinctive "pillars". These include, in David Pellow's writing: (1) questions concerning
14030-515: The state … not only did we feed people and give them aid and hygiene kits and things like that, but we also stopped housing from being bulldozed, we cut the locks on schools when they said schools couldn't be opened, and we cleaned the schools out because the students and the teachers wanted that to happen. And we didn't do a one size fits all like the Red Cross would do – we asked the communities, every community we went into, we asked multiple people,
14152-411: The state, but rather how they might do so with a different model of state intervention. Pellow believes that by building and supporting strongly democratic practices, relationships, and institutions, movements for social change will become less dependent upon the state, while any elements of the state they do work through may become more robustly democratic. He contextualizes this pillar with activist
14274-424: The street sex workers, the gangsters, the church leaders, everybody, we talked to them: what can we do to help your neighborhood, to help your community, to help you? And that made us different because for me, it's the overlay of anarchism. Instead of having one franchise thing, you just have concepts, and you just pick the components that match the needs of the people there. The fourth pillar of Critical EJ centers on
14396-607: The term "carbon" excludes other pollutants, such as particulate emissions. One commonly used figure is carbon intensity per kilowatt-hour ( CIPK ), which is used to compare emissions from different sources of electrical power. Different methodologies can be used to assess the carbon intensity of a process. Among the most used methodologies there are: Different calculation methods can lead to different results. The results can largely vary also for different geographic regions and timeframes (see, in example, how C.I. of electricity varies, for different European countries, and how varied in
14518-419: The top 10% richest people account for more than half of global carbon emissions. The bottom half of the population is directly responsible for less than 20% of energy footprints and consume less than the top 5% in terms of trade-corrected energy. High-income people usually have higher energy footprints as they use more energy-intensive goods. In particular, the largest disproportionality was identified to be in
14640-621: The use of country-specific emission factors would provide more accurate estimates of emissions than the use of the default emission factors. According to the IPCC, if an activity is a major source of emissions for a country ('key source'), it is 'good practice' to develop a country-specific emission factor for that activity. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the EU National Emission Ceilings Directive (2016) require countries to produce annual National Air Pollution Emission Inventories under
14762-524: The waste on a beach in Haiti after several other countries refused to accept it. After more than ten years of debate, the waste was eventually returned to Pennsylvania. The incident contributed to the creation of the Basel Convention that regulates international movement of toxic waste. Emission intensity An emission intensity (also carbon intensity or C.I. ) is the emission rate of
14884-638: Was sent to Warren County for the protests. Chavis was among the 500 arrested for taking part in the nonviolent protests and is credited with having coined the term “environmental racism” while in the Warren County jail. His involvement, alongside Rev. Leon White, who also served for the UCC, laid the foundation for more activism and consciousness-raising. Chavis would later recall in a New Yorker's article titled “Fighting Environmental Racism in North Carolina” that while “Warren County made headlines … [he] knew in
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