'Just sustainability': the emerging discourse of environmental justice in Britain?

Environmental justice is both a vocabulary for political opportunity, mobilization and action, and a policy principle to guide public decision making. It emerged initially in the US, and more recently in the UK, as a new vocabulary underpinning action by community organizations campaigning against environmental injustices. However, as the environmental justice discourse has matured, it has become increasingly evident that it should play a role in the wider agendas for sustainable development and social inclusion. The links between sustainability and environmental justice are becoming clearer and more widely understood in the UK by NGOs and government alike, and it is the potential synergy between these two discourses which is the focus of this paper. This paper argues that the concept of 'just sustainability' provides a discourse for policymakers and activists, which brings together the key dimensions of both environmental justice and sustainable development.     

“When I Take Off My EPA Hat”: Using Intersectional Theories to Examine Environmental Justice Governance

Environmental justice governance is affected not just by the political context within which it is executed but also by the choices made by the individuals who are responsible for implementing, enacting, and enforcing policies. In this article, I examine the experiences of seven African American women at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to argue that their lived experiences of oppression affect their approach to environmental justice governance. Using an intersectional environmental justice framework and drawing on semistructured interviews, I contend that these women believe that they have to go above and beyond for the environmental justice communities they serve because they are their communities. One way they do this is by drawing on the networks they have due to their positionality as EPA employees to connect communities to resources to which they might not otherwise have access. In this way, they help communities while still staying within the confines of the regulatory framework imposed on them. In conclusion, I contend that it is necessary to examine the mechanism of environmental justice governance and to do that we must pay attention to the intersectional identities of the people who enact these policies. Key Words: black geographies, environmental governance, environmental justice, Environmental Protection Agency, intersectionality.     

国外环境公正研究综述

环境公正已成为国外学术研究的热点问题,且地理学家研究贡献颇多。文章通过梳理国外环境公正的相关研究,特别是地理学家的相关文献,探讨了环境公正的概念建构,并应用Citespace软件分析20世纪90年代以来对环境公正研究的主题词变化态势,从研究内容、方法和尺度等方面总结了环境公正的研究特点,以期为中国环境公正的研究和相关政策的制定提供参考和借鉴。国外学者对环境公正概念主要从“分布公正”“认知公正”与“程序公正”3个方面建构。国外对环境公正的研究主题从关注社区的污染物质和污染设施向气候变化、绿色能源空间等全球性问题发展;研究内容涉及环境公正的分布、原因、影响以及实现方式的多元探讨;研究立场鲜明且在政策与规划方面具有极强的实践性;研究方法涵盖定性和定量两大领域的多种方法,并不断发展;研究尺度上从社区至全球都有覆盖。     

城市绿地空间环境公平研究进展

始于1980年代的环境公平研究近年来重点转向环境资源,尤其是公园绿地在不同族群和不同收入人群中的空间分布。经过对国内外文献的梳理,从绿地空间环境公平研究主题、绿地公平性影响因素及其测度指标和方法进行了系统综述。分析发现：1）国内外关于绿地空间环境公平的研究主要集中在近十年,呈现稳步增长的态势。总体上从环境公平视角来关注城市绿地空间的研究仍不多,案例绝大多数来自发达国家的城市,更多集中在美国;2）研究主题集中在可进入性与环境公平、绿地空间改造与环境绅士化、绿地使用中的文化公平与环境公平问题以及绿地环境公平感知与地方依恋四个方面;3）城市绿地公平性的测度最常用的是可达性、服务面积等绿地供给性指标,近年越来越多研究开始使用绿地供给与使用者需求的综合测度指标。最后,基于中国快速城市化和快速工业化带来日益紧张的土地利用冲突与经济发展压力,再加上中国特殊的人口、环境特征与文化背景,中国城市普遍面临着对绿地空间需求的日益增长,未来应特别重视城市绿地空间的环境公平问题。     

环境公正视角下广州市污染企业分布与区域人口社会特征的时空关系研究

环境公正研究关注人民生活质量的空间公正问题。从环境经济地理学的角度,本研究以广州市为研究对象,采用1995年、2004年、2013 年的工业企业数据和1990年、2000 年、2010 年的人口普查数据,运用空间可视化工具和多尺度地理加权回归模型等方法,分析了广州市污染企业的分布及其与区域人口社会特征关系的时空变化,然后探讨转型背景下中国城市污染企业分布的环境公正问题。研究发现,广州市污染企业空间分布经历由中心城区集聚向近郊区和边界地带集聚的过程,在城市产业空间重构与社会空间分异的共同作用下,污染企业空间分布的环境不公正问题由最初表现不明显转变为全市范围的阶层差异与企业污染负担之间关系,具有不同于西方环境不公正现象的特征和成因。     

居民时空行为与环境污染暴露对健康影响的研究进展

环境污染是全球共同面对的重大问题之一,严重危害居民的健康状况。已有关于环境污染与健康研究主要包括宏观区域层面的环境污染与健康指标的相关关系研究;基于居民日常交通出行的空气污染暴露与健康效应的研究;以及关注社会经济属性,重点探讨黑人、儿童、低收入者等弱势群体所承受的环境负面影响,即环境公正和健康不平等研究。本文对上述研究进行较为系统的梳理与评价,基于时空行为、环境公正等学科前沿议题,为研究环境污染与健康之间的复杂性提供多样化的理论视角以及较为完整的分析框架。同时提出,需要将个体时空行为、环境污染与健康相关联,从微观层面深入研究基于居民时空行为轨迹的环境污染暴露与健康影响机理,挖掘不同社会、空间背景下的环境公正与健康不平等的内在关系,为发展更为公平、有效的城市与交通规划措施以及环境健康政策等提供科学依据。     

中国环境影响评价中公众参与的有效性有待提高

环境影响评价(EIA)作为协调经济发展与环境保护的手段，已日益成为国家环境管理的重要工具。公众参与是环境影响评价的重要组成部分。从公众参与的概念及作用出发，分析中国环境影响评价中公众参与的机制，认为存在着参与对象选取不合理、参与形式双向性差、调查内容设置不科学、意见整理分析方法不完善及公众参与时段滞后等影响公众参与有效性提高的问题，最后提出注重参与对象的代表性，形式的有效性，内容的科学性，分析的定量化以及权利的保障等，以提高中国环评公众参与的有效性。     

Public Engagement in Social-Ecological Systems Management: An Application of Social Justice Theory

Public engagement is important for improving outcomes of social-ecological systems management. We used a social justice theoretical framework to measure residents’ attitudes toward public engagement processes and satisfaction with outcomes of a restoration project in Western Montana. We predicted process control and decision control domains of procedural justice would significantly predict stakeholder satisfaction, with decision control partially mediating the relationship between process control and satisfaction. We tested these predictions using a path analysis of intercept survey data collected from residents within the project area. We found process control had a significant and positive effect on satisfaction but was fully mediated by decision control, suggesting that successful engagement requires opportunities for stakeholders not only to participate but to clearly shape decisions and outcomes. We discuss implications for public engagement, human dimensions research, and social monitoring of social-ecological systems.     

旅游地环境风险对中国旅游突发事件的影响及其区域分布研究

环境风险是影响旅游者和旅游活动安全的重要因素。本文以2006-2010年间我国的旅游突发事件案例作为数据基础,综合使用列联表卡方检验、Fisher精确检验、最优尺度回归等方法,对环境风险因素与我国旅游突发事件发生特征的关系及其区域分布进行统计检定。研究表明:游览环境风险、大气环境风险和道路环境风险是环境风险中引致旅游突发事件的主要结构因素,所引致的旅游突发事件主要包括事故灾难、自然灾害和公共卫生事件,其中事故灾难的发生水平最高。环境风险因素与旅游突发事件的发生类型、严重程度间具有显著的相关性,它对旅游突发事件的伤亡规模具有显著的影响力。我国不同区域的旅游环境风险具有分布上的差异性,各地应根据自己的环境风险特征采取风险管控措施。     

Respondents' evaluations of a CV survey: a case study based on an economic valuation of the Wildlife Enhancement Scheme, Pevensey Levels in East Sussex

Summary Environmental economists have developed a methodology for eliciting individual preferences by asking respondents to a contingent valuation survey how much they would be willing to pay for specified environmental 'goods'. Contingent valuation generates considerable debate, not least because it is unclear how people arrive at a monetary value or whether the elicited monetary value bears any relation to how individuals actually value the environmental 'good'. In this paper, we present preliminary results from a qualitative study of how respondents construct their responses to a CV survey, to suggest that the methodology does not measure what it purports to measure.     

An environmental justice assessment of public beach access in Miami,Florida

The scope of empirical environmental justice (EJ) research has expanded beyond hazards exposure to scrutinize social inequities in access to amenities, but no prior study has examined the EJ implications of public beach access. Furthermore, quantitative research on white privilege is very scarce. To address these knowledge gaps, our study examines racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequities in access to public beaches in the Miami metropolitan statistical area, Florida. Public beach accessibility is modeled with an innovative geospatial approach that involves population weighted distances to beach access sites. To assess EJ implications of public beach access for various racial/ethnic and socioeconomically vulnerable groups, spatial regression models are estimated using census tract-level data. Results indicate that beaches are more accessible to neighborhoods with a higher proportion of non-Hispanic Whites, while neighborhoods with higher percentages of Hispanics and socioeconomically disadvantaged residents have limited access. This study demonstrates the importance of assessing white privilege and access to environmental amenities in EJ research to better understand social inequities.     

Toward an Integrative Framework for Environmental Justice Research: A Synthesis and Extension of the Literature

Over three decades, environmental justice scholarship has examined justice movements through diverse perspectives shaped by their research traditions and disciplinary boundaries. This article distills three themes of justice from these research traditions in order to propose a four-dimensional environmental justice model. The proposed model includes four justice-seeking strategies—cultural justice, material justice, processual justice, and political justice—that movement groups adopt to mobilize their claims. I apply this model to the study of an environmental movement in Land Between the Rivers, Kentucky. Research findings from the case study concludes that movement strategies are plural and changeable and that justice is best conceived as a repertoire of justice-seeking strategies that are influenced by political alliances, economic preconditions, and cultural contexts.     

Confronting Power and Environmental Injustice: Legacy Pollution and the Timber Industry in Southern Mississippi

Research has documented how grass-roots activists deploy the environmental justice frame to convey their grievances and demand their right to health and safety. While scholars have highlighted the widespread success of this frame, little attention has been paid to instances where the environmental justice frame fails to resonate. Drawing from social movements and environmental justice literatures, we examine how local discursive and cultural contexts can pose barriers to environmental justice claims. Our case is based on legacy pollution from a decommissioned creosote facility in Southern Mississippi. When black residents discovered the pollution in their neighborhood, they made repeated appeals to authorities for remediation and compensation. After being denied inclusion in a lawsuit filed by white residents, they formed an environmental justice organization to mobilize support for their campaign. Findings reveal the importance of both historical contextualization and the social situation of frame deployers in analyses of the environmental justice frame.     

Reflections on the iconography of environmental justice activism

The United States environmental justice movement has grown in the last 20 years from tactical cooperation between civil rights and environmental activists on hazardous waste issues into a broad-based movement for social change. As dozens of organizations invest resources in an environmental justice agenda, it is important to examine how such organizations portray their stance toward the goals of the larger movement in order to better understand tensions within the movement between social justice and environmental protection, diversity and commonality, and localized and broader movement agendas. This paper explores what contemporary environmental justice imagery tells us about this social movement through a critical discourse analysis of environmental justice organizations' logos. The conceptual approach used here links a tradition of critical discourse analysis of textual materials with elements of a critical visual methodology. The paper examines how the social grievance of environmental injustice is constructed in relation to the social and natural world, and considers what these images tell us about the identities, relationships and modes of authority that constitute the contemporary environmental justice movement.     

Nonprofits and park equity in Los Angeles: a promising way forward for environmental justice

Disparities in park provision raise environmental and health justice concerns. With public agencies stepping back from providing environmental amenities in increasingly neoliberal urban regimes, nonprofits in the U.S. have assumed a prominent role in the parks and recreation sector. But very few studies have comprehensively assessed whether and how park nonprofits contribute to increasing or closing the equity gap in park provision. Focusing on Los Angeles, I analyze how park nonprofits operate and which demographic groups benefit from new and improved parks supported by nonprofits. Based on interviews with local practitioners and geospatial analyses, I find that nonprofits are leading a park equity movement in Los Angeles and helped address park disparities. To do so, nonprofits built diverse coalitions, leveraged complementary strengths, coalesced with public agencies, and helped generate public funds for parks. These findings show that equity-oriented nonprofits can successfully challenge the unjust outcomes of neoliberal governance.     

大理洱海旅游环境治理事件中的主体博弈与权益协商

以大理洱海环境治理事件为典型案例,基于半结构式访谈、观察法等质性方法,从环境正义视角切入分析洱海环境治理中的主体博弈与权益协商议题。研究发现,洱海的环境治理是一种以环境名义开展地社会治理与目的地管理过程,逐渐从治理水环境延伸至环境、民生、产业升级等多方面的综合治理;洱海治理隐含权力张力与利益冲突,本地村民、旅游经营者及地方基层政府三方基于合情、合理与合法性原则,围绕“情、理、法”逻辑进行利益博弈与协商;乡村旅游中的环境治理应置于乡村与社会治理框架体系下进行,关照民生与发展。环境正义理论可解释乡村旅游中的环境治理与冲突现象,为揭示环境治理背后的利益冲突与社会问题提供独特视角。     

Spatial Scale and Population Assignment Choices in Environmental Justice Analyses1

Environmental justice laws protect certain populations against discriminatory actions that may result from a myriad of enterprises, including transportation activities. Previous environmental equity studies examining the effects of transportation‐engendered externalities have been criticized on several points, including (1) that the choice of a reference population for comparison to the criterion variable may influence the outcome of research results and (2) that the selection and use of inappropriate methodologies intended to identify and characterize populations may foreordain research outcomes. This article examines the potentially confounding effects of selected spatial scale and population assignment strategies as applied to a study of excessive noise levels at a large Midwestern airport, finding that reported outcomes can vary significantly as a function of methodological choices.     

Modeling Environmental Concern for Urban Tree Protection Using Biophysical and Social Psychological Indicators

Urban forest management is being increasingly recognized as a viable policy vehicle for improving community health, sustainable development, and well-being for city dwellers. To improve our understanding of public concern for the local urban forest, a theoretical framework employing concepts traditionally explored in social–psychological and environmental concern studies was tested using data from a public opinion survey of 800 homeowners living in a major urban area in Southern Appalachia, USA. Publicly available geographic information system (GIS) data were analyzed to measure tree canopy density around survey respondents’ properties. Structural equation modeling was used to test the validity of the hypothesized relationships among the survey-derived constructs and the spatial data as predictors of public support for urban forest protection policy. The results suggest that homeowners living around urban trees place greater importance on various attributes of trees, and that tree knowledge and experience are indirectly and positively related to support for urban forest protection.     

Environmental Rationalism and Beyond: Toward a more just sharing of power and influence

Economics, especially the narrowly defined form of economics known as neo-liberal economics, along with its policy derivative known as economic rationalism, dominates public and political debate and decision-making in Australia and many other nations as the twentieth century approaches its close. In the context of environmental issues, as also in that of welfare issues, the present over-dominance is unhealthy. Despite the best attempts of environmental economists and ecological economists, they have had relatively little influence on the broader economic profession, or on the political and business communities. Economics and free trade also dominate the international scene at the expense of equity and environmental issues. Environmental debates, by their very nature, are usually complex, requiring interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches which include the economic perspective, but much else besides. Despite the importance of local context and spatial and temporal location, there is a need for a meta-theory or national philosophy to allow the integration across space and time so often needed. The present meta-theory, firmly based in economic rationalism, is inadequate as a basis for environmental decision-making. We desperately need a new meta-theory that explicitly integrates economic, environmental, welfare and many other perspectives. Perhaps such a meta-theory could be broadly based on the concept of sustainability, though much more work is needed to refine such an approach. A major swing in public opinion from the old meta-theory to the new is essential as a forerunner to political action, and education at all levels is needed to bring about this change. There are some signs that this change is already informing public opinion, and that it may have begun to influence mainstream Australian politics.     

Applying the Political Geography of Scale: Grassroots Strategies and Environmental Justice

The grassroots environmental movement often protests locally unwanted land uses. Many grassroots groups have, however, expanded their agenda to the scale of environmental justice. Explanations for this scale transformation include historical circumstances, individuals' radicalization through activism, and the growth of environmental justice networks. This case study, grassroots environmentalists' opposition to a proposed electricity transmission line in Monroe County, WV, explores another explanation: appeals for environmental justice are also a strategic response to siting regulatory procedures. With concepts emerging from the political geography of scale, I interpret the Monroe Countians' efforts and show how their strategies link the grassroots scale with that of environmental justice.