"Environmental justice or eco-justice, is a social movement to address environmental injustice, which occurs when poor and marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit."
The study of how urban development projects often displace and harm marginalized communities.
Environmental Injustice: Refers to the unequal distribution of environmental hazards, pollution, and its effects on marginalized communities.
Race and ethnicity: The influence of race and ethnicity on the severity of environmental hazards faced by marginalized populations.
Urban development: How urban development has led to the exacerbation of environmental problems in communities of color, particularly in low-income neighborhoods.
Social inequality: How social inequality and economic disparities have led to unequal access to clean air, water, and other environmental resources.
Environmental policy: The history and impact of environmental policies in marginalized communities, particularly policies that are discriminatory or exclusionary.
Health disparities: The disparities in health outcomes and increased risk for chronic illnesses faced by marginalized communities due to environmental racism.
Community activism: How communities have organized and advocated for their rights in the face of environmental injustice and racism.
Environmental justice movement: The history and evolution of the environmental justice movement and the impact it has had in addressing environmental racism.
Intersectionality: The intersection of race, gender, class, and other identities in environmental racism, and the importance of considering these intersections in addressing environmental issues.
Climate change: The impact of climate change on marginalized communities of color and how climate policies can affect them differently.
Toxic Waste Sites: Communities of color often live near toxic waste sites, which can have negative health effects such as respiratory illness, cancer, and birth defects.
Air Quality: Low-income neighborhoods often face poorer air quality in cities due to proximity to factories, highways, and other sources of pollution.
Industrial Waste: Low-income communities and communities of color often live in closer proximity to industries producing hazardous chemical waste.
Water Pollution: Minority neighborhoods can face higher levels of contamination in their water supply, which can have harmful health effects.
Lead Poisoning: Community of color children are more likely to be exposed to lead through contaminated soil and water pipes due to zoning practices.
Climate Change: Low-income communities are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to lack of resources and investments in adaptation initiatives.
Disasters: Due to economic disadvantages, minority communities may be disproportionately affected by natural disasters, including by floods or hurricanes.
Infrastructure Placement: Minority neighborhoods can see large infrastructure projects like highways, airports or power plants built near them, resulting in losing access to public space or local amenities.
Gentrification: Upscale or exclusive urban development projects can lead to the displacement of low-income communities from affordable housing areas.
Food Deserts: Minority communities in urban areas can also face obstacles accessing fresh and healthy food, as grocery stores are often few and far apart.
"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."
"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 a large interdisciplinary body of social science literature that includes contributions to political ecology, environmental law, and theories on justice and sustainability."
"Environmental injustice, which occurs when poor and marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit."
"The movement began in the United States in the 1980s."
"The movement 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 the Global South (as, for example, through extractivism or the global waste trade)."
"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."
"Local outcomes of these conflicts are increasingly influenced by trans-national environmental justice networks."
"Environmental justice scholars have produced a large interdisciplinary body of social science literature that includes contributions to political ecology, environmental law, and theories on justice and sustainability."
"Exposure to environmental harm is inequitably distributed."
"As the movement achieved some success in rich countries, environmental burdens were shifted to the Global South."