Environmental Justice and Resiliency in an Age of Uncertainty

Celeste Murphy-Greene

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000590852
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Environment & Energy Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book examines the issue of environmental justice across 11short chapters, with the aim of creating a resilient society.

Starting with a history of the environmental justice movement, the book then moves on to focus on various current environmental issues, analyzing how these issues impact low-income and minority communities. Topics covered include smart cities and environmental justice, climate change and health equity, the Flint Water Crisis, coastal resilience, emergency management, energy justice, procurement and contract management, public works projects, and the impact of COVID-19. Each chapter provides a unique perspective on the issues covered, offering practical strategies to create a more resilient society that can be applied by practitioners in the field.

Environmental Justice and Resiliency in an Age of Uncertainty will be of interest to upper level undergraduate and graduate students studying race relations, environmental politics and policy, sustainability, and social justice. It will also appeal to practitioners working at all levels of government, and anyone with an interest in environmental issues, racial justice, and the construction of resilient communities.

1An Overview of Environmental Justice

Celeste Murphy-Greene

DOI: 10.4324/9781003186076-2

Introduction

In recent years, the environmental justice movement has gained much momentum. What several years ago was rarely mentioned in the media or by policy makers is now considered a mainstream environmental issue. The social unrest of the summer of 2020 called attention to the inequities faced by minorities in all facets of life, including the environment. This chapter will discuss the difference between equality, equity, and justice, the factors that lead to the creation of an environmental justice community, and provide an overview of the environmental justice movement from its origin to the present day. While they sound similar, there is a definite distinction between equality, equity, and justice. Equality focuses on equal treatment of all. Applying an equality principle to society would assume everyone benefits from equal resources regardless of their individual needs. However, equality fails to meet the unique and varying needs of all individuals. Equity focuses on providing everyone the resources they need, based on the needs of the individuals. Affirmative action is an example of equity in action. Justice removes systematic barriers causing inequity. Justice is based on the principle that individuals do not need accommodations or supports because the barriers or factors causing the inequity have been removed. When applying the justice principle to the environment, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) defines environmental justice as follows:

The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Fair treatment means that no group of people, including racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group 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.

US EPA, 2021a

The three main focus areas of environmental justice are: (1) The distribution of the effect of environmental pollution, (2) the environmental policy-making process, and (3) the administration of environmental protection programs. Thus, environmental justice focuses on the fairness of environmental procedures, taking a participatory approach to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental protection programs. This involves recognizing historic causes of inequities, and working with administrative agencies and diverse groups to address these injustices.

Social Vulnerability and Environmental Justice

There are many factors that lead to the creation of an environmental justice community. In order to better understand what an environmental justice community looks like, one must explore the issue of social vulnerability. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, social vulnerability refers to “the resilience of communities (the ability to survive and thrive) when confronted by external stresses on human health, stresses such as natural or human-caused disasters, or disease outbreaks. Reducing social vulnerability can decrease both human suffering and economic loss” (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2021). It is important to understand a community’s social vulnerability risk to disasters as well as chronic issues such as environmental pollution. Environmental pollution is a risk factor contributing to health problems in communities throughout the United States and globally (Murphy-Greene, 2007, 2010; Murphy-Greene & Leip, 2002).

Figure 1.1Social Distance Model

The Social Distance Model in Figure 1.1 helps illustrate the factors that contribute to a community’s vulnerability, leading to exposure to environmental pollution. Social Distance Indicators include: (1) One’s income, (2) education, (3) property ownership, (4) use of the dominant language, (5) laws and their legal rights, and (6) race/ethnicity of the individual. When there is a negative outcome for the Social Distance Indictors, it leads to: (1) Poverty, (2) alienation, (3) lack of skills, (4) economic exploitation, (5) lack of use of the dominant language, (6) lack of information on laws and legal rights, and (7) few choices and alternatives for employment and housing. The combination of negative outcomes of these indicators leads to a vulnerable community at risk of exposure to environmental hazards and a lack of protection from environmental laws. Environmental risk factors come in many forms including pollution released in the air from factories and cars, toxic chemicals disposed of in waterways and on land, and pesticides from agricultural applications. Communities at greater risk of exposure to environmental pollution are referred to as environmental justice communities. In order to address the environmental inequities that exist throughout the United States, the environmental justice movement evolved. This chapter will now discuss the evolution of the environmental justice movement from its inception to today.

Beginning of the Environmental Justice Movement

In 1971, the Council on Environmental Quality issued a report acknowledging the impacts of racial discrimination on the urban poor and their environment (Bryant & Mohai, 1992). This report is the first national recognition of racial disparities when examining the impacts of environmental pollution. However, the event that sparked the environmental justice movement is the 1982 Warren County, North Carolina protest of a hazardous waste landfill. This grassroots protest gained national attention and is considered by many the seminal event in the environmental justice movement.

The environmental justice movement has made tremendous progress since it began in 1982. The Warren County protest set off a chain of events at the national level. In response to the Warren County, NC protest, in 1983, the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office [GAO]) issued a report citing Blacks were disproportionately impacted by hazardous landfills in the South (US EPA Region 4). This GAO report led to a 1987 study by the United Church of Christ that found race was the most significant variable tested in association with the location of commercial hazardous waste facilities (United Church of Christ, 1987).

Also, in the 1980s, Chicago resident and community activist, Hazel Johnson, an African American woman, worked to alert city, state, and national policy makers of the health problems plaguing her community after her husband’s early death from cancer. Ms. Johnson discovered there was a high incidence of cancer in her community, the Altgeld Gardens housing project, which she labeled a toxic doughnut due to the many landfills and polluted air surrounding her neighborhood. She founded the grassroots organization, People for Community Recovery. Her community organizing efforts helped address issues facing her housing complex such as asbestos within the walls of the buildings and cyanide and other toxins in the drinking water. In 1992, Ms. Johnson was awarded the President’s Environment and Conservation Challenge Award by President Bill Clinton. Ms. Johnson, who died in 2011, made a significant contribution to the environmental justice movement and is considered the “Mother of Environmental Justice” (Rush, 2019).

Robert Bullard (1990), who is considered the “Grandfather of the Environmental Justice Movement,” published the book Dumping in Dixie, what is considered the first book on environmental justice. In it, Bullard blames the government at all levels for institutional racism and discriminatory land-use policies and practices. Dr. Bullard has written extensively on environmental justice and has been a major force in the environmental justice movement. Also in 1990, the University of Michigan held a conference titled Conference on Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards. This conference gathered academics and policy makers to address environmental inequities in minority communities.

The National Law Journal article by Coye and Lavelle (1992) illustrated racial divide in the way the US government cleaned up toxic waste sites and punished polluters. The authors argued White communities saw faster action, better results, and stiffer penalties than minority communities.

US Environmental Protection Agency and Environmental Justice

In response to growing evidence of environmental health inequities throughout the United States, in 1992, the US EPA created the Environmental Equity Workgroup. This workgroup was charged with examining the issue of what was then called environmental equity. In 1992, the US EPA established the Office of Environmental Equity. In 1993, the name was changed to the Office of Environmental Justice. The Director of the Office of Environmental Justice was an African American woman named Dr. Clarice Gaylord. Dr. Gaylord conveyed the challenges of directing this newly established office. Dr. Gaylord stated: “I was given a big title but very little funding. I had to go to Congress asking for money” (Gaylord, personal communication). In addition to the challenge of obtaining funding for the newly created Office of Environmental Justice, Dr. Gaylord was charged with assembling a staff and working to address environmental justice within each agency and federal department.

To help guide the EPA in advancing environmental justice, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) was established in 1993. NEJAC consists of 25 members appointed from stakeholder groups representing community members, academics, business, tribal governments, non-government organizations (NGOs), and state and local governments. The goal of NEJAC is to provide independent advice to the US EPA on environmental justice.

Federal Policies Supporting Environmental Justice

President Clinton Signs Executive Order 12898

A major step in the environmental justice movement was in 1994 when President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority and Low-Income Populations (US EPA, 2021b). This Executive Order (EO) was the first federal policy addressing environmental justice. EO 12898 requires all federal agencies and departments to develop and execute a plan to address environmental justice and led to the establishment of the Interagency Working Group (IWG), chaired by the EPA administrator. The IWG comprises the heads of 11 cabinet-level federal departments and agencies such as the Justice Department, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Commerce. The IWG meets monthly to continue work on collaborative projects addressing environmental justice.

Following the signing of EO 12898, the challenge for the US EPA and all the federal agencies and departments was how best to implement this new policy. In 1995, the US EPA issued the Environmental Justice Strategy: Executive Order 12898. This provided a set of goals and objectives for the agencies to help achieve environmental justice. In 1997, the EPA released the Environmental Justice Imple...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Endorsement
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 An Overview of Environmental Justice
• 2 Climate Justice and Vulnerable Populations
• 3 COVID-19: Addressing Health Equity in the United States
• 4 The Flint Water Crisis
• 5 Anti-Resilience Factors of Environmental Justice Communities
• 6 Environmental Justice and Smart Cities
• 7 Advancing Energy Justice Through Local Clean Energy
• 8 Emergency Management and Environmental Justice: Disaster Preparedness in Vulnerable Communities
• 9 Public Works: A Partner to Build More Equitable Communities
• 10 Public Procurement and Contract Management for Environmental Justice and Resiliency
• Conclusion: Building a Justice-Focused Resilient Path Forward
• Index