Environmental Justice

All forms of environmental justice encompass an issue of social justice. The recognition of this principle is fundamental to understand that environmental justice, as traditionally known in the United States, or climate justice at a global scale, is not only about addressing the disproportionate negative impacts of climate change and other environmental problems in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) and underserved communities, but it also entails the unequal distribution/access to the benefits of nature.

Readings

• Agyeman, J., Schlosberg, D., Craven, L., & Matthews, C. (2016). Trends and directions in environmental justice: from inequity to everyday life, community, and just sustainabilities. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 41.
• Almahdi, A. Climate Justice is Racial Justice. The McGill Tribune [Online].
• Álvarez, L., & Coolsaet, B. (2020). Decolonizing environmental justice studies: a Latin American perspective. Capitalism nature socialism, 31(2), 50-69.
• Bullard, R. D., Warren, R. C., & Johnson, G. S. (2005). The quest for environmental justice. Human Rights and the politics of pollution.
• Dhillon, J. (2018). Introduction: Indigenous resurgence, decolonization, and movements for environmental justice. Environment and Society, 9(1), 1-5.
• Finney, C. (2014). Black faces, white spaces: Reimagining the relationship of African Americans to the great outdoors. UNC Press Books.
• Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.
• Penniman, L., & Washington, Karen. (2018). Farming while Black: Soul Fire Farm's practical guide to liberation on the land. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing. (book)
• Schlosberg, D., & Collins, L. B. (2014). From environmental to climate justice: climate change and the discourse of environmental justice. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 5(3), 359-374.
• Taylor, D. E. (2000). The rise of the environmental justice paradigm: Injustice framing and the social construction of environmental discourses. American behavioral scientist, 43(4), 508-580.

At Stanford

• The Environmental Justice Working Group (EJWG) at Stanford is an intergenerational collective working to embed environmental justice into our research, teaching, and community-engagement at Stanford.  

EJ Mapping Tools

The following tools allow you to correlate environmental to demographic indicators. 

• EJSCREEN- EPAs environmental justice mapping and screening tool that combines environmental and demographic indicators.
• EJ Atlas- Global atlas of social conflict around environmental issues
• Energy Justice Network- Existing, proposed, closed and defeated dirty energy and waste facilities in the United States.

External EJ Organizations

• 350.org
• Center for Health, Environment & Justice
• Climate Justice Alliance
• Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment
• Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
• Center for Diversity & the Environment
• California Environmental Justice Coalition – CEJC
• California Environmental Justice Alliance
• Communities For A Better Environment 
• Green For All
• Indigenous Environment Network
• US Climate Action Network (USCAN) 
• WE ACT for Environmental Justice