Difference between revisions of "Category:Environmental Justice"

Environmental justice asserts that everyone should be able to live in a clean environment and be healthy, not just those who can afford it. See also Native Americans, Chemicals and Air

Katrina five year anniversary shows EJ still a factor in the Big Easy, but Brad Pitt's green houses are a bright spot (audio)

Robert Bullard, sociologist widely regarded as the first to articulate the concept of environmental justice. One of the leaders of the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991. Most recently has been writing about Hurricane Katrina as the latest environmental sacrifice zone. Professor Bullard was featured in the July 2007 CNN People You Should Know, Bullard: Green Issue is Black and White - CNN.com

In this interview Bullard explains why the environmental justice movement is different than mainstream environmental organizations.

EJ Resource Center

Global Warming and climate change may be the ultimate EJ topic. Early Warning Signs from all over the world from Slate and NPR Living on Earth. See also Bangladesh article. Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting provides a view from Bangladesh, a nation already reeling from the impact of climate change.12/09

How have hurricane responses also created Superfund sites in poor neighborhoods? Bullard discusses this in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now.

See Majora Carter, Van Jones, Winnona LaDuke and others on the Eco-Heroes page, as well as the links below.

Majora Carter video ***** Environmental Justice

Van Jones (Oakland CA Environmental Justice). Jones, civil rights leader and founding and executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Jones has made a name for himself linking prisons and environmental injustice, working in a pro-active way to ensure that marginalized inner city youth will not miss out on the next wave of “green capitalism.”In this short one page article Van Jones argues against the environmental limits idea, but showing that the damage from Hurricane Katrina was not just the force of nature, but the negligence of the U.S. government. Good simple article for considering how environmental justice gets defined. Interview 2008 book on greening the economy. Book Excerpt. Here is an Oct 2008 interview (audio).

Winona LaDuke Native American activist. article on native rice and GMO's.

Human Rights in Cancer Alley by Ike Sriskandarakah The residents of Mossville Louisiana live in the shadow of 14 petrochemical refineries. Community members allege that their high rates of cancer stem directly from these plants. After years of making this argument in American courts they sought a higher judicial body. Now, for the first time ever, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will hear an environmental human rights case against the United States. Audio 4/10(7:30)

Pablo Fajardo and Luis Yanza are fighting for justice after what has been called one of the most catastrophic environmental disasters in history. They leading an unprecedented community-driven legal battle against a global oil giant. According to the plaintiffs, beginning in 1964 and through 1990, Texaco dumped nearly 17 million gallons of crude oil and 20 billion gallons of drilling wastewater directly into the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Twenty-Five Stories from the Central Valley, an online exhibit, uses photos, theater, stories and sound to paint a vivid picture of the environmental toxins that “the other Cali­for­nia” lives with every day. Women leaders give us a window into the little-known lives of people who are making this region safer for everyone. Their stories are shocking, sad, and inspiring.

Organizations

Greenaction: To learn more about Bradley Angel's Environmental Justice work with Greenaction and what you can do to help the people of Kettleman City link

Environment Justice for All Recently did a national tour, and has posted videos (including Oakland, Silicon Valley, Hunter's Point, Delano)

(S)heroes of EJ, by EJ Resource Center.

Directory of EJ organizations, including Pesticide Action Network

Video

(See also Environmental Films)

Majora Carter video ***** Environmental Justice

Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action

Van Jones "A New Green Deal" (see Eco-heroes). 2009

Unnatural Causes is a seven hour documentary on environmental justice shown on PBS. Extensive coverage of Native Americans, food, diabetes and asthma. More information and segments ***

Toxic Tour (Deborah Woo's East Bay tour) / produced by Community Television of Santa Cruz County 1998 Media Center VT6652

Audio

Planet Harmony is FUBU green stories, including eco-heroes.

[The Promised Land http://www.thepromisedland.org/episodes] is a public radio show about leaders and visionaries who are transforming lives and communities for/by people of color. Includes Majora Carter and Winona LaDuke.

Toxic sites in California and how we are dealing with them (includes brownfields and Hunter's Point).

Urban Forests contains stories about revitalization of the Bronx, as well well as a link to Tales of Urban Forests and

Brownfields are abandoned industrial hazardous waste sites, the most infamous is Love Canal, another site, which helped spark the third wave of the American eco-movement. CA railroads are offering land for development. Now, these are an important aspect of environmental justice.

Dr. Beverly Wright is a sociology professor at Dillard University and director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in New Orleans. Dr. Wright says she's seeing a significant change in EPA's attitude toward environmental justice issues, starting with the new administrator Lisa Jackson.

Agricultural pesticides. Much of inland California is rural and poor, a sharp contrast with hip, upscale coastal life. Residents in the rural regions sometimes live with a high degree of pollution. LOE.org roducer Devin Robins visited three women who became activists over concerns for their communities’ health. 3/10

In collaboration with the online magazine theRoot.com, Tell Me More speaks with a panel of writers and advocates. Environmental justice activist Majora Carter, along with Dayo Olopade and Kai Wright from theRoot.com tell us what they think about being both black and green. April 22, 2009. Link

NPR's Tavis Smiley takes a closer look at how the so-called "environmental justice" movement has evolved with Barry Hill, director of the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice, and Vernice Miller-Travis, co-founder and board member of West Harlem Environmental Action. 2004

Books

In Sacrifice Zones, Steve Lerner tells the stories of twelve communities, from Brooklyn to Pensacola, that rose up to fight the industries and military bases causing disproportionately high levels of chemical pollution. Lerner is the author of Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving Today's Environmental Problems 1998) and Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor (2005), both published by the MIT Press. video

Faber, Daniel, Capitalizing on environmental injustice : the polluter-industrial complex in the age of globalization / Daniel Faber. Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, c2008. Google Book

Environmental justice and environmentalism : the social justice challenge to the environmental movement/ edited by Ronald Sandler and Phaedra C. Pezzullo Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2007 S&E Stacks - GE220 .E578 2007