1. EGS1003: Section on International Environmental Justice and the Climate Change Challenge Mary Lawhon (marylawhon@gmail.com)marylawhon@gmail.com This work by Mary Lawhon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

2. “The fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, incomes, and educational levels with respect to the development and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” (US EPA, undated)

3. The concept is usually used in terms of its opposite: Evrn Injustice or Evrn Racism Disproportionate impacts of environmental hazards born by specific populations: Controversy over dominant factor: – race, class, gender, etc

4. Different enforcement of existing regulations, laws enforced better, higher penalties given in wealthy/white areas Different groups benefiting from regulations By Sean Wilson for SEI

5. Environmental hazards are more likely to be found near communities of colour “Documented” by the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice (1987) Concluded race is the most significant variable in determining the location of risk-producing facilities By Sean Wilson for SEI

6. EJ issues are symptomatic of greater social inequalities, such as lack of representation and participation in decision-making bodies “All socioeconomic groupings tend to resent the nearby siting of major facilities, but middle and upper socioeconomic strata possess better resources to effectuate their opposition.” (Bullard, 1998)

7. Economic rationality of polluting the global South? Demand for clean environment comes after basic needs are met?

8. “Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs?” Low wages (cheap deaths) Little existing pollution (so we should be able to pollute with less impact) Poor people care less about the environment (Lawrence Summers, chief economist at the World Bank- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers_memo)

9. “Environmental activists of color have usually had better luck winning support for their cause by appealing to more justice-oriented groups” than ‘mainstream’ environmental groups. (Bullard, 1998)

10. How applicable are these ideas in the African context?

11. US EPA Environmental Justice Key Terms http://www.epa.gov/region07/ej/definitions.htm [web link checked November 2011]http://www.epa.gov/region07/ej/definitions.htm Bullard, R. D. (1998). Anatomy of environmental racism and the environmental justice movements. In J. S. Dryzek & D. Schlosberg (Eds.), Debating the earth: The environmental politics reader (pp. 471-492). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.