20 & 21: EJ Background and Modeling Flashcards
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (EJ)?
US EPA Definition
“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 groups, 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 policies.”
PROCEDURAL EQUITY/JUSTICE
Way in which decisions ae made.
Whose interests count? Who can participate? How is power distributed among those that can?
DISTRIBUTIVE EQUITY/JUSTICE
the distribution of consequences from decisions made. Environmentally focused on spatial distribution of environmental bads as well as goods.
Why does residential segregation by race, ethnicity, or class matter to EJ in the City?
Ø Connection to the growth machine concept Ø Importance of historical inscription in the urban landscape
Colonial legacy of social justice: cordons
sanitaires
barriers separating authorities from their citizens and other ethnic groups
cities using these tactics designed for control over production
SEGREGATION IN U.S. CITIES
Ø Long history of social control and housing discrimination Ø “Islands of poverty and despair” persist Ø Segregation measures
HISTORY OF EJ: LEGAL ACTION
1979 Fight Against Landfill in Middle-Class African-
American Neighborhood in Houston, Texas (Bean v.
Southwestern Waste Management Corporation)
Zoned for garbage?
HISTORY OF EJ: PROTESTS
1982 Warren County, North Carolina, Over 500 people
arrested for protesting PCB landfill
GAO Study ¾ hazardous waste landfills in EPA’s Region 4 (composed of 8 southern states) were in predominantly African-American communities
HISTORY OF EJ: UCC STUDY
1987 UCC Commission on Racial Justice found zip
codes with Hazardous Waste Facilities (HWFs) had an
average of 24% minority pop while zip codes without
HWFs had an average of 12% minority pop.
Ø A re-study using census tracts found no significant racial
differences between tracts with and without HWFs.
However, tracts with facilities appear to be in industrial
districts which are surrounded by working class
neighborhoods that are disproportionately minority and
poor.
Ø “Bulls-eye pattern”
Ø Many studies of Locally Unwanted Land Uses (LULU’s)
follow…
HISTORY OF EJ: NATIONAL SUMMITS
Ø 1991 First National People of Color Environmental
Leadership Summit
Ø Led to office of environmental equity in Bush EPA, and
then an office of environmental justice in Clinton EPA
Ø 2002 Second National People of Color Environmental
Leadership Summit
Ø Huge mobilization, 14,000 activists from communitybased
EJ organizations
Ø Particularly led by women activists, e.g., here in Los
Angeles, Mothers of East Los Angeles & Concerned
Citizens of South Central Los Angeles
HISTORY OF EJ: CLINTON’S EXECUTIVE ORDER
Ø In 1994 President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898
Ø It requires that the U.S. EPA and other federal agencies
implement environmental justice policies. These policies
were to specifically address the disproportionate
environmental effects of federal programs and policies
on minority and low-income populations.
Ø Requires environmental justice analysis of federal or
federally funded projects under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Ø Evidence of effects on programs is mixed and varies
across the U.S.
Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP)
Difficult to take accurate spatial measurements due to mismatched boundaries of spatial containers for data and boundaries of hazard data
Scale effect – spatial
data analysis at different
scales may produce
different results
Zonal effect –
regrouping zones at a
given scale may produce
different results
DASYMETRIC MAPPING FOR CENSUS DATA
Dasymetric mapping definition: “The use of data layers that
describe land use to approximate (estimate) more precise
distributions of populations within a census boundary.”
RISKSCAPE CONCEPT
Merge spatial data on exposure, vulnerability, and susceptibility
Create one map to guide policymakers on where to work to reduce cumulative exposure
CITIZEN-SCIENCE AS FUNDAMENTAL TO EJ
Old idea=“Bucketbrigades”
New idea= VGI
EJ idea= Community
shapes research
questions
Community groundtruths
Uniform protocols
