Global Environmental Justice Case Study
Environmental injustice is not just a single harmful event/action/result, but rather a complicated history of political, social, and economic interactions leading up to, and continuing beyond, the contested instance of perceived injustice. – Julie Sze and Johnathan London
The principals of Environmental Justice embrace “a far-reaching spatial and temporal scale, addressing histories of colonialism, imperialism, and genocide of indigenous cultures.” Therefore, in this case study we will develop both an understanding of a particular event/action/result and the broader context within which this event occurs. Your understanding of historical and colonial context is critical to this exercise. Working with a partner:
Find a aprticular event/action/result and develop an environmental justice case study. Issues may include: global waste/toxic flow, minority access to resources, Global Climate Change, impact of race on official response to environmental disasters or disaster planning, increased exposure to droughts, flooding, storms, and sea-level rise, indigenous sovereignty and resource extraction/protection.
OR
Find a particular indigenous people and develop a case study of their forms of knowledge about landscape, farming, or other skills that may be inspirations in the fight against climate change.
Each report should include the following elements
Global Environmental Justice:
- Context: Brief illustrated history of the community/place impacted, and industry/resource involved including maps locating the community and the source of pollution. (25% Graded based on the depth and nuance of the history. You should do your best to report from community sources rather than outside perspective.)
- Description of the Problem: Provide a description of the problem within the critical context of Environmental Justice (30%: graded based on critical/analytical lens and evidence of your understanding of the issues of Environmental Justice)
- Key Actors and Strategies: Who are the key actors in the community, politics/government/regulatory agencies and industry representatives? What strategies did activist used to combat the problem? What strategies did industry use to argue for their position? (20%: clear and complete description of distinct positions and arguments from both sides of the issue)
- Solutions/Recommendations: Solutions enacted and any additional recommendations (10%: clarity and creative understanding)
- References (15%: consistent citation format, reveals deep investigation through diverse sources)
OR
Indigenous Forms of Knowledge:
- Context: Brief illustrated history of the indigenous community/place including maps locating the community. (25%: graded based on the depth and nuance of the history. You should do your best to report from community sources rather than outside perspective.)
- Description of Indigenous Knowledges: this may including topics such as landscape intelligence, sustainable crafts or building practices, sacred landscapes, plants, animals, celestial bodies, and natural features, rituals or beliefs associated with the physical environment, Cosmological beliefs reflected in the built environment and the landscape (30%: graded based on clear description of knowledge, its origin, and a critical/analytical lens in relating this knowledge to Global Climate Change and your understanding of the issues of Environmental Justice)
- Key actors: Who are the key actors in the community? Who holds this knowledge? How is this knowledge currently practiced? How is it passed to the next generation? (10%: clear and complete description of distinct positions and arguments from both sides of the issue)
- Strategies: Ideas about how these knowledges relate to or may be solutions/inspirations for addressing Global Climate Change (20%: clarity and creative understanding)
- References (15%: consistent citation format, reveals deep investigation through diverse sources)
Document should be a total of 1250 – 1500 words (excluding references)
Reference: Environmental Justice Maps: https://ejatlas.org