What is Environmental Justice

What is the Government's Role

What's in YOUR Backyard

Who are the Stakeholders We Talked to?

What Did We Learn?

Cross Cultural Issues in Environmental Justice:
Learning Through Listening

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What is Environmental Justice?

"The 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 a racial, ethnic, or a socioeconomic group, 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 programs and policies. Meaningful involvement means that: (1) potentially affected community residents have an appropriate opportunity to participate in decisions about a proposed activity that will affect their environment and/or health; (2) the public's contribution can influence the regulatory agency's decision; (3) the concerns of all participants involved will be considered in the decision making process; and (4) the decision makers seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially affected."

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What is the Government's role?

Environmental Protection Agency: link to the EPA homepage 

Earthday.gov
For information on Earth Day - April 22

Environmental Policy:

Executive Order 12898

President Clinton proclaimed this 1994 order to ensure consideration of environmenal justice concerns by federal agencies in decision making processes. This order focuses on environmental justice in relation to minority populations and low-income populations. Topics addressed are as follows: Agency Responsibilities; Development of Agency Strategies; Federal Agency Responsibilities for Federal Programs; Research, Data Collection, and Analysis; Subsistence Consumption of Fish and Wildlife; and Public Participation and Access to Information.

The Effects of Environmental Policy

http://www.nationalcenter.org/CEJ.html

Government Funding for Environmental Justice Projects:

Environmental Protection Agency: Office of Environmental Justice Grants

What's in Your Backyard?

Following are websites that allow you to rate your community for environmental hazards. 

www.scorecard.org
Scorecard offers free information that you need about pollution in your community. Type in a zip code to find out about local air pollution and toxic chemicals released by manufacturing facilities.

http://healthyamericans.org

Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority. 

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Who are the Stakeholders the Environmental Justice Class Talked to?

The Elakha Alliance

www.ecotrust.org/nativeprograms/elakha.html
Sea Otter Restoration off the OregonCoast

The Newport Fisherman’s Wives Association

www.heads-up.net/index.cfm

Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission

http://www.psmfc.org/

Oregon Department of Land Development and Conservation

http://www.lcd.state.or.us/

PACE-EH Grant Project
(Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health )

http://www.islandcounty.net/health/PACE-EH.htm

City of Salem Natural Resource Department

http://www.cityofsalem.net/~naturalr/

Environmental Justice Action Group - Portland, OR

http://home.teleport.com/~ejag/

Albany Paper Mill – Weyerhaeuser 

http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ourbusinesses/pulppaperpckging/containerboard/

Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis Campus

Home Page

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/welcome.html

Environmental Health and Safety Policy

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/envprogram/envpolicy.html

P

Venell Farm – Corvallis,Oregon

http://www.venellfeed.com/index.html

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What Did We Learn?

Luna: Many of the stakeholders that we talked to thought that the term “environmental justice” (EJ) was “weird.”Stakeholders that had careers based around the concept were the only ones that had a clearly defined idea of what EJ is.I hope that the message of EJ can be communicated despite the use of such a foreign word.Perhaps I can draw a correlation between the use of the term “feminism” and the term “environmental justice.” I think that many of our stakeholders are affected by and organize around environmental justice issues, like many people organize around feminist issues, although few self-define themselves as environmental justice advocates, or feminists.

In addition to learning about perceptions of the term “environmental justice,” I also learned about the importance placed on listening.Often stakeholders expressed concerns that their voices are not heard – whether fisherman, heavily regulated industry folk or people living with environmental hazards in their neighborhood.Many of the community leaders saw one of their roles as listening to people’s concerns about environmental issues.In addition to learning the importance of listening to stakeholders, the listening component of the class cannot be overstated.Being in a diverse working and learning student team requires patience, respect and dedication, in addition to listening skills.I cannot say that I came even close to perfecting any of these skills during this class, but I learned a lot about how far that I have to go in terms of working in groups – especially in intense, condensed circumstances such as this one.

One of our texts for the class was Anatomy of a Conflict: Identity, Knowledge, and Emotion in Old-Growth Forests by Terre Satterfield (University of British Columbia Press).As an anthropologist and Oregonian, I highly recommend this book.Here is a tidbit from the back of the book: 

“Satterfield shows how the debate about the forest is, at its core, a debate about the cultural make-up of the Pacific Northwest. To talk about forests is to talk about culture, whether the discussion is about scientific explanations of conifer forests, activists’ grassroots status and their emotional attachment to land, or the implications of past people’s land use for future forest management. An engaging ethnographic study, this book emphasizes the historical roots and contemporary emergence of identity movements as a means for challenging cultural patterns. It makes a significant contribution to culture- and identity-driven theories of human action in the context of social movements and environmental studies.”

This book relates to environmental issues in many ways including the struggle of different groups to be heard; by opposing groups, policy makers, scientists, the media and fellow U.S. citizens. 

Thanks for reading, 

Luna Latimer & Roxanne Williams