Enviornmental Biology

Ethical obligations to the environment are usually closely connected to ethical obligations toward people, particularly poor people and minority groups.  Environmental justice is about ensuring that no group is made to bear a disproportionate burden of environmental harm.  Environmental justice is also about ensuring that governments develop and enforce regulations fairly across different segments of society.  The environmental justice movement has forced environmentalists to recognize that you cannot think about protecting nature without also thinking about people.

As you move around your community this week, identify the areas that appear to have the worst environmental quality.  Find out the general description of the people who live and work closest to these areas.  Do you think there are any environmental injustices in your community?  Why or why not?

Must be a minimum of 300-500 words…..I know that sounds like a lot, but these 2 little paragraphs contain 150 words…..

Save your work as a word document.

**Also, before you begin writing, I want to clarify the meaning of environmental justice…..environmental justice refers to an equitable spatial distribution of burdens and benefits across the board.  Another way of saying this is that if there is "good stuff" or "bad stuff" it should be spread evenly throughout a community; the "bad stuff" (like pollution, industrial facilities, crime, etc..) should not be disproportionately dispersed among racial minorities or residents of economically disadvantaged areas.  If it IS, then this would be considered environmental injustice, and often the root cause is institutionalized racism, unresponsive or unaccountable government policies and regulations or lack of resources or power in affected communities.