Environmental Justice in the News

(Image: Nevada Lithium mine, Source)

Every week, students in ENVS 467/567 (Power, Privilege, and the Environment) discuss news pieces that touch on some aspect of social and environmental justice. Here are some of the articles and podcasts that we’ve been discussing (blurbs written by students in Spring 2021 ENVS 467/567 class):

 

Nevada Lithium Mine Kicks off a New Era of Western Extraction (High Country News) As the world searches for greener alternatives to our current capitalistic demands, more and more electric vehicles are hitting the market. Production of lithium batteries to power these vehicles are skyrocketing. Lithium mining is rapidly developing, and the creation of new mines is displacing indigenous communities as well as farmers and ranchers. This fast-paced development is revealing new environmental challenges as disposal of mining waste and consequential remediation plans remain unclear. How can the green movement expand to help solve the climate crisis while remaining just for people who are the most affected by climate change?

 

The article (High Country News) written by Anna V. Smith discussed the recent Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes century long land back fight victory to claim the Bison Range located on Flathead Indian Reservation. This land was claimed by President Theodore Roosevelt as federal land in 1908 without the consent of the tribes. Over the years co-management of the range came with backlash from anti-Indigenous groups in the area. NDN Collective’s LandBack campaign’s director: Krystal Two Bulls commented on the victory, “More than any other campaign that I’ve worked on or any other organizing space that I’ve been in, Land Back is one of the ones that holds the most hope.”

 

This article on accessibility to outdoor education (High Country News) prompted a reflection about outdoor education not being a one size fits all and about the ways that outdoor education institutions play a hefty role in alleviating physical barriers to environmental education, as well as psychological and physiological barriers of safety and belonging. Outdoor schools, as the article explains, are now requiring their educators to participate in an ‘anti-racism’ training. How effective are these kinds of training and how sustainable they are in implementing the learning beyond education and the training in general? In addition to training, representation for students through their educators is an incredibly important piece of fostering inclusivity in outdoor education.

 

Climate change can be a distressing and dismal topic to talk and learn about. To make matters worse, the media portrays the climate crisis as a doomsday scenario featuring the death of planet Earth. However, researchers like Diana Liverman claim that climate science actually points to hope and optimism in the face of this disaster. What’s more, she is concerned with the human dimensions of climate change. In this riveting interview presented in High Country News, editor Maya Kapoor and geographer Diana Liverman discuss the reach of environmental justice, from the devastating inequities in climate action that are often ignored, to the habitual leap to catastrophe made by the American press throughout the development of climate change and its consequences. Climate justice offers a more realistic perspective; the environmental actions being taken may help coastal towns and endangered species while simultaneously worsening social inequities. On top of this, much of the discussion around climate change has been sensationalist and anxiety-inducing. Liverman offers a “cautious-optimism” that has the capacity to incite equitable and empowering solutions to the climate crisis.

 

Violence against Asian Americans demonstrates the foundations of colonialism and white supremacy in America. Through the recent acts of violence against Asian American individuals we must reevaluate the origins of American infrastructure, culture, medicine, arts, foods, etc. What groups of people deserve recognition for this? Much of U.S. culture, environment, and society has been stolen from BIPOC communities. This plays out in natural/outdoors spaces including the lack of recognition, representation, or access in outdoor recreational spaces for BIPOC. This is also demonstrated with the unequitable impact of environmental ills, where the main groups of people effected are low income, people of color.

 

Cascadia conveys itself as an environmentally conscious area, and yet there are BIPOC communities experiencing the severe impacts of environmental hazards across the Pacific Northwest with little support or awareness from the local government or white environmental groups. For example, the Duwamish River, one of the nation’s largest toxic-pollution Superfund sites, is surrounded by a neighborhood with life expectancies falling 13 years lower than in wealthier neighborhoods in Seattle. This Grist article —  “Cascadia’s communities of color speak out against climate injustice” — explores how racial justice, climate justice, and economic justice are inextricably linked and how it is essential to consider the intersections of these movements.

 

An article in High Country News titled “Can a wildlife refuge help a community’s fight for environmental justice?” by Jessica Kutz discusses the ongoing struggle of environmental racism that communities of color face. With a focus in New Mexico, Kutz talks about the triumph for representation through the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge in Mountain View. The refuge became the first agency in the region managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services that worked with the industry-burdened community to leverage open space for a healthier environment. The significance of this refuge for communities like Mountain View, where the majority of residents identify as Latino, is that there is a sever lack of green space for communities of color. Recently, Mountain View has been struck again by environmental racism with the passing of a construction permit for an asphalt plant less than a mile from the refuge. Because it cannot get legally involved, the refuge has informed the city’s Environmental Health Department about the possible impacts on wildlife, which emphasizes the health of wildlife is prioritizes over the residents impacted by these polluting plants.

 

Air pollution is a central concern in many big cities across the globe. Though it affects people of every race, gender and class, only a privileged few have the time to worry about it, or the resources to mitigate it. In New Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, the problems are especially magnified. By analyzing the lifestyles of two children from different socioeconomic backgrounds and tracking how much polluted air they breathe each day, journalists painted a multimedia picture of inequality (New York Times). Aamya has the benefit of breathing more clean air than Monu, but both children are victims of an environmental issue they are powerless to stop