Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene Symposium 2017
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The School of Global Environmental Sustainability's Global Challenges Research Team hosted a two-day symposium, "Environmental Justice and Sustainability in the Anthropocene," on April 24-25, 2017 at the Lory Student Center at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. The symposium brought together faculty and graduate students, independent researchers, community and movement activists, and regulatory and policy practitioners from across disciplines, research areas, perspectives, and different countries. Environmental justice (EJ) is a central component of sustainability politics during the Anthropocene – the current geological age when human activity is the dominant influence on climate and environment. The overarching goal was to build on several decades of EJ research and practice to address the seemingly intractable environmental and ecological problems of this unfolding era. These digital collections include the program and symposium papers.
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Browsing Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene Symposium 2017 by Subject "climate change"
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Item Open Access Environmental justice and the clean power plan: the case of energy efficiency(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Martinez, Cecilia, authorThe purpose of this paper is to provide an outline of environmental justice (EJ) issues of the CPP, specifically with respect to energy efficiency. It is one of a complement of papers sponsored by the Milano School of International Sustainability at the New School that are intended to provide an EJ review of the CPP as a foundation for understanding the opportunities and challenges for integrating equity and justice in climate policy. The catalyst for this set of papers exemplifies one of the problematic issues of climate policy in the U.S. as it has developed over the last several years. While various policy mechanisms have been extensively analyzed in terms of economic efficiency, flexibility and costs of compliance, these stand in stark contrast to only a handful of research efforts that focus on equity impacts of domestic climate mitigation policy. Our goal here is to provide a summary of the major justice/equity issues associated with the CPP specifically, and mainstream climate and energy policy generally. As such, it is not intended to be an in-depth analysis, but rather a starting point for further policy research which we hope to continue.Item Open Access Garbage, power, and environmental justice: the clean power plan rule(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Baptista, Ana Isabel, author; Amarnath, Kumar Kartik, authorItem Open Access Operationalizing environmental justice through tools and approaches of the Climate Change Response Framework(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Swanston, Christopher W., author; Handler, Stephen D., author; Janowaik, Maria K., authorThe Forest Service recognizes that climate change poses a multi-generational challenge that spans borders, transcends unilateral solutions, and demands shared learning and resources (USDA Forest Service 2011). The Climate Change Response Framework (CCRF, www.forestadaptation.org) grew from this recognition, and was formally launched in 2009 to address the major challenges that land managers face when considering how to integrate climate change into their planning and management. Practitioners whose livelihoods and communities depend on healthy forests face daunting challenges when responding to rapid forest decline or preparing for future change, particularly tribal natural resources professionals and tribal communities (Vogesser et al. 2013). Emphasizing climate services support for these rural communities can help them build adaptive capacity in their cultural and economic systems, often considered fundamental to environmental justice. Supporting climate-informed decision-making by these practitioners and communities requires climate service organizations to show up, listen, and then creatively work with practitioners to meet their own goals on the lands they manage. The emphasis of the CCRF on stewardship goals, as opposed to climate change and its effects, represents a subtle but important shift in focus to people and their values.Item Open Access The dynamics of consumption activities by income level in Mexico and CO2 emissions(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Santillán-Vera, Mónica, authorThe overall purpose of this paper is to emphasize that consumption activities –which are considerably different among income levels– are drivers of CO2 emissions and particularly studying this picture of Mexico from 1965 to 2015. Although from the economic science most of the climate change studies have been based on the conventional approach focused mainly on the supply (activities and actors related with production sectors), some alternative approaches focused on the demand (activities and actors related with final consumption of goods and services) have already been developed, and some of them take into account economic inequality. The "consumption-based emission inventories" –which consider emissions embodied in products of consumption, whether locally produced or imported– are an option to estimate the impact of consumption activities of a country on CO2 emissions. However, consumption activities are not homogeneous within a country, so including in this scenario internal economic inequality allows allocating emissions among individuals and suggests an extreme carbon inequality between rich and poor people. From these alternative approaches, CO2 emissions of Mexico during 1965-2015 are analyzed by applying a simple expenditure-CO2 emissions elasticity model in order to allocate carbon responsibilities among income groups within the country. This top-down analysis uses consumption-based CO2 inventories and elasticities from 0.7 to 1.0 (based on estimates of previous bottom-up studies) and points out there has been a big carbon inequality among income groups all through this period. If an average of 0.9 elasticity is considered, in 2014 the poorest decile emitted 2.4 tons of CO2 per capita, while the richest decile emitted 13.3 tons, and the richest percentile 38.2 tons. This kind of studies –non-existent for Mexico– leads to rethinking the weight of income distribution and consumption patterns on climate change, as well as the allocation of mitigation responsibilities among both countries and individuals, thus opening up complementary options to design mitigation strategies and policies.Item Open Access Towards a framework for the intersection of environmental justice and climate change(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-25) Eisenhauer, Emily, author; Julius, Susan, authorIn 1994, the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJIWG) was established by Executive Order 12898 to advance environmental justice principles. In 2011 the EJIWG identified climate change as an important area of focus for increased reporting and for joint development of programs with impacted communities. To achieve these goals, a working group came together to develop a framework that articulates the intersection of EJ and climate change, provides a basis for using common terminology to support federal actions, supports the engagement of communities often left out of climate change conversations, and identifies needs and gaps to inform targeted education, communication, and implementation actions. A list of key terms was compiled from across the climate change science and climate justice research and community based work, as well as from community planning. Key questions that guided the development of the framework were: who is most vulnerable to climate change, and how? How does climate change interact with existing environmental justice disparities? How can disparities arising from the added effects of climate change be reduced, and how can opportunities arising from actions to mitigation and adapt to climate change be leveraged to reduce vulnerability? The framework draws on long- and well-established federal environmental justice programs that seek to reduce disparities in environmental impacts, and integrates more recent actions to address the impacts of climate change. It serves the goals of the EJIWG by illustrating how climate change and environmental justice issues interact to contribute to vulnerability, and how adverse outcomes can be minimized and beneficial outcomes maximized. Meaningful involvement of affected communities is a key factor in leading to these desired outcomes through maximizing co-benefits and utilizing equitable development.