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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Item Open Access 01 Program: Environmental justice in the Anthropocene symposium(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Colorado State University. School of Global Environmental Sustainability, author"We have planned a diverse, international Symposium on Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene. In this program, you will find logistical information about the symposium, the School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES) Environmental Justice and Sustainability in the Anthropocene Global Challenge Research Team (GCRT), Colorado State University, and Fort Collins."Item Open Access 02 Agenda: Environmental justice in the Anthropocene symposium(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Colorado State University. School of Global Environmental Sustainability, authorFinal agenda for the "Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene Symposium" held on April 24-25, 2017, Colorado State University, Fort Collins Colorado.Item Open Access A matter of respect: TEK(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Greenwood, Kim, authorItem Open Access Achieving emissions reductions for environmental justice communities through climate change mitigation policy(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Sheats, Nicky, authorThis paper focuses on emissions reductions for EJ communities under the Clean Power Plan in particular as well as climate change mitigation policy in general and argues that these reductions should be both mandatory and planned. The next section of the paper discusses why, from an EJ perspective, equity should be an integral part of climate change mitigation policy; then the need for climate change mitigation policy to produce emissions reductions for EJ communities is discussed; this is followed by an explanation of why neither the Clean Power Plan nor carbon trading programs in general can guarantee emissions reductions for EJ communities in the manner needed; then a specific mechanism for achieving these reductions under the Clean Power Plan is proposed; and the paper concludes with several final thoughts. Many of the ideas contained in this paper have been presented before in various forms in comments submitted by this author on behalf of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. However, additional ideas, discussion and detail are included here.Item Open Access Adaptation in the Anthropocene: issues of justice in national adaptation programmes of action(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-25) White, Abbie, authorAdaptation is and will continue to be an opportunity to tackle the effects of climate change with the potential to address or exacerbate issues of justice. Adaptation activities and governance can support or derail just transitions and just futures. This is of particular importance for vulnerable communities, who contribute less to the drivers of climate change, but are burdened with more of the effects. In recognition of global inequalities and the specific vulnerabilities of least developed countries (LDCs), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) developed National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs). NAPAs are a way for LDCs to determine and communicate their urgent adaptation needs and provide an avenue for adaptation activities to be funded. This paper analyses the considerations of justice that are inscribed in NAPA reports submitted to the UNFCCC. In doing so, it will examine issues of distributive justice and procedural justice embedded in the NAPA reports and preparation process. While the broad idea of NAPAs addresses issues of inequality and justice at a global scale, by applying to LDCs, this paper questions whether these rhetorical commitments to justice are actualised in the reports and whether a commitment to justice is carried through to the most vulnerable communities within countries. NAPAs can be seen as a governance tool that in theory can address issues of justice. Fair and transparent governance, planning and implementation of adaptation measures is necessary to avoid exacerbating existing inequalities and the creation of new injustices within and between current and future generations. This paper aims to contribute to this symposium by providing insights into the justice considerations in NAPAs.Item Open Access Bioenergy and social sustainability in Yucatan, Mexico: an elaborated understanding based on energy justice(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Banerjee, Aparajita, authorA few years back jatropha projects were promoted in Yucatan, Mexico like many other countries in the global south for bioenergy production mainly by federal agencies. The aim was that jatropha biodiesel projects would provide energy security along with rural economic revitalization. When the projects started their operations, community members living proximate to the projects got localized employments that benefited them in some ways. However, some years later, the projects closed down due to several reasons. In this paper, we present results of our qualitative study conducted in rural Yucatan to understand how the communities were affected by the projects, and how the projects did not ensure long-term socio-economic sustainability of the area. We also show that though the Yucatecan bioenergy projects were aimed to solve fossil-fuel energy-based problems like energy crisis and climate change at national and international levels, these projects did not solve localized energy-related problems. Community members themselves continued using firewood in traditional three-stoned fire pits for their domestic cooking while working in jatropha plantations for producing biodiesel meant for national or international consumers. Based on our results, we argue that while planning bioenergy projects or any other renewable energy projects, it is critical and just to ensure how such projects can improve localized energy access related issues especially when such projects are sited in marginalized rural communities.Item Open Access Brazilian environmental justice in crisis: traditional peoples, environmental governance, and the limits of socioeconomic inclusion(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-25) Azenha, Gustavo S., authorThrough exploring the ongoing and intensified struggles between traditional peoples over land and natural resources in Brazil, I analyze the limitations of current forms of environmental decision-making and socioeconomic inclusion, and the contradictory impulses of sustainable development in which these are embedded. I examine the conjoined evolution of policies for economic development, the environment, and traditional rights since the 1980s in Brazil, exploring the shifting terrain of environmental justice struggles during different political economic phases, including democratization in the 1980s, the rise of neoliberalism in the 1990s, the postneoliberal turn of the early 2000s, and the current re-entrenchment of neoliberalism accompanying Brazil's political and economic crisis. Since the 1980s, there has been an overall trend towards strengthening socioenvironmental movements, policies, and governance, but in the last few years, there has been an erosion of traditional peoples' influence in environmental policies and an undermining of traditional land and resource rights. These trends occur alongside what have been seemingly contradictory efforts at promoting poverty alleviation and socioeconomic inclusion under the guise of sustainable development. I argue that these efforts are based on narrow conceptions of inclusion and citizenship that are modest in scope, focused on the short-term, and overlook critical structural matters. The promotion of socioeconomic inclusion has insufficiently safeguarded established rights and has limited participation in policymaking in important ways, yielding forms of sustainable development in which environmental and social concerns are superficial and echo historical exclusionary, assimilationist, and developmentalist efforts to promote "progress". With the strong conservative backlash of the current political and economic crisis, even these deficient efforts at socioeconomic inclusion are being scaled back, at the same time that environmental policies and traditional rights are being deeply eroded, posing serious challenges for cultivating a just and sustainable future. Because of the inseparable links between nature and state-making in Brazil, and the important role Brazil plays in international environmental governance, my analysis of contested ecologies in Brazil brings insights into the broader contradictions and limitations of global sustainable development efforts and the persistent challenges to cultivating more inclusive forms of environmental governance.Item Open Access "Building the bigger we" for climate justice(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Goloff, Benjamin Max, authorItem Open Access Contested suburban mobilities: towards a sustainable urbanism of justice and difference(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-25) Zhou, Shimeng, authorMainstream understandings of sustainability are dominated by post-political discourses that tend to favour technological solutions while overlooking social justice. This paper draws attention to the different and often uneven ways in which sustainable urban environments, and their associated practices of citizenship and mobility, are produced and contested. By combining critical approaches to sustainable urbanism, ecological citizenship and mobility with social practice theory, this paper highlights the social justice dimensions of 'green' transitions through the case of a cycling-promoting initiative within a sustainable regeneration project ('Sustainable Järva') in Järva, an ethnically diverse suburb outside Stockholm, Sweden. The results reveal divergent understandings of suburban regeneration and ecological citizenship among different groups, and the deeply political nature of cycling. In 'Sustainable Järva', the practices of ecological citizenship promoted have overlapped with norms and values linked to a 'Swedish' identity associated with environmental responsibility, familiarity with nature, and active outdoor mobility, thus normatively reproducing power structures of class and race in the public opinion on desired forms of ecological citizenship and mobility. The results challenge post-political understandings of 'sustainability', affirming that just transitions to sustainable futures that ensure both the 'green' and the 'just' require environmentally progressive ontologies of sustainability, urbanism, ecological citizenship and mobility, promoting ecologically sound transitions while accommodating difference, and addressing the joint environmental and social justice implications for diverse communities.Item Open Access Ecopopulism and environmental justice in eastern and south Europe(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-25) Antal, Attila, authorI am dealing in this paper with the question of environmental and climate (in)justices in Eastern and South Europe (ESE). At first, I will refer the theoretical pillars of environmental justice and my statement is that there is an expanding sphere concerning environmentalism which has grounded the theory of climate justice. The environmental justice has been expanded to climate justice, because it increasingly addressed that the environmental and social conditions provide for individual and community needs and functioning and justice depends on the environmental conditions. It has been put forward here that populism could bring closer the importance of environmental and climate related disasters to the people's everyday lives and experience. In the next part of this paper the connection of climate justice and social problems in ESE has been analyzed. The investigation elaborated here is based on a very important initiative called Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities and Trade (EJOLT) and its Environmental Justice Atlas. I will focus on two main environmental and climate injustice caused challenges: the first one is the situation of the Roma communities in ESE, and the second one is the emerging case of fuel or energy poverty. It has been raised here that an elitist populist regime, for instance in Hungary, how can damage the case of environmental and climate justice with instituted biopower. I will conclude this paper that we need to (re)enhance the social nature of environmental problems and this will strengthen the environmental consciousness in ESE. The relating discourse of environmental and climate justice in ESE is need to be based on environmental identities constructed on ethnical and social solidarity. Finally, we should have a look on the biopolitical structure of modern State.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 Environmental justice dialogues and the struggle for human dignity in the deciduous forest of Bangladesh(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-25) Ahmed, Farid, author; Low, Nicholas P., authorThe paper presents environmental justice dialogues in the Madhupur Garo community in Bangladesh. The Garo community, which identifies itself as adivasi meaning 'indigenous', has occupied the deciduous forest of Madhupur in Bangladesh for centuries, developing a symbiotic relationship with nature. An environmental justice movement, called the "Eco-park Movement" has long been protesting a government development plan to establishing an "eco-park'' in the Madhupur deciduous forest. The eco-park plan has interfered with the Garo's right to life and livelihood as well as threatening them with possible eviction from their traditional land. From their protest movement, the concept of environmental justice has acquired a meaning with emphasis on human dignity. The Garo community not only defines environmental injustice as a lack of access to the decision-making process, information and judiciary but includes other elements: obstruction to fair access to environmental resources for livelihood, threat to the economy, health, trade, education, security, privacy and right to life. Finally, the Garo connect all these environmental human rights issues with rights to self-determination and human dignity.Item Open Access Environmental justice, conservation, and the politics of pipelines(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Lester, Julie A., authorThe United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved the construction of a natural gas pipeline through three southern states. Supporters of the pipeline focused on the economic benefits that pipeline construction would bring to communities, while those in opposition questioned the environmental justice and ecological impact of pipeline construction. This paper will explore the politics of the approval and construction process for the pipeline with a focus on the narratives of public and private actors in support of and in opposition to the pipeline. Through an analysis of narratives presented in the media, public hearings, and other sources, interested parties may learn more about how stakeholders highlighted issues related to economics, environmental justice, and conservation to advance their agenda.Item Open Access Food beyond rights: where resistance meets cooperation(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Valle, Gabriel, authorOne distinctive characteristic of life in the Anthropocene is uncertainty, but that uncertainty is not equally felt amongst the general population. In this essay, I argue that while the new norms of life in the Anthropocene may encourage a placeless, timeless world where individuals appear to be constantly at odds against their own existence, the so-called marginals make use of uncertainty to forge revolutionary subjectivities that enable new ways of being, seeing, and interacting with each other in the search of more just and sustainable worlds. The purpose of the essay is to describe the ways in which a group of low-income and recent immigrant gardeners, those who are often more exposed and vulnerable to the uncertainty of life in the Anthropocene, cultivate new subjectivities that forge alternative pathways toward justice in order to better their quality of life.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 Institutions of environmental democracy and environmental justice: the case of Chile(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-25) Baver, S., authorItem Open Access Intersectional oral histories: method and praxis in environmental justice research(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-25) Larkins, Michelle L., authorThe compatibility of intersectional theory and environmental justice research seems self-evident. Central to the framework of intersectionality, is the concept that subjective identities create interlocking categories through which the inequalities of power are experienced—individually and socio-structurally within communities. Foremost among many environmental justice scholars is the acknowledgement that new theoretical orientations and qualitative investigative methods are needed to address the emerging spatial and contextual heterogeneity of environmental justice research (Schlosberg, 2013; Szasz and Meuser, 1997). In my own work, I am interested in problematizing the feminization of the EJ movement/framework—a feminization I argue can impact the distribution of resources (power). I do this by examining how hegemonic conceptions of masculinity and femininity shape women's engagement in community action. In this paper, I explore the construction and negotiation of identity of women actors who are involved in environmental and food justice projects from two separate Rocky Mountain West communities; the first a small community near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the second, three contiguous and primarily Latino neighborhoods outside of Denver, Colorado. Using the oral histories of women (n=11) involved in these projects, and a framework of intersectionality, I demonstrate how gender interlocks with other identities (such as femininity, citizenship, and place) to mediate environmental realities, experiences of injustice, and claims for recognition and restoration (Whyte, 2014). My intent in drawing on this research approach is to incorporate embodied human reality and to establish settings where individuals are able to name their experiences/feelings and simultaneously reflect on meaning (Anderson et al, 1990). I will illustrate how this type of approach is well suited to social praxis, citizen science engagement with communities who can incorporate these narratives into their own work, and can help EJ scholars move toward transdisciplinarity.Item Open Access Is renewable power reaching the people and are the people reaching the power? Creating a just transition from the ground-up(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-24) Farrell, Caroline, author; Stano, Madeline, authorThis article will examine how the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE) and the residents we work with are planning a Just Transition in the historic heart of California's oil and gas industry. Like many extractive-based economies, the oil and gas industry has created dependence and cycles of poverty. Tied to oil and gas for its economic growth, yet overburdened by its pollution, California reflects the paradox facing many extractive economies around the world. The article will discuss how state climate policies and targeted private investment can be implemented at the local level to improve community health, build community wealth, and create accountable governance systems that benefit low-income communities and communities of color. We will begin by discussing the Environmental Justice's Movements definition of a Just Transition. We will also discuss how California's climate policy has evolved over the last few years to incorporate elements of a Just Transition Framework. Finally, the article will discuss the case study of Arvin, CA, a low-income Latino community in the heart of the oil and gas industry we are working with to plan a project to become 100% fossil fuel free.Item Open Access One earth, one species history and one future: planet justice and indigenous resistance in the Anthropocene(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017-07-25) Pandit, Saptaparni, author; Purakayastha, Anindya Sekhar, 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.