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11.368

Environmental Justice: Law and Policy

3-0-9 units · Graduate

Introduces frameworks for analyzing and addressing inequalities in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, particularly by race and by class. Explores the foundations and principles of the environmental justice movement from the perspectives of social science, public policy, and law. Introduces basic principles of US constitutional and environmental law, with a focus on equal protection and civil rights. Applies environmental justice principles to contemporary issues in urban policy and planning, including effects of and responses to climate change and global heating. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

Fall 2019 · Environmental Justice Law and Policy

This seminar introduces students to basic principles of environmental justice and presents frameworks for analyzing and addressing inequalities in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens from the perspectives of social science, public policy, and law.

Readings

  • Bullard et al.,“Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: 1987–2007,” pp. x–14
    Listed reading
  • Pellow, Garbage Wars , pp. 1–99, 161–169
    Listed reading
  • Pulido, Environmentalism and Economic Justice , pp. 1–56, 191
    Listed reading
  • LaDuke, All Our Relations , pp. 1–6
    Listed reading
  • Coates, Between the World and Me , pp. 149–152
    Listed reading
  • Harvey, Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference , Chapter 8: pp. 176–204
    Listed reading
  • Auyero and Swistun, Flammable , pp. 1–20, 140–160
    Listed reading
  • Freeland, “Environmental Justice and the Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2001”
    Listed reading
  • Class Sessions: 6. Forms of Regulation: Standard-Setting, Markets, Disclosure · Readings: Standard-Setting
    Reading assignment
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of General Counsel, “Plan EJ 2014”
    Listed reading
  • Class Sessions: 7. Scales of Action: Federal, State, and Local Policies to Advance Environmental Justice · Readings: Federal Responses
    Reading assignment
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “EJ 2020 Action Agenda” [skim]
    Listed reading
  • Class Sessions: 8. The Production of Environmental Knowledge, Litigation, Mobilization · Readings: The Production of Environmental Knowledge
    Reading assignment
  • Corburn, Street Science , pp. 47–77
    Listed reading
  • Corburn, Street Science , pp. 25–46
    Listed reading
  • Fischer, Citizens, Experts, and the Environment , pp. ix–28
    Listed reading
  • Sze, Noxious New York , pp. 143–211
    Listed reading
  • Anguelovski, Neighborhood as Refuge , pp. 195–219
    Listed reading
  • Complaint Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [skim]
    Listed reading
  • Pastor et al., “In the Wake of the Storm,” Chapter 1
    Listed reading
  • Pellow, Resisting Global Toxics , pp. 73–95
    Listed reading
Fall 2004 · Environmental Justice

Topics

  • Introduction
  • Views of Environmental In-Justice
  • Local and National Mobilization
  • Theories of Justice and the Environment
  • Reviewing the Evidence
  • Modes of Environmental Justice Analysis
  • Government Responses
  • Environmental Justice in Practice
  • Exporting Injustice
  • Presentations
  • Presentations (cont.)
  • The Future of Environmental Justice

Readings

  • Bullard, Robert. “ Race, Class, and the Politics of Place .” Chapter 2 in Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality . Boulder: Westview Press, 1990. ↗
    Listed reading
  • Rechtschaffen, Clifford, and Eileen Guana. “Theories of Causation.” Chapter 2 in Environmental Justice: Law, Policy, and Regulation . Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2002, pp. 27-52.
    Listed reading
  • U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Not in My Backyard: Executive Order 12,898 and Title VI as Tools for Achieving Environmental Justice . 2003, pp. 13-28. Available online ( PDF - 1.9 MB ). ↗
    Listed reading
  • Cole, Luke W., and Sheila R. Foster. Chapter 1 in From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement . New York: New York University Press, 2001, pp. 19-33.
    Listed reading
  • Checker, Melissa. “Like Nixon Coming to China’: Finding Common Ground in a Multi-Ethnic Coalition for Environmental Justice.” Anthropological Quarterly 74, no. 3 (2001): 135-146.
    Listed reading
  • “ Principles of EJ .” The First National People of Color Environmental Summit . ↗
    Listed reading
  • Gottlieb, Robert. “Ethnicity as a Factor: The Quest for Environmental Justice.” Chapter 7 in Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement . Washington, DC: Island Press, 1993, pp. 235-269.
    Listed reading
  • Pellow, David N. “Environmental Inequality Formation: Toward a Theory of Environmental Injustice.” American Behavioral Scientist 43, no. 4 (2000): 581-601.
    Listed reading
  • Schlosberg, David. “The Justice of Environmental Justice: Reconciling Equity, Recognition, and Participation in a Political Movement.” In Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental Practice . Edited by A. Light and A De-Shalit. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, pp. 77-106.
    Listed reading
  • Rechtschaffen, Clifford, and Eileen Guana. “The Evidence.” Chapters 2 and 3 in Environmental Justice: Law, Policy, and Regulation . Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2002, pp. 55-83.
    Listed reading
  • Willliams, B. “A River Runs Through Us.” American Anthropologist 103, no. 2 (2002): 409-431.
    Listed reading
  • Institute of Medicine. “Research.” In Toward Environmental Justice - Research, Education, and Health Policy Needs. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999, pp. 23-43.
    Listed reading
  • Pulido, Laura. “A Critical Review of the Methodology of Environmental Racism Research.” Antipode 28 no. 2 (1996): 142-159.
    Listed reading
  • Fox, M. A. “Evaluating Cumulative Risk Assessment for Environmental Justice: A Community Case Study.” Environmental Health Perspectives 110, no. 2 (2002): 203-209.
    Listed reading
  • Maantay, J. “Mapping Environmental Injustices: Pitfalls and Potential of Geographic Information Systems in Assessing Environmental Health and Equity.” Environmental Health Perspectives 110, no. 2 (2002): 161-171.
    Listed reading
  • Taquino, M. “Units of Analysis and the Environmental Justice Hypothesis: The Case of Industrial Hog Farms.” Social Science Quarterly 83, no. 1 (2002): 298-316.
    Listed reading
  • Corburn, Jason. “Combining Community-Based Research and Local Knowledge to Confront Asthma and Subsistence-Fishing Hazards in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.” Environmental Health Perspectives 110, no. 2 (2002): 241-248.
    Listed reading
  • Williams, Robert W. “The Contested Terrain of Environmental Justice Research: Community as a Unit of Analysis.” The Social Science Journal 36, no. 2 (1999): 313-328.
    Listed reading
  • Gaylord, Clarice E., and Elizabeth Bell. “Environmental Justice: A National Priority.” Chapter 2 in Faces of Environmental Racisim: Confronting Issues of Global Justice by L. Westra and B. E. Lawson. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001, pp. 29-41.
    Listed reading
  • Rechtschaffen, Clifford, and Eileen Guana. “The Executive Order on Environmental Justice,” and “Memorandum.” In Environmental Justice: Law, Policy, and Regulation . Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2002, pp. 391-397.
    Listed reading
  • Environmental Justice in the Permitting Process (1999)
    Listed reading
  • Environmental Justice and Community-Based Health Model Discussion(2000)
    Listed reading
  • NEJAC Report on Integration of Environmental Justice in Federal Programs (2000)
    Listed reading
  • Fish Consumption and Environmental Justice (2001)
    Listed reading
  • Advancing Environmental Justice through Pollution Prevention (2002)
    Listed reading
  • U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Not in My Backyard: Executive Order 12,898 and Title VI as Tools for Achieving Environmental Justice . 2003. Skim chapters 3 and 4. Available online ( PDF - 1.9 MB ). ↗
    Listed reading
  • Kellogg, Wendy A., and Anjali Mathur. “Environmental Justice and Information Technologies: Overcoming the Information-Access Paradox in Urban Communities.” Public Administration Review 63, no. 5 (2003): 573-585.
    Listed reading
  • Illsley, Barbara M. “Good Neighbour Agreements: The First Step to Environmental Justice?” Local Environment 7, no. 1 (2002): 69-79.
    Listed reading
  • Warner, Kee. “Linking Local Sustainability Initiatives with Environmental Justice.” Local Environment ." 7, no. 1 (2002): 35-47.
    Listed reading
  • Hillman, Mick. “Environmental Justice: A Crucial Link Between Environmentalism and Community Development.” Community Development Journal 37, no. 4 (2002): 349-360.
    Listed reading
  • National Academy of Public Administration. Addressing Community Concerns: How Environmental Justice Relates to Land Use Planning and Zoning . 2003. Read the executive summary and any other sections of interest. Available online ( PDF - 3.5MB ). ↗
    Listed reading
  • Clapp, Jennifer. “Hazard Transfer From Rich to Poor Countries.” Chapter 1 in Toxic Exports: The Transfer of Hazardous Wastes from Rich to Poor Countries . Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001, pp. 1-20.
    Listed reading
  • Dubal, Veena, Jung Lah, Ian Monroe, and Martha Roberts. “Why Are Some Trade Agreements Greener Than Others? NAFTA versus the European Union.” Earth Island Journal 16, no. 4 (Winter 2001).
    Listed reading
  • Koenig, Kevin. “Chevron-Texaco on Trial.” World Watch 17, no. 1 (2004): 10-19.
    Listed reading
  • Yang, Tseming. “Of Borders, Fences, and Global Environmentalism.” Chicago Journal of International Law 4, no. 1 (2003): 237-244.
    Listed reading
  • Adeola, Francis. “Cross-national Environmental Injustice and Human Rights Issues: A Review of Evidence in the Developing World.” The American Behavioral Scientist 43, no. 4 (2000): 686-706.
    Listed reading
  • Goldman, Benjamin. “What is the Future of Environmental Justice?” Antipode 28, no. 2 (1996): 122-141.
    Listed reading
  • Agyeman, J, R., Bullard R., and V. Evans. “Exploring the Nexus: Bringing Together Sustainability, Environmental Justice and Equity.” Space and Polity 6, no. 1 (2002): 70-90.
    Listed reading

Prerequisites & course information

Subject meets with 11.148 Prereq: None G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units

Sources