All Environmental Politics is Local?

Abstract

War in our time has focused attention on inequality as a cause of conflict. Inequality takes many forms, with implications for health, amenity, opportunity, and education. Its effects range from social unrest to outright conflict and terrorism. It is commonplace to think that gross inequality exists only in developing countries, but it seems to be characteristic of all societies. Of course, its consequences in developed countries are likely to be found in morbidity rather than mortality, in opportunity and participation in civil society, and in the provision of amenities. Attempts to achieve greater equality are often described as a search for 'environmental justice', although this is something of a misnomer, because the injustices to be righted are those directly affecting human beings rather than biodiversity or habitat. The characteristic plot of an inequality play pits ordinary citizens against greedy industry and/or insensitive government. Within this genre, there is any amount of scholarly writing on environmental injustice and its remedies. Consultative mechanisms are popularly recommended for dispute resolution, as are new policies for consultation. But does 'consultation' mean that industry and government have to do what those involved in the consultation