Environmental Justice

Abstract

This article gives an overview of the setting where, how, and why the environmental justice concern has emerged. The central forms of the debate will be presented and particular attention is cast on the cross-cultural interfaces of environmental justice in modernization and contemporary globalization. The article brings up the various historical articulations of environmental justice connected to the development of human and animal rights, health risks, minorities under ecological strains, and vulnerability concerns. A link is made to the centuries of Western colonialism, including its current neo and post versions. The article also summarizes the main approaches in human geography contributing to the debate on environmental discrimination and justice. Ethical and politico-ecological traditions are then presented. Finally, a community approach is introduced, grounded on those geographical views that focus on the central role of socio-environmental networks and co-associations, both local and translocal, in developing the ideas and relations that generate what is considered just and acceptable.