Environmental Justice Research Articles

Environmental legislation analysis improvement approach of global marine plastic pollution from the perspective of holistic system view

Marine plastic pollution (MPP) has posed an unavoidable challenge to the conservation of marine ecosystems, escalating at an unprecedented rate. It extends beyond visible pollution, infiltrating the food chain and microcirculation, ultimately affecting the life and health of marine organisms. Of even greater concern is the fact that MPP has been found to penetrate human bloodstreams. The international community increasingly focuses on MPP, and has formulated a series of laws and regulations. This article analyses marine pollution prevention legislation within the context of international environmental resolutions and conventions, including those established by the United Nations, the European Union law and the domestic legislation of sovereign states. It is evident that the current legislation has played a pivotal role in the preventing MPP. However, global legislation on preventing MPP remains fragmented. The problems existing in the current legislation should be reviewed from the holistic systems perspective, and the integrity and systematicness of new plastics convention should be demonstrated. The proposed Marine Plastics Convention should emphasize environmental justice, protect the rights of vulnerable populations, lower the threshold for risk prevention, and focus on addressing residual risks. It must include clear provisions for regulating hydrosphere plastic pollution (HPP) to mitigate land-based pollution and scientifically define fundamental legal concepts to foster coordinated action among States. Moreover, the convention should establish standardized monitoring methodologies and assessment criteria to ensure accurate evaluation of the pollution status.

Mindfulness in Action: Buddhist Environmental Activism of Earth Holder Berlin

This study explores the intersection of mindfulness practice and environmental activism within the Earth Holder Berlin (EHB) group, a part of the Order of Interbeing (O of I) inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh. EHB, established in 2020, integrates the principles of engaged Buddhism and endeavors to advance social and ecological justice through mindful actions. Using a qualitative methodology, this research employs semi-structured interviews and participant observation to investigate the experiences of EHB members. The findings demonstrate the transformative potential of Buddhism in ecological discourse, illustrating how EHB members embody epistemic entanglement, intertwining their Buddhist backgrounds with climate knowledge. This integration not only enhances personal transformation but also serves as a catalyst for social and ecological justice, enriching our understanding of engaged Buddhism in contemporary environmental movements.

EHT and environmental justice at EPA Victoria: Aspirations and regulatory realities

Abstract EPA Victoria (Australia) is a statutory authority that regulates polluting activities and advises other Victorian government departments on relevant policy settings. In 2016, a public health function was installed at EPA Vic to provide emergency health messaging during pollution events, review research evidence of environmental-health relationships and assess industry-contracted health risk assessments of polluting entities. An Environmental Health Tracking Network (EHTN) is under development to support these activities. The EHTN is an agile data and analytical infrastructure for translating expertise across an expanding multidisciplinary network of public health researchers, EPA operational staff and public sector policy makers. Its current interactive dashboards calculate health impacts and associated costs of air pollution scenarios, model land-use influences on land and water contamination and identify coincidences of sociodemographic-, urban environment- and pollution exposure-disadvantage in a high spatial resolution environmental justice (EJ) framework. Regulatory leverage of EHTN intelligence, however, requires legislated EJ thresholds and/or legally tractable costing of industry-externalised human health impacts. Thus, to establish triggers for more stringent conditions on polluting activities and promote equity of interventions and regulations, novel regionally and EJ specific health risk functions are required. Considering these ambitions and challenges, the EHTN at EPA Vic is focussed on 1) identifying and characterising vulnerable populations at high spatial resolution, 2) estimating associated exposure-health effect size modifications using primary epidemiological methods and 3) applying these to health impact and cost assessments of pollution and waste. We seek defensible grounds on which to impose more stringent standards for polluters and redress entrenched social, health and economic disadvantage. Speakers/Panelists Hanna Tolonen THL, Helsinki, Finland

“This story must be told:” unveiling environmental and social tapestry in Imbolo Mbue’s How Beautiful We Were

AbstractThe article examines Imbolo Mbue’s How Beautiful We Were from the scant critical attention to the question of reading Oil Culture in the light of Climate Change within the context of ecocriticism and narratology. This novel is a powerful commentary on the environmental, social, and epistemic injustices inflicted upon the Kosawa people, whose lives hung between the crossfire of corporate greed and governmental corruption. Employing eco-narratology as a critical lens, this article delves into how Mbue’s storytelling reflects and critiques environmental injustices while advocating for collective resistance. By examining the interplay of narrative techniques and ecological themes, this article fills the gap of engaging with the detrimental effects of oil extraction on the environment in the context of climate change, which have been under the radar and considered as a form of spatial amnesia within the realm of oil fiction studies. By intertwining a cluster of concepts, including chronotope, memory, and environmental justice, this analysis enhances our understanding of contemporary petroculture and advocates for a shift in energy consumption and ecological responsibility discourse.

Exploring the professional discourse on environmental social work: a descriptive content analysis of selected publications from Germany and the US

Climate change and its disproportionate impacts on vulnerable groups have prompted the social work profession to become increasingly involved in environmental justice issues. Academic discourse on environmental social work has surged in the last decade, but limited studies examine its implementation by practitioners or information dissemination by professional organisations. Translational research highlights the crucial role of professional associations in informing practitioners of new scientific discoveries and practice paradigms. This qualitative content analysis compares a small selection of articles and podcast episodes published through the professional associations of social workers in the US (the National Association of Social Workers) and Germany (the Deutscher Berufsverband für Soziale Arbeit e.V.), respectively, focusing on environmental social work and its implications for the social work profession. The findings suggest that publications from both countries use similar arguments for proving the relevance of climate change issues for the profession but diverge considerably in their focus on how environmental social work should be applied.

Who is Willing to Learn About Inequality? Predictors of Choice Exposure to Messaging About Racial Disparities in Air Pollution Effects Among Black and White U.S. Residents

ABSTRACT Widespread public awareness is needed to address health disparities and push for effective and equitable solutions. However, in a high choice media environment, this can only be achieved to the extent that people opt to consume disparity messaging. Drawing on theories of selective exposure, the present research uses a pre-registered online study conducted with U.S. adult participants to examine identity-based predictors of choice exposure to a racial disparity message about the health consequences of air pollution. Findings indicate that racial identity and environmental justice awareness are key predictors of disparity message selection, likely motivated by information utility and a bias toward congenial information. Altogether, results underscore the difficulty of raising awareness of disparities beyond impacted or already well-informed groups and highlight the need to examine more creative messaging strategies in order to broaden public awareness.

Empowering marginalised communities: Leveraging indigenous knowledge for sustainable energy development in South Africa

AbstractAmidst South Africa's volatile energy landscape—characterised by political turbulence, economic instability and Eskom's chronic financial and operational challenges—the imperative for transformative reform is both urgent and indispensable. Municipalities are confronted with deteriorating infrastructure, recurrent power disruptions and widespread electricity theft, which collectively exacerbate the national energy crisis. This paper investigates the integration of indigenous knowledge systems within the country's energy sector as a strategic response to these persistent challenges, promoting the empowerment of marginalised communities and advancing environmental sustainability. Anchored in the theoretical frameworks of environmental justice and indigenous rights, the paper advocates for Afrocentric paradigms such as traditional resource governance and community‐driven energy solutions. Employing thematic analysis of secondary data, it evaluates the viability and prospective benefits of this paradigm shift. The paper posits that the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in energy practices not only presents tangible solutions to the energy crisis but also cultivates socio‐economic empowerment and reinforces environmental stewardship.

Children’s participation in green space planning: a pathway to environmental justice

ABSTRACT Green spaces provide multiple benefits to physical and mental health, especially for children. Meanwhile, children are not typically included in most participatory processes regarding green spaces and their needs, if at all, tend to be represented by adults. This study attempts to answer the following research questions: (1) Does the degree of children’s participation differ depending on the spatial scale of green space planning processes? (2) How can children’s participation be interpreted in the context of environmental justice? We used mixed methods to assess the legal condition, process flow and products of three participatory processes regarding green space planning in Lodz (Poland). Our findings demonstrate that even the seemingly well-intentioned processes may fail to adequately incorporate children because of procedural inconsistencies and other deficiencies. Even if a process allows children to express their opinions, it fails to translate these voices into reality. We highlight the need to increase awareness of the importance of children’s inclusion in participatory processes to guarantee that their needs are considered, endow children with pro-environmental behaviours, and promote the idea of civil society. We contribute to the environmental justice debate by demonstrating the necessity of differentiating between procedural and participatory environmental justice dimensions.

Indigenous Peoples' Rights Discourse: Toward Hemispheric Indigenous Climate and Environmental Justice

Indigenous Peoples' Rights Discourse: Toward Hemispheric Indigenous Climate and Environmental Justice

Environmental justice of Texas recreational water quality – The disproportionate E. coli levels and trends

The presence of pathogens is one of the leading causes of stream water quality impairment in the US. Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a fecal pathogen indicator and also signals the presence of more pathogenic microbes. Although it is reported that Black, Indigenous, and communities of color suffer more from E. coli contamination, there is a lack of investigation of the potential inequality of E. coli contamination in recreational waterbodies, particularly regarding whether this inequality persists over the long term. Using E. coli monitoring data from 1,424 stations from 2001 to 2021 in Texas, we tested the research hypotheses of racial and economic inequalities in E. coli levels and trends with quantile regression and logistic regression approaches. We found that economic disparities had a more significant relationship with E. coli contamination in Texas recreational waterbodies than racial disparities after controlling for building age, land covers, imperviousness, and precipitation. The economic disparities in E. coli contamination were more prevalent after 2010 and in extreme E. coli levels. In addition, implementing watershed protection plans could mitigate the economic disparities associated with the rising trend of E. coli levels between 2001 and 2021. Findings from this research underscore clean surface water deprivation from underserved communities and call for inclusive watershed management strategies to address the water quality injustice.

Iman Peoples Water Sovereignty: Extractive Industries in Central Queensland

The coal seam gas (CSG) industry has rapidly expanded in the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) over the past two decades, significantly impacting groundwater ecosystems and Indigenous communities that rely on these water sources for cultural, spiritual, and practical purposes. This article examines the intersection of Water Sovereignty, extractive industries, and key issues such as Social License to Operate (SLO), Indigenous Peoples' rights, informed consent, and the legal doctrine of Aqua Nullius. Through an Indigenous perspective, this research illuminates the multifaceted dimensions of water governance and the complexities that arise from the interactions between Indigenous stakeholders, industries, and regulatory frameworks. Through interviews with Elders of the Iman Peoples in central Queensland, the research highlights how current SLO frameworks neglect Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and fail to uphold ethical standards necessary for protecting Indigenous cultural continuity. Water security is a primary concern, with Traditional Owners emphasizing the need to safeguard surface and groundwater for future generations. This research informs policy at local and national levels while contributing to global discussions on Indigenous sovereignty, environmental justice, and cultural heritage protection. It calls for integrating Indigenous knowledge and rights into water governance, promoting respect, equity, and sustainability in managing natural resources.

Voices in Education: Bolstering Social Studies Education and Revitalizing Democracy Through Action Civics

The University of Southern California (USC) Democracy Project responds to the inadequacies of traditional civics education, particularly its failure to engage marginalized students in meaningful democratic participation. Grounded in the theories of John Dewey and Paulo Freire, the project uses an action civics model to connect students with real-world issues, promoting critical thinking, collaboration, and civic responsibility. This article describes the curriculum development process, highlighting partnerships with teachers and community stakeholders and a pilot study involving 23 diverse educators. Using a mixed methods approach—including pre-surveys, classroom feedback, and artifact analysis—the pilot revealed strong alignment with civics education standards. Notably, 95% of teachers rated the curriculum highly relevant, and students showed increased engagement and leadership in addressing issues like environmental justice and reproductive rights. Action civics helped bridge equity gaps by empowering students from underserved communities to take localized civic actions, such as public campaigns and advocacy projects. This research underscores the potential of action civics to revitalize civics education. The project calls for expanding across grade levels, integrating media literacy to help students critically navigate digital spaces, and scaling the curriculum to prepare students for the complex challenges of democratic life.

Extreme Heat and Air Quality: Community Leader Perspectives on Information Barriers and Opportunities in Two Environmental Justice Communities.

Extreme heat and air pollution exposure are leading causes of adverse cardiorespiratory health outcomes. Exposure reduction strategies are often focused at the local level. This study examined critical challenges community leaders face in understanding and sharing environmental exposure and health information. We conducted interviews with 19 community leaders of two urban environmental justice communities in Massachusetts, United States. Using directed content analysis, we examined air quality and heat perceptions, information and data resources, and barriers to understanding and communicating relevant local information. Participants shared concerns about both poor air quality and extreme heat. They also expressed the opinion that exposure risk information about these topics is siloed; heat and air quality data can be hard to access, interpret, and effectively communicate with community members. Solutions recommended by participants included community engagement, open-data portals, and creative science communication. Increasing sustainable collaborations among academic, government, healthcare, and nonprofit sectors is recommended.

Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development: Cumulative Environmental Exposures and All-Cause Mortality in Colorado Counties

(1) Background: Colorado’s (CO) Environmental Justice mapping tool, CO EnviroScreen, quantifies environmental injustices through “EnviroScreen Scores”, highlighting areas likely affected by environmental health disparities. Identifying the specific scores most strongly associated with mortality could help prioritize interventions and allocate resources to address these issues. This study contributes to sustainable development goals by examining the relationship between environmental justice indicators and population health outcomes. By utilizing the CO EnviroScreen tool, we assess how cumulative environmental exposures and vulnerabilities impact mortality rates, providing insights for sustainable planning and public health policies. (2) Methods: We assessed the cross-sectional association between county-level all-cause mortality rates in CO, using 2019 data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and three county-level component scores obtained from CO EnviroScreen: sensitive populations (i.e., health-related outcomes), environmental exposures (e.g., from air, water, noise), and climate vulnerability (i.e., risk of drought, flood, extreme heat, wildfire). A quasi-Poisson generalized linear model was utilized, incorporating covariates (county-level metrics for insufficient sleep, alcohol overconsumption, physical inactivity, and smoking) to explore associations adjusted for behavioral risk factors (n = 64 counties). (3) Results: The analysis revealed that a 10% increase in the “Environmental Exposures” component score was associated with a 3% higher all-cause mortality rate (95% CI: 1.00, 1.05), highlighting the importance of addressing environmental determinants for sustainable community health. No significant associations were observed for the “Sensitive Populations” or “Climate Vulnerability” component scores. (4) Conclusions: This study provides novel evidence of an association between the CO EnviroScreen score, particularly the environmental exposure component, and all-cause mortality rates at the county level in Colorado in 2019. The findings suggest that cumulative environmental exposures may contribute to geographic disparities in mortality risk, even after adjusting for key behavioral risk factors. These results underscore the importance of integrating environmental justice considerations into sustainable development strategies to promote equitable health outcomes and resilient communities. While our study demonstrates the utility of CO EnviroScreen in identifying areas at risk due to environmental factors, it does not establish a direct link to broader environmental justice outcomes. Further research is needed to explore specific environmental exposures and their direct impacts on health disparities to provide a more complete picture of environmental justice in Colorado.

SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE IN MORTAL ENGINES (2018) FILM: A STUDY OF POSTCOLONIAL ECOCRITICISM

This research aims to uncover the social and environmental issues depicted in Mortal Engines (2018) and explore the possible implications the film promotes from the disparity’s depiction concerning social and environmental justice. The study utilizes Huggan and Tiffin's Postcolonial ecocriticism and mise-en-scene theory, employing a descriptive-qualitative research method. The data is collected from the characters' dialogue and visual representations highlighting social and environmental injustice. The findings show that: 1) There are significant correlations and interconnectedness between different issues, resulting in social and environmental injustice within the film; 2) This injustice originates from ecological imperialism and is perpetuated by dualistic and binary thinking. These thinking patterns lead to bio-colonization, violence, abuse of power, marginalization, othering, and exploitation, contributing to power imbalances, social injustice, environmental racism, and degradation; 3) The depiction employs mise-en-scene, dialogue, symbols, allegory, visual language, and literary devices, the film effectively engages the audience and promotes social and environmental justice values; 4) The research also uncovers the film's role as an interventionist and counter-hegemony, advocating for social and environmental justice, decolonization, resistance, sustainability, humanity, and historicism.

Distributional justice and climate risk assessment: An analysis of disparities within direct and indirect risk.

Climate change and natural hazard risk assessments often overlook indirect impacts, leading to a limited understanding of the full extent of risk and the disparities in its distribution across populations. This study investigates distributional justice in natural hazard impacts, exploring its critical implications for environmental justice, equity, and resilience in adaptation planning. We employ high-resolution spatial risk assessment and origin-destination routing to analyze coastal flooding and sea-level rise scenarios in Aotearoa New Zealand. This approach allows the assessment of both direct impacts (property exposure) and indirect impacts (physical isolation from key amenities) on residents. Indirect impacts, such as isolation and reduced access to resources, have significant adverse effects on well-being, social cohesion, and community resilience. Including indirect impacts in risk assessments dramatically increases the overall population burden, while revealing complex effects on existing inequalities. Our analysis reveals that including indirect impacts increases the overall population burden, but the effect on inequalities varies. These inequalities can be exacerbated or attenuated depending on scale and location, underscoring the need for decision-makers to identify these nuanced distributions and apply context-specific frameworks when determining equitable outcomes. Our findings uncover a substantial number of previously invisible at-risk residents-from 61,000 to 217,000 nationally in a present-day event-and expose a shift in impact distribution toward underserved communities. As indirect risks exacerbate disparities and impede climate adaptation efforts, adopting an inclusive approach that accounts for both direct and indirect risks and their [un]equal distribution is imperative for effective and equitabledecision-making.

Multi-scale retrofit pathways for improving building performance and energy equity across cities: A UBEM framework

Institutional inequality has created an environment in which our physical surroundings reflect racial and economic biases – causing inequitable thermal comfort and energy consumption across neighborhoods. Just as energy and thermal comfort challenges are unique to each climate and built environment, the solutions to address these issues should be optimized for their context. We introduce a novel integrated data-driven and building energy simulation method that incorporates urban context, satellite imagery, and socioeconomic data to analyze multi-scale retrofit scenarios across disparate communities. We apply this method to case studies in New York City and Los Angeles to analyze energy and thermal comfort inequities across distinct climate zones and urban morphologies. Through parametric analysis, we demonstrate the efficacy of multi-scale retrofits at improving building performance and reducing existing thermal inequities. Our research shows that retrofit effectiveness is influenced by the microclimatic changes induced by the urban context and existing infrastructural inequity. For example, instantaneous building cooling energy demand in a disadvantaged community of Los Angeles is reduced more due to window retrofits (around 30 kWh) than by a greenspace retrofit (around 3 kWh). Greenspace installation dissipates more heat overnight and in the early morning, whereas window retrofits reduce solar heat gain during the day, showing the different heat reduction pathways that retrofits can achieve. Although the window retrofits lead to an order of magnitude higher utility cost savings ($70 savings from windows vs $9 for greenspace and $12 for reduced cars), the district-scale retrofits show promising pathways for reducing the cost burden across all residents. We also analyze pathways for achieving city-specific CO2 reduction targets and find that building-level retrofits are most effective at meeting building performance standards (reducing CO2 by 40%), whereas district-level retrofits should be used to achieve city-scale climate goals because of the sequestered and abated emissions offered by these pathways. This generalizable modeling framework empowers policymakers, urban planners, and building owners around the world to analyze pathways for meeting their climate action plan goals by reducing extreme heat, reducing greenhouse emissions, and reducing energy cost burden while improving environmental justice in their cities.

Towards Desirable Futures

The 20th anniversary of The Journal of Community Informatics signifies a milestone in the evolution of community informatics (CI) as a field dedicated to empowering communities through the strategic use of information and communication technology (ICT). This article offers some personal reflections on the origins and evolution of CI, tracing its roots to seminal works by scholars such as Michael Gurstein. It also tells the story of how urban informatics was inspired by CI as a distinct field of scholarship to study the interplay between people, place, and technology in urban environments. Building on this foundation, the present challenges and opportunities facing CI are explored, including issues of digital inclusion, ethical implications of emerging technologies, and the transformative potential of ICTs for social change. Looking ahead, the article envisions desirable futures for CI grounded in a life-centred approach that acknowledges the interconnectedness of humans and non-humans within larger ecological systems. Embracing a more-than-human paradigm, CI is uniquely positioned to advocate for ecological justice, amplify the voices of marginalised human and non-human communities, and foster collaboration between humans and the environment to create and protect resilient and sustainable habitat for life on this planet. Through these efforts, CI can contribute to a more just, equitable, and sustainable future for all living beings, averting the planetary ecocide that threatens our shared existence.

Exploring Neighborhood-Level Environmental Justice to Tackle County-Level Disparities in Breast Cancer Outcomes

Breast cancer is a disease in which cells, originating from the breast epithelium, grow out of control and form tumors. The progression of breast cancer can vary, and its severity is often categorized by stages ranging from early, localized forms to more advanced stages involving widespread dissemination. Breast cancer cases can be hereditary or non-hereditary; Hereditary cases are caused by a penetrant gene mutation: one that is pathogenic and has the potential to promote the development of cancer whereas non-hereditary cases can be caused by a variety of day-to-day exposures affected by socioeconomic disparities and health literacy rates. Despite scientific and technological advancements, researchers and health officials still do not know enough about the disease and breast cancer incidence rates in the United States have steadily increased. This literature review aims to synthesize the relationship between breast cancer health outcomes and environmental justice, health literacy, and socioeconomic disparities. This relationship was first examined from a county-level in the state of Florida. We first examined three Florida counties with varying socioeconomic profiles (Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach) and then examined neighborhoods within the county of Miami-Dade (selected because it has the highest breast cancer rates out of all Florida counties). This examination revealed higher incidences of breast cancer in Latinx and African American communities with high environmental exposures and lower socioeconomic statuses. The identification of specific neighborhoods primarily affected by environmental exposures and low socioeconomic statuses emphasizes the need for neighborhood level modeling to inform future breast cancer research and intervention strategies.

Uranium mining remediation, environmental assessment, and bureaucratic violence environmental sociology

ABSTRACT The US government has called for increased uranium mining to support nuclear energy as a replacement for fossil fuels. At the same time, remediating historical mines has been challenging, leaving Indigenous communities suffering as they fight for the removal of harmful mining waste from decades past. Examining two projects and their environmental assessments in the Navajo Nation, this study identifies how settler colonialism extends through state decision-making in the push for nuclear power. Promoting environmental justice, yet approving licenses for new mines and waste storage in Indigenous communities, constitutes a form of bureaucratic violence in which policies and procedures legitimate harm. State power is extended through claims of scientific legitimacy and participatory process, while defending decisions as just. The analysis of these processes shows how past land dispossession leads to forever environmental, ecological, and social damage under the guise of regulatory protection.