15th ESA conference : Sociological Knowledges for Alternative Futures

Session

RN12_T08_01: Environmental Justice

Presentations

Environmental Inequality in Four European Cities: A Study Combining Household Survey and Geo-Referenced Data

Andreas Diekmann¹, Heidi Bruderer Enzler², Jörg Hartmann³, Karin Kurz³, Ulf Liebe⁴, Peter Preisendörfer⁵

¹University of Leipzig; ²University of Zurich; ³University of Göttingen; ⁴University of Warwick; ⁵University of Mainz

Combining individual-level survey data and geo-referenced administrative noise data for four European cities (Bern, Zurich, Hanover, Mainz; n=7,450), we test the well-known social gradient hypothesis which states that exposure to residential noise is higher for households in lower socioeconomic positions. In addition, we introduce and test the “environmental shielding hypothesis” which states that if there are environmental bads in the neighborhood, privileged social groups have more and better opportunities to shield themselves against them. Our results show that for many residents of the four cities, observed road traffic and aircraft noise levels are above WHO limits. Yet estimates of spatial error regression models only partly support the social gradient hypothesis. For example, the proposed negative relationship between income and noise exposure is rather weak. Albeit socioeconomic groups tend to be equally confronted with road traffic and aircraft noise, high-income households are still more able to evade environmental noise. We find that based on characteristics of their residences and on investments in noise protection appliances, they are able to shield themselves against environmental bads in their neighborhood. This confirms the environmental shielding hypothesis.

Perceptions of Environmental and Mobility Injustice Though Climate Diaries.

Elena Giacomelli¹, Sarah Walker²

¹University of Bologna, Italy; ²University of Bologna, Italy

This paper analyses the intertwined concepts of ‘environmental justice’ (Schlosberg, 2004) and ‘mobility justice’ (Sheller, 2018) focusing upon two case studies - Guatemala, and Cambodia - through the interdisciplinary lenses of Sociology and Human Geography. These two concepts reflect the interconnecting strands as emerge from the research project ClimateOfChange: the right to mobility, the right to live in a healthy environment, and the unequal access to such rights across the globe. Empirical data is drawn from remote interviews with key actors, in-depth interviews with local participants impacted by climate change, together with a one month climate diary, capturing visual individual perceptions of climate change and mobility. Through this visual diary format, and in depth interviews, we analyse the impact of injustices upon climate vulnerable people living in these two countries.

This methodological innovation aims to capture the intersectionality of lived experiences, understandings of the climate crisis and how it impacts upon everyday lives. By drawing out knowledge of people directly affected by the climate crisis and their perceptions and understandings of their own mobility, the overall goal is to challenge Eurocentric formulations of ‘climate migration’ to enhance a more politicised understanding of this complex issue.

Environmental Justice as a Third Civil Movement - A Bridge Between the Movement for Civil Rights and the Environmental Movement - A World Review and Case Arab Society in Israel

Carmit Lubanov

Association of Environmental Justice in Israel, Israel

The attribution of the origin of the environmental justice movement (EJM) to the emergence of the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s is already part of the environmental justice history. In retrospective, EJM has evolving globally by paving milestones reflected by vast scientific publications, unique academic programs, breakthrough policy and legislation and wide grassroots activity worldwide – all constituted a clear call for environmental justice. Yet, although environmentalism and the EJM are related, there are differences.

Environmentalism in general focuses upon the risky impact of human’s actions on the environment, where the EJM conceptualizes the work of environmentalism by emphasizing the manner and scale in which adversely impacting the environment in turn impacts on defined population groups. At the heart of ‘environmental justice’ are social issues of racism and economic inequality.

Therefore, in countries where democracy is jeopardized and the prevailing political situation enables violation of human rights on different background, the realization of the necessity of addressing the environmental issues of minority and low-income groups, are highly dependent upon active and sustained engagement from both the government and civil society, and inclusive attitudes are crucial for understanding how to advance environmental justice.

The article will present examination of 3 case studies in Israel relating to planning rights for Arab localities, social mobility and environmental 'mainstream' position relating development of Arab communities. The ‘Environmental justice’ examined by constructing a database aimed to draw practical conclusions and on role EJ plays in the public discourse and of environmental decisions making process.

Environmental Justice at the Environmental Courts? Mining, Socioenvironmental Conflicts, and Environmental Compliance in Chile

Maria Akchurin

Loyola University Chicago, United States of America

Chilean environmental courts, set up by environmental policy reforms less than a decade ago, have become new arenas for political struggles around questions of environmental justice. As specialized administrative courts, they reflect a broader tendency toward the judicialization of politics while also being situated in a growing environmental bureaucracy tasked with regulating extractive industries. In this paper, I study a set of mining cases in northern Chile to analyze how legal challenges in the courts influence the implementation of environmental laws, affecting both the ecological stability of fragile ecosystems in the Atacama Desert and the communities that depend on them. I argue that court proceedings have symbolic and procedural consequences for ongoing socioenvironmental conflicts, as well as some limited potential to impact the distribution of environmental harms. Litigation, alongside other strategies involving institutional politics and social protest, renders the gaps between formal policies and actual practices visible and legible as problems state agencies are obligated to address, even in the context of broader state commitments to extractive development. The paper draws on interviews, legal and administrative documents filed with the environmental courts, video recordings of public hearings, legislative history documents, documents produced by government agencies, and media sources.