Linking Sustainability,
Environmental Justice, & Equity

This is an essay written by Colin Sorenson in response to the article "Joined-up Thinking: Bringing Together Sustainability, Environmental Justice and Equity," published by The MIT Press.

The authors of this piece begin to examine the link between environmental quality and human equality. They make cases showing that environmental quality and human equality are inextricably linked at the local, state, national, and international levels. There are three main dimensions to their arguments. First, that human inequality is bad for environmental quality. The second dimension focuses on the idea that environmental problems bear down disproportionately upon the poor. And the final dimension is based upon sustainable development in the context of sustainability and environmental justice.

Countries with more equality (based on income distribution, civil liberties, access to education, etc) tend to have better environmental quality. States with less equality in power distribution have been shown to have lax environmental policies, more environmental stress, and higher infant mortality rates. Locally, segregated counties often have more hazardous air pollutants. On each level, environmental quality worsens as human inequality increases.

Environmental problems place a disproportionate burden on the poor from the local to global level as well. Rich families can shelter their children from the polluted air and unsanitary conditions that often dwell in inner-city areas in US cities or the shanty towns on the outskirts of many large cities in developing nations, while the poor have no means to escape these environmental troubles. This inequality is more apparent when considering the fact that rich countries and individuals account for a much larger share of the pollution and environmental degradation than the world's poor.

Sustainable development is an idea that has evolved over time with several definitions and notions of it mentioned in the text. Several world summits and reports have concentrated on sustainability, such as the World Commission on Environment and Development's (WCED) report in 1987. While the authors point out that sustainability is a contested topic, they interpret it by emphasizing precaution and "the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now, and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, while living within the limits of supporting ecosystems." They accept the notion that no development can be sustainable unless it first addresses social injustice, the root cause of social and economic instability.

An important point raised by the authors is that the links between sustainability and environmental justice are clearer regarding problems rather than solutions. Developing solutions requires co-activism between the sustainability and environmental justice movements. While they mention various organizations that are beginning to bridge the gap by addressing the two issues on a local level, one can look no further than Missoula, MT to see this in action. Take homeWORD for instance, a local non-profit organization that develops affordable housing "…through innovative, sustainable, and replicable methods." The affordable housing shortage in Missoula is an all too familiar complaint of the town's residents. HomeWORD creates real solutions by empowering low-income residents through educational and financial assistance to obtain respectable housing using environmentally-conscious practices.

Problems associated with environmental justice and sustainability are clearly demonstrated by the practices of numerous multi-national corporations (MNCs). As MNCs freely move capital around the country and the globe following the neo-liberal economic model, they choose the "path of least resistance" to locate their polluting industrial sites and unsustainable forms of production. That is, they place factories in areas adjacent to poor and politically marginalized peoples that lack the political clout to raise any objection to the corporations' practices. This has prompted environmental justice activists and sustainable development advocates to unite to fight the powers that be.

One thing noted in text is the lack of a social and environmental justice element to the earlier notions of sustainability and sustainable development. Many working definitions tend to only focus on living within the carrying capacity of the planet without limiting the ability of future generations to meet their needs with the earth's environmental amenities-inter-generational equity. However, intra-generational equity is of great importance if we are to truly espouse the ideal of greater equity between the individuals currently inhabiting the planet. This implies an emphasis on equity within current generations in the industrialized nations of the North and the developing nations of the Global South. Environmentalists have often been cited as having too much emphasis on ecological sustainability without focusing on the issues of basic human rights and equity. However, the authors point out that activists are now arguing that "…the right to a clean environment is an important human right that should not be denied on the basis of race, class, ethnicity or position in the global economic system."

This piece is a great introduction to the concept of linking environmental justice, sustainable development, and equity. It is encouraging to see these important links being made, which synergize the environmental justice and sustainable development movements as the stakes are increasingly heightened by the proponents of the free trade model for natural resource extraction and export-led development. The intra-generational equity principle carries great implications related to current trade negotiations and international treaties. If environmental and social justice advocates can increasingly make these connections and practice co-activism in the struggle for an equitable society, the theme of the World Social Forum can be realized on a global level-"Another World is Possible."