In his piece, Environmental Justice: Normative Concerns and Empirical Evidence, Evan J. Ringquist explores the concept of environmental justice, or lack thereof. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that several other areas – those relating to education, civil society, and government in particular - are closely intertwined with the issue of environmental justice. In the Pacific Seminar I classes, students at the University of the Pacific are introduced to vital issues relating to education, civil society, government, and the environment through a series of informative and thought-provoking articles and essays. At the end of the course, when the interconnections among these four general topics become apparent, themes that once seemed to have no relevance to one another become intimately related. In fact, it is obvious that environmental justice is related to these other areas through an interconnected chain, whereby one area influences another, which may even turn around and influence the originator of influence as well as another area. Despite the fact that a seemingly endless chain of inequity will yield environmental injustice, causes such as intolerance can be identified and subsequently remedied to a point where “a good society” can be achieved.
In order to examine the concept of environmental justice and its relation to other areas of justice, a concise definition is appropriate. According to NationMaster.com, a site which compiles facts from sources such as the CIA Factbook, UN agencies, and the OECD, “Participants of [the] Central and Eastern European Workshop on Environmental Justice” said environmental justice consists of environmental risks and benefits that are equally dispersed among all, regardless of race, gender, or any other discriminating characteristic (“Environmental justice”). In addition, the ability to attain information and take part in decisions related to environmental issues is also a key component to environmental justice. No particular group is to be singled out because of their skin color, particular beliefs, or lack of education or monetary means for opposition to a proposed project that may potentially be hazardous. Each locale, under this doctrine, is to share the burdens placed on a particular environment and the benefits with which it is endowed; this alludes to waste disposal facilities and their side effects as well as access to natural resources, among other things. However, environmental justice is all too often nonexistent. A chain reaction of injustice leads to the unfair disbursal of facilities that are considered undesirable.
As previously mentioned, there is a chain of injustice that yields abject environmental situations for some groups of people. Unequal access to educational resources yields a poor civil society and unjust laws derived from the government, which will in turn give way to environmental injustice. A large number of uneducated people create a poor civil society that lacks civic participation; unjust laws arise from a populace that does not know how to vote to protect its own interests. When people harbor ill will or harsh sentiments towards other individuals, such as those who are uneducated, civil society suffers. Such feelings produce a weakened culture, one with rifts among its citizenry, to the point where members of a society no longer take care of one another as the unified whole that they should be. Such a debilitated state inevitably leads to laws (such as the former Jim Crow Laws of the Southern United States) made by government that no longer treat all members of the populace as equals, acquiescing egalitarian protection of all citizens to personal tenets founded on hatred and/or wrongly perceived notions of members of other races or religious groups. Inequality in the educational system becomes inescapable at this point, as citizens are no longer seen as equals in the eyes of the government. Such unjust education produces citizens who are not well versed in the proper methods for analyzing and addressing issues. Such unjust education produces citizens, possibly illiterate, that are not equipped with information needed to help them formulate opinions on how to vote or partake in civil procedures such as court proceedings necessary for opposition. Such unjust education produces citizens who are a drain on society, such as homeless people, and fail to participate in a productive manner that serves not only themselves, but their community as well. This leads to a vicious cycle of continued hatred for the “useless” members of society and stereotypes that only serve to worsen the problem. To present a more concrete, less vague argument, consider the case of African-Americans. Originally brought to the colonies as slaves, these people were seen not only as a lower class, but also as property. Yet after they had gained their freedom, they still faced discrimination from the Southern white community and the government (Jim Crow Laws); some members of society still held on to their preconceived notions of African-Americans, such as their inability to participate in society as cultured, refined citizens. This led to unfair practices of segregation, whereby whites and blacks were kept apart by “separate but equal” public facilities such as drinking fountains, but also with regards to education. The African-Americans were given substandard educational facilities, which only prolonged their ignorance and worsened their stereotypes of being uneducated, lazy, and useless. Because people refused to see African-Americans as equals, denied education and equal opportunities resulted. As will be illustrated, however, the plight of African-Americans and the other lower classes in America does not end here. This circle of inequality yields environmental injustice.
A weakened civil society started the cycle of inequality that has led to environmental injustice. In her A Call to Civil Society, Jean Elshtain points out that “we suffer from growing inequality…As we become an increasingly fragmented and polarized society, too many of our fellow citizens are being left behind, not participating in the benefits of economic growth and free society” (Elshtain 79). She points out that the main feature of civil society is to promote upstanding citizens who will become productive members and positive contributors in society (Elshtain 82). She goes on to emphasize that local government, in which there is to be an active participation, is an integral part of any good civil society. The most important part of her argument, however, is that in which she calls on schools to “sustain democratic culture by helping students attain civic literacy…a comprehension of what good citizenship is, and an appreciation of their society’s civic and moral ideals” (Elshtain 85). What can be ascertained from Elshtain’s argument is the fact that if people are left behind, and not included in a community’s decisions, the entire civil society suffers. In addition, she conveys how critical a citizen’s education is in influencing their participation is civil society. So not only does a poor civil society yield a poor education, but a poor education will serve to weaken civil society further. As will be seen though, the chain of injustice continues.
A weakened civil society gives rise to unequal access to educational facilities. In Jonathan Kozol’s piece, The Dream Deferred, Again, in San Antonio, he highlights the disparities between the education of the poor and that of the rich. The rich are predominately white, and the poor are oftentimes the country’s minorities – African-Americans and Hispanics. Kozol argues that “education offered to poor children should be at least as good as that which is provided to the children of the upper-middle class” (Kozol 175). He also mentions a specific court case in which Demetrio Rodriguez, of San Antonio, filed a class-action suit in 1968 against the state of Texas for violating the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution when it came to education. His attorneys argued, according to Justice Lewis Powell, “that education is itself a fundamental personal right because it is essential…to the intelligent use of the right to vote. [They argue also] that the right to speak is meaningless unless the speaker is capable of articulating his thoughts intelligently and persuasively” (Kozol 181). And so it is that civil society’s factions of wealthy and poor people result in a decrepit educational system where wealth and privilege gain a child’s access to better educational facilities. This only serves to continually worsen civil society, as the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. This in turn worsens the educational requirements and standards of the country, as those in power (the wealthy) maintain the status quo – perpetual dominance of the wealthy families who maintain their status within society by ensuring their access to good education. Furthermore, these unfair educational practices will yield injustice in the governmental sphere as well.
The poor educational system only exacerbates the problem of governmental injustice. This is because uneducated citizens are not effective participants in voting and elections, thereby keeping them from enacting the laws that they wish to have enacted, and effectively quieting their voices and opinions in the process. The importance of education is evidenced not only by Elshtain and Kozol, but also by John Stuart Mill in his Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion, in which he states that “Judgment is given to men that they may use it” (Mill 27). If people do not have the intellect, that results from education, with which to vote and effectively take part in their government, inequality and injustice are most certainly likely products.
Environmental injustice is a common outcome of unfair governmental policies and practices. Unfair actions and laws, such as those regarding the placement of waste treatment facilities, result from an uneducated populace that cannot vote in its own interest. In Evan Ringquist’s piece, he refers to the work of sociologist Robert Bullard, who found that “82 percent of Houston’s waste facilities were located in majority black neighborhoods, though only 28 percent of Houston’s population was African American. Bullard claims that the results from the Houston…studies are not uncommon and that minority communities across the country receive more than their fair share of landfills and incinerators” (Ringquist 509). Ringquist mentions numerous other studies as well as facts and figures to support his argument. It is plain to see that these overwhelmingly impoverished areas seem to have no say when it comes to what facilities end up in their communities. When people are uneducated and lack the ability to articulate themselves in an eloquent or intelligible manner, they cannot protest such facilities coming to their neighborhoods. This environmental injustice is the product of an unjust government that results from unequal access to education and an unjust civil society.
To fix the dilemma, drastic change in the minds and hearts of the American people is needed. Equality must become the new principle that every citizen professes. Without radical change in individual practices and philosophies, this country is bound to continue in its present cycle of continual injustice that terminates with environmental injustice. A realization that ignorance and intolerance are not conducive to progressive and productive change is necessary in order to bring about an intellectual revolution in civil society that will lend itself to resolve the problems within the educational system. People must be willing to give equal opportunities to minorities and those who are uneducated for the situation to ever be rectified. Because of the existence of the cycle that has been described, alterations in the direction of equal education within America will yield changes in government and steps toward environmental justice as minorities and uneducated people become informed members of society. Such steps will yield “a good society”, in which all citizens are productive, active participants in communal and political life, serving not only their own interests, but also those of mankind in general.
In conclusion, although inequity in the realms of civil society, education, and government leads to environmental injustice, the problems are readily discerned, giving way to solutions that will bring about “a good society”. As has been shown, a chain of sorts exists, whereby injustice in one area leads to injustice in another, which will influence not only other areas but also the area from whence it came, ultimately aggravating the situation. However, the situation can be rectified with a fundamental philosophical change and commitment to equality (especially in the realm of education) among the American people. Once realized, the amendment of the convictions of the American public will bring about “a good society”.
Bibliography
Becker, Jeffrey, ed. Pacific Seminar 1 What is a Good Society?. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2008.
Elshtain, Jean Bethke. “A Call to Civil Society.” Becker 79-85.
“Environmental justice.” NationMaster.com. 2005. NationMaster.com. 29 November 2008.
Kozol, Jonathan. “The Dream Deferred, Again, in San Antonio.” Becker 175-181.
Mill, John Stuart. “Of Thought and Discussion.” Becker 27.
Ringquist, Evan. “Environmental Justice: Normative Concerns and Empirical Evidence.” Becker 509.
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