Environmental Justice and the Commons

Discussion

"Environmental Justice is a movement that fights for the “common”-ing of the environment – that is, to achieve just outcomes for humans and their environment by involving the people who live on the land in decisions impacting their environment in a meaningful way. EJ seeks to remove the environment from the regime in which decisions are made solely by corporate actors in the market and remind us that our environment is where we live, play, eat and work; if we don’t protect it, who will? EJ is a movement founded on the value of each person’s contribution to the political, social and economic spheres he or she inhabits. EJ seeks to strengthen democracy by advocating for greater citizen involvement in the political arena – emphasizing the importance of local actions and involving each citizen in the management of scarce resources and the creation of local abundance. EJ seeks to effectuate principles embodied in permaculture and indigenous models of creating local abundance sufficient to meet the needs of a community. In applying these principles, each person’s labor becomes infinitely more valuable than mere dollars an hour and is a profound political and economic act that has the power to reduce dependence on harmful activities, create new efficiencies and new models to counter the status quo which is based on peak oil and the idea that capital is only in the hands of a few. Furthermore, the EJ movement challenges contemporary environmental impacts based on a critique of environmental law’s failure to take into account the intimate connection between environmental decision-making in the corporate and political arenas and the effects of social injustice.' (http://www.commonssense.it/s1/?p=684)