Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene

<p>Through various international case studies presented by both practitioners and scholars, <i>Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene </i>explores how an environmental justice approach is necessary for reflections on inequality in the Anthropocene and for forging societal transitions toward a more just and sustainable future.</p><p>Environmental justice is a central component of sustainability politics during the Anthropocene – the current geological age in which human activity is the dominant influence on climate and the environment. Every aspect of sustainability politics requires a close analysis of equity implications, including problematizing the notion that humans as a collective are equally responsible for ushering in this new epoch. Environmental justice provides us with the tools to critically investigate the drivers and characteristics of this era and the debates over the inequitable outcomes of the Anthropocene for historically marginalized peoples. The contributors to this volume focus on a critical approach to power and issues of environmental injustice across time, space, and context, drawing from twelve national contexts: Austria, Bangladesh, Chile, China, India, Nicaragua, Hungary, Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Tanzania, and the United States. Beyond highlighting injustices, the volume highlights forward-facing efforts at building just transitions, with a goal of identifying practical steps to connect theory and movement and envision an environmentally and ecologically just future.</p><p>This interdisciplinary work will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners focused on conservation, environmental politics and governance, environmental and earth sciences, environmental sociology, environment and planning, environmental justice, and global sustainability and governance. It will also be of interest to social and environmental justice advocates and activists.</p> <p><em>Foreword Preface: Environmental justice in the Anthropocene</em> <b>PART I Thinking on the Anthropocence </b>Introduction: Just Anthropocene? <i>Dimitris Stevis, Melinda Laituri, Stacia Ryder, Kathryn Powlen, Stephanie A. Malin, and Joshua Sbicca </i>1. Examining the Anthropocene: A contested term in capitalist times <i>Stephanie A. Malin </i>2. The selective invisibility of oil and climate injustice in the Anthropocene and beyond <i>Nino Antadze </i><b>PART II Environmental justice as spatial justice </b>Introduction: Contextualizing spatial justice <i>Joshua Sbicca, Melinda Laituri, Stacia Ryder, and Kathryn Powlen </i>3. Environmental justice and autocracy in Eastern Europe: The case of Hungary <i>Attila Antal </i>4. Navigating environmental justice in Chile: The case of Pascua Lama <i>Sherrie Baver </i>5. Towards socio-ecological inclusion: Scaling up housing innovation in Vienna <i>Michael Friesenecker and Roberta Cucca </i>6. From water insecurity to water injustice: How tourism produces environmental injustice along Nicaragua’s "Emerald Coast" <i>Sarah T. Romano and G. Thomas LaVanchy </i>7. Jatropha bioenergy in Yucatán, Mexico: An examination of energy justice <i>Aparajita Banerjee </i>8. Keeping it local: The continued relevance of place-based studies for environmental justice research and praxis <i>Michelle Larkins </i>9. Determinants of household electricity consumption in Mexico by income level <i>Mónica Santillán Vera, Lilia García Manrique and Isabel Rodríguez Peña </i>10. Environmental justice and the Sabal Trail pipeline <i>Julie A. Lester </i>11. Injustices in implementing donor-funded climate change resilience projects in Bangladesh: North–South dichotomy? <i>Nowrin Tabassum </i><b>PART III Just transitions </b>Introduction: Pursuing just transitions: growing from seed to blossom <i>Stacia Ryder, Kathryn Powlen, and Melinda Laituri </i>12. Just energy systems: Five questions and countless responses for regenerative energy ommunities <i>Matthew J. Burke </i>13. Authoritarian environmentalism as just transition?: A critical environmental justice examination of state environmental intervention in northwestern China <i>KuoRay Mao, Qian Zhang, and Nefratiri Weeks </i>14. Lessons from Tanzanian forest management: Justice in environmental and climate policy ransitions <i>Jessica Omukuti </i>15. Is renewable power reaching the people and are people reaching the power?: Creating a Just Transition from the ground-up <i>Caroline Farrell and Mad Stano </i>16. Contested suburban mobilities: Towards a sustainable urbanism of justice and difference <i>Shimeng Zhou </i>17. Seeds, chemicals, and stuff: The agency of things in (un)just agriculture regimes <i>Matt Comi </i>18. "To have a garden is against this system": The revolutionary subjectivity of convivial labor for home kitchen gardeners in San José, CA <i>Gabriel Valle </i><b>PART IV Just futures </b>Introduction: Looking forward: Challenges and opportunities for a just future <i>Kathryn Powlen, Stacia Ryder, and Melinda Laituri </i>19. Enhancing environmental and cultural justice outcomes under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act <i>Matthew J. Rowe and Judson B. Finley </i>20. One earth, one species history, and one future: Earth-Justice in the Anthropocene <i>Saptaparni Pandit and Anindya Sekhar Purakayastha </i>21. A framework for intergenerational justice: Objections and principles <i>Chaitanya Motupalli </i>22. Conditional freedom: A governance innovation for climate justice <i>Rita Vasconcellos Oliveira </i>23. "Building the Bigger We" for climate justice <i>Benjamin Max Goloff </i>Conclusion: The quest for environmental justice <i>Melinda Laituri, Stacia Ryder, Kathryn Powlen, Stephanie A. Malin, Joshua Sbicca, and Dimitris Stevis</i></p>