Environmental Justice Creating Equality, Reclaiming Democracy

by Shrader-Frechette, Kristin

• ISBN13: 9780195183573
• ISBN10: 0195183576
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Shrader-Frechette offers a rigorous philosophical discussion of environmental justice. Explaining fundamental ethical concepts such as equality, property rights, procedural justice, free informed consent, intergenerational equity, and just compensation--and then bringing them to bear onreal-world social issues--she shows how many of these core concepts have been compromised for a large segment of the global population, including Appalachians, African-Americans, workers in hazardous jobs, and indigenous people in developing nations. She argues that burdens like pollution andresource depletion need to be apportioned more equally, and that there are compelling ethical grounds for remedying our environmental problems. She also argues that those affected by environmental problems must be included in the process of remedying those problems; that all citizens have a duty toengage in activism on behalf of environmental justice; and that in a democracy it is the people, not the government, that are ultimately responsible for fair use of the environment.

Author Biography

Kristin Shrader-Frechette is O'Neill Family Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction	3	(20)
Environmentalism and Biocentrism	4	(1)
From Environmentalism to Environmental Justice	5	(1)
Understanding Environmental Injustice	6	(12)
Overview of the Book	18	(5)
2 Distributive Justice, Participative Justice, and the Principle of Prima Facie Political Equality	23	(26)
Overview	24	(1)
The Principle of Prima Facie Political Equality (PPFPE) and Distributive Justice	24	(3)
The Principle of Prima Facie Political Equality and Participative Justice	27	(2)
Objections to the Principle of Prima Facie Political Equality	29	(5)
How Careless Use of Science Can Encourage Environmental Injustice	34	(2)
Federal versus Local Control of Siting: Balancing Equity and Utility	36	(5)
A Case Study	41	(6)
Conclusions	47	(2)
3 Appalachians, Access to Land, and Procedural Justice	49	(22)
Overview	50	(1)
Setting the Scene for the First Argument: The California Farmer	51	(2)
Another Instance of Environmental Injustice: The Appalachian Farmer	53	(2)
Procedural Justice and End-State Principles	55	(1)
A Procedurally Based Argument for Limiting Property Rights in Resources	56	(1)
Resource Transactions, Voluntariness, and the Lockean Proviso	56	(6)
Suggestions for Limiting Property Rights in Land	62	(1)
Objections to the Argument	63	(1)
A Second Argument for Limiting Property Rights in Resources	64	(1)
Objections to the Second Argument	65	(3)
Conclusion	68	(3)
4 African Americans, LULUs, and Free Informed Consent	71	(24)
Reverend Coleman and the South Side	71	(3)
Overview	74	(1)
A Case Study: Homer, Louisiana	74	(3)
The Louisiana Siting Was Not Ethically Justified	77	(7)
Objections and Replies: An Environmentally Just Energy Policy	84	(6)
Objections and Replies: No Economic Need for the Plant	90	(2)
Postscript	92	(3)
5 Equity and Duties to Future Generations: The Case of Yucca Mountain	95	(22)
Overview	95	(1)
Prima Facie Arguments for Equal Treatment	96	(1)
Utilitarian Objections	97	(3)
Duties to Future Generations	100	(5)
Consent and Future Persons	105	(8)
Practical and Legal Considerations Affecting Justice for Future People	113	(3)
Conclusions	116	(1)
6 Native Peoples and the Problem of Paternalism	117	(18)
Colonialism and the Exploitation of Indigenous People: The Case of Shell Oil	118	(3)
Overview	121	(1)
Paternalism, Consent, and Participative Justice	122	(2)
The Mescalero Apache, Paternalism, and Waste Disposal	124	(2)
Environmental Justice and the Mescalero	126	(2)
Geographical Inequality, Distributive Justice, and the Mescalero	128	(1)
History of the Nuclear Waste Issue	129	(2)
Science Relevant to Nuclear Waste Problem	131	(1)
Conclusion	132	(3)
7 Risky Occupational Environments, the Double Standard, and Just Compensation	135	(28)
Overview	136	(1)
The Double Standard	137	(1)
Historical Background	138	(1)
The Theory of the Compensating Wage Differential	139	(9)
Arguments against the CWD	148	(4)
A Case Study: Six Hundred Thousand DOE Workers	152	(9)
Conclusions and Alternatives	161	(2)
8 Developing Nations, Equal Protection, and the Limits of Moral Heroism	163	(22)
Overview	165	(1)
The Social Progress Argument	166	(1)
The Bloody Loaf Argument	167	(4)
The Consent Argument and a Moral Response to It	171	(4)
The Economic-Reality Argument and a Moral Response to It	175	(2)
Citizens' Responsibilities for Environmental Justice	177	(5)
Conclusion	182	(3)
9 Taking Action: Public Responsibility for Environmental Justice	185	(22)
Overview	185	(1)
Environmental Justice Advocacy	186	(1)
The Tilted Playing Field	186	(9)
Consequentialist Arguments for Environmental Justice Advocacy	195	(2)
Deontological Arguments for Environmental Justice Advocacy	197	(1)
Restrictions on Environmental-Justice Advocacy	197	(5)
Practical Steps: Working with Nongovernmental Organizations	202	(3)
Conclusion	205	(2)
Notes	207	(54)
Index	261