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Finding Fairness in America's Cities? The Search for Environmental Equity in Everyday Life
Author(s) -
Laituri Melinda,
Kirby Andrew
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1994.tb02423.x
Subject(s) - wilderness , environmental justice , equity (law) , natural resource , social justice , everyday life , government (linguistics) , racism , natural (archaeology) , phenomenon , environmental ethics , gender equity , order (exchange) , sociology , political science , environmental resource management , geography , business , economics , political economy , ecology , social science , law , gender studies , linguistics , philosophy , physics , archaeology , finance , quantum mechanics , biology
This article argues that any consideration of green justice cannot be limited solely to wilderness areas; it must include natural resources as they are manifested in urban areas. We discuss the ways in which residents' images of the natural world are shaped by various institutional forces, including corporations and government of all types. We link up these insights to the growing recognition that there exists an inequitable distribution of natural resources within American cities, a phenomenon identified by residents as “environmental racism”. We argue that in order to analyze this situation, it is necessary to generate new analytical tools, and an Environmental Equity Assessment (EEA) is presented. The use of the EEA is presented in a brief case study of Tucson, Arizona.