Environmental Justice: Impacts of Injustices on Humans and Non-Humans

This essay delves into the multifaceted concept of environmental justice, exploring its core principles and implications for both human and non-human entities. It defines environmental justice as the equitable access to natural resources and protection from disproportionate environmental burdens, emphasizing the right to participate in decision-making processes and access environmental information. The essay outlines key components of environmental justice, including public participation, access to information, and access to justice, highlighting their interdependencies. It then examines environmental injustices, particularly the disproportionate impact of pollution and toxic waste on marginalized communities. The essay further explores the concepts of multi-species justice and shadow places, advocating for an inclusive approach that considers the well-being of all species and the preservation of special environments. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to environmental protection that integrates human well-being with environmental concerns, particularly within the context of governmental policies.

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Environmental Justices and their Impact on Human and non-Human.
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Introduction
The environmental justices involve the access rights to natural resources; without having to
suffer disproportionately from environmental laws, policies and regulations. Also, the ecological
truths allow the right to participate, involve in decision making as well as access environmental
information (Schlosberg 2007). The USA defines environmental judgements as equitable and fair
treatment as well as the meaningful involvement of all individuals regardless of their color,
national origin, race, or even income in respect to implementation and law enforcement. Two
main purposes that serve environmental justice. One of the goals is that it ensures no persons or
groups of persons that bear disproportionate ecological burdens. Secondly, it calls for all to have
a chance of participating democratically in the process of decision making. The United Kingdom
refers ecological justice as the fairness distribution in information provision and opportunities
necessary for the individuals to participate in decisions that pertain their environment.
Constituents of Environmental Justice
According to Schlosberg (2007) the Rio Declaration of 1992, briefly captured the core
constituents of environmental justices. It provided that environmental concerns need to be
handled in the best way with all citizen inclusive in the participation. In the national level, the
declaration called for every individual to have proper access to the ecological information
apprehended by public authorities, containing information on harmful materials and the activities
in their communities, in addition, to guarantee the opportunity to take part in decision-making
processes. It allowed further for the states to encourage and facilitate public participation and
awareness through ensuring the information is broadly available and accessible. This access
pertains effective right of being involved in administrative and judicial proceedings, containing
redress and remedy.

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Basically, this declaration contains a legal mechanism that is critical in environmental justice
promotion. These comprise of public participation, access to information as well as justice access
in environmental concerns. These three components are functionally and interdependent
interlinked. Schlosberg (2007) noted that the right of having environmental information is a
prerequisite towards public participation about decision making as well as monitoring of
governmental activities and also private sector activities. Operational access to environmental
justice requires a well-versed public that can take along actions before informed organizations.
Environmental information access
To have ecological access means information regarding harmful materials and activities in the
community is readily available. Communities can never be engaged meaningfully on issues
relating to environment and natural resources exploitation without having a clear understanding
of the principles in a society with environmental justice. Ecological justice, therefore, calls for
the nation to make its citizen have access to relevant information through the press.
Public participation
Perceived as the second component that encourages the organizations, groups, and individuals to
offer ideas in a decision-making process that is perceived to make an impact on the environment.
Public participation in matters relating to natural resources and environmental governance should
be meaningful so that the public may feel as if their concerns are being addressed; as a result
make them have total support and trust on decisions made by their state’s government regarding
the environment.
Access to justice

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Although not an easy concept to define, it has been referred to as a circumstance where
individuals in need would get effective solutions from the integrity systems that are affordable,
accessible, and also comprehensive to ordinary people in addition to dispensing justice speedily,
fairly and without discrimination or favor. Also, it might also refer to the administrative and
judicial procedures and remedies that are readily available to individuals who are likely to be
aggrieved by the issue at hand. Moreover, it would also mean the equitable and fair legal
framework which protects human rights and ensures justice delivery. When ADR, the
mechanism for alternative dispute resolution and TDRM are employed, then we can comfortably
say that justice is made affordable (Healy 2009). Access to justice has two distinct dimensions
that are significant in enabling access to justice. The two aspects include; procedural access
which entails fair hearing before an impartial tribunal, and substantive access that calls for a just
and equitable remedy in case one’s rights are violated.
Procedural and Distributive Environmental Justice
In a distributive environmental justice, human right and dignified life are vital. Therefore,
everyone is entitled to the right of having a safe and healthy environment. Procedural ecological
justice, on the other hand, encourages citizen to be informed on environmental concerns, involve
them in decision making and also help them identify activities that they are likely to be involved
in that breaches the environmental regulations thus causing injustices.
Environmental justice, therefore, plays an important role in tackling social injustices as well as
environmental issues through the use of an integrated model of policies. It also emphases on a
proper distribution of environmental benefits and costs towards global or national based
economic development. Other aspects considered by environmental justices are procedural

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fairness and efficient access to justice processes. These process and procedures should tackle the
negative impacts of the environment
Environmental Injustices
Sometimes, environmental protection is seen as a luxury. Something that individual only care
about when they have disposable income and plenty of leisure time. Practically, the minority
ethnic groups and the low-income communities are the ones who mostly suffers the severe costs
of environmental degradation and pollution as well as other types of ecological injustices effects.
The issue, therefore, affects largely affects national and international areas. Waste dumps that are
toxic are most of the time located in the communities that are poorer. Toxic waste materials are
only shipped to countries that are low-income (McLean 2007). This is because their laws and
regulations that governing release and handling of toxic substances are nonexistence or even
weak. Contaminants of the environment are likely to be carried away for a longer distance thus
affecting communities that are far away from the source of origin. Some argue that this is how
the market works because the rich nations or communities are capable of affording better
protection for their environment (Sarkar 1999). Other think that this issue entails general
questions of initial justices and human rights that require national policing or rather, an
international agreement to modify the performance of the unregulated markets. Just like
environmental justices, the injustices can also be explained in the context of 2 inter-linked
aspects. The destructive prejudices whereby certain groups are affected disproportionately by
environmental hazards, while procedural environmental crimes explain the inequitable
distribution of risks about the political and socio-cultural factors.
Water and air pollution are two main injustices that are affecting the health of people not only in
Australia but also globally (Swyngedouw 2002). According to research on public health,

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environmental pollution is among the top most contributors to adverse health effects in most of
the cities. In the Upper Hunter particularly the expansion of coal mining has resulted in a
dramatic environmental transformation (Higginbotham et al. 2010). The city is the largest
producing area for coal. The city, therefore, denies the residents their rights of accessing clean
and quality air. The city also has the highest polluting power stations in Australia thus increasing
the number of atmospheric pollutants. Due to the high exposure of toxic particles, residents here
are at high risk of developing respiratory issues, asthma, premature deaths among other health
effects. This risk is highest in heart disorder or asthma patients, children, or even the elderly.
Short-term exposure to NO2, CO2 or even SO2 can also increase the rate of respiratory illnesses
especially to the elderly, children and vulnerable groups.
Water pollution is another environmental injustices that pose a risk to the health of residents.
According to McLean (2007), water injustices occur as a result of inadequate recognition of
water value in the resource management. Thus creates differences in the management of water
resources thus lowering the quality of water supplied to the people. As a result, the people’s right
to access clean and safe water is diminished, and this would translate to development of health
issues among people. Rights of people to access quality water should be distinguished and
prioritized.
The notion of Multi-species Justice and Shadow Places
Environmental justice and environmentalism necessitate each other to adopt an artistic practice
and not just a game-over cynicism. Ecological rewarding or ecological justice cannot be reached

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where there is lack of multispecies justice. This means inventing and nurturing of enduring
species that are both non-human and human kindred.
Researchers and medical anthropologists are now changing the way they think about the
interactions, ecologies, and hierarchies of multi-species in their writings and fieldworks. They
argue that the notion of environmental health justice should be stretched out far beyond its
anthropocentric grounds. Initially, allied scholars and advocates believed that environmental
justice was a concept to address inequity in socio-partial risk distribution, such as pollution.
Currently, this inequity has been framed by scholars to mean individual’s capacity to access and
acquire benefits from green features such as beachfront, and attractive parks as a political matter
(Martínez-Alier 2010). Multi-species entanglements bring together both the environmental and
medical anthropology into a deeper discussion on social justice. According to Oliver-Smith
(2009), this acknowledges the absence and presence of non-human animals in an environment
that is shared.
According to Houston (2017) the notion of multispecies justice may therefore serve as an
umbrella for diverse culture’s ideas on what an ethically responsible relationship among different
species need to look like, as long as we understand that the boundaries for species and kinship
are interpreted differently depending on the context of the culture (Gibson-Graham 2013). Multi-
cultural justice, therefore, acts as a project which strives justice with a sense of both species and
cultural differences.
The idea of shadow places came along with the arguments of Val Plumwood, who related it with
ecological justice. In his discussion, Plumwood (2008) considered power relationships in the
context of sense and love of places and examined the areas that are made worse, or even better so

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that patterns of sacrificial and beloved shadow places that are based on privileges and power may
be discerned (Worboys 2001).
Australia is perceived to be the largest carbon footprints globally. Residents here have a lifestyle
that might require 3-4 planets if they would be replicated globally (Ross 2009). By living in a
sphere that is capitalist dominated in ways of consumption, distance and concealment perpetuate
environmental injustices and damages in faraway the shadow places. Val Plumwood went ahead
to suggest that we need to bring Anthropocene home and connect the world to the local if at all
we want to keep the distance and concealment perpetuating global devastation (Baskin 2014).
The argument of Plumwood on environmental justice is to frame protection and love for the
idealistic places. This is a rule to continue cherishing and caring for special areas such as Pine
forest (West 2006). To foster diversity, community engages in the planting of native trees in the
Armidale Pine Forest. This type of engagement encourages a new form of connectivity known as
resilience facilitation. Considering that memories are environmentally embodied towards the
land that holds other people’s minds inclusive of Australian indigenous, Bauman, et al. (2007)
noted that this makes people feel a sense of connectivity towards the places thus causing them
become more responsible. Trees also cut down the urban air pollution which is increasing rapidly
not only in Australia but also in other parts of the world. This is because trees are deemed to
absorb small particles from the atmosphere (Gandy 2004).
Australia is one of the nations where limited willingness that links the wellbeing of human to the
environmental protection concerning the government policy. The problems are frequently dealt
with independently thus placing a block among the environmental activists and the government
policy makers (Dudley 2008). It is therefore recommended and hoped that the increased
negotiations surrounding environmental justice will bring more willingness in considering

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people’s wellbeing and the environment inclusively not only in Australia but also in the whole
world. It is also argued that for the world to achieve environmental justice, similar ecological
standards that apply in the main industrialized nations should also apply to other countries
without bias.

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