4.27.2013

How cities can promote environmental justice

Maybe cities aren't the best proponents of environmental justice (as of now).  Most often, cities are the scene of the crime - fires at a Chevron refinery in Richmond, CA, air pollution from the port in Wilmington, CA.  These cases and others like it impact already vulnerable communities the most, but it doesn't have to be so.

Environmental Justice.  It was hard to define this especially because I hear so many different meanings. But the best and clearest definition I've heard comes from activist Majora Carter "no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits than any other." In her TED talk, Carter speaks of how the creation of a greenway along the South Bronx waterfront transformed the surrounding neighborhoods with green open spaces and mixed-use economic development.

I am inspired to think that cities don't have to be the sites of social and environmental degradation anymore.

Here is Majora Carter on "Greening the Ghetto"