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Outside the Box
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Mapping the Environmental Justice Landscape
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About Women's Studies 333: Culture,
Politics and Environment
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| On this site: What is environmental justice? Reports from interviews with members of the following organizations: Cambridge, Massachusetts Department of Public Health Concerned Citizens for Granby Group Hitchcock Center for the Environment Clean Water Action Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition Nuestras Raices The Environmental Health Coalition of Western Massachusetts Further enjoyment: Get informed; see how you can make a difference! Who are we? |
In this seminar
class we examined the social, cultural, and ecological histories and causes
of environmental problems. Using a variety of interdisciplinary methods
we examined how different groups of people confront cultural meanings,
identities, and the material realities of health and livelihood in efforts
to protect and improve the environment, ultimately focusing on environmental
justice. We looked through the lenses of gender, race, ethnicity, religion,
historical/geographic location, economic class, and differences in power/knowledge.
We took great interest in environmental justice efforts in our community,
and began to map the environmental justice landscape of the Pioneer Valley,
then expanded eastward. We have created this newsletter as a way to educate,
motivate, and inspire the public.
Environment is the world around us, which includes us as well as the natural world (land, air, water, biosphere). Environmental Racism is the deliberate targeting of communities of people of color for location of toxic waste facilities, which threaten to introduce poisons and pollutants. Carcinogens are substances within the environment that
alter genetic material, causing cancer. Currently, carcinogens are classified
as possible, probable, or known. These distinctions are based on empirical
data. |