...Environmental Justice, Immigration Rights, and Reproductive Justice Youth groups are forming all across the nation. When communities work together with their youth to fight for environmental justice, immigrant rights, and reproductive justice more people will be reached. Youth groups bring different perspectives to topics and teens have different needs from the issues. Communities that are being targeted need volunteers including youth to get involved to help empower residents that are being affected. One of the youth programs in Massachusetts provides opportunities for researchers and youth to work together. The youth program organizes an event called Southeast Asian Water Festival and this program helps teens organize a project-based program. The Southeast Asian festival provides teens with hands on projects on environmental justice issues and provides opportunities to develop and create their own environmental activities (Race, Poverty, and the environment 2005/2006). The Youth Policy Institute is an organization in Pittsburgh that empowers communities to get involved. The youth group uses alternative approaches to get the information to a variety of communities. Environmental justice is a focus for the youth group. One year the group organized “Just Jam for Justice” which presented mixed CD’s with popular dance music to everyone that attended the festival. The inside lining of the CD had facts printed about diesel exhaust and the effects on local communities...
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...Environmental Justice Issues This is a global issue, rather than just something that people suffer in the United States. The topic I chose to connect to science was environmental justice issues. Environmental justice has been defined “as fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, ethnicity, income, national origin, or educational level in the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies”( ). Specifically focusing on the inadequate access to healthy food. This is a disadvantage that compromises the health of a community and or its residents. Certain communities; particularly lower-income or minority communities. These residents often lack supermarkets or other...
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...What is environmental justice? The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental justice as follows: “Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.” ("Environmental Justice". U.S. EPA. http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/. Retrieved 2012-09-23) This definition provides a clear summary of Barbara Johnston’s perspective on social justice environmentalism. According to Johnston, “environmental justice” addresses environmental problems that mainly affect low-income and minority communities. The basic premise of the environmental justice movement is that minority and economically disadvantaged populations assume greater risks from exposure to environmental hazards than do others. These compromised populations are known to have poorer health status than the overall population and have higher rates of a variety of diseases. Many complex factors interact to produce health disparities among minority and low-income populations. Behavioral choices...
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...In the Criminal Justice System there are many tasks that have to be performed. In addition to performing tasks they have to take into account environmental factors that could influence decisions. Technology, Demographic Factors and Political Conditions are three of the many environmental changes that have impacted the criminal system. These three factors play a pivotal role in how the criminal justice structure is maintained. All factors share the impact of how needs are met within the criminal justice organization. The increase in technology has directly and indirectly affected the way the criminal justice system operates. A various range of technologies are utilized in the justice system, including, database management software, computers,...
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...THE IMPACT OF THE CHARITIES AND SOCIETIES LEGISLATION ON THE PROMOTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN ETHIOPIA By Gebremedhin Birega gbdagaga@gmail.com March 2014 Addis Ababa Ethiopia 1 Abstract Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in general and environmental CSOs in particular, have been playing considerable constructive role in the nation building efforts in Ethiopia. However, all their contributions are not wholeheartedly accepted by the government. In 2009, the government introduced a new law overtly presented to register, administer and create an enabling environment for a more meaningful contribution of CSOs/NGOs. Nevertheless, it has been argued that the introduction of the new law further weakened the already young and inexperienced CSO/NGO sector in general and those engaged in environmental justice in particular. The main objective of this paper is therefore to assess the impact of the legislation on NGOs/CSOs engaged in environmental justice mainly in: limiting areas of intervention; affecting access to foreign funds and other forms of support to undertake mandated tasks; retaining competence including knowledge and skills; making government answerable to felt needs of the society; advancing meaningful networking among CSOs at national, regional and global level on environmental policy reform issues; downsized change in amount of budget and skilled staff; engaging in research undertaking; conducting quality monitoring and evaluation activities. Based on...
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...This semester I had the opportunity to attend my first Environmental Justice event which was held at the City Hall in Downtown. I decided to attend the event not only because extra credit was offered but because as a citizen of this beautiful and prosperous city, I am also concerned of the environmental damage caused by capital such as local businesses and transportation state agency (i.e the MBTA and the use of pesticides at their construction sites according to reports I’ve read online, “Inner-city Pesticide use as an Environmental Injustice” by Dr. Daniel Faber). I live in Jamaica Plain which is a low-income neighborhood, considering the fact that most of the population is composed Latinos and African Americans. Thus, it was of my greatest interest to attend this event and learn more about environmental justice in my community....
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...The case was very well thought out, read like a professional document and was intuitive in the design and layout. The information contained seemed to follow a logical flow; however, the environmental and social justice sustainability issues were not well vetted nor were they supported throughout the case study. The web site touts many awards and achievements and I believe that Dell is, within its industry, moving in the right direction. When you dig a little deeper, though, you find that many of their successes are focused on the reduction of electrical usage. Ok, I’m all for this as a goal, but the overarching assumptions from Dell seems to be that they are really better than they are. By there own admissions, their chosen sustainability goals were not appropriate and they have yet to outline what these will be in 2012. Hmmm. Dell readily admits that they do not sufficiently measure sustainability, nor are there thorough upstream and downstream management of the supply chain as it relates to the environment. This is critical and should have been the focus of the sustainability segment of the case study. While I agree with Dell that there exists varying and sometimes contradictory measures of both environmental sustainability and environmental recycling processes and procedures, it would be reasonable to have the same passion about solutions about there internal core business and profitable moving this forward as it is about more difficult and less measurable softer...
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...Environmental Sociology: Capitalism, Sustainability and Social Justice Paper to Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, ‘History of Postwar Social Science’ Lecture Series Peter Dickens[1] Society and Nature: a Developing Sociological Agenda There is a paradox to environmental sociology. On the one hand it is a discipline that has often used the natural and physical sciences as its model. Auguste Comte, usually recognised as the founder of sociology, referred to the discipline as ‘social physics.’ ‘Physics envy’ continued to be a feature of sociology and other social sciences such as economics; such admiration being in part an attempt to give credibility to the new and still-emergent social sciences. Durkheim’s and Spencer’s analyses of social development from relatively simple towards more complex forms were, in part at least, modelled on a Darwinian idea of evolution in the natural world - from more ‘simple’ organisms such as amoeba to more ‘complex’ organisms such as ‘man.’ The positivist agenda for testing and developing theories were also in part also based on ideas regarding the testing of theories in the natural and physical sciences. Yet, as Dunlap and Catton (1994) have pointed out, making these new social science disciplines resulted in the disconnection of the social and its natural its ecological conditions. This disconnection may seem surprising but it is perhaps understandable if seen as these disciplines trying to form themselves...
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...The United States of America stands for a lot of things; but freedom and equality stands way above all of its great attributes that our founding fathers had set forth when drafting the Declaration of Independence. The very basic right provided under the constitution is the first amendment; freedom of speech is clearly stated but what about equality? How has this country guaranteed that each of its citizens are treated and represented equally in our government? As I read the first chapter of “The Environmental Justice Movement, A Political Framework,” it was becoming clear to me that not everyone starts at the same playing field. Some of us are provided free passes to bigger and better things at life simply because of our color of our skins, social status and other environmental factors. Actually, I already had known this for quite some time; it’s difficult not to see it in this community, but what I did not fully comprehend was why? Why is it that as many educated minority men and women do we continue to see more prominent white male middle upper class representatives, politicians and judges in power? If Latinos are the fastest growing minorities in the United States, then why is it that we do not see more minorities in office? The evidence is very clear; minorities do not have sufficient resources enough to keep up with the white male political system. This process is evident as I read “The Political Process Model,” section. It states that “the study of politics...
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...The word sustainable is now commonplace in today’s society. According to Colorado.edu, “The concept of sustainability is based on the premise that people and their communities are made up of social, economic, and environmental systems that are in constant interaction and that must be kept in harmony or balance if the community is to continue to function to the benefit of its inhabitants”(www.colorado.edu,p1). One of the main principles to sustainability is to ensure the quality of life is preserved and if not improved over current conditions. This may include ensuring schools have adequate funding and up to date qualified individuals are teaching curricula, to having adequate jobs or safe streets to walk on. Each community will vary and have its own plan in place. Here at Colney & Pitts, we strive to not just take on a one-way street approach with local habitats and their residents; we take in key points to what’s best for the greater good. Some can say, but how does a big pharma company knows what’s best with all the scandal that revolves around the pharmaceutical industry? For the sake of transparency, yes there are plans to harvest the Prunus Africana tree, but we would like for the tribe to know that there are key points to ensure the continual of this rare tree. In the past years, this tree has been exploited by poachers and by excessive de-barking. The first way we chose to combat against this is to re-plant twice as many trees that we’ll de-bark. These trees will be...
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...A Matter Of Social Justice Social Justice Issues are happening everywhere in the world. These problems are a result of unfair wealth and resource distribution of people with diverse cultures. The term social justice issues were first used around 1840 by the Catholics, this was published by (Michael Novak). Consequently, nobody deserves to battle for education, poverty or access to health care “medical assistance”, it should be the same opportunities for everyone. However, this is not the case which is a reason we should fight for social justice and deal with one of many issues “social inequality”. “Social inequality creates a disadvantage against...
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...Better Days Outpatient services,LLC. Ethical code of conduct and professional behavior Better days, is committed to serving all our patients in a legally and morally compliant way. We promise to use ethical rules when it comes to utilitarian, moral rights, justice and practical rules. We strive to govern our organization by following all the laws and regulations set forth by antitrust, consumer protection, environmental and public interest laws. This ethical code of conduct should be followed as a reference guide by all Better Day’s employees and affiliates to insure the best customer service and patient satisfaction we can offer. Our employees and affiliates should define the following ethical rules as follows. Also to be used as an explanation on what our main principles and goals are here at Better Days. Utilitarian: The proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "good" of the society and for our customers/patients. Moral rights: The preserving of the integrity of the work from alteration, distortion, or mutilation. Moral rights are distinct from any economic rights tied to copyrights. Justice: A concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, fairness, or equity. Practical rules: Leighton's Ten Golden Rules of Business. * 1) Keep it simple * 2) Focus on execution * 3) Listen to your operators * 4) Think small. Small is big * 5) Less often is more * 6) Your people come first ...
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...Personal Views on Justice and Ethics What influences the decisions we make? What foundation do we set to govern our choices? These questions surface when looking at the impact personal views have on the decisions made in our society. Many people find that their personal views are formed at an early age and shaped by environment. Views of justice and injustice are individualized across the human population, however there is usually a common, shared idea of justice at a community setting. For example, cultural groups may share a common view towards criminal punishment. It is through these shared ideas that our personal views start to develop with a base. It then becomes a personal journey to expand on this base and to form individualized and critical views on what is believed to be justice, injustice, right, or wrong. My views have been shaped mainly on environmental aspects, which include: family, upbringing, social class, religious affiliation, education, social norms of my generation, and taking bits and pieces of other views from those who I respect. As with many others, my personal views of justice started to develop at an early age with my family and environment. Family plays such a vital role in forming an individual in numerous aspects, especially from a psychological point of view. In fact, psychologist Erik Erikson formulated his psychosocial theory and stages on the conflicts a person experiences in his or her environment and its influences on human development. Keeping...
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...Intra-generational equity includes considerations of distribution of resources and justice between nations. It also includes considerations of what is fair for people within any one nation. Inter-generational equity in economic, psychological, and sociological contexts, is the concept or idea of fairness or justice in relationships between children, youth, adults and seniors, particularly in terms of treatment and interactions. It has been studied in environmental and sociological settings. Besides, Inter-generational equity has to do with fairness between current and future members of a community. It doesn't mean that we neglect our current needs, but that we try to achieve a reasonable balance between satisfying our needs now and setting aside enough to provide for needs of the future. We are currently living unsustainable lives. If we are not careful how we use and dispose of resources, our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will have a poorer, more polluted world to live in. Aiming for inter-generational equity means we want to give equal consideration to our own immediate needs, our own future needs, and our children's and grandchildren's future needs. Whereas, intra-generational equity is also used in connection with the idea that all people throughout the community, be it a town or the entire world, have the same basic needs that must be taken into consideration. It’s meaning justice among the present population. The preservation of basic human rights and the...
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...Rouge began as most other cities began, clean, unpolluted, and most importantly, unaffected by the many common problems associated with industrialization. This small city in Louisiana became one of the nations leading petrochemical complexes and the devastation that came along with this transition was quite grand. The aftermath of all this industrialization fell onto the lives of ethnic minorities and the poor, and for the longest time it seemed like no one cared. It wasn’t until 1993 in an environmental justice hearing that citizens demanded “environmentally friendly ‘green’ businesses” (Burby, 176). Personally, from my understanding of the reading, Baton Rouge was not sustainable in anyway. Throughout the early half of the century people treated the place as if it had an infinite capacity to support heavy industrialization. As the reading states, “planners, government, and the legal system have done little to right these wrongs.” (Burby, 161). Essentially, no one cared about the environmental aspects of industrialization and simply carried forth with expansion, hence sustainability of the city is in my opinion, non-existent. On an ethical standpoint, this city wasn’t sustainable what so ever, the minorities, mostly the low-income black neighborhoods suffered greatly as a result of these factories that would dump waste in or near by. Additionally, residents began to move into marshlands, and even notice “smoggy conditions and complain of having to scrape particulate mater from their...
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