Looking Within: Finding an Environmental Justice and Global Citizenship Lens [1 ed.] 9781848882515, 9789004371613

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Looking Within

Critical Issues Series Editors Dr Robert Fisher Lisa Howard Dr Ken Monteith Advisory Board James Arvanitakis Katarzyna Bronk Jo Chipperfield Ann-Marie Cook Peter Mario Kreuter S Ram Vemuri

Simon Bacon Stephen Morris John Parry Karl Spracklen Peter Twohig Kenneth Wilson

A Critical Issues research and publications project. http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/ .

The Ethos Hub ‘Environmental Justice and Global Citizenship’

2013

Looking Within: Finding an Environmental Justice and Global Citizenship Lens

Edited by

Karen Druffel

Inter-Disciplinary Press Oxford, United Kingdom

© Inter-Disciplinary Press 2013 http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/id-press/

The Inter-Disciplinary Press is part of Inter-Disciplinary.Net – a global network for research and publishing. The Inter-Disciplinary Press aims to promote and encourage the kind of work which is collaborative, innovative, imaginative, and which provides an exemplar for inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary publishing.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of Inter-Disciplinary Press.

Inter-Disciplinary Press, Priory House, 149B Wroslyn Road, Freeland, Oxfordshire. OX29 8HR, United Kingdom. +44 (0)1993 882087

ISBN: 978-1-84888-251-5 First published in the United Kingdom in eBook format in 2013. First Edition.

Table of Contents Introduction Karen Druffel Part 1

Philosophical Models of Agency: Individual Rights and Social Justice Kantian Virtue and the Excessive Demands Problem in Environmental Justice Bradford S. Hadaway

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Is Environmental Justice Possible within the Framework of Liberalism? George N. Politis

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The Precautionary Principle, Libertarianism and Paternalism Mark Ryan

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American Stewardship: A Path Already Laid Colin W. Maguire Battle with Habitat: The Natural Contract and Vital Materiality Take a Walk with Environmental Peacebuilding through the Wadi Fukin Valley Bronwyn Lay An Ecological Theory of Justice Jorge M. Valadez Environmental Justice for Unregarded Others: Human Responsibility for a Forgotten Kingdom in World Conservation and Agriculture Alison Pouliot Part 2

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45 57

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Models from Law, Education and Health Care Old Problem, New Solution: Protection of Environments Critical to Indigenous Cultures through International Human Rights Law John Pearson

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Environmental Justice for Indigenous People in the Post-Pinochet Chile Rodrigo Céspedes

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While We Are Talking about Environmental Justice, Let’s Give Children a Voice Peter Andersen

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Educating for Interdisciplinary Response to Environmental Issues Thomas Matyók and Cathryne L. Schmitz

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Green Friends: A Look at US Business Use of Social Media to Communicate Environmental Responsibility Karen Druffel and T. Bridgett Perry-Galvin Promoting Health, Social and Environmental Justice in the Context of Health Care Practice Rebecca Patrick and Teresa Capetola Part 3

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Assessing Limitations of Existing Models and Suggestions of New Models to Address Problems of Environmental and Social Justice Corruption, Deforestation and Environmental Injustice: The Case of Indonesia Fiona Downs and Luca Tacconi Environmental Injustice, Socio-Economic Injustice and the Crises in the Niger-Delta Region of Nigeria: The Roles of Multinational Oil Corporations, Government and Global Citizens Adebola Babatunde Ekanola Environmental Justice under Our Skin? Socio-Stratifying Human Biomonitoring Results of Adolescents Living Near an Industrial Hotspot in Flanders, Belgium Bert Morrens, Liesbeth Bruckers, Ilse Loots, Elly Den Hond, Vera Nelen, Nik Van Larebeke, Isabelle Sioen, Greet Schoeters and Willy Baeyens

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The Climate Change Issue: Beyond the ‘True’ or ‘Not True’ Ingrid M. Hoofd The Case for Algae Biofuels: A Comparative Study of the Social, Environmental and Economic Sustainability Impacts of Biofuel Use in Air Transportation Using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Approach Hossain Seraj and Philip R. Walsh The Maurice Ile Durable (MID) Concept: Sustainability for Small Island State Mohammad Khalil Elahee The Position of National Minorities Perceived through the Authorisations of the Local Ombudsman in Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Grujić and Ozren Uzelac

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Introduction Karen Druffel Twenty papers were presented at the 11th Global Conference on Environmental Justice and Global Citizenship at Mansfield College, Oxford University in Oxford, England over several days in July 2012. The conference is arranged each year through the Inter-Disciplinary.Net, a knowledge-creating network of scholars and practitioners in various disciplines who share their approaches to a common global problem. Recent studies in group behaviour, such as those by economist Scott Page, suggest problems involving complex systems require cognitive diversity. Studies in organisation systems suggest innovation and creative solutions often arise from the overlap of knowledge boundaries, which can occur within interdisciplinary teams. The 11th Global Conference on Environmental Justice and Global Citizenship was truly interdisciplinary, as it engaged scholars and practitioners in philosophy, law, education, business, health care, ecology and government. An interdisciplinary approach can lead to new ways to use existing models, or suggest entirely new models to address those aspects of complex problems for which existing models are not effective. The chapters in the present volume include those that view the problems of environmental justice through the lens of an old model, as well as those papers that highlight the limitations or failures of existing models, and those that propose new models. The chapters are further organised as three parts. The first and second part present chapters that use existing models to understand problems of environmental justice and global citizenship. Chapters in the third part highlight the limitations of existing models or suggest new models for these problems. Chapters in Part 1 examine problems of environmental justice and global citizenship using philosophical models of agency, individual rights and social justice. We begin with an examination of individual duty to protect the environment based upon a Kantian moral framework provided by Bradford S. Hadaway in ‘Kantian Virtue and the Excessive Demands Problem in Environmental Justice.’ In the second chapter, ‘Is Environmental Justice Possible within the Framework of Liberalism?’ we shift from Kant to Descartes. George N. Politis argues that because two dominant political theories, liberal capitalism and Marxist socialism, embrace as their roots the Cartesian imperative of human domination of nature, neither is likely to support the goals of environmental justice. Mark Ryan suggests political failure to effect environmental justice reflects the media’s inability to adequately inform the public to support rational decisions, as presented in ‘The Precautionary Principle, Libertarianism and Paternalism.’ Colin W. Maguire provides the fourth chapter in Part 1, ‘American Stewardship: A Path Already Laid.’ Maguire suggests American conservative principles based upon

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__________________________________________________________________ Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau can be consistent with goals of sustainability and environmental conservation. The last three chapter in Part 1 extend Rousseau’s social contract to include nonhuman participants in the environment. Bronwyn Lay calls for an ontological shift away from anthropocentrism as a condition for future strategies in ‘Battle with Habitat: The Natural Contract and Vital Materiality Take a Walk with Environmental Peacebuilding through the Wadi Fukin Valley.’ Jorge M. Valdez defends an extension of social justice to all inhabitants of the natural world in ‘An Ecological Theory of Justice.’ Part 1 ends with an ardent defence of one underappreciated class of inhabitants, the kingdom Fungi, in Alison Pouliot’s ‘Environmental Justice for Unregarded Others: Human Responsibility for a Forgotten Kingdom in World Conservation and Agriculture.’ In Part 2, authors look to institutions and professions of law, education and health care, for models to understand environmental justice and global citizenship. Two chapter consider environmental law in terms of legal protection of the rights of indigenous people. John Pearson begins the section with an example from Canada in his paper ‘Old Problem, New Solution: Protection of Environments Critical to Indigenous Cultures through International Human Rights Law.’ He frames environmental damage resulting from extracting crude oil from the ‘tar sands’ in Alberta, Canada as a violation of human rights. Human rights provisions in national and international law are sources of new alternatives to protect water and wildlife. In the second chapter, ‘Environmental Justice for Indigenous People in the Post-Pinochet Chile,’ Rodrigo Cèspedes describes a ‘legal revolution’ in which concepts from international law, including the use of enthnographers as expert witnesses are used by indigenous people to pursue environmental justice. Recognition and respect for the human rights of children, as well as for children’s ability to effect change, are central to the chapter ‘While We Are Talking about Environmental Justice, Let’s Give Children a Voice.’ The author, Peter Andersen, asks how primary education can prepare and empower children to become ‘environmental change agents.’ Educational systems must facilitate development of knowledge and skills required to effect environmental justice. Andersen identifies several barriers in the current model to achieving these objectives, among them the ‘traditional model of intergenerational influence.’ In the next chapter with an educational perspective, ‘Educating for Interdisciplinary Response to Environmental Issues,’ authors Thomas Matyók and Cathryne L. Schmitz propose the structure of academic departments by discipline cannot adequately address complex environmental problems. Problems related to complex systems require ‘inter-disciplinarity’; their chapter offers an inter-disciplinary academic model that fosters more creative solutions to complex, multifaceted problems. An academic inter-discipline approach to environmental justice is found in ‘Green Friends: A Look at US Business Use of Social Media to Communicate Environmental Responsibility,’ which I wrote with co-author, T. Bridgett Perry-

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__________________________________________________________________ Galvin. We describe an undergraduate study of how several information technology businesses use social media to communicate environmental and social responsibility. The chapter provides one example of integrating ethics and corporate responsibility into a business education programme. Knowledge about environmental and social justice is created and shared outside the traditional academic sphere, as well. The last chapter in Part 2 presents results from five qualitative case studies of health care agencies in Australia, which indicate how environmental justice has been integrated to health care practice and policy. ‘Promoting Health, Social and Environmental Justice in the Context of Health Care’ by Rebecca Patrick and Teresa Capetola provides examples of the integration of environmental sustainability, justice and health in regional and urban health care in the practices of Victoria health care agencies. Part 3 assesses the limitations of existing models to address current problems of environmental and social justice, and the destructive consequences of these failures. This part begins with several examples of specific failures and their dire environmental consequences. It ends with suggestions for new models that promise some solutions to these complex problems. ‘Corruption Deforestation and Environmental Injustice: The Case of Indonesia,’ by Fiona Downs and Luca Tacconi, describes the failures in the political system that led to destruction of Indonesian forests in 2010-2011, and its effects on local populations. Adebola Babatunde Ekanola discusses the obligation to support socio-economic fairness at individual, national and international levels in his chapter, ‘Environmental Injustice, Socio-Economic Injustice and the Crises in the Niger-Delta Region of Nigeria: The Roles of Multinational Oil Corporations, Government and Global Citizens.’ Global citizens are reminded they influence these goals through individual consumer and financial choices. The authors of ‘Environmental Justice under Our Skin? Socio-Stratifying Human Biomonitoring Results of Adolescents Living Near an Industrial Hotspot in Flanders, Belgium’ echo the relationship between environmental justice and social justice. Bert Morrens, Liesbeth Bruckers, Ilse Loots, Elly Den Hond, Vera Nelen, Nik Van Larebeke, Isabelle Sioen, Greet Schoeters and Willy Baeyens describe the inter-relationship between the effect of environmental pollutants on humans and social stratification, and analyse its implications for evaluating environmental health risks. Ingrid M. Hoofd examines the conflict between humanism and environmental justice in ‘The Climate Change Issue: Beyond the “True” or “Not True.”’ Hoofd suggests Western institutions like traditional news media hobble individuals’ abilities to understand and evaluate environmental questions. The last three chapter in Part 3 propose new approaches to environmental justice and global citizenship. Hossain Seraj and Philip R. Walsh use a life cycle assessment approach to compare biofuels from corn and from algae to petroleum products in terms of economic, social and environmental effects. ‘The Case for Algae Biofuels: A Comparative Study of the Social, Environmental and Economic

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__________________________________________________________________ Sustainability Impacts of Biofuel Use in Air Transportation Using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Approach’ finds although algae biofuels are not yet economically sustainable, their advantages in other areas support the need for continuing technical innovation. In ‘The Maurice Ile Durable (MID) Concept: Sustainability for Small Islands State,’ Mohammed Khalil Elahee proposes a methodology used to address vulnerability of an island economy dependent upon tourism and exports. The chapter reflects studies conducted at the University of Mauritius in 2008. By far the majority of chapter address environmental justice in terms of global citizenship. The last chapter, ‘The Position of National Minorities Perceived through the Authorisations of the Local Ombudsman in Republic of Serbia’ by Aleksandar Grujić and Orzen Uzelac describes how Serbia’s legal system has adopted the institution of ombudsman to protect minority rights. The Republic of Serbia comprises two regions which are relatively autonomous, which requires the ombudsman must function at local, regional and national levels. .

Part 1 Philosophical Models of Agency: Individual Rights and Social Justice

Kantian Virtue and the Excessive Demands Problem in Environmental Justice Bradford S. Hadaway Abstract One of the major challenges to the fostering of environmental justice is the sense from some critics that shifts towards more just environmental practices, while noble in principle, are too demanding in practice. Such critics may accept the fact that consumptive habits in the affluent world are causally connected to environmental degradation, yet still believe that efforts to rectify these problems by changes in behaviour at the individual level would fall in the category of the supererogatory rather than obligatory. Their point is not that morally required changes in consumptive habits would be excessive relative to the moral tragedies that are connected to their current economic practices. Instead, they would claim that in the absence of large scale social change, individuals are being asked to dramatically alter their lives without any guarantees that others will do likewise and thus without any guarantees that changes they will make will actually make some sort of non-trivial difference with respect to these problems. Problems of collective action seem to empower the concern that duties of environmental justice involve excessive demands. My central question in this chapter, then, is what may be said in behalf of individual duties to attack these large scale social problems even in circumstances where the absence of wide-spread compliance with individual duties seems to undermine their force and applicability. My central claim is that, given a Kantian moral framework, duties individuals have to refrain from contributing to unjust environmental impacts are buttressed by similar duties individuals have to themselves to resist agency-undermining consumptive habits – duties which are not subjected to collective action problems. Since both sets of duties require roughly the same kinds of responses to consumer choice, I will argue that if the demands made by the duties to the self are not excessive, then the demands made by the duties of environmental justice are not either. Key Words: Kant, environmental justice, virtue, excessive demands problem, collective action problem. ***** 1. Individual Consumer Duties of Environmental Justice Though the notion of environmental justice can be construed in a number of different ways, in this chapter I am focusing only on the examination of practices which are morally problematic because of the ways in which their impact on the environment deprives human beings of what could reasonably be construed as theirs by right. If a corporation’s production process fills a river with toxic

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__________________________________________________________________ chemicals thereby reducing its capacity to provide safe and effective irrigation necessary for local agriculture, then justice is implicated in addition to other concerns which might be raised about environmental degradation. At minimum, the corporation has unjustly interfered with the farmers’ ability to pursue their own livelihood freely, and if the interference is causally connected to the death of the farmers or the people who would otherwise be dependent on them for life, then the corporation has unjustly killed. 1 Moral views which take rights seriously would prohibit such practices and require some restitution for any damage already done. Yet it is not just the corporations themselves which are tied to these practices. Insofar as people are supporting the corporations with their purchases, it seems that individual agents are also part of the causal chains that lead to the moral failures. Without people to buy the corporations’ products, the troubling practices would not go on, so it seems reasonable to recognise partial culpability for consumers as well. Justice seems to require that consumers, at minimum, avoid supporting those who are diminishing the life prospects of others through their environmental practices. This idea is reflected in current consumer movements towards ‘fair-trade’ or ‘green’ products. 2 Individual consumers are also connected to environmental justice issues when they claim exceedingly large shares of environmental resources or degrade environments through incautious or immoderate consumption, whether the consumption is through corporations with troublesome environmental records or not. 3 In such cases, sheer volume of consumption matters as much as type. What grounds the conviction that such practices of both corporations and individuals are morally problematic? In this chapter, I will be working in a Kantian framework that asserts the priceless dignity of humanity (the rational life), and in response, denounces actions which treat people as mere means to other less valuable ends and demands that we respond to threats to human agency and flourishing with positive protection and supportive action. 4 Human rights schemes are a common way to enshrine the commitment to respect human dignity into a system of duties, some of which are negative and view the rational life as a boundary which should not be crossed, and some of which are positive and view the rational life as vulnerable and interdependent, universally in need of assistance. 5 When corporations act as if human lives matter less than profits and fail to protect the ecological grounds of human livelihood, they have done so immorally. When consumers participate in a scheme of action which supports corporations involved in these moral failings, they also act immorally. Those who adopt consumptive practices which avoid instrumentalising human life respect rights and honour their Kantian duties. Individual consumer responses to such system-level problems are not the only ways in which duties of environmental justice should be fulfilled. The ideal would be to buttress purely moral constraints with social policy which institutionalises an unwillingness to advance economic gain at the expense of human rights and flourishing. Yet even while working towards the ideal, individuals still must

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__________________________________________________________________ consider what justice requires in a host of individual daily economic and lifestyle choices in a context that falls well short of the ideal just described. What exactly are the duties of environmental justice for individuals in a highly interconnected economic sphere where it seems impossible to view any particular consumptive choice in isolation from hundreds of other choices and events? Though the various movements to become more mindful in consumption seem to suggest a clear path towards more just living for individuals, some have suggested that the path is too demanding given the presence of collective action problems of a familiar sort. 6 In the section which follows, I will highlight of few of these problems, and in the third section, suggest a possible solution. 2. Excessive Demands? There is no doubt that some in consumerist societies may find the shift to more just consumption a difficult task. To illustrate that point, consider some of the activities which would have to be undertaken just to begin the transformation in consumptive habits. The just consumer would have to collect accurate and relevant information about what a particular company’s environmental practices and their impacts might be. Even with current online watchdog resources, this is no easy task. If a company has been identified, can ordinary people determine where and how the production is done? What counts as credible information about their practices? Are the responses from the companies themselves to be believed? 7 And with each new product or brand, there is more work to be done. It is seemingly a never ending task just to claim some measure of competence, let alone omniscience, about the complex maze of resources, locations, production practices, work forces, and the like that go into a single product. These information requirements merely scratch the surface of some of the demands placed on the just consumer. The just consumer may also have to alter long-standing habits and give up beloved products. The just consumer will likely have to pay a premium for products which have been certified and thereby cleared of the relevant sorts of wrongdoing. The just consumer will likely find that, realistically, the main pathway to more just consumption is simply to consume less, especially in light of the connections between overconsumption and environmental degradation. In sum, the just consumer in a consumer society will potentially spend much time researching (which incurs opportunity costs), spend more money, consume less, and, in general, become, of necessity, something of a specialist in just consumption. But does the difficulty of these demands cause us to question the viability of the moral view which grounds them? Is the sketch of environmental justice for individual consumers just offered infected with what has been called the over-demandingness problem? The traditional problem of over-demandingness (or ‘excessive demands’ as I prefer to call it) has been invoked when a moral theory’s commitments seem to eliminate the distinction between the supererogatory and the obligatory, or as

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__________________________________________________________________ James S. Fishkin puts it, to deny a ‘robust sphere of indifference’ or a ‘cut-off for heroism.’ 8 Since both of these elements are common fixtures in almost all ordinary conceptions of morality, any view which cannot account for them is deficient, or so the argument goes. The problem, if it truly is one, is most clearly associated with what Liam Murphy calls ‘optimizing principles of beneficence’ or those which require that agents always do the best that they can for others. 9 But as he himself notes, other kinds of moral views might suffer the problem, and if a rightsrespecting view of the sort we are exploring here requires exorbitant costs on rights-respecting agents, the question of excessive demands should surely remain live. 10 Nevertheless, the suggestion that the obligations of environmental justice are sufficient to elicit claims of excessive demands seems absurd on its face. Only a dedicated or particularly benighted consumerist would claim that such duties eliminate the sphere of indifference or morally require heroism. If one examines only the annoyance of information gathering, the shift from problematic to truly fair-trade and green brands, or the ‘evils’ of a few less contraptions and conveniences, then the costs certainly do not trigger the excessive demands problem. These demands are challenging, but they also may be taken on as part of a process that produces change gradually over time, and because consumption, even in a modern consumerist regime, can be bounded, the demands related to curtailing certain consumptive practices are not unlimited. There can still be a zone for indifference and a space for the supererogatory. But to advance the issue one step further, we need to also examine more carefully the kinds of harms that are actually produced by unjust consumer action and the ameliorative effects that could arise from modified consumer behaviour to get a better sense of why the demands of environmental justice might seem excessive. We face problems of collective action in situations when an individual choice produces no harm/help by itself (making it seem acceptable from a prudential or moral point of view) but when conjoined by similar choices in large numbers produces great harm/help. It is clear that no single individual consumptive choice is sufficient to cause the violations or calamities that concern us. In fact, each consumptive choice, by itself, is likely to have a vanishingly small effect on the environment. The problems emerge when the individual choice is joined together by the millions of similar choices being made by others, enabling and driving the production processes which degrade and despoil environmental resources. Furthermore, if one takes his or her own duties of justice seriously, enduring the associated burdens, the wide-spread non-compliance of others similarly situated to influence the outcome will mean that the complying agent’s just action, by itself, will have a vanishingly small positive impact on the environment. The very interconnectedness which makes such an expansive consumptive empire possible also makes it more and more difficult for consumers to locate and accept appropriate responsibility for their actions. 11

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__________________________________________________________________ I do not mean to suggest that the collective actions problems mentioned here serve to reinvigorate the excessive demands problem dispatched above, but I do believe that with collective action problems in mind, we can better understand why even morally conscientious people feel overwhelmed to the point of paralysis in the face of the modern consumption regime. The demands are not excessive in any technical sense that would make the individual duties of environmental justice supererogatory, but they may seem excessive when their fulfilment seems to accomplish so little and when their non-fulfilment makes such a negligible difference. At the very least, we can admit that the collective action problems conjoined with high demands is de-motivating to the extreme, thereby producing even greater chances for non-compliance. Below, I will highlight a Kantian approach to consumption that attempts to bypass collective action problems and thereby rob the excessive demands problem of any remaining force. 3. Kantian Virtue and Consumption Recent scholarship on Kant's ethics has diverged from the traditional focus on the categorical imperative and duties to others and included a long-neglected focus on a rich and interesting Kantian conception of virtue that emphasises duties to ourselves to increase and develop our moral strength. 12 In what follows, I will set out some of the implications of that conception of virtue to show how they undermine the sense that duties of environmental justice are too onerous to realistically be part of our moral scheme. Kant recognised that just as we are to protect and promote the ends of others as a way of recognising our interdependence and as a way of shoring up our vulnerabilities as agents, we must work to protect and develop our own agency against obstacles both external and internal. 13 And while we must avoid treating others as ‘mere means’ to our own satisfaction through coercion, deception, and interference to which they do not, and often could not in principle, submit, we must also avoid treating ourselves as mere vehicles of desire-satisfaction through the cultivation of powerful, dominant, and controlling desires and impulsive emotional states, both of which preclude the keen exercise of our moral powers. Kant believed that individuals who were not active in the process of protecting and promoting their powers of rational agency would find themselves dominated by their inclinations, with lives steered more by deeply engrained desires and emotions rather than their own rational powers. 14 Two features of human moral psychology were especially worrisome, and the development of virtue is largely an attempt to nullify the impacts of these aspects of our moral character. The first is a particular species of emotion that comes in bursts and generates impulsive, unreflective behaviour. Kant called these ‘affects’ and gave anger as the paradigmatic example. 15 A flash of anger ‘precipitates’ action prior to any chance to consider the moral acceptability of the behaviour, and thus the virtuous agent will seek to reduce propensities to be bad tempered in this

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__________________________________________________________________ way. Self-mastery, understood as responsiveness to our own moral direction, requires it. The other feature of character that provides another key obstacle to virtue is what Kant called a ‘passion.’ 16 While an affect is a species of emotion, a passion is a species of inclination, or habitual desire. 17 Inclinations are not, in themselves, problematic. In fact, Kant explicitly affirms inclinations as generally reliable prompts towards well-being, though they can be problematic insofar as they periodically tempt one to ignore moral duty. 18 Passions, however, are always problematic. These are desires which have moved beyond ‘habitual’ and become deeply rooted and intractable aspects of character. According to Kant, a passion is ‘an inclination that the subject’s reason can subdue only with difficulty or not at all.’ 19 They may be brooded upon, and because they are consistent with the capacity to reflect, the passions themselves serve as a source of principles to guide future action. Rather than the quick flash of anger associated with an affect, passions are more like a long-standing hatred that settles deeper and deeper into the fabric of one’s daily existence. While affects preclude reflection, passions dominate it with a singularity of purpose driven by powerful desires. The relevance of these agency-thwarting states of our moral character for the current chapter is that consumer culture serves as a kind of passion and affectgenerating machine. No matter what the favoured explanation is for why those in consumer culture seem so enthused about stuff, somewhere lurking beneath the surface, there is an agent-centred part of the explanation that makes use of both the deep and abiding desires associated with passions and the impulsiveness of affects. Consider two possible examples. First, if one takes marketers to blame for the whipping up of artificial needs, there still must be some mechanism in the consumer which can account for the tendency to love things deeply and consume relatively thoughtlessly in response to the advertiser’s ploys, and the Kantian story about passions and affects serves this purpose well. The second example embraces a more positive vision of contemporary consumption. Some would like to give humans more credit than to suggest that advertising steers them like lemmings, so they posit rather high-minded attachments to things as forms of self-expression or desires for absolute freedom from want, from dependence, from external control and direction – i.e. consumption is about self-definition and liberation. Insofar as the consumer culture taps into deep human desires and emotions like these and then reinforces them with cultural messages about how to rectify inadequacies in these areas through the acquisition of defining possessions, it is no surprise to find such desires and emotions habituated into lasting and stable passions and affects. No matter how noble the origin, the hardening into affects and passions is problematic for the reasons described above. The virtuous agent, then, must take active measures to uproot the affects and passions that grow from consumer culture, and then practice certain forms of resistance to consumer culture to prevent new ones from growing up in their place.

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__________________________________________________________________ This means that consumer choice must become a more deliberate and reflective process, and long-time consumption habits will have to be altered so that impulsiveness and controlling desires no longer hold sway. It is likely that one of the most important strategies for the agent to gain independence from the infatuation with things in consumer culture will be to practice foregoing purchases, buying less, resisting impulses, and generally exercising the kind of moral muscles that will reduce the influence of emotions and desires run amok. 4. Conclusion What should be clear by now is that the demands I am describing as part of the cultivation of virtue against a consumer society backdrop parallel almost exactly the kinds of demands that were described as necessary to move towards more environmentally just consumption. Yet the demands of virtue are not beset with collective action problems of the sort mentioned above, and thus the only possible case for the excessiveness of those demands falls away. It would be puzzling to suggest that identical levels of demand are excessive in one context and not another, so while we can recognise that collective action problems make the demands of environmental justice seem excessive, perhaps even understandably robbing agents of motivation to change, they are not excessive in fact. And the call to develop one’s own moral strength provides an additional clear moral incentive for those in consumer cultures to shoulder the demands of a rigorous consumer ethic that includes duties of environmental justice.

Notes 1

Onora Nell, ‘Lifeboat Earth’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 4, No. 3 (Spring 1975): 273-292. 2 David T. Schwartz, Consuming Choices: Ethics in a Global Consumer Age (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010), 3. 3 Allen L. Hammond, ‘Natural Resource Consumption: North and South’, in Ethics of Consumption: The Good Life, Justice, and Global Stewardship, eds. David Crocker and Toby Linden (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998). 4 Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 3rd Edition, trans. James W. Ellington (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1993), 429. Note: When citing Kant’s texts, page numbers will correspond to the appropriate page numbers of Kant’s Gesammelte Schriften, herausgegeben von der Koniglichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissen schaften, 23 volumes (Berlin: Walter de Greyter, 1902). 5 Henry Shue, Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U. S. Foreign Policy, 2nd Edition (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 13-64. 6 Schwartz, Consuming Choices, 49-51.

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__________________________________________________________________ 7

‘Coca-Cola; In Hot Water’, in The Economist, 6 October 2005, accessed May 10, 2012, http://www.economist.com/node/4492835. 8 James S. Fishkin, The Limits of Obligation (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982), 153. 9 Liam B. Murphy, Moral Demands in Nonideal Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 6. 10 Henry Shue, ‘Solidarity among Strangers and the Right to Food’, in World Hunger and Morality, 2nd Edition, eds. William Aiken and Hugh LaFollette (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995), 113-122. 11 Schwartz, Consuming Choices, 47-67 and 69-84. 12 Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, ed. and trans. Mary Gregor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 407-408. 13 Ibid., 379-381, 386-387, 396-397 and 407-408. 14 Ibid., 407-408 and 420. 15 Ibid., 407-408. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18 Immanuel Kant, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, eds. and trans. Allen Wood and George di Giovanni (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 58 and 78. 19 Immanuel Kant, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, trans. Victor Lyle Dowdell (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978), 251 (emphasis mine).

Bibliography Fishkin, James S. The Limits of Obligation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982. Hammond, Allen L. ‘Natural Resource Consumption: North and South’. In Ethics of Consumption: The Good Life, Justice, and Global Stewardship, edited by David Crocker, and Toby Linden, 437–500. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998. Kant, Immanuel. Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View. Translated by Victor Lyle Dowdell. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978. —––. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 3rd Edition. Translated by James W. Ellington. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1993.

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__________________________________________________________________ —––. The Metaphysics of Morals. Edited and translated by Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. —––. Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. Edited and translated by Allen Wood, and George di Giovanni. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Murphy, Liam B. Moral Demands in Nonideal Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Nell, Onora. ‘Lifeboat Earth’. Philosophy and Public Affairs 4, No. 3 (Spring 1975): 273–292. Schwartz, David T. Consuming Choices: Ethics in a Global Consumer Age. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010. Shue, Henry. ‘Solidarity among Strangers and the Right to Food’. In World Hunger and Morality, 2nd Edition, edited by William Aiken, and Hugh LaFollette, 113–122. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995. Bradford S. Hadaway is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky, USA.

Is Environmental Justice Possible within the Framework of Liberalism? George N. Politis Abstract It is very common to link the uncontrolled growth of capitalism with the environmental crisis. The argument continues that socialism, as the major alternative to capitalism, could help communities and humanity as a whole to follow a different value system, one that is compatible with sustainable development and environmental needs. My chapter argues that there is a serious discrepancy in this approach. The philosophical analysis of liberal capitalism and marxist socialism exposes that they both share the same foundation. This foundation lies in the starting point of the modern system of thought as suggested by Descartes, according to which the scope of human existence on earth is to dominate nature. It is precisely this common starting point that makes both systems believe that they exclusively express reason. Therefore, the environmental crisis is not the unavoidable result of capitalism, which socialism could solve but the unavoidable result of the social imaginary, which capitalism and socialism both share. If this is true, then the possible solution of the environmental crisis has to be the development of a different value system, which could form an accordingly different social imaginary. My chapter concludes that the moral framework of liberal philosophy is compatible with this approach. Key Words: Stoics, Descartes, Locke, Μarx, liberalism, socialism ***** 1. Preface According to a commonly held view capitalism is responsible for the major part of the current environmental crisis. It is somehow implied that liberalism, as the theory supporting capitalism, is inexorably linked to the environmental exploitation. The argument continues that if liberalism is responsible for environmental crisis, then socialism as the alternative theory can somehow be identified as a protector of the environment and thus offering a quality solution to this major issue. 1 This argument is based on a popular belief that something that is inherited in liberalism forces its supporters to exploit the environment, whereas in socialism there is a different characteristic which is accordingly inherited, that forces its supporters to protect the environment. The scope of my chapter is to prove that the former is false. I will argue that from a philosophical point of view, both liberalism and socialism share a common starting point. They are both the products of the same cultural womb and none of

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__________________________________________________________________ them include environmental preservation as a fundamental characteristic. If we were to seek the reason behind this misunderstanding, one could assume that as the green movement was growing in the western world where capitalism was dominant, the critics of the environmental exploitation saw capitalism and therefore liberalism as the major parameter that creates the problem. After all, intellectuals have the tendency to identify the dominant economic and political system as the source of social problems. During the Cold War era, western intellectuals used to blame capitalism for any social problem, whereas intellectuals of the East identified state socialism as the source of the problems that they were facing. 2 2. Foundations Let us firstly examine the so-called common starting basis of both philosophical theories that dominated political, social and economic debate in the past centuries. We have to accept that there are many different types of liberalism and many different types of socialism, but in a broader sense every version is based on a particular classic approach on the matter. Liberal views follow the route which was introduced firstly by John Locke and then by the British liberal thinkers of the nineteenth century. On the other hand, most socialists follow the tradition of Karl Marx’s thinking. These are the two major versions of the theories which we will examine. If we consider liberalism and socialism from a narrow, strictly economic point of view, as it is the case with modern economists and social analysts, it is clear that we will face unbridgeable gaps between them. Liberalism is accepting private ownership of the means of production, whereas socialism is based on social ownership of means of production. In contrast, if we try to identify a certain philosophical framework in which each one of the examined theories is being born and developed, the gap is eliminated. Both theories are the fruits of the age of reason, the age of enlightenment, the age of modernity. They follow the route which was paved by Rene Descartes one of the great heroes of philosophy, as Hegel suggested. One of Descartes main positions was that reason provided the means that humans could and should use in order to dominate nature. 3 This is the essence of the spirit of modernity and this is the scope that both liberalism and socialism try to fulfil. 4 It is a notion, which is fundamental in what Castoriadis identifies as the ‘collective imaginary’ of modern society in both capitalism and bureaucratic socialism framework. 5 For him, the so-called enlightened reason is no more than a false-reason. This reason is used by the dominant class as a means to rationalize and perpetualise its dominance. 6 Castoriadis argues that Capitalism, the dominant system of production of the modern era, is the first regime in human history which creates an ideology, according to which this particular system is an expression of objective reason. This critique follows the line of thought that was

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__________________________________________________________________ firstly introduced by Adorno and Horkheimer in their Dialectic of the Enlightenment. 7 They argued that capitalism uses a particular false conception of reason. Τhis false reason serves the interests of the ruling social class, thus transforming class struggle into struggle against nature in order to eliminate poverty and create economic abundance. In reality, the era of enlightenment does not offer liberation from myth, but it offers a new version of myth a new mythical context. 8 It may come as a surprise, but Marxism does not escape this precise problem. Actually, it is based on a similar belief: The belief that there is one and only route in history, the route that was identified as such by Marx, when he described his unfalsifiable historical laws. 9 Τhe notion according to which science and technology could advance, therefore providing the means for the human emancipation characterised the age of modernity. This optimistic view collapsed under the ruins of the First World War. 10 During the sixties a new revolutionary optimism emerged and radicals believed that for the first time in history the prospect of material abundance created by modern technology made possible a free society for all. 11 It was not necessary to dominate nature in order to create economic abundance. 12 It was under these conditions that Murray Bookchin started to form his Social Ecology theory. Bookchin supported the view that the creation of an anarchist collectivist society is the only way to save humanity from ecological disaster. 13 But he was not very clear in the way in which this society can create the means to stop poverty without harming the environment. Αs it is often argued by his critics, Bookchin does not offer a coherent framework of how his system is going to work and why it is not another utopia following Robert Owen or others. Castoriadis is clear when he describes the antinomies of utopian ‘back to nature’ approaches. Despite the sympathy one can feel for modern-day “back to nature” movements...It would obviously be illusory to think that we could re-establish a “preindustrial” society and that those who presently hold power would spontaneously give it up if they found themselves confronted with a hypothetical desertion growing within industrial societies. These movements are themselves caught in contradictions. There is scarcely any ‘commune’ without taped music, and a tape recorder implies the totality of modern industry. 14 Twenty years after these words were written, if we replace tape recorder with iPad or facebook, we will retain the same message. This argument does not imply that Bookchin is a member of the anti-technology and anti-civilisation anarchists. Bookchin clarifies his point by stating that ‘the anti-civilization anarchists who

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__________________________________________________________________ denounce civilization today are among those who enjoy its cultural fruits and make expansive highly individualistic professions of liberty.’ 15 3. Responsibilities and Interpretations We have accepted that Descartes proclaimed man’s dominance over nature, but we have to admit that he was not the first to do so. Similar to his approach is the one held in the Old Testament: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 16 Lynn Townsend White Jr supported that in these lines we can trace the roots of the current ecological crisis. 17 But even if we follow his thinking, we have to consider that in the same book of Genesis, another line states that ‘God tooke the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dresse it and to keepe it.’ 18 In any case we have to take into account that these guidelines were issued more than 2000 years from now. They can be interpreted as a call for protecting man from the hostile environment of the state of nature. Thomas Hobbes, who sees the state of nature as a dark and dangerous place, would be particularly happy with this argument. This may sound peculiar and of course anti-environmental in our times, but if we consider the difficult conditions of the old world before technology, biology, medicine, electricity, we can be more sympathetic. After all, under this perspective Noah’s ark could be seen as the first expression of environmental activism. Another issue which we have to consider when we examine this notion is that the Christian tradition at least in the orthodox dogma, which characterised the Byzantine era, is that humans signify the highest level of nature’s creatures but the whole of nature has been created by God. God is perfect, so humans have to respect nature, God’s creation, and they are not allowed to destroy it. In doing so, they are destroying what God had created; therefore they are acting against God’s will. From a theological point of view, the radical turning point that allowed different interpretations is the Reformation and the culture of savings, loans, money interest that gave rise to a new level of man’s predominance over nature which is clearly linked and morally justified by religion. Looking back to the ancient times, of course there were different environmental approaches, such as the celebrated Stoic argument, according to which natural law is the expression of the law of reason and people have to live in accordance with nature, if they are to live in accordance to reason. 19 This is a very strong basis for pro-nature arguments, but when we try to locate foundations for current arguments in the past we have to consider the danger of anachronism. Whatever the Stoics, or

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__________________________________________________________________ the Jews, or the Byzantines may have thought, they did not have the means to destroy nature. These means where created and developed as products of the modern age of reason, which provided us with technology capable of harming nature in levels which were absolutely unthinkable in the past. It is very difficult to form a stable link between environmental approaches that have been formed before the industrial revolution, simply because the conditions are decisively different. It is common knowledge that liberalism and ‘the spirit of capitalism’ in Max Weber’s words are responsible for the meteoric rise of the level of human’s impact on nature. But, even if we face environmental crisis as a by-product of capitalism and liberalism we have to accept, firstly that we cannot blame classic liberal thinkers for that and secondly that when Marx developed his revolutionary social and economic theories he did not blame capitalism as being unjust to nature. He blamed capitalism as being unjust to the most populous economic class. Therefore, his own particular answer to the problem was not a new alternative way of goods production, which could preserve nature, but a different way of production, that could help working class to regain its property which has been previously stolen by the bourgeois. The starting point of both systems was the same, namely that humans were going to use the goods of nature for their own interest. The difference is that they did not have to serve the interest of the few but the interest of the whole. One can rise a rhetorical question here: Which system is more eco-friendly a feudal, aristocratic system where 1% is ridiculously rich and the remaining 99% serves those rich, a bourgeois system where 70% is living a nearly comfort life and a 30% a quite difficult life, or a socialist environment where nature has to provide goods for the whole 100% of its inhabitants? Even if we denounce this argument as sophist, Malthusian or resembling Aldo Leopold’s views we have to face reality, namely that Marx’s suggestion was not that his own economic proposal was more environmental friendly but that it was better and more capable as a way of producing goods. According to classic liberalism, self-interest provides the power to generate economy. Egoism forces people to produce, buy and sell goods. Marx suggested that if factories where to be used for the interest of the working class they could be more efficient in producing goods, therefore, growth would be benefitted by the socialist way of production. Thus, when we say that the irrational capitalist growth is to blame for the current environmental crisis we should keep in mind that Marx’s socialism, was introduced as a new proposal that could be more advanced as a system of production. Thus, if Marx was right and socialism prevailed, its own growth levels could be even higher, and the environmental crisis would be much worst. Two parameters have to be taken under consideration here. Firstly, that this level of growth does not take into account the environmental issues, and secondly that the only reason why communist countries that followed Marx’s system might

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__________________________________________________________________ have been less polluting than capitalist countries was only that they fail to be as productive as capitalism. In simpler terms, the only explanation that links capitalism to a greater level of environmental pollution is that (by narrow economic criteria) it is proved to be a more effective system than socialism. Αs Castoriadis puts it, capitalism creates a system of false needs, but it manages to fulfil them as well. 20 The same can be said for feudalism or slavery; they were less successful systems and less harmful to the environment, but is this a good reason for trying to re-establish them? Would the citizens of 2012 be happy to become parts of a feudal chain especially if they knew that chances are that they will not become the barons or the lords of that system but most probably the serfs? Returning to the first parameter, we have to consider the common fault of trying to blame theories for any possible disadvantage that is linked to their application. It is logically false and morally unjust to blame Descartes, or Locke or Smith for the painful environmental effects of capitalism, liberalism and modernity. They were not prophets or fortune tellers; they could not foresee the level of human’s intervention to nature. They developed their philosophical thinking in pre-industrial era, and even Marx wrote during the first period of industrial revolution. His world was totally different than ours. He could not have thought about environmental issues that appeared one hundred years after his death. Liberalism is linked to individual freedom. In the liberal framework, an action is morally accepted if it helps individual freedom, not if it is good or bad for the environment. The same goes for socialism, which aims to the social equality. If this can be achieved by exploiting nature, then nature’s exploitation is morally accepted. It is as simple as that. Therefore, there is no way that we can link classic marxian socialism to the environmental protection. There are certain alternative socialist views that can include environmental values in their agenda, Castoriadis, Cohn-Bendit, or Bookchin, are the most prominent figures of that field. But, these voices do not follow what is called as the orthodox marxist tradition of socialism. On the other hand, if we were to find expressions of environmentalism in the liberal tradition, it would be easy to mention Henry David Thoreau, which is regarded as the pioneer of the green movement. 21 He was clearly a libertarian, but he was holding a liberal and not a socialist approach. He was a true follower of John Locke’s contractarian theory. Moreover, if we investigate the roots of the classic liberal texts, such as Locke’s Second Treatise, we will see that in his discussion of the state of nature argument Locke supported that ‘Nothing was made by God for Man to spoil or destroy.’ 22 Furthermore, ‘He that leaves as much as another can make use of, does as good as take nothing at all.’ 23 If we accept this thesis, then we can easily argue that those who now live in our planet have to take into consideration the future of the planet and the generations that will follow. Therefore, the current inhabitants have to be careful not to exhaust the resources

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__________________________________________________________________ that nature has to offer. On that basis a whole system of liberal environmentalism can be formed. 4. Conclusion As an epilogue we could say that the argument that socialism is a proenvironment theory whereas liberalism is against the environment, is invalid. There are specific versions of socialism, which are more environmentally friendly than particular types of liberalism. But one can argue the exact opposite. If we approach the social systems from a clarified environmental perspective it is not the system’s label, but the context of the system that matters the most. There are tendencies such as consumerism, advertisement, false-needs and mass-culture, that feed the locomotive of capitalism and make it more and more productive, thus more harmful to the environment. These issues have been analysed in the past by the philosophers of Frankfurt School and others. 24 But, it would be fair to say that this observation serves mostly to expose a certain tendency of the modern human and not the inherently problematic nature of liberalism. 25

Notes 1

Γιώργος N. Πολίτης, Περιβαλλοντισμός: ‘Ισορροπώντας μεταξύ Μεταρρύθμισης και Επανάστασης’, Περιβάλλον – Κοινωνία – Ηθική, επ. Ε. Παπαϊωάννου εκδ. Αειφορία [George Politis, ‘Εnvironmentalism: Keeping Balance between Reform and Revolution’, in Environment, Society, Ethics, ed. E. Papaioannou (Athens: Aeiforia, 2011)], 163. 2 Γιώργος Ν. Πολίτης, ‘Φιλελευθερισμός και αμφισβήτηση’, [George Politis, ‘Liberalism and Dispute’], Annuaire Scientifique de la Faculté de Philosophie de l’ Université d’ Athènes (Athens 2006-2007), 182, Robert Nozick, Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?, Cato Policy Report, January/February 1998, http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/cpr-20n1-1.html. 3 Cornelius Castoriadis and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Aπό την οικολογία στην αυτονομία, [From Ecology to Autonomy] (Athens: Kedros, 1981), 31-32. 4 Ibid., 17-18; Costas Papaioannou, La Consécration de l’ Histoire (Paris: Champ Libre, 1983), 106. 5 Castoriadis and Cohn-Bendit, Aπό την οικολογία στην αυτονομία, 17-22. 6 Cornelius Castoriadis, H ορθολογικότητα του καπιταλισμού [The Rationality of Capitalism] (Athens: Ypsilon, 1998), 12. 7 Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of the Enlightenment (London: Verso Edition, 1995), 120-167. 8 See, Ernst Cassirer, The Myth of the State (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1974), 297-298.

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Cornelius Castoriadis, To επαναστατικό πρόβλημα σήμερα [The Revolutionary Problem Today] (Athens: Ypsilon, 2000), 27-69. 10 This change is particularly clear in literature, namely in the works of Franz Kafκa, Αldous Huxley, Louis-Ferdinand Céline. 11 Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible; A History of Αnarchism (London: Fontana Press, 1993), 603. 12 Ibid., 604. 13 Ibid., 602. 14 Cornelius Castoriadis, Philosophy, Politics, Autonomy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 196. 15 Murray Βookchin, Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Αnarchism, An Unbridgeable Chasm (Εdinburgh: AK Press, 1995), 35. 16 King James Bible on Line, accessed July 11, 2012, Genesis, 1: 28, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1611_Genesis-Chapter-1. 17 Lynn Townsend White Jr., ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis’, Science 155, No. 3767 (10 March 1967). 18 Ibid., Genesis, 2: 15. 19 Ioannes Abarnim, ed., Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, I-VI (Teubner, 1964), II, 39, 5, III, 4, 12. 20 Castoriadis and Cohn-Bendit, Aπό την οικολογία στην αυτονομία, 27-29. 21 Henry D. Thoreau, Walden or Life in the Woods (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854). 22 Ibid., 291. 23 Ibid. 24 Herbert Marcuse, ‘Some Social Implications of Social Technology’, in The Essential Frankfurt School Reader, eds. A. Arato and E. Gebhart (New York: Continuum, 1995), 138-162; Noam Chomsky, American Power and the New Mandarins (New York: Pantheon, 1969).

Bibliography Abarnim, Ioannes, ed. Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, I-VI. Teubner, 1964. Adorno, Theodor, and Max Horkheimer. Dialectic of the Enlightenment. London: Verso Edition, 1995. Bible, King James Version. http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org. Bookchin, Murray. Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Αnarchism, An Unbridgeable Chasm. Εdinburgh: AK Press, 1995.

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__________________________________________________________________ Cassirer, Ernst. The Myth of the State. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1974. Cornelius Castoriadis, and Daniel Cohn-Bendit. Aπό την οικολογία στην αυτονομία [From Ecology to Autonomy]. Athens: Kedros, 1981. Castoriadis, Cornelius. Philosophy, Politics, Autonomy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. —––. H ορθολογικότητα του καπιταλισμού [The Rationality of Capitalism]. Athens: Ypsilon, 1998. —––. To επαναστατικό πρόβλημα σήμερα [The Revolutionary Problem Today]. Athens: Ypsilon, 2000. Chomsky, Noam. American Power and the New Mandarins. New York: Pantheon, 1969. Laslett, Peter, ed. John Locke, Two Treatises of Government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960. Marcuse, Herbert ‘Some Social Implications of Social Technology’. In The Essential Frankfurt School Reader, edited by A. Arato, and E. Gebhart. New York: Continuum, 1995. Marshall, Peter. Demanding the Impossible; A History of Αnarchism. London: Fontana Press, 1993. Nozick, Robert. ‘Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?’. Cato Policy Report, January/February 1998. http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/cpr-20n1-1.html. Papaioannou, Costas. La Consécration de l’ Histoire. Paris: Champ Libre, 1983. Politis, George N. ‘Φιλελευθερισμός και αμφισβήτηση’ [‘Liberalism and Dispute’]. Annuaire Scientifique de la Faculté de Philosophie de l’ Université d’ Athènes/ Athens, 2006-2007. —––. Eλευθερία & Εξουσία, [Freedom & Authority]. Athens, 2010.

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__________________________________________________________________ —––. Περιβαλλοντισμός: ‘Ισορροπώντας μεταξύ Μεταρρύθμισης και Επανάστασης’ [‘Εnvironmentalism: Keeping Balance between Reform and Revolution’]. In Περιβάλλον – Κοινωνία – Ηθική [Environment, Society, Ethics], edited by Ε. Papaioannou. Athens: Aeiforia, 2011. Thoreau, Henry D. Walden or Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. White, Lynn Townsend Jr. ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis’. Science 155, No. 3767 (10 March 1967). George N. Politis is Lecturer in Social Philosophy in the Philosophy Department of the University of Athens, Greece. His recent books include Bakunin’s Social Philosophy (Οxford: Trafford, 2006), Eλευθερία & Εξουσία [Freedom & Authority] (Athens, 2010) and Το δικαίωμα της πολιτικής ανυπακοής [Τhe Right to Civil Disobedience] (Athens: Psichogios, 2012). His main philosophical interests include social philosophy, political philosophy and ethics.

The Precautionary Principle, Libertarianism and Paternalism Mark Ryan Abstract This chapter analyses the ethical aspects contained within the precautionary principle’s approach towards its goal of risk minimisation/prevention, namely, balancing the views of the expert and non-expert within the environmental decision-making process. It will analyse views that either integrate or discount public opinion within the PP’s decision-making process, and also the ethical issues surrounding the information received by the public in relation to environmental risks. It will be broken into two specific sections: (i) Libertarianism: Policymakers should provide the public with all of the information that is available, in relation to risks they face, and should let them decide for themselves about what actions should be taken. However, the general public might not understand the details of this information, leading to irrational actions being taken that do not represent the probability, impact, or importance of these risks. (ii) Paternalism: Deciding what is best for the public and implementing policies accordingly, or only providing limited information, is the best approach to take towards risk. The public would not understand a lot of the technical jargon used and their views towards risk are often irrational. However, this raises the ethical issue that these types of policies do not represent the public’s interests. Information received about a specific risk(s), or lack thereof, is vital in how risks are perceived. There is the potential for alarmisttype reactions towards risk because of the quality and quantity of media coverage, which has the capacity to distort the reality and likelihood of a risk. This can blind individuals’ capacity to understand accurate levels of probability, and can thus cause governments to act on their population’s misguided views surrounding these risks. Key Words: Precautionary principle, libertarianism, paternalism, probability neglect, risk management, media ethics. ***** 1. Introduction Sustainable development advocates tend to approach risk in a precautious manner, often adopting the ‘precautionary principle’ as a means to aid it in the decision-making process. The precautionary principle (PP) originated out of a desire to formalise precautionary ideals within environmental policy. 1 It promotes an ideal of precaution when activities potentially threaten human health or the environment, and places the onus of responsibility on those taking the action to show that they are safe. When there is a lack of scientific certainty about a potential harm there is a responsibility to err on the precautious side until it can be

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__________________________________________________________________ established that there are no risks, or at the very least, they are minimal or somewhat acceptable. The precautionary principle states that when there is a potential harm contained within an action, there should be a responsibility on those proposing the risk to show that there is no risk, or that the risk is minimal. When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof. The process of applying the Precautionary Principle must be open, informed and democratic and must include potentially affected parties. 2 Essentially, policymakers need to balance the expert and non-expert’s views within an open, informed and democratic decision-making process. The general public’s opinions of risk are often based on different assumptions, values, and perceptions than the expert’s views. Therefore, for a PP to work best it must take into account both the expert and non-expert’s views of risk. However, taking public values into account can be a difficult task because of the large variation and diversity of beliefs within society. Also, the lay person may arrive at conclusions that are based on false information, ignorance, or simply, lack of care about the environment. Even if the public is fully informed about risks, there is no certainty that they will follow the same line of thought as the expert. Also, if our views always completely mirrored the expert’s views, then what would be the point of retrieving public opinion in the first place? Another problem is that the general public is often too easily swayed by emotions and misguided information instead of basing their decisions on the best available scientific data. If these points are indeed true, should we leave the decisions with the experts, or should policymakers take a balanced decision, one that embraces both the views of the expert and the non-expert? If the policymaker tries to strike a balance between the experts’ analyses and the layperson’s values, they would need to somewhat extract elements of irrational fear and passivity out of the decision-making process. The incorporation of public perception is of vital importance within the PP because it needs to incorporate societal values within its framework. This ultimately underpins the success or failure of the PP from the very start because without a level of public opinion it descends back into draconian authoritarian measures. On first appearance, it would appear that when there is a great deal of public concern over a particular risk, it would be democratic to initiate legislation and policy representing these concerns. Even when public opinion is misled, unsubstantiated, or blown way out of proportion, policy is still supposed to represent the voice of its people. Therefore, should policymakers and scientists

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__________________________________________________________________ provide the public with unrestricted information on risk findings or should they implement policies based on what they deem to be the best approach to take? This problem creates a split in the value we place on public opinion in environmental risk management and can be illustrated in two specific positions: Paternalism and libertarianism. I will now discuss both of these frameworks and then analyse what they can potentially bring to the precautionary principle. There is a split in philosophical thought as to whether or not scientists and policymakers have a responsibility to inform the public about risks, and if so, what should this responsibility be? The libertarian claims that all findings should be disclosed to the population without any restrictions, while on the other hand, paternalism states policymakers must withhold certain information from being released because it is in the public’s better interest that this process remains with the policymakers and scientists. Otherwise, a lot of the information received by the public would cause unnecessary pandemonium and fear. 3 The libertarian view proposes that policymakers and scientists should provide the public with all of the relevant information they have and let them decide for themselves. This would respect the public’s liberties but it also has the potential to harm them. For example, they might not understand or appreciate this information, leading to them being mislead or abused through misunderstood and misguided policies. While on the other hand, there is the option of deciding what is best for the public and implementing policies accordingly. However, this could lead to the implementation of polices that are not in the public’s interests or wishes, and which could also disrespect public values. In the next section I will analyse some difficulties contained within the libertarian viewpoint, followed by a paternalistic response. 2. Libertarianism If scientists disseminate information about their findings in a completely unrestricted manner, as the libertarian position proposes, this could potentially lead to a destructive effect because of the public’s reaction. Unrestricted publication of scientific findings may lead to an irrational level of fear of risk as there would be no barriers to filter out mere opinions and findings that are either limited in their data, proof, or lacking peer-reviewed status. Any scientist could make any claim that appears within their findings, despite its lack of scientific merit. For example, if there was scientific research completed and the findings somehow made a connection between the use of computers and skin cancer, this point would not necessarily make it a causal relationship. It would need to be empirically proven that there was a certain causal link between the two, the findings would have to be peer-reviewed from another authority, and there would have to be several other conducted experiments before it could be conclusively proven to be true.

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__________________________________________________________________ However, the libertarian viewpoint would claim that the initial preliminary findings should be distributed to the general public, despite their serious lack of a quality review status and despite the fact that this could potentially cause an irrational precautionary reaction. Some consequences of this would be that: People would quit their jobs if it involved many hours of computer work, some people may revert to more primitive forms of communication, and there would be a subsequent knock-on effect on the computer industry, and technology as a whole. These are just a few examples of how this method of releasing information could cause widespread panic, despite the lack of likelihood of the risk coming into effect. This is what Sunstein claimed to be exemplary of irrational and emotion-led attitudes to risk, and this is why a paternalistic form of governance is more suitable. 4 Sunstein claims that people’s attitudes and aversions to risk are inherently emotion-laden and often irrational and inaccurate. Perceptions of threat tend to create greater concerns around certain risks that often have a far lower probability of occurring. Public perception is often concerned with risks that do not necessarily have a high probability of occurring. 5 He claims that the very opposite of this is also true however, as the general public can show no concern at all towards a potential threat, or may be oblivious to it altogether. ‘Probability neglect’ is the term which refers to the tendency to overlook risks of high probability because the outcomes of those risks scare one into ignoring them out of fear. 6 This tendency is often based on irrational judgments about the risk itself or by overemphasising other terrible outcomes that have less possibility of occurring. Even if all of the relevant information is freely available, there is still a great divergence in what is deemed to be a ‘risk’ and what levels of probability should be accepted. Public perception towards risk is deeply embedded in the psychological makeup of a population and is also heavily controlled by both the information received and the overall emotional attitude towards risk within the social psyche. Emotions play a massive role in the public’s view of risk and danger, with the more vivid, detailed, and descriptive accounts of dangerous outcomes often leading to higher levels of public concern. There is also the process of ‘cascading’ at work during our social interactions, whereby, one person’s fears are communicated to another, which can have a knock-on multiplying effect. 7 Individuals can very often overemphasise these issues in their daily interactions with others, taking these fears as truisms, amplifying and exaggerating them within their own personal interactions. Sunstein claims that people’s views of risk are often influenced by a number of other factors also, such as population consensus. When individuals see that a large percentage of the population believe in a certain risk or are worried by a certain risk, others are more easily persuaded into believing likewise. Individuals can also be influenced by the acceptance and endorsement of risk by certain key figures or

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__________________________________________________________________ influential people. 8 For example, if a president publicly expresses his/her opinions on the future of a recession in their country, many would believe in this opinion, regardless of the merit or economic factuality of their views. Sunstein claims that the majority of people make judgments about risks based on intuition and emotions, instead of grounding them in scientific factuality. In contradistinction to this, the expert assesses risks based on cost-benefit analysis and scientific evidence, and is generally more informed and better equipped at making decisions than the ‘ordinary person.’ He also claims that the expert should not become entangled in the emotion-led state of affairs of the general public, but their views should instead be based on empirical risk analysis. 9 Sunstein’s framework does not give ample consideration to the possibility that the expert might also fall prey to the same accusations he accuses the lay person of – opinions guided by emotion and intuition. They have an expertise and knowledge of risk so it somehow frees them from subjectively-led biased opinions, one can conclude from Sunstein’s remarks. A few examples of how risk assessments can be distorted or biased by experts are: Manipulation of data, affiliation to specific organisations or companies, and even by arbitrarily concentrating on one particular area of risk over another. However, Sunstein still somehow deduces that public opinion is something different, and is more easily swayed than the expert’s opinions. He proposes that the expert should attempt to persuade the general public to follow their guidance towards the correct conclusion. 3. Paternalistic Governance of Risk Sunstein proposes a clearly paternalistic style of governing risk, one that is guided by institutional forces that try to convince the general public into believing that these threats to their community are real, rather than allowing them to decide for themselves. Sunstein’s view of the public is patronising, because it claims that they are predominantly led by intuition and are devoid of reflective and deliberative judgments. His idea of deliberative democracy is inherently ‘votecentric,’ as the public votes for their elected representatives, who then deliberate upon behalf of their citizens through their power in government. As Kusch rightfully claims, this is not deliberative democracy at all, but is instead, the old system in which deliberative democracy was created in order to avoid: ‘For Sunstein deliberative democracy means the creation of institutions designed to guarantee that the best scientific opinions win the day – even if this involves state agencies in paternalist manipulation of an ignorant and fearful public.’ 10 However, public opinion of risk needs to be retrieved from a society that is not coerced or forced into thinking in a certain way. Instead, they should be provided with all of the relevant information, and uncertainty within that information, in order to establish their own opinions of what should be done. A paternalistic

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__________________________________________________________________ attitude to risk and risk prevention is not a suitable and respectful one, but instead relinquishes autonomy and control from citizens’ lives. Instead, governments and institutions should give information to the public, which would respect their right to choose whether or not to take a particular risk. This approach also develops a participatory interaction between the population and policymakers, and provides a more integrative method of risk analysis and decision-making. Lambert et. al propose that this approach respects the autonomy of the individual by giving them information about potential risks in the effort to enable them with the ability of preventing these risks through precautionary actions. 11 However, the information that the public often receive about risks are distorted and jeopardised by third parties and interest groups. Information received about a specific risk, or lack thereof, is vital in how a risk is perceived. There is the potential for alarmist-type reactions that are often the result of media coverage, but this coverage does not always accurately reflect the reality of the risks assessed. This information can blind individuals’ capacity to understand accurate levels of probability, and can cause governments to act on their population’s sometimes misguided views of risk. Media coverage of threats can grossly distort the actual probability of an event and this has the potential to distort public perception. If individuals see tragic accidents on the news, the fear that that incident will happen to them is amplified. 12 However, the alternatives to these risks can often be more dangerous and risk-prone than the risk they are trying to avoid. For example, ‘[i]n the aftermath of a rail accident people consequently refuse to travel on trains, and use their cars instead, which are far more dangerous.’ 13 Media coverage has a strong control over what the public knows, likes, are afraid of, and the risks it deems to be important. However, because of this responsibility – or rather, manipulation of responsibility – the media often overlooks environmental damage unless it is on an unprecedented scale or has already received a great deal of public outcry or governmental concern. It has to be ‘newsworthy’ and attract consumers’ attention to make the news. Our everyday destructive environmental habits, pollution, overconsumption, destruction of rainforests, and so forth, is often not newsworthy enough and is greatly lowered in the level of public concern due to its lack of coverage. Because certain areas are not given a great deal of concern by the media, the public may become apathetic towards them and in turn, do not demand actions to combat these risks. There is therefore an interrelationship between the media, the public and the government in any analysis of risk, and subsequently, this will also have a distinct impact on how the precautionary principle is viewed, understood, and implemented into policy. 4. Conclusion Even if there is a full and open provision of information, its dissemination and readership is questionable due to the quantity and quality of media coverage and

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__________________________________________________________________ public demand for that information. It is not as easy as simply providing all of the information and then governmental responsibility is achieved. It is also not as easy as just accept public opinion fully because there might be levels of irrational and fearful judgments. Policymakers need to assess both the views of the expert and the general public within policy, because if policymakers ignore societal values and beliefs, they undermine the PP as a representative framework within the sustainability movement. Regulators and risk assessors need to provide the public with relevant information on risks, and uncertainties contained within these risks, so that they can make informed decisions. Information provided to the public should be transparent, detailing the levels of certainty and uncertainty contained within them. There is a need to balance the experts’ views of a particular risk with an informed public opinion of that risk. For policymakers, this involves understanding the levels of uncertainty contained within the experts’ analysis of risk, and also the levels of irrationality contained within the public’s perception of these risks. In order to establish an ethically-feasible method of governance one needs to establish a way of releasing information to the public that would not jeopardise their own safety by feeding them preliminary information and also not hide information from them in the paternalistic belief that policymakers and scientists know best. There is also a strong need to evaluate the information that a public receives in relation to environmental risks, and for the media to disclose the context, probability, and scientific reality of what they report to the public. However, as we all know, what the media should do, and what the media does do, are often two very different things.

Notes 1

David Freestone and Ellen Hey, ‘Origins and Development of the Precautionary Principle’, in The Precautionary Principle and International Law, eds. David Freestone and Ellen Hey (London: Kluwer Law International, 1996), 3-15. 2 Wingspread Statement, The Wingspread Consensus Statement on the Precautionary Principle, 1998. 3 Cass R. Sunstein, ‘Beyond the Precautionary Principle’, University of Pennsylvania Law Review 151, No. 3 (2003). 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid., 1046. 6 Cass R. Sunstein, Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 68. 7 Ibid., 94. 8 Ibid.

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Ibid. Martin Kusch, ‘Towards a Political Philosophy of Risk: Experts and Publics in Deliberative Democracy’, in Risk: Philosophical Perspectives, ed. Tim Lewins (London: Routledge, 2007), 140. 11 Timothy William Lambert, et al., ‘Ethical Perspectives for Public and Environmental Health: Fostering Autonomy and the Right to Know’, Environmental Health Perspectives 111, No. 2 (2003): 131-137. 12 Tim Lewens, ‘Introduction: Risk and Philosophy’, in Risk: Philosophical Perspectives, ed. Tim Lewins (London: Routledge, 2007). 13 Ibid., 15. 10

Bibliography Carr, Susan. ‘Ethical and Value-Based Aspects of the European Commission’s Precautionary Principle’. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 15, No. 1 (2002): 31–38. Freestone, David, and Ellen Hey. ‘Origins and Development of the Precautionary Principle’. In The Precautionary Principle and International Law, edited by David Freestone, and Ellen Hey, 3–15. London: Kluwer Law International, 1996. Gardiner, Stephen. M. ‘A Core Precautionary Principle’. The Journal of Political Philosophy 14, No. 1 (2006): 33–60. Kusch, Martin. ‘Towards a Political Philosophy of Risk: Experts and Publics in Deliberative Democracy’. In Risk: Philosophical Perspectives, edited by Tim Lewins, 131–155. London: Routledge, 2007. Lambert, Timothy William, et. al. ‘Ethical Perspectives for Public and Environmental Health: Fostering Autonomy and the Right to Know’. Environmental Health Perspectives 111, No. 2 (2003): 131–137. Lewens, Tim. ‘Introduction: Risk and Philosophy’. In Risk: Philosophical Perspectives, edited by Tim Lewins, 1–20. London: Routledge, 2007. Majone, Giandomenico. ‘What Price Safety? The Precautionary Principle and Its Policy Implications’. JCMS 40, No. 1 (2002): 89–109. Manson, Neil A. ‘Formulating the Precautionary Principle’. Environmental Ethics 24 (2002): 263–274.

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__________________________________________________________________ Russ, Thomas. ‘Moral Underpinnings of the Precautionary Principle’. EBS Review (2003): 95–103. Sandin, Per. ‘Common-Sense Precaution and Varieties of the Precautionary Principle’. In Risk: Philosophical Perspectives, edited by Tim Lewens, 99–112. London: Routledge, 2007. Sunstein, Cass R ‘Beyond the Precautionary Principle’. University of Pennsylvania Law Review 151, No. 3 (2003): 1003–1058. —––. Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. —––. ‘The Catastrophic Harm Precautionary Principle’. Issues in Legal Scholarship 3 (2007): 1–29. Wingspread Statement. The Precautionary Principle. 1998.

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Mark Ryan, National University of Ireland, Galway. [email protected].

the

American Stewardship: A Path Already Laid Colin W. Maguire Abstract The United States of America continues to be a global leader in many economic and social areas. However, America has given the environmental movement has been given a lukewarm response. Far from being a global leader, the United States lags behind in the implementation of green building technology, efficient automobile use, and renewable energy technology. It is a tragedy that is slowly being addressed but one that is often an issue divided along political lines. American conservatives, whether calling themselves Republicans, Libertarians, or Independents, often lament the progressive underpinnings of the green movement and fail to give full support to green initiatives. In the opinion of a conservative who is an advocate of sustainable practices and environmental stewardship, the environmental narrative needs to start at an earlier time for conservative Americans to understand the significance of the green movement. This piece is an analysis of the seminal works of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, in order to find the causal connection between their influence on America’s Founding Fathers and environmental stewardship. Such thinkers were the revered voices of what is now considered a type of fresh and classic conservatism in Americas. To mine their work for sustainability concepts is a necessary step towards convincing conservative elements in the United States to see environmental stewardship as a part of our political heritage. In the end, a workable philosophical and policy narrative exists. Key Words: Environment, sustainability, land, nature, revolution, American, conservative, government, society. ***** 1. Adherents to the Past The United States of America owes its formation, in no small part, to the western philosophers of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. These thinkers purveyed a certain type of wisdom. A wisdom which our modern day society often takes for granted. Much of that wisdom understood the relationship between the natural world and the efficient, capitalist world. In modern conservative movements such as the Tea Party and the Heritage Foundation, we see a direct link between the ideals of the Founding Fathers and modern politics even in their names. 1 While such groups believe they represent the intentions of the founding fathers, but they also feel this belief puts them in contention with liberal environmental policies. 2 Even the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision of Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency features

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__________________________________________________________________ opinions by conservative Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito, both of who tend to rely on the words and thoughts of the founding fathers to make rulings, which dispute the government’s authority to decide what protecting the environment means, without judicial review. 3 Yet, were the founders interested in environmental issues? We know that even the greatest founder, George Washington, was a great lover of nature; whose admiration of trees and wildlife can be traced to his days as a young surveyor in the Appalachian Mountains. 4 Are conservative critiques, which purport to have some connection to America’s founders, towards sustainability a rebuke of the type of interest Washington had in the natural world; or do the critiques offer an alternative view to sustainability issues? If one carefully examines the most popular writings of three political philosophers who influenced the founders, the answer should be the latter. Philosophising writers like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacque Rousseau were some of most popular authors of their day. Hobbes, an Englishmen, published his seminal work in 1642: Leviathan. Locke, another Englishmen, wrote many treaties which were popular in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The most influential of Locke’s works is his Second Treaties on Government. Jean- Jacques Rousseau, a self-proclaimed citizen of Zurich, first published, in French, On the Social Contract in 1762. The subsequently English version of the book was an immense success in all of Europe and its colonies. These works look at nature and try to decipher how the lessons of the natural world are applicable to society. The spirit of the American Revolution, and resulting governing structures, reflect influences from these works. Each one of these great and influential minds possesses a common thread in their appreciation of nature. An understanding of the important philosophical relationship between America’s natural resources and America’s spirit of freedom predates contemporary times and must functionally affect conservative thinking. 2. The Importance of Nature in Hobbes’ Body Politique Thomas Hobbes subscribed to the theory that he and his contemporaries were all part of a Body Politique, a single commonwealth that formed the body, soul, and sword of a country with the monarch as its head. 5 It is this commonwealth that Hobbes termed the ‘Leviathan’ because of the size, power, and structure of the society. 6 Hobbes’ work provided the foundation for a political movement that was derived from a modern British understanding of political structure. 7 The founders of the new American nation borrowed, as much as their beliefs would allow them, directly from the Hobbesian understanding of equality. 8 Hobbes argued that the Body Politique is a creation of man. Just as God made man in his image, so man created the commonwealth that is the Body Politique in his own image. Despite the constructed nature of the commonwealth, Hobbes insisted it is subject to the laws of nature. 9

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__________________________________________________________________ Hobbes asserted that the relationship between nature and man was inseparable and important. To understand how man interacts with nature, Hobbes looked first at how men interact with one another. Hobbes saw man’s greatest strength as the ability to unite. Through a combination of natural and civil laws, man can create the ‘Common-wealth’: a powerful association of faction which man may use to bring peace or war. 10 The base of this powerful entity is that every man has the power to obtain a future good. 11 In Hobbes’s time, this future good was raw materials derived from nature and there would be competition for such materials. Hobbes proposed an approach as to how that would play out. Hobbes gave us a surprisingly liberal definition of the equality of man. Strikingly, it is not equality in the eyes of God but equality in the eyes of nature. 12 In the context of nature, Hobbes argued, we equate almost perfectly. 13 Some may be stronger, faster, or smarter, but these differences are infinitesimal in the context of the natural world. This begins to set up an idea that equality among people is derived from natural sources but also their own minds. Hobbes argued that we inherently, if not explicitly, understand these small differences. As such, individual people think they are as wise as almost anyone else. 14 After all, who among us would step forward to say he is inferior to others? One needs confidence to join the Body Politique? Hobbes then introduces a form of self-preservation. Hobbes argued that man has a right to do everything, except that which is destructive to him: A LAW OF NATURE, (Lex Naturalis,) is a Precept, or general Rule, found out by Reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive to his life, or take away means of preserving the same; and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may be best to preserve…[B]ecause RIGHT consisteth in liberty to do; whereas LAW, determinith and bindeth to one of them: so that Law and Right differ as much, as Obligation and Liberty…. 15 Hobbes’ second part of this analysis is especially telling. The basis of need and regulation must be counterbalanced. This seems to be an endorsement of conservation of resources and rights, as if mutuality existed. 16 Hobbes’ discussion of the laws of nature also contemplated the transference of rights and obligation. Though later thinkers would expand upon the interaction between the natural world and our rights, Hobbes began to see a relationship between nature and societal constructs. Again, Hobbes saw rights as similar to natural resources; you could claim them, lose them, or transfer them. 17 Whatever one decided to do, rights, like resources, carried an obligation and duty to properly use those rights. Hobbes argued that abusing one’s rights is a great injustice. 18 True, a good argument exists that Hobbes’ writing opened the door to the idea that man should master nature itself, both societal and physical; a result which has

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__________________________________________________________________ caused harm to the natural world. 19 But if natural rights are voluntarily obtained goods, did Hobbes really anticipate us causing harm to nature when he called the voluntary injury of voluntarily obtained things ‘Absurdity’? 20 There was another thinker, influential to the Founding Fathers, who also saw the wastefulness of resources as a great evil. Of a far different sensibility than Mr. Hobbes, John Locke still was able to identify with and, popularly, expand upon Hobbes’s ideas. 3. Locke, Sustainability and Labour Theory Locke’s Second Treaties on Government (and other writings) is often seen as an indictment of absolute monarchy. Learned Americans read Locke’s works and the American colonies are mentioned by name in Second Treaties on Government. 21 Thomas Jefferson adored Locke so much that Jefferson put him in the intellectual company of Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton; claiming that the three were ‘my trinity of the greatest men the world has ever produced.’ 22 Locke’s discussion of nature and property remains important. In Second Treaties on Government, Locke’s most extreme theories propose that a strong monarchy does not make sense in a natural state of things because every man is born free. 23 It is easy to see how this opinion could infuriate a head-strong monarch. However, a closer examination of Locke’s thoughts on nature reveals a proposed society far from anarchy. Most notably, Locke believed that individuals should be charged with an incredible amount of personal responsibility. 24 Using religious pretext, Locke insisted that nature deserves responsible actions by man. To Locke, the concept of liberty was far removed from the concept of license: (C)reatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection…but though this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of license: though man in that state have an uncontrollable liberty to dispose of his person or possessions, yet he has not liberty to destroy himself, or so much as any creature in his possession. 25 Locke went on to establish that, at any moment, the preservation of one’s self is only slightly more important than the preservation of all mankind. 26 In many ways, this line of thinking is similar to Locke’s argument regarding property. Locke had economically inclined views about how one should regard property. For starters, Locke believed in,‘natural reason.’ 27 This meant that man has a right to everything that nature affords him for his survival. 28 Locke even referenced the Bible stating that God‘has given the earth to the children of men.’ 29 These rights to goods and property are given equally and necessarily. However, Locke stopped

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__________________________________________________________________ short of saying that all men are entitled to everything another man owns. Rather, Locke examined the importance of personal property. 30 The way Locke wrote about personal property, one might think it was a spiritual right because, as Locke reasons, one can no sooner be forced by government to care for their own health as they can their property. 31 Locke strongly believed that property could only become yours if you put a labour into the property. Locke’s concept of labour equalling ownership was the most important element to property ownership, but the second most important element was societal recognition of that ownership. 32 How does a society know that you own property? Locke argued it is because you are a steward of that property. 33 One clearly displays the fruits of their labour by owning respectable looking, productive property. Nowhere was this more relevant, in Locke’s assessment, than with land. 34 Other individuals in a society may see you working on your land and know who the possessor is. 35 If you disregard your land, or you do not properly utilise the goods which that land gives you, then Locke proposed that a society can take that land from you. 36 If not, Locke at least believed that you should be thought less of because you were a poor steward of the land. Based upon this point, Locke specifically admonished the American colonies for wasting their potential: Americans…who are rich in land…whom nature having furnished as liberally as any other people, with the material of plenty, i.e. a fruitful soil, apt to produce in abundance, what might serve for food, raiment and delight; yet for want of improving by it by labor, have not one hundredth part of the convenience we enjoy; and a king of a large and fruitful territory there, feeds, lodges, and is clad worse than a day-laborer in England. 37 In Locke, the founders saw an enlightenment thinker who spoke to their convictions on human reason, natural rights, life, liberty and property. 38 Some have said that Locke’s teachings on natural rights were a complete diversion from conservative principles such as religious teachings and highly structured society. 39 However, it is because Locke discussed the importance property acquisition and sustainability, among a great many other elements, with an unabashedly faith-based zeal and an acknowledgment of an invisible structure in nature that Locke communicated accessibly to a revolutionary spirit and a sense of morality. 40 Next, Rousseau’s thoughts help establish a reasonable way to look at sustainability. 4. Rousseau on Responsibility and Freedom: Derived from the Land Jean-Jacques Rousseau published the successful On the Social Contract in 1762. Rousseau begins his thought process not dissimilar from John Locke’s.

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__________________________________________________________________ Rousseau argued that all men are born free and equal (not surprisingly, Rousseau references Locke several times during the course of On the Social Contract) but from there on ‘everywhere [man] is in chains.’ 41 Rousseau differentiates himself from Locke by explaining an application process. In other words, we might know a wrong against nature exists but we still need to resolve that wrong. Rousseau even eloquently writes about slaves and that they are not imprisoned by their masters but by themselves. 42 For even if they were born into slavery and appeared to willingly serve, somewhere along the line an ancestor was forced into slavery. 43 In the right moment, with the right amount of emotion, does not a slave revolt and is a nation not a mild form of slavery? 44 Rousseau sees the answer in the affirmative. However, Rousseau’s admiration of populist uprisings, though relevant in France, did not receive great following in America. 45 Still, Rousseau’s analysis of property and preservation provided the analysis of Hobbes and Locke with application principles. Similar to Locke, Rousseau explored how a man acquires land. His principle idea seemed to be that the land is acquired only through labour and is forfeited by wastefulness. 46 Going in a different direction from Locke, Rousseau sees differentiation between nature and the society of man. 47 By labouring upon the land, Rousseau argued, you snatch land out of its natural state and cause such an alteration that it may never return to that natural state. As Rousseau states in On the Social Contract: ‘[B]y granting the right of the first occupant to need and labour, hasn’t it been extended as far as possible? It is impossible to establish limits to this right?’ 48 Rousseau means to impart two things here. First, that once land is properly claimed for civilised society, it is always a part of society. Trees cut down may grow back and trails blazed may fade, but the rights and responsibilities of ownership will still exist. Second, Rousseau attacked foreign usurpation When Nunez Balboa, standing on the shore, took possession of the South Sea and all of South America in the name of the crown of Castille, was this enough to dispossess all the inhabitants and exclude all princes of the world? On that basis such ceremonies multiplied rather ineffectually, and all the Catholic King had to do was to take possession of the entire universe from his study. 49 Rousseau’s point, if accepted, raises an important question for citizens of the English colonies in America: Who is in charge? This is especially relevant if their supposed sovereign is only looking on from afar. By Rousseau’s reasoning, the answer would be the colonists. As history shows, a good number of the colonists believed this to be the case. For within Rousseau’s truth is revealed the great con of monarchy. Rousseau noted that, in modern times, kings ruled not men but land. By claiming to rule a man’s land, kings could reach

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__________________________________________________________________ into the very heart and soul of that man then take possession of him. Rousseau eloquently speaks to the development of this theory in the following way: This advantage does not appear to be well understood by ancient kings who, only called themselves Kings of Persians, the Scythians, the Macedonians, seem to have considered themselves leaders of men rather than masters of a country. Today’s kings more cleverly call themselves Kings of France, Spain, England, etc. By thus holding the land they are quite sure to hold its inhabitants. 50 Rousseau emphasised the importance of land to a society. The fundamental rights and responsibilities of land possession may be Rousseau’s fundamental building blocks of a society. It seems no accident that Rousseau saved his discussion of real estate for the last section of Book I in On the Social Contract. 51 After discussing first societies, slavery, sovereignty and other similar subjects; Rousseau jumps to real estate. There are some reasons for this jump that have already been established here. Foremost amongst them is that the claiming of land by the first inhabitant represents one of the first basic transitions of man from nature to society. We then know that labour and proper care of the land establishes ownership of that land in the eyes of your peers. However, Rousseau argues the interests of a community are more important than the rights of the individual because ‘the loss [of a man’s contribution to society] will harm others less than its payment burdens him.’ 52 So how do we bridge this gap between the rights of man and the requirements of a society? Rousseau offered land as the key in a most excellent argument. Rousseau argued that private individuals give their rights in the land over to the state and the state, in return and recognising the good works of the private citizen towards the land, gives recognition to that citizen; then and ultimately returns the rights to the land better than they were given originally. 53 Rousseau argued there existed (and may continue to exist) a mutually beneficial exchange, based upon stewardship of the land, between private citizens and societies. This giving and returning of the right to land established the very stitching of the fabric of our early societies. Rousseau clearly omitted the condition that you need a monarch or authoritarian figure to establish a society according to the laws of man and the laws of nature; rather, he asserts you need individuals responsibly cultivating and exchanging rights in property. 54 5. Sustaining Conservative Sustainability Rousseau’s applicative understanding of the principles established by Locke and Hobbes provides the framework for American conservatives to positively

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__________________________________________________________________ interact with sustainability issues in society. Rousseau’s description of the government’s interaction with property rights provides the perfect analogy for how conservatives should allow the government to aid sustainability measures. The government role toward environmental issues in Sackett v. EPA repulses the conservative psyche. Conversely, the tangential support of incentives excites the pragmatism of the conservative spirit. In conclusion, American conservatism should be synonymous with environmental sustainability because reemphasising relationships between our political heritage and sustainability is deeply rooted in our political philosophy. This must be omnipresent in American conservative dialogue and help shape meaningful sustainability policy.

Notes 1

Tea Party Patriots, Inc., ‘About Tea Party Patriots’, Tea Party Patriots, accessed April 23, 2012, http://www.teapartypatriots.org/about/. The Heritage Foundation, ‘About’, The Heritage Foundation, accessed April 23, 2012, http://www.heritage.org/about. 2 Mike Brownfield and Nicolas Loris, ‘Obama’s Ten Worst Energy Policies’, The Foundry Blog, entry posted April 11, 2012, accessed April 23, 2012, http://blog.heritage.org/2012/04/11/obamas-ten-worst-energy-policies/; Nicolas Loris, ‘Department of Energy Budget Cuts: Time to End the Hidden Green Stimulus’, The Foundry Blog, entry posted March 23, 2012, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/03/department-of-energy-budgetcuts-time-to-end-the-hidden-green-stimulus; Cathy Landolfo, ‘Virginia, House Republicans battle Obama and EPA’, Tea Party Patriots, entry posted March 2, 2012, accessed March 23, 2012, http://www.teapartypatriots.org/news/virginiahouse-republicans-battle-obama-and-epa/. 3 Sackett v. EPA, 132 S.Ct. 1367, 1373-6 (2012). 4 Andrea Wulf, Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 16-17. 5 Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (London: Penguin Classics, 1985), 82. 6 Ibid., 81. 7 Wilson Carey McWilliams, ‘On Equality as the Moral Foundation for Community’, Moral Foundations of the American Republic, 3rd Edition, ed. Robert H. Horowitz (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986), 297. 8 Ibid. 9 Hobbes, Leviathan, 82-83. 10 Ibid., 150. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid., 183.

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Walter Berns, ‘Religion and the Founding Principle’, Moral Foundations of the American Republic, 3rd Edition, ed. Robert H. Horowitz (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986), 215. 14 Hobbes, Leviathan, 183-184. 15 Ibid., 189. 16 Ibid., 190. 17 Ibid., 191 18 Ibid. 19 McWilliams, ‘On Equality as the Moral Foundation for Community’, 290. 20 Hobbes, Leviathan, 191. 21 Robert H. Horowitz, ‘John Locke and the Preservation of Liberty: A Perennial Problem of Civic Education’, Moral Foundations of the American Republic, 3rd Edition, ed. Robert H. Horowitz (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986), 142. 22 Wulf, Founding Gardeners, 50. 23 John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1980), 8. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid., 8 and 9. 26 Ibid., 9. 27 Ibid., 18. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid., 19. 31 Harvey C. Mansfield, America’s Constitutional Soul (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), 114. 32 Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 19. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid., 19-20. 35 Ibid., 21. 36 Ibid., 19-20 and 24. 37 Ibid., 25-26. 38 Jon Meacham, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation (New York: Random House, 2006), 60-61. 39 Berns, ‘Religion and the Founding Principle’, 215. 40 Meacham, American Gospel, 60-61. 41 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On Social Contract: with Geneva Manuscript and Political Economy (New York: Bedford/St Martin’s Press, 1978), 46. 42 Ibid., 46-52. 43 Ibid., 48.

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Ibid., 48-49. Willi Paul Adams, Republikanische Verassung und Burgerliche Freiheit [The First American Constitutions] (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), 26. 46 Rousseau, On Social Contract: with Geneva Manuscript and Political Economy, 56. 47 Ibid., 56-57. 48 Ibid., 57. 49 Ibid. 50 Ibid. 51 Ibid., 56-58. 52 Ibid., 55. 53 Ibid., 57-58. 54 Ibid., 56-58. 45

Bibliography Adams, Willi Paul. The First American Constitutions. Translated by Rita, and Robert Kimber. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1980. Berns, Walter. ‘Religion and the Founding Principle’. In Moral Foundations of the American Republic, 3rd Edition, edited by Robert H. Horowitz, 204–229. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986. Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. London: Penguin Classics, 1985. Horowitz, Robert H., ed. Moral Foundations of the American Republic, 3rd Edition. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1986. —––. ‘John Locke and the Preservation of Liberty: A Perennial Problem of Civic Education’. Moral Foundations of the American Republic, 3rd Edition, edited by Robert H. Horowitz, 136–164. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986. Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1980. McWilliams, Wilson Carey. ‘On Equality as the Moral Foundation for Community’. Moral Foundations of the American Republic, 3rd Edition, edited by Robert H. Horowitz, 282–312. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986.

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__________________________________________________________________ Mansfield, Harvey C. America’s Constitutional Soul. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. Meacham, Jon. American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. New York: Random House, 2006. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. On Social Contract: with Geneva Manuscript and Political Economy. New York: Bedford/St Martin’s Press, 1978. Tea Party Patriots, Inc. ‘About Tea Party Patriots’. Tea Party Patriots. Accessed April 23, 2012. http://www.teapartypatriots.org/about/. The Heritage Foundation. ‘About’. The Heritage Foundation. Accessed April 23, 2012. http://www.heritage.org/about. Wulf, Andrea. Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2011. Colin W. Maguire, JD, SP is a Law Clerk at Hall Matson, PLC in East Lansing, Michigan, USA, and serves as the Vice Chairman of the City of Lansing, Michigan's Planning Board. He has numerous online publications covering legal and sustainability issues. He has multiple articles accepted for publication at both the Thomas M. Cooley Law Review and the University of Baltimore Journal of Land & Development. He is a SERF Professional and SERF Scholar at the Society of Environmentally Responsible Facilities. He is working towards a Master of Laws in Sustainable Development Law & Policy at and received his Juris Doctorate from The Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Kenyon College. He and his wife Ashley reside in Lansing, Michigan with their many furry children.

Battle with Habitat: The Natural Contract and Vital Materiality Take a Walk with Environmental Peacebuilding through the Wadi Fukin Valley Bronwyn Lay Abstract In The Natural Contract Michel Serres proposes that the bonds, liens and attachments between the human and nonhuman world could form the basis of a contract between humans and their habitat, similar to Rousseau’s enlightenment concept of the social contract. Using the example of Friends of the Earth Middle East Good Water Neighbours Project in the Wadi Fukin Valley in the Israeli Occupied West Bank, this paper employs The Natural Contract to examine the intentions and capacity of Environmental Peacebuilding (EPand its focus on mutual environmental issues in contested or conflict-ridden regions. Combining Serres’s bonds and attachments with Bennett’s theory of ‘vital materiality’ in Vibrant Matter, I argue that EP needs to recognise the active participation of nonhuman forces in conflict zones, and the agency of ‘matter’ as a partner in coalition-building towards a natural contract to be used for the purposes of humancentred peacebuilding. A ‘hearing’ of the nonhuman world includes an engagement with the possibility that matter has vitality and, in coalition with humans, possesses capacity and agency. An ontological shift away from anthropocentrism must occur. This may widen the focus on the environment, not solely as a site of scarcity, but as a field of relational and political possibilities. A basic premise of EP, that the environment ignores political boundaries, then can no longer be sustained. In Wadi Fukin the fragile hydrological system reacts to changing political boundaries, which manifest in ‘matter’ – e.g.,. pollution. Using vital materiality to further the possibility of a natural contract, the ‘hearing’ of habitat requires acknowledging that the nonhuman world is responsive to the point of being both active participant and possible weapon in human political boundaries or power relations. This view suggests future strategies that work against ecological degradation, towards sustainable justice and the possibilities of peaceful coexistence in ‘habitat.’ Key Words: Wadi Funkin Valley, habitat, political boundaries, hydro power. ***** 1. Introduction In the Israeli Occupied Territories of the West Bank, Palestine we walk through the Wadi Fukin valley. With representatives from the Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME) we discuss their environmental peacebuilding project ‘Good Water Neighbours.’ Standing in the Palestinian village of Wadi Fukin, houses huddle at the valley’s nape where the view flowers before us. Vegetable plots and

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__________________________________________________________________ greenhouses spread along the valley’s spine, olive trees frame the fields and our gaze stretches into farmland on the horizon. But for rubbish strewn through the grass and earthmovers overturning dirt, it could be a scene of biblical fertility. Beside us, high on a ridge, one of the largest settlements in the West Bank, the expanding Beiter Illit, occupies the sky and ancient habitat is disrupted by the topography of conflict in the form of development and bulldozers. Underneath our feet intricate territorial lines penetrate the sediment where fragile hydrological systems threaten to dry up. From the ground of this complex contested place I intend to briefly explore two theoretical concepts, the natural contract and vital materiality, in the context of the Environmental Peacebuilding work of FOEME. 2. The Natural Contract In The Natural Contract Michel Serres proposes that the bonds, interactions and attachments between human and nonhuman worlds could form the basis of a contract between humans and their habitat, similar to Rousseau’s enlightenment concept of the social contract. 1 Serres argues that the social contract is exclusively concerned with human history and inhabits ‘nowhere’ and humans must now create a more expansive contract with habitat/place to ensure our mutual survival. Serres opens The Natural Contract on the battlefield with the image of a Goya painting where two warriors fight knee deep in mud as the sky darkens behind them. ‘A pair of enemies brandishing sticks is fighting in the midst of a patch of quicksand.’ 2 The Natural Contract proposes a symbiotic contract of reciprocity between human species and nature, which demands the acknowledgement of the world of things themselves – ‘the sand, the water, the mud, the reeds of the marsh’ 3 – as being affected and harmed by human history, particularly violence. Serres argues that in the distraction of battle the warriors will sink into an ‘abyss’ where the world of things ‘swallows’ them, 4 therefore it is imperative we recognise ‘the universe of things reacting strongly to the conditions of the struggle’ 5 where the jaws of the land, made to mud by war, are poised to destroy the dualistic fighters unless they realize, ‘despite their hatred,’ 6 they ‘struggle, in agreement and in unison, with their habitat.’ 7 Human capacity to act on, and be acted upon, by nature has exponentially expanded and those things that at first did not depend on us, suddenly do now and increasingly so: but….we ourselves suddenly depend, and increasingly so, on things that depend on actions that we undertake. 8 History must now include the violence humans perpetuate upon the earth and violence the Earth poses to human life in response and this accelerating mutual dependency and vulnerability motives a natural contract. 9

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__________________________________________________________________ Serres breaks open the parameters of the legal literate consensual subject by stating, ‘The earth speaks to us in terms of forces, bonds and interactions, and that is enough to make a contract.’ 10 The bonds that constitute the natural contract between the nonhuman and human are ‘cords that tie us together, form in all, a third kind of world: they are nutritive, material, scientific and technological, informational, aesthetic, religious.’ 11 These bonds are sufficient to establish law, and Serres argues that the social contract was established on lesser grounds. Rather than rights or citizenship entitlements, a natural contract based upon symbiosis and reciprocity displaces mastery and possession. Constituted by the bonds between the Earth and humans 12 this contract exists in place and is reflected in many international treaties, even if barely noted by jurisprudence and oppressed by our current ontological gaze over landscape. The Natural Contract resonates with the work of FOEME who use the Environmental Peacebuilding (EP) method, whose aims reflect Serres argument that ‘we must decide on peace among ourselves to protect the world, and peace with the world to protect ourselves.’ 13 The location of both EP and the natural contract on ‘battlefields’ also illuminates the fate of the contractually constitutive bonds between human and nonhuman in contested territories. 3. Battlefield Habitat Three human communities inhabit the Wadi Fukin valley and, under the aegis of the FOEME Good Water Neighbours Project (GWNP), the Israeli community of Tzar Hadassah and the Palestinian agricultural village of Wadi Fukin were partnered to work together on water and related issues. Since 2001, 17 municipalities have joined the initiative to conduct joint water and waste management projects among neighbouring communities in Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories and to help raise awareness of environmental issues across borders 14 under the GWNP. The third and most visually prominent human community in the valley – the settlement of Beiter Illit – was not invited to be part of the project due to its illegal and contested status. Under the omniscient shadow of regional water scarcity politics, the valley the three communities inhabit is a unique hydrological space where the spring system of Wadi Fukin operates. The GWNP focuses upon mobilising communities to work together towards protecting this vulnerable spring system, which is sourced by rainfall which then ‘feeds a shallow perched aquifer that in turn supplies the springs, in addition to a portion of the strategically vital Mountain Aquifer.’ 15 Water from the springs is channelled to terraced agricultural fields, an example of an ancient system of agriculture indigenous to this area of the Judean mountains 16

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__________________________________________________________________ and the valley has been marked by UNESCO as a possible World Heritage site. Due to settlement development, road construction, annexation of land, and substandard sewerage systems this hydrological system is under threat and degraded. The GWNP works with ‘cross border communities and utilizes their mutual dependence on shared water resources to develop dialogue and cooperation on sustainable water management.’ 17 Across the region, FOEME work via community empowerment and leadership to install grey water systems, harvest rainwater, build ecological wetlands, mediate with mayors and administrators, educate children and youth on water issues – all to change the manner in which human communities relate to matter – mutual habitat. These projects bring together ‘contesting’ communities with a long history of violence and occupation, both inherited and present, and use the methodology of EP. 4. Environmental Peacebuilding EP aims to build sustainable relationships by focusing on mutual environmental issues in contested or conflict-ridden regions. A subcategory of peacebuilding EP in this context attempts to realise the ‘common dependency on scarce water resources to foster the building of cooperation and peace,’ 18 because environmental cooperation plays a significant role when aiming at transforming a conflict in a constructive way as it literally constructs new and better environmental realities in regions where either the environment was devastated or concern for environmental hazards was put aside due to the conflict situation. 19 Considering the natural contract EP may allow ‘habitat’ to become a party to the project between warriors by initiating communication and active participation between human communities to explore, both physically and with FOEME initiated mediation processes, the bonds that link humans to the nonhuman, in this case, hydrology and the complex eco systems of the Wadi Fukin valley. The Natural Contract is a plea for peace, not between warriors, but with habitat. Peace in the context of EP is affecting a process in which first a point is reached where violence is absent and at a later date the idea of violence becomes unimaginable for former societies to a conflict. 20 EP, as opposed to peacebuilding, contains the potential for an expansive understanding of peace that resonates with a natural contract where violence against habitat by former warriors becomes unimaginable. GWNP reflect this

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__________________________________________________________________ intention as the project strive(s) for achieving two main goals. First a change of perception towards the environment and at a later stage towards cooperation and peace and second a definite change in behaviour towards the aforesaid issues which will assure sustainability and endurance. 21 FOEME and other NGO’s working with EP aim to build up community partnerships with the aim of raising awareness of shared environmental issues and developing common solutions. Education and the creation of cooperative knowledge on common environmental threats play a central role in the design of every project. But, the final aim is not to produce a feeling of shared region and responsibility – neglecting political issues and boundaries – but to change the environmental behaviour and create shared gains and benefits. 22 Under a natural contract, warriors are pulled towards peace with habitat by acknowledging the bonds between them and the mud. Beyond acknowledgment is the question of whether EP includes the nonhuman world as a partner, or merely as a mechanism towards conflict management and reduction. This differentiates a natural contract from an instrumental use of the ‘environment’ for anthropocentric purposes – even if it is the admirable goal of peace between human communities. With the natural contract on the horizon, it might be helpful to open a new ‘reading’ of habitat bonds, which could widen the conception of the nonhuman role in conflict zones, in order to examine how the nonhuman can be further drawn into the discourse of EP if it is to advance a natural contract. 5. Vital Materiality Jane Bennett’s ‘vital materiality’ intersects with the natural contract by expanding the political capacity of humans to be in symbiotic relationship with ‘things/nonhumans.’ Vital materiality distinguishes itself from the materialism of Marx, Adorno and Hegel where matter is inert and passive, because for Bennett matter has agency, action and freedom. Bennett proposes we politically engage with matter as a vital force, and by vitality she means the capacity of things….not only to impede or block the will and designs of humans but also to act as quasi agents or forces with trajectories, propensities or tendencies of their own. 23

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__________________________________________________________________ Extending Ranciere’s demos she posits that a partition of the sensible has occurred which veils the agency, disruption and participation of ‘things’ in political life. By proposing ‘a political ecology of things’ she argues that political theory, and I would argue action such as EP, can recognise the active participation of nonhuman forces in events and place. Vital materiality is not a static concept but rather runs through and across bodies, both human and nonhuman to produce what Bennett calls distributive agency. This agency present in vital materiality is a multiple, embodied and heterogeneous force that emerges from the interaction of human and nonhuman forces and, via actants, manifests in Deleuzian assemblages rather than structures. 24 Where Serres focuses on bonds, liens and attachments, Bennett questions the ontological divide between humans and nonhumans by proposing that they fuse in assemblages shot through with vital materiality and proposes a less vertical relationship between the human and nonhuman, which expresses the natural contract. Inspired by Latour’s actants and Dewey’s conception of the public, which she asserts resembles an ecology, Bennett works towards a democratic theory that encompasses the nonhuman, without asserting the flat equality of ‘things’ by proposing citizenship or an alternative rights based discourse for matter. Bennett’s work, not in disagreement Serres’s farm ontologies, 25 posits that there is an embodied non-linguistic articulation of matter heard by affected and corporeally engaged humans. Both theorists wade into a nebulous theoretical world that challenges the limits of law, politics and the speaking subject and is perhaps best understood in the context of action – where human bodies meet matter – in habitat and everyday practices. This is reflected in the GWNP that seeks to educate humans by putting their bodies in neighbourhood pathways, planting gardens, building grey water systems and physically engage with their environment. This intersection of ‘situated knowledges,’ 26 the nexus of flesh and matter interaction, is where these theories of bonds and aesthetic – affective openness to vital materiality, can move towards a natural contract. If it has not already done so in practice, EP could theoretically turn towards viewing the active participation of nonhuman forces in conflict zones and the agency of matter as a partner in coalition building towards a natural contract. Then matter can be recognised and worked ‘with’ rather than ‘for’ which differs from conceiving habitat as inert/neutral matter to be used for the purposes of peacebuilding. With one eye on the horizon of a natural contract, the other on vital materiality, and the geopolitical knocking against my forehead, I will briefly glance at the two high ridges enclosing the Wadi Fukin valley to explore different matter coalitions and the bonds between the human and nonhuman.

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__________________________________________________________________ 6. Ridge One: Settlement Coalition 1200, Cut to 700 On the first ridge sits the settlement Beiter Illit which could be anywhere on the planet, for this coalition imports similar problems sudden urbanisation brings to long established ecosystems. But we are on contested territory and if we are to take vital materiality, the natural contract and EP seriously, then the question of how matter (like humans) can be subject to occupation needs to be considered. The settlement coalition includes concrete, humans, builder’s rubble, hundreds of houses, windows, pipes, administrators, electricity, a synagogue, glass, stone and bulldozers and has been the primary cause of environmental harm in this valley. Since its construction aquifers have ceased working, the drip regimes of the valley altered and waterways and fields subject to pollution in the form of overflowing sewerage and builders’ rubble. 27 The linkages between the settlement coalition and the Israeli state are complex and to paraphrase Eyal Weisman ‘elastic,’ 28 but political and state actants intent on border extension use, and infuse, this built environment. If matter has vitality this raises the possibility that the vital materiality of this settlement coalition, to paraphrase Paul Patton, is ‘captured’ by the force of state occupation. 29 In this context, I propose that matter occupation is the appropriation of actant/s agency for the purposes of domination over other assemblages, a version of instrumentalism, in this case manifest as the anthropocentric extension/assertion of sovereign control. In this place political boundary contestation and imposition are actants in ‘habitat,’ therefore matter, and its vital materiality, becomes a participant/complicit in the maintenance and possession of political boundaries. If the nonhuman enters into a coalition with humans dominated by anthropocentric and territorial drives such as occupation, then can matter itself be occupied and vital materiality manifest in differentiated forms of power? In the natural contract Serres speaks of traditional battlefields, 30 but following his other works like Malfeasance, in the valley of Wadi Fukin, war could be conceived as the building of houses, altered land use and the rubbish that flows from the settlement coalition. These actions operate to break the bonds between human and nonhuman inhabitants. Water is leaving; sewerage and pollution threaten and reduce vegetable crops: the complex bonds across, within and between the human and nonhuman actants in the valley are affected by vital matter’s occupation. This undermines the capacity of EP to work towards the creation of shared regions based on environmental concerns or harms, 31 for environmental harms can be used/created to assert territorial control by breaking bonds and environmental harms created by one warrior serve to expel opposing coalitions/assemblages from habitat. Occupation of vital materiality breaches the natural contract by appropriating and damaging bonds that constitute ‘symbiotic and reciprocal’ relationships between the human and nonhuman world – within its coalition and beyond. By discussing vital materiality with a view towards a natural contract (the law) the ‘hearing’ of habitat requires acknowledging the nonhuman

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__________________________________________________________________ world does not ignore political boundaries and justice claims, but through bonds and assemblages, is responsive to the point of being both active participant and possible weapon in both. While using the environment to create peace has many appeals, one of the inspirations of EP that environmental issues ignore political boundaries is undone in the face of this settlement coalition. 32 If manifest, a natural contract could be a defence against the forceful vitality that drips from the settlement into habitat and stop the use of ‘things’ for violence by giving them a ‘voice’ on the battlefield. Down in the valley, are humans who, I would argue, have pre-existing symbiotic reciprocal relationships with water (matter) and possess the experience to hear water speak to bonds via situated knowledge and anthropocentrism. In this ‘place’ the natural contract, if taken to its conceptual legal limits, could overturn power relations. For both the human inhabitants of Tzar Hassadah and Wadi Fukin, the bonds (vertical, horizontal and circular) between watercourses, other nonhuman inhabitants and themselves could be thicker than umbilical cords and this may pit the social contract against the natural contract. A valley inhabitant may have strong bonds with olive trees, the water, the grass and the goats, and be a witness to the bonds between water, vegetables and dirt, but have slim and tenuous attachments with his human neighbours in the closed settlement. Here the social contract reveals its limits. When the settlement development impacted upon the valley of Wadi Fukin one villager said, ‘It feels as if they take something away from your body but they feel that they are above the law.’ 33 These words speak to the pre existence of a natural contract and the power of aesthetic affected openness, not as a romantic yearning, but as a measure of grief when this contract is breached. But these bonds, and the resultant damages from their breakage, are not yet fully recognised by the law therefore the occupation of vital materiality, manifest in the shadow the settlement coalition casts over the valley, ironically itself illegal, has the upper hand. A natural contract could form an argument/claim against occupied vital materiality that destroys bonds between human and nonhumans that live preexisting relationships of ‘symbiosis and reciprocity,’ and work towards sustaining these relationships, not merely for human use, but for the equilibrium and peace of the ‘things’ themselves. Here the gap between philosophy and law manifest and the particular vital materiality that shoots through coalitions such as the settlement needs legislation and enforcement that resonate with a natural contract. Despite inchoate theoretical complexities, FOEME’s work evidences that, with the help of distributive agency, a natural contract is being fought for. FOEME have two methodologies in their EP. 34 Their bottom up approach builds bonds between human and nonhuman matter via grassroots activities. This conservative strategy prevents the breaking of important bonds and enable the fragile hydrological system to survive as well as strengthening bonds by bringing Israeli and Palestinian communities together to interact with and care for ‘stressed’ matter. All this resonates with a natural contract. Their top down approach includes advocacy and

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__________________________________________________________________ lobbying against the affects of the settlement coalition on the valley, evidenced by their work on pollution and consolidating community resistance against further development (occupation) that would slash established bonds between humans and nonhumans inhabiting the valley. Both approaches draw disparate actants which include the two villages, rain, international experts, sewerage systems, scientists, aquifers, schools, trees, mayors, vegetables and more, into assemblages of vital materiality that coalesce, not always with homogenous intent, around FOEME’s initiative. Therefore it could be argued that the EP methodology of FOEME already uses the conceptual tools of a natural contract and assemblages of vital materiality. 7. Ridge Two: Preserved Bonds The second ridge above the valley is where the Separation Wall was to be built. Its absence witnesses how an assemblage of vital materiality was used to conserve the bonds of the natural contract. In 2006 the Wall was going to slice between the Israeli village of Tsar Hadassah and Wadi Fukin and its construction would have disrupted and harmed the hydrological system and aquifers. 35 Due to lobbying, cooperation between the two villages and FOEME, hydrological studies, a pending UNESCO declaration and active legal manoeuvres with labyrinthine administrative bodies – the Wall’s construction was stopped on environmental grounds for the first time. The force of coalitions between multiple parties, communities and interests converged by concurrently using the law and listening to the vital materiality of water and habitat via scientific studies in order to halt the Wall for the sake of both water and human peace. In that case human voices articulated bonds via hydrological reports, used their bodies to protect nonhuman bodies (bulldozers and dirt), negotiated, mobilised communities and activated at multiple levels to stop the imposition of borders and the separation of mutual habitat. The absence of the Separation Barrier on the ridge opens up a fragment of possibilities for future coalitions labouring towards a natural contract. 8. Conclusion While these ridges could be narrated along the lines of sole human agency, the intention of this chapter is a tentative recasting of the nonhuman world, not as a stage upon which conflict is fought between warriors, but fused into and victim of battle itself. In this valley it would be easy to see the two warriors, not as the human communities of the Israeli village and the Palestinian village that work with the GWNP, but rather the assemblage/coalition of the Beiter Illit settlement and the ‘biblical fertility’ of the valley – both shot through with different manifestations of vital materiality. We started with two human warriors sinking into the mud and end with a mixture of human and nonhuman assemblages wrestling and battling for/over bonds that constitute the natural contract’s umbilical cords. If matter is

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__________________________________________________________________ considered a participant in the battle within habitat, these warriors have not set down their swords. Standing in contested territory the natural contract seems like a utopic dream, but to rely on the shifting anthropocentric identities and forces that battle within this ‘place’ is to further anthropocentrism. As witnessed by the work of FOEME, vital materiality can provide a new, if not unproblematic, lens to navigate the difficulties of contested habitat that desperately needs a natural contract to emerge.

Notes 1

Michel Serres, The Natural Contract, trans. Elizabeth MacArthur and William Paulson (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1995). 2 Ibid., 1. 3 Ibid.,2. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid., 19. 9 Ibid., 15. 10 Ibid., 48. 11 Ibid., 110. 12 ‘A contract therefore doesn’t necessarily presuppose language: a set of cords can be enough’. Ibid., 107. 13 Ibid., 25. 14 Ecopeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East Amman, Bethlehem, and Tel Aviv, Environmental Peacebuilding Theory and Practice: A Case Study of Good Water Neighbour Project and in Depth Analysis of the Wadi Fukin/Tzar Hadassah, 19, January 2008, accessed April 19, 2012, http://foeme.org/uploads/publications_publ93_1.pdf. 15 Ibid., 29. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid., 19. 18 Ibid., 15. 19 Ibid., 11. 20 Ibid., 13. 21 Ibid., 19. 22 Ibid., 16. 23 Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter a Political Ecology of Things (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2010), viii. 24 Ibid., 24.

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__________________________________________________________________ 25

Serres, The Natural Contract, 17. Donna Harraway, Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective, Feminist Studies 14, No. 3 (Fall 1988): 575599. 27 Michel Serres, Malfeasance, Appropriation through Pollution?, trans. AnneMarie Fennberg-Dibon (Stanford University Press, 2010). 28 Eyal Weizman, Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation (London: Verso, 2007), 177. 29 Paul Patton, Deleuze and the Political (London: Routledge, 2000), 111. 30 Serres, Malfeasance, 24. 31 Ecopeace, Environmental Peacebuilding, 9. 32 Ibid., 11. 33 Joska Wessels, ‘Valley of Hope and Despair Director’s Cut: Trailer’, accessed March 29, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcvVmqHigeg. 34 Ecopeace, Environmental Peacebuilding, 17. 35 Itai Haviv and Lior Asaf, 21 October 2005, The Hydrological System of Wadi Fuqeen Springs, Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. Mohammed Obidallah, email sent 15th March 2012. 26

Bibliography Bennett, Jane. Vibrant Matter a Political Ecology of Things. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2010. Ecopeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East Amman, Bethlehem, and Tel Aviv. Environmental Peacebuilding Theory and Practice: A Case Study of Good Water Neighbour Project and in Depth Analysis of the Wadi Fukin/Tzar Hadassah. January 2008. Accessed April 19, 2012. http://foeme.org/uploads/publications_publ93_1.pdf. Harraway, Donna. ‘Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective’. Feminist Studies 14, No. 3 (Fall 1988): 575– 599. Itai Haviv, and Lior Asaf. 21 October 2005. The Hydrological System of Wadi Fuqeen Springs. Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. Mohammed Obidallah. Email sent 15th March 2012.

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__________________________________________________________________ Patton, Paul. Deleuze and the Political. London: Routledge, 2000. Serres, Michel. The Natural Contract. Translated by Elizabeth MacArthur, and William Paulson. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1995. Serres, Michel. Malfeasance, Appropriation through Pollution?. Translated by Anne-Marie Fennberg-Dibon. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010. Weizman, Eyal. Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation. London: Verso, 2007. Bronwyn Lay is a lawyer and PhD candidate at The European Graduate School. [email protected]

An Ecological Theory of Justice Jorge M. Valadez Abstract In this chapter I defend an ecological conception of justice obligations that is expansive and synoptic in its normative scope. This ecological conception systematically integrates our justice obligations in the social and natural domains by relying on an overarching view of justice, according to which obligations to entities with moral status are understood in terms of safeguarding their capacity for adaptation to social and/or natural environments conducive to their flourishing. An innovative feature of my theory is that it incorporates major social justice developments in political philosophy into a unified moral framework that can also deal adequately with justice obligations to the natural world. On the one hand, while recognising that we have cosmopolitan obligations to all human beings, I maintain that institutional environments such as political communities are essential for identifying the special obligations we have to fellow members of our communities. Adopting a social ecology approach, entitlements and protections of central importance to theories of social justice are justified in terms of their role in creating sustainable social and natural environments conducive to collective adaptation. On the other hand, recognising that moral consciousness developed from evolutionary processes that contributed to the adaptation of humans to their natural environment, I argue that a proper extension and understanding of morality and justice involve protecting the capacity of all beings with moral status, and not only humans, to flourish through successful adaptation. In short, principles of justice are understood as normative prescriptions promoting mutual survival and flourishing within a coevolutionary perspective. Finally, acknowledging that conflicting obligations are inevitable when implementing the conception of justice I propose, I employ the notion of degrees of intrinsic value to indicate how to prioritise our obligations to entities with moral status. Key Words: Ecology, justice, environment, intrinsic value, social justice, moral status, adaptation. ***** 1. Introduction My primary objective in this chapter is to outline a synoptic ecological theory of justice that systematically integrates social and natural ecologies into a unified moral framework. In contrast to conventional theories of justice, which are based on anthropocentric and individualistic normative assumptions, my theory sees the flourishing of living beings as an intrinsically relational process which always occurs within social and natural ecologies. 1 I maintain that conceiving of flourishing in terms of interactive relationships between organisms and

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__________________________________________________________________ environments changes in fundamental ways our understanding of our justice obligations to beings with moral status. By placing this holistic conception of flourishing at the centre of our moral thinking, we will be able to articulate an ecological theory of justice that recognises the importance of functionally integrating living beings to their social and/or natural environments and that appreciates the importance of these environments for identifying the specific justice obligations to beings with moral status. In short, I propose a theory of justice according to which justice obligations are understood in terms of supporting the capacity of beings with moral status to adapt to social and natural environments conducive to their flourishing. 2. Problematic Assumptions of Conventional Theories of Justice The moral foundations of the most prominent contemporary theories of justice are Kantian, utilitarian, or Aristotelian. Included in these theories are Rawlsian, cosmopolitan, and human rights based justice theories. 2 Assuming that we want to extend moral consideration to the world of nature, how do these theories fare? Starting with Kantian inspired theories of justice, we should note that these theories take the individual person as the unit of moral concern and grant equal dignity and moral worth to all human beings. The goods and protections to which all human beings are entitled are said to follow from the moral worth which people intrinsically possess. Typically, moral entitlement to these goods and protections is understood in terms of universally granted basic rights which cannot be overridden for the sake of utilitarian considerations. 3 By placing human dignity and moral worth at the centre of their normative perspective, Kantian inspired justice theories embrace conceptions of value that are distinctively human and that apply to individual persons rather than collectivities. But even though the notion of dignity can perhaps be used in a limited number of cases to morally constrain our treatment of certain species of complex mammals, such as elephants and tigers, it is unlikely that this notion can be meaningfully applied to simpler organisms. Thus, we might argue that to the extent that we prevent a tiger from developing and exercising its hunting capacities by incarcerating him in a zoo, we violate its dignity. If it is in the nature of a tiger to engage in these kinds of activities, we could with some plausibility claim that we are denying the tiger’s development of its natural capacities and hence in a sense transgressing on its dignity. Similar arguments could be raised to critique our treatment of circus animals, animals raised for food, and animals used in labour. However, it is not at all clear that it makes sense to talk about violating the dignity of simpler organisms such as shrimp, earthworms, or trees. The anthropocentric notion of dignity cannot be applied to organisms that do not have a sufficiently high level of self-awareness to recognise that they have been hindered in attaining self-respect or the respect of others, which presumably are necessary components of a dignified life.

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__________________________________________________________________ Utilitarian approaches advocate maximising sentient states of happiness, pleasure, or preference satisfaction. Even though utilitarianism was designed to apply to humans, it can be more easily extended to non-human animals than Kantian based perspectives. Since it is reasonable to suppose that some non-human animals can experience pleasure and pain, they can be included in the moral calculations of the utilitarian. Since for the utilitarian it is the maximisation of certain kinds of sentient states that is of crucial importance in moral decision making, there is no great obstacle in incorporating other sentient states besides those of human beings. A problem for the utilitarian, however, is that there are many organisms, such as trees, coral reefs, sponges, and flowers, whose sentience is debatable and which can be harmed in ways that do not involve the infliction of pain. Not only is it reasonable to question whether such organisms are sentient, given their lack of centralised neurological centres, it is also the case that they can be harmed in other ways besides the infliction of pain, such as by degrading their natural environments or damaging their reproductive capacities. These observations suggest that in safeguarding the well-being of organisms what are important are not so much their sentient states but their overall capacities for survival and flourishing. Theories of justice based on an Aristotelian perspective seem to be more adequate to the task of understanding our obligations to the natural world. Aristotelian approaches are based on the idea that the flourishing of different organisms should be understood in terms of the development of their speciesspecific capacities. 4 The flourishing of an organism is thus understood in terms of the particular features and capacities that make it the organism that it is. This approach makes it possible to understand the flourishing of all species of living beings, from the very simple to the highly complex. Trees, for example, require non-contaminated water and soil for their flourishing, while more complex living beings such as persons would in addition require certain economic, social, and psychological goods. However, there is still an important limitation to Aristotelian approaches; namely, they assume that flourishing is something that characterises the individual organism. 5 In contrast, I propose that flourishing should be understood as an interactive process between an organism and its natural and social environments. Since the survival of the organism, the development of its species-specific capacities and its ongoing flourishing necessarily occur within natural and social environments, I maintain that flourishing should be properly understood not as a state of being of the organism but rather as a dynamic relational process of a certain sort between an organism and its environments. Understanding flourishing as an interactive process has certain advantages, one of which is that it underscores the importance of the natural and social environments for the flourishing of living beings. It recognises that it is not only the welfare of individuals that is important, but also the condition and sustainability of natural and social environments that are

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__________________________________________________________________ conducive to the flourishing of living beings. It also calls our attention to the possible negative consequences for the natural environment, and for other species, of certain conceptions of flourishing, particularly those based on unfettered material consumption. This interactive conception of flourishing sees living beings as extensions of the environment and as part of a great web of interacting organisms whose behaviours affect one another’s well being and their physical and social environments. 3. Additional Conditions for an Adequate Ecological Theory of Justice This relational conception of flourishing provides the first condition for an ecological theory of justice, but it does not by itself yield sufficient conditions for such a theory. Another important criterion that an ecological justice theory is that it should grant moral consideration to all entities with moral status, not just humans. Limitations of space and time do not permit me to make a substantive case for granting moral consideration to entities in the natural world. On this issue it will have to suffice to say that I agree with Paul Taylor, who claims that because living beings are ‘teleological centres of life,’ 6 they have a good of their own which can be hindered or destroyed by our actions. The tendencies to live, reproduce, and exercise their species-specific capacities are most clear in complex nonhuman animals with a certain degree of sentience such as mammals, birds, and lizards. But living beings need not be conscious for us to recognise that they exhibit goaloriented capacities such as trying to find nourishment, healing themselves when injured, and seeking to reproduce. Even plants and simpler animals without neurological centres exhibit such characteristics. Given that organisms have features that indicate they have a good of their own which they independently seek, it is reasonable that an inclusive theory of justice should acknowledge these goods and should treat them with some degree of moral concern. We need to ensure that the technologies and social policies we use to promote our own flourishing do not undermine the flourishing of other living beings. In short, we should strive to engender values and implement policies based on a commitment to co-evolutionary flourishing. The third condition that an ecological theory of justice should satisfy involves sustainability. Sustainability could be defined as ‘the capacity of a practice, relation, or process to be carried on indefinitely without undermining the environmental conditions of its viability.’ 7 A commitment to sustainability is particularly important given, on the one hand, that future generations will need such goods as clean water, arable land, and unpolluted air, and on the other, that our present economic practices have a great impact on their accessibility to these goods. Since they will live in the biosphere we now inhabit, we have a moral responsibility to be cognizant of how our social and economic policies will significantly affect their basic welfare.

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__________________________________________________________________ The fourth and final condition for an ecological justice theory is that it should systematically integrate our broad social justice obligations with our ecological obligations. We should recognise that our socioeconomic decisions – including policies on industry regulation, energy consumption, urban development, agricultural practices, and modes of transportation – often affect the quality of peoples’ health and life-places both nationally and globally. Additionally, exclusion of poor people in governance, economic inequalities, and wide difference in levels of formal education, among other factors, often seriously limit the capacity of marginalised groups to control the quality of their physical environment. At the international level, lack of global regulations and accountability procedures for transnational corporations often lead to serious environmental degradation in societies with some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. The most vulnerable are disproportionately bearing the brunt of environmental changes caused by the policy decisions and live-styles of advanced countries. In brief, we should not disassociate basic social justice issues from those involving environmental justice. To summarise, the four conditions for an ecological theory of justice are the relational conception of flourishing, granting moral consideration to human and nonhuman living beings, the acceptance of sustainability, and the integration of moral responsibilities in the social and natural domains. What overarching principle of justice emerges from these four criteria? Since the form of flourishing of living beings I advocate necessarily occurs within social and natural environments that are conducive to their particular mode of development and continued well-being, it can be seen as a kind of successful adaptation of organisms to their environments. Thus, we arrive at an overarching principle of justice according to which our justice obligations involve safeguarding the capacity of organisms to adapt to natural and social environments conducive to their flourishing and the ongoing development and exercise of their speciesspecific capacities. 4. Safeguarding the Adaptation of Humans But more precisely, what does it mean to safeguard the capacity of living beings for adaptation? In the case of humans, safeguarding the capacity for adaptation is understood in terms of universal justice obligations (such as basic rights) as well as particular responsibilities arising from relationships we have to individuals within the political communities and institutional contexts we share with them. Among our universal obligations, satisfying subsistence needs, such as adequate nutrition, health care, and security protections, is particularly important. Subsistence needs are primary because they are absolutely necessary for individuals to successfully adapt to their natural and social environments and because no other rights can be enjoyed unless subsistence needs have been satisfied. In addition to universal obligations, we have special justice

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__________________________________________________________________ responsibilities to members of our own political community with whom we participate in the process of self-governance. Because members of our political community are subject to decisions we make that are not binding on non-members, we have special responsibilities to them, such as ensuring equality of political standing, non-discrimination on the basis of race or religion, and protecting their liberty of expression. In my view, our special justice obligations to compatriots are understood in terms of what they need to develop their species-specific capacities and what they need to function effectively as members of a self-governing political community. Concerning domestic justice, among the most important obligations we have towards compatriots is the transformation of social and political institutions that underpin unequal power relations, including social relations based on ethnicity, gender, and class. We should focus not only on respecting the rights of individuals but also on changing the structural and institutional factors that sustain economic and social inequalities and that prompt individuals to engage in behaviours that undermine equality and social solidarity. Other important issues include promoting equality of opportunity, increasing political participation and inclusion, creating forums for civic dialogue, building incentives for individuals to have a stake in the collective good of the community and, particularly in pluralistic societies, recognising alternative forms of knowledge and value systems. In short, justice is not so much about empowering individuals as unsituated independent beings, but about enabling them to integrate successfully into just and sustainable communities by developing their species-specific capacities and functioning effectively as democratic citizens. Political communities should be seen as social ecologies in which the well-being of individuals and the community depends to a large extent on the capacity of individuals to participate meaningfully in collective processes of self-governance. At the global level, safeguarding the capacity for adaptation of persons in other countries is best understood through a set of just institutional structures, rather than specific justice obligations to individual persons. This institutional approach to global justice is more reasonable and feasible than approaches based on responsibilities to individual persons – notwithstanding the fact that our justice obligations are ultimately owed to individuals – because the existing global geopolitical configuration of states does not allow for a systematic and uniform approach to fulfilling cosmopolitan obligations to individuals. There is far too much diversity between states and too many institutional impediments to successfully discharge our justice obligations to specific others. If taking an institutional approach is plausible, the justification for a body of just international institutions would start by challenging the territorial powers of states which, even though they were acquired illegitimately, states use to justify their exclusive control of their land and natural resources. As I have argued elsewhere, 8 a reasonable condition for the continued recognition by the world

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__________________________________________________________________ community of these illegitimately acquired territorial powers is to impose conditions of global justice that states must observe. These conditions include: the implementation of a just international system of production, exchange, and financing; protection of the global commons and the parts of nature under the control of particular states; economic and technological aid to impoverished and resource-poor countries so they can satisfy their basic needs; and the systematic integration of migration policies with development programs for underdeveloped countries. The main idea is to provide economic, technological, and political support for underdeveloped political communities so they can attain the wherewithal to construct and adapt to social and natural environments conducive to their flourishing. 5. Safeguarding the Adaptation of Nonhuman Living Beings In the case of nonhuman living beings, safeguarding their capacity for adaptation primarily involves negative duties such as not degrading or destroying their habitats, not introducing harmful non-native species into ecosystems, and not harming their reproductive capacities through exposure to toxic chemicals. Generally speaking, our economic and social policies should not undermine the fecundity of nature or the capacity of nonhuman organisms to evolve within patterns of complementary among species and between species and their environment. Human societies should be integrated into the fabric of the earth’s ecosystems in the sense that the energy and material cycles that sustain human societies should mirror the transfers of energy in nature. An important issue that arises concerning the just treatment of nonhuman organisms is that of partiality. Partiality refers to the differential treatment of living beings when conflicts of interest arise between them. Since it is inevitable that conflicting interests will emerge among nonhuman organisms and between human and nonhumans, how do we justify, for example, granting priority to human needs over those of nonhuman organisms? Even though all living beings are deserving of moral concern, I make a distinction between the levels of moral consideration that we should grant to living beings in different categories. The strength of our justice obligations increases as we move from the category of living beings to that of sentient living beings, to beings with the capacity for moral agency and, finally, to persons who are fellow members of self-governing political communities. There are several important advantages to the ecological conception of justice I have briefly outlined. First, it provides an overarching moral principle for understanding justice obligations that, unlike other competing principles of justice, can be applied in a theoretically coherent way to our obligations to humans and the natural world. Second, it conceives of organisms, including people, as extensions of the environment, and therefore sees their flourishing as an intrinsically interactive process between organism and environment. By doing this, it gives natural and social ecologies central importance in a theory of justice. Third, it

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__________________________________________________________________ seeks to integrate our obligations in the social and natural domains within a unified moral framework. This ecological approach to justice makes a decisive break with conventional, anthropocentric ethical traditions that either neglect or treat obligations to the natural world as an afterthought.

Notes 1

See, for example, John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971); David Gauthier, Morals by Agreement (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); Roland Dworkin, Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Equality (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000); and Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1981). 2 For examples of these theories, see Peter Singer, Practical Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979); Martha Nussbaum, Frontiers of Justice (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press, 2006); and Thomas Pogge, World Poverty and Human Rights (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008). 3 For evidence of this, see Martha Nussbaum, Frontiers of Justice (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press, 2006), 72-73. 4 Ibid., 94. 5 Ibid., 69-78. 6 Paul W. Taylor, Respect for Nature (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), 121. 7 Leslie Paul Thiele, Environmentalism for a New Millennium (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 75. 8 Jorge M. Valadez, ‘Is Immigration a Human Right?’, in Cosmopolitanism in Context: Perspectives from international Law and Political Theory, eds. Roland Pierik and Wouter Werner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 221248.

Bibliography Daley, Herman E., and John B. Cobb. For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994. Durham, William H. Coevolution: Genes, Culture, and Human Diversity. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991.

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__________________________________________________________________ Henderson, Hazel. The Politics of the Solar Age: Alternatives to Economics. Indianapolis: Knowledge Systems, Inc., 1988. Taylor, Paul W. Respect for Nature. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986. Thiele, Leslie Paul. Environmentalism for a New Millennium. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Valadez, Jorge M. ‘Adaptation, Sustainability, and Justice’. In Global Community: Global Security, edited by Randall E. Osborne, and Paul Kriese, 257–273. Amsterdam: Rodolpi, 2008. —––. ‘Is Immigration a Human Right?’. In Cosmopolitanism in Context: Perspectives from International Law and Political Theory, edited by Roland Pierik, and Wouter Werner, 221–248. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Jorge M. Valadez specializes in social and political philosophy and has published in the areas of minority rights, ethnopolitical conflict, and the philosophical foundations of multiculturalism. He is currently working on a synoptic theory of justice that systematically integrates minority rights, political legitimacy, feminism, political economy, and environmental justice.

Environmental Justice for Unregarded Others: Human Responsibility for a Forgotten Kingdom in World Conservation and Agriculture Alison Pouliot Abstract Charismatic organisms are a keystone of global conservation for which flora and fauna have been the focus. Meanwhile, another kingdom of organisms has been almost entirely neglected. The kingdom Fungi provides the connective fibre between all kingdoms through mutually beneficial symbioses, underpinning almost every terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. How can we be serious about environmental justice when we disregard an entire kingdom? Leading mycologists consider that ecosystem approaches to conservation that exclude fungi are so compromised as to be critically invalid. Failure to recognise the role of fungi in soil health in industrialised farming is directly reflected in the global explosion of human health issues. Rethinking current agricultural approaches to incorporate fungi in the nutrient dynamics of soils could reverse this trend. Innovative approaches to forging human connections with fungi are vital to their recognition and inclusion in conservation and agriculture. Fungi represent not only a critical part of our biodiversity, but are also deeply entwined in our cultural heritage. Civilisations have been enriched and extended by fungal remedies and wild edible fungi are harvested in over 80 countries providing vital subsistence nutrition. This chapter will include an examination of cultural connections with fungi and the challenges of ensuring their protection, focussing on Australia and Europe. It will also examine the use of fungi in English speaking cultures as a means to reconnecting people with ‘natural’ environments. Much of the dynamism of the natural world occurs in transition zones or ‘interface’ environments. This is also the domain of fungi. Likewise, the best possibilities for conserving both ‘natural’ environments and agricultural systems through inclusion of fungi are likely to emerge at the intersections of disciplinary thought. Key Words: Fungi, mycology, conservation, soils, charismatic organisms, environment, agriculture, Australia. ***** 1. The Forgotten Majority Charismatic faunas are major drawcards of Australian tourism. These species are referred to in a common idiom as ‘cute and cuddly’ and they’ve achieved iconic status, appearing on coats of arms, coins and stamps for over a century. Tourist shops overflow with koalas and kangaroos in the form of fluffy toys and trinkets more often than not, imported from China.

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__________________________________________________________________ Conservation, both in Australia and internationally, has not had a dissimilar focus. If you are glamorous and rare you are more likely to arouse public sentiment and increase your chance of being legislatively protected. 1 This is all very well if you are charismatic but try being a less well-regarded weevil, fruit bat or mushroom. Nevertheless, substantial conservation successes have been achieved through the advocacy of charismatic organisms, otherwise known as flagship species. 2 Flagship species are often large vertebrate fauna, suitable for emotive promotion that attracts public support and conservation dollars. These species are usually representative of broader ecosystem threats and can hence catalyse more extensive conservation efforts. Through their protection, many other organisms and ecosystems have benefited by default of being in the same geographical region or ecological niche. There is continued debate, however, as to whether promoting flagship species is still a valid conservation approach, as it focuses on relatively few species often to the neglect of a diverse majority. 3 In recent decades the single-species approach to conservation has transitioned to broader ecosystem-based approaches improving the potential for conservation funding to reach a wider range of initiatives. However, there still remains an enormous group of organisms, largely unrecognised and unrepresented in conservation and biodiversity management, without which, the cute and cuddly could not exist. We could perhaps call this group, unregarded others, or the forgotten majority. 2. Entangled Kingdoms Fungi are not an insignificant minority. They are, in fact, one of the most diverse groups of organisms on the planet, with an estimated 1.5 million species worldwide. 4 Fungi, are not animals or plants, but occupy an entire kingdom of their own and are present in two others. 5 Yet despite their importance and ubiquity, fungi are overlooked in both Australian and international conservation and agriculture. 6 In a fitting metaphor fungi have been described as the ‘earth’s internet,’ in reference to their vast interconnecting mycelial networks that link the earth’s ecosystems. 7 Fungi not only create soil through the decomposition of organic matter in a process known as pedogenesis, they also bind soils and increase their capacity to retain water. Fungi connect the major kingdoms through mutually beneficial relationships with the great majority of plants, assisting in the uptake of water and nutrients, as well as providing food for animals. These close alliances are crucial to ecosystem resilience, persistence and longevity. Effective conservation requires recognition of all biodiversity and its interrelationships in their entirety. Mycologist, David Minter, purports that failure to include fungi in conservation of ecosystems is so compromised as to be invalid. 8 So why is there resistance to including fungi in biodiversity conservation? One

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__________________________________________________________________ might start by examining attitudes toward fungi by delving into the history of ethnomycology. 3. Dark and Sinister Associations The poor profile of fungi can be understood partly by trawling through the curious history of suspicious and sinister associations, from witchcraft to the supernatural. Fungi have become deeply infused in the mythologies of many cultures through a uniting thread of negativity; with death and decay, witchcraft, the supernatural, unexplained happenings, poisonings, hallucinogens and a suite of other odious associations. Although advances in scientific understanding have dispelled many of these myths, old superstitions are firmly ingrained and enduring. Conservation managers may dismiss fungi in conservation initiatives as they are often perceived as an obscure group, tricky to identify, to quantify and hence difficult to incorporate in management strategies. However, this obscurity and poor profile even further reinforces the urgency for their conservation as habitat loss, global warming and other anthropogenic processes increasingly threaten their survival. Furthermore, species conservation is often driven by perceived charisma of an organism, rather than any scientific rationale of the repercussions of their loss to nature including humanity. 9 4. Conservation Innovations Due to high diversity and endemism, Australia has one of the richest and most unique biotas, including fungi, on the planet. 10 Less positively, Australia also has one of the world’s highest species extinction rates. This combination of high diversity and high extinction rates, along with a variable and unreliable climate and nutrient-limited soils, has arguably mobilised Australians into taking innovative approaches to conservation management. Australia has set a precedent in developing cooperative models for national park management that incorporate both conservation managers and traditional landowners. These have critically influenced thinking about the coexistence of nature and culture, of biodiversity and people. 11 Australia also has the tremendous advantage of being one of two among the 17 nations considered as megadiverse that has a developed, industrialised economy. 12 That is, given this affluence, coupled with a relatively scientifically literate society, Australia is in good stead to become leaders in conservation management. However, it is not only conservation of fungi in ‘natural’ ecosystems that needs addressing, but also in agricultural systems. In addition to the macrofungi and their visible fruit bodies discussed so far, it is the covert workings of microfungi in agricultural soils that directly influence the future success of global food production and hence human civilisation.

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__________________________________________________________________ 5. Dirt Health Dirt is more than it may at first appear. Every farmer knows this. Soils are the cornerstones or building blocks of all terrestrial agriculture. Healthy soils writhe with multitudes of unseen organisms, including fungi, whose subterranean activities drive biogeochemical cycles, recycling and releasing vital nutrients essential to plant growth. The success of civilisations was traditionally dependent on the existing fertility of their soils and possibilities for nutrient replenishment through natural processes. In recent times, less fertile soils have been made arable through the addition of fertilisers, with a resultant massive increase in global populations. 13 But alongside other peaking resources such as crude oil, we are also nearing peak phosphate indicating that synthetic fertilisers and petro-chemical based agricultural processes are nearing the end of their short life spans. 14 Furthermore, industrialised farming that involves synthetic fertiliser and herbicide application has severely comprised soil nutrient dynamics, especially the delicate balance between plants and soil fungi. Fungi have the unique capacity to selectively absorb and concentrate essential nutrients as opposed to the nonselective uptake processes that occur with fertiliser application. Essentially, rather than choosing to mimic nature in agricultural food production, humanity has opted for a short-term, high yield approach that is not only destroying soils, but is unsustainable in terms of fertiliser production costs as oil prices rise. 15 The nutritional value of agricultural crops is directly related to soil condition. Fortunately there has been a recent shift among more innovative thinkers to try and recreate the soils in Australia that existed prior to the changes resulting from European agricultural systems. These include non-till agriculture, no-dig gardening and permacultural principles. 16 Greater recognition of Australia’s unpredictable and variable climate and hence dependency on our soils’ capacity to infiltrate and store water, has stimulated new approaches that maximise organic content, including fungal networks. However, these are still small-scale and rarely infiltrate industrialised agriculture. To degrade soil fungi is to degrade our own health. There is ever-increasing evidence that widespread nutritional decline and the exponential rise of global diseases are directly related to the reduced nutritional density and integrity of foods produced through industrialised agriculture. 17 Unless we urgently reassess current agricultural practices, not only soils and natural systems are at risk of demise, but also the future of humanity. 6. Charisma under the Microscope What are the possibilities for informing a wider audience of the vital importance of fungi? Returning to the use of charismatic organisms in biodiversity conservation, it is paradoxical that fungi do not fit into the charismatic basket, given their exquisite colouration, intriguing morphologies and the recognition of

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__________________________________________________________________ fruiting bodies as a culinary delight by many cultures. Highly prized white truffles, for example, can fetch a higher price per kilo than Beluga caviar, Kopi Luwak coffee, Kobe beef or pretty much any other food derived from animals or plants. It’s something of an odd contradiction that we put a high price on the culinary value of fungi, but not on their conservation. Charisma generally implies more than just attractiveness. Understanding which attributes are considered charismatic offers vital clues to understanding attitudes toward fungi. In addition to attractiveness, charisma also involves perception of a species as having exceptional or extraordinary characteristics. 18 It is also about familiarity. The frequency with which we encounter an organism, and our capacity to recognise it, to name and classify it, and hence give it a place and meaning in the world, also contribute to our perception of charisma. 19 The challenge is to demonstrate that exceptional or extraordinary traits of fungi can also be considered charismatic. A starting point could be in identifying physical and physiological attributes of fungi – such as edibility, luminosity or morphological peculiarities – that contribute to perception of them as being extraordinary as a means to pique curiosity and stimulate conservation. 20 7. Strange as Charismatic While some may consider that Australia lacks the grandeur and scale of spectacularly dramatic landscapes that exist, for example, in parts of the United States or Europe, it does have a most extraordinary natural history. Australia’s geological history, isolation, extremely variable climate and topography have all contributed to a unique and diverse biota. In this context, the exceptional and the extraordinary could arguably replace the cute and cuddly as the new charismatic. Australia’s biota has long been perceived as strange by outsiders and this was an impetus for early European expeditions to document Australian natural history. Historian, Libby Robin, describes how historically ‘Australian flora and fauna challenged perceptions of the orderliness of the known world.’ 21 Arguably, Australian fungi could also challenge expectations through their extraordinariness. This sense of the extraordinary, of difference, both of the landscape and its biota, is also tightly intertwined with Australian identity. Robin discusses how ‘the potential for Australia’s environmental difference to contribute seriously to global knowledge remains unrealised’ and that this difference could be our greatest contribution to the ‘global journey towards sustainability.’ 22 8. Familiarity with the Ephemeral Familiarity with flora and fauna among the general population is often a reflection of the greater frequency of encounters, relative to those with fungi. Encounters with fungi are less likely due to their short fruiting periods and hence invisibility for much of the year. Being unseen raises huge challenges as ecologist, Aldo Leopold, commented ‘We can be ethical only in relation to something we can

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__________________________________________________________________ see, feel (or) understand… .’ 23 However, this perceived ‘rarity’ could also work to the advantage of fungi, whether one’s interest is in fungal ecology, foraging for edible species or documenting fungal aesthetics. In the same way that people treasure the short fruiting season of mangoes, a run of scallops, or a rarelyflowering cactus, the ephemeral nature of many fungi, in a sense, their rarity or at least the rarity of one’s encounters with them, increases their perceived ‘value.’ 9. Kinship and Culture Familiarity also leads to kinship. Our capacity to form kinship with species is embedded in our cultural and educational backgrounds. 24 Fungi are not only a vital part of our biodiversity, but are also part of our natural and cultural heritage. Numerous fungi have cultural, historical or spiritual significance and have been utilised for thousands of years, from the shamans of Siberia to the Mayans of Guatemala. Fungal lore has been passed through generations, predominantly among non-English speaking cultures. Mycologist, Regis Courtecuisse discusses the ‘heritage dimension’ of fungi as integrating aspects of historical, management, biodiversity and conservation factors. 25 While species protection generally hinges on natural values, cultural significance of fungi could also be explored as a valid reason for their protection. Given that conservation is a value-based cultural construct, effective construction can only be achieved within a context that values cultural significances. 10. Insidious Impacts If we continue to overlook the importance of fungi, we will not only lose them but also the interconnected species and ecosystems, including our food production systems and ultimately, our civilisations. Processes that threaten fungi, indeed entire ecosystems, are characteristically slow and insidious. The most destructive processes generally occur at rates that are not detectable until the species or ecosystem is already in a vulnerable state. The media seldom assist in reporting these issues as it is typically drawn to environmental stories that are highly visible, calamitous, event and time-focussed, 26 preferably with a charismatic species in the lead role. Unseen and undocumented extinction of fungi due to habitat loss rarely possesses the same visceral, shock-value power of tsunamis, volcanic eruptions or slaughtered megafauna. 27 The challenge is to attract attention to invisible organisms and slow processes. Arresting images and narratives that convey the pervasive and elusive impacts are required, especially given that impacts are likely to be not just attritional in their effect, but exponential. 28 11. Interdisciplinary Perspectives Conservation is about nature, which means it is also about people. Effective conservation is about having the right balance of skills; it not only requires scientific expertise but also perspectives that offer alternative knowledge and

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__________________________________________________________________ values. Furthermore, it requires consideration of the individuals and communities who may be directly affected by conservation initiatives and ensuring that their lives are maintained or improved in a way that is consistent with conservation goals. Most critically, it is essential to avoid the tendency toward a destructive dichotomy between the ‘human’ and the ‘natural.’ 29 Much of the dynamism of the natural world occurs in transition zones or ‘interface’ environments. This just so happens to be the domain of fungi. Likewise, the best possibilities for understanding and conserving natural environments emerge at crossroads – at the intersections of disciplinary thought. There is great opportunity to join forces with sympathetic advocates including indigenous people, aesthetes, philosophers, politicians, natural historians, artists and others to form a collective voice to present the great suite of views on the value of fungi. Determining what constitutes a species or ecosystem worthy of protection relies on value judgements. With its foundations in objectivity, science rarely offers value judgements found in other fields such as philosophy or the arts. Given that many of the issues in conservation rely on inclusion of value judgements, a collective process reflecting a spectrum of views and approaches enriches possibilities for fungal protection. 12. Embracing the Challenge Australia has been an innovative world leader in many areas of conservation management. We are in a unique position of having a megadiverse biota and the knowledge and economic capacity to invest in conservation. However, our approach to agricultural systems must address the role of fungi in soils if we are to slow the current rapid deterioration of soil and human health. We now have a good understanding of the issues and the immediate imperative is to urgently activate solutions. But will we react swiftly enough, or as soil scientist, Walter Jehne questioned, ‘will we rely on nature to use these same fungal ecologies to regenerate these bio-systems for us, but after us?’ 30 Determining time frames is challenging but given the aridification of much of the world’s soils, extremes of climate change and population pressures, we may have only a few decades to regenerate our natural and agricultural systems. 31 Central to this is the recognition that humanity is just one part of an intricate symbiosis of relationships, at which fungi and bacteria are the foundation. The solution to a healthy and resilient future lies in respecting and restoring the microbial ecologies that drive soil health, hydrology, biosphere and climate. 32 The extraordinary fruit bodies of our macrofungi offer a wonderful conduit to reconnecting people with our ‘natural’ environments. Experiences in nature that capture people’s imaginations and explore possibilities for enlightening and humbling experiences all serve as a bridge to connectedness and realisation of the importance of fungi.

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__________________________________________________________________ Pivotal to activating solutions is fostering innovative thinking that challenges existing paradigms embedded in the charters of governments, conservation agencies and the agricultural industry. We need to actively endorse innovative approaches of individuals and groups that advocate alternatives to fertiliser and herbicide dependent agriculture and strive to mimic the clever work of nature. Furthermore, we need to enhance the message that fungi provide a pathway, a conduit to ensure sustainability of the biosphere throughout future generations.

Notes 1

‘Are Conservation Groups Right to Prioritize “Iconic” Species?’, modified 21 May 2012, accessed November 25, 2012, http://www.earthtimes.org/conservation/conservation-groups-prioritize-iconicspecies/2001/. 2 Maan Barua, ‘Mobilizing Metaphors: The Popular Use of Keystone, Flagship and Umbrella Species Concepts’, Biodiversity Conservation 20 (2011): 1247-1440. 3 Joaquin Munoz, ‘Biodiversity Conservation Including Uncharismatic Species’, Biodiversity Conservation 16 (2007): 2233-2235. 4 David L. Hawksworth, ‘The Magnitude of Fungal Diversity: The 1.5 Million Species Estimate Revisited’, Mycological Research 105 (2001): 1422-1432. 5 George A. M. Scott, et al., A Conservation Overview of Australian Non-Marine Lichens, Bryophytes, Algae and Fungi (Canberra: Environment Australia, 1997), chapter 5. 6 Alison M. Pouliot and Tom W. May, ‘The Third F: Fungi in Australian Biodiversity Conservation: Actions, Issues and Initiatives’, Mycologia Balcanica 7 (2010): 41-48. 7 Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus, usually existing beneath soil or in wood, comprising often vast networks of interconnecting hyphae; Paul Stamets, Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World (USA: Ten Speed Press, 2005), 4. 8 ‘A Future for Fungi: The Orphans of Rio’, last modified 6 October 2010, accessed April 1, 2012, http://www.iucn.org/involved/opinion/?6197/A-future-forfungi---the-orphans-of-Rio. 9 Peter K. Buchanan and Tom W. May, ‘Conservation of New Zealand and Australian Fungi’, New Zealand Journal of Botany 41 (2003): 407-421. 10 ‘Biodiversity and Progress’, last modified 14 July 2011, accessed November 25, 2012, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/by%20Subject/1370.0~2010~Ch apter~Biodiversity%20and%20progress%20%286.1.1%29. 11 Libby Robin, How a Continent Created a Nation (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2007), 180.

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__________________________________________________________________ 12

Ibid., 202. Transcript of interview with Walter Jehne, Director ‘Healthy Soils Australia’, last modified 13 July 2009, accessed April 4, 2012, http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2007/s2626742.htm. 14 ‘Peak Phosphorus Fuels Food Fears’, last modified 6 February 2012, accessed April 6, 2012, http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/08/05/2973513.htm. 15 Walter Jehne, ‘The Role of Fungi in Soil Health’, Unpublished paper presented at Fungimap Conference, Hobart 2012 Abstract at: http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/fungimap/fungi-conservation-and-managementsymposium#WJ. 16 The production of food within diverse perennial ecosystems. 17 Jehne, ‘The Role of Fungi in Soil Health’. 18 Kees Terlouw, ‘Charisma and Space’, Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (2010): 10, 3 and 225-248. 19 Jamie Lorimer, ‘Nonhuman Charisma’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 25 (2007): 911-932. 20 Michael C. Hall, Michael James and Tim Baird, ‘Forests and Trees as Charisma Mega-Flora: Implications for Tourism, Heritage and Conservation’, Journal of Heritage Tourism 6, No. 4 (2011): 309-323. 21 Robin, How a Continent Created a Nation, 203 and 210. 22 Ibid., 187, 206 and 215. 23 Aldo Leopold, A Sand Country Almanac (USA: Oxford University Press, 1968). 24 Jurg Schlegel and Reto Rupf, ‘Attitudes towards Potential Animal Flagship Species in Nature Conservation: A Survey among Students of Different Educational Institutions’, Journal for Nature Conservation 18 (2010): 278-290. 25 Regis Courtecuisse, ‘Current Trends and Perspectives for the Global Conservation of Fungi’, in Fungal Conservation, Issues and Solutions, eds. David Moore, Marijke M. Nauta, Shelley E. Evans and Maurice Rotheroe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 7-18. 26 Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011), 3. 27 Ibid., 3. 28 Ibid., 276. 29 ‘Conservation Is Not about Nature’, last modified 7 September 2011, accessed March 24, 2012, http://www.iucn.org/involved/opinion/?8195/Conservation-is-notabout-nature. 30 Jehne, ‘The Role of Fungi in Soil Health’. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 13

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Bibliography Arnolds, Eef. ‘The Future of Fungi in Europe: Threats, Conservation and Management’. In Fungal Conservation, Issues and Solutions, edited by David Moore, Marijke M. Nauta, Shelley E. Evans, and Maurice Rotheroe, 64–80. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Arora, David. ‘Wild Mushrooms and Rural Economies’. In Fungal Conservation, Issues and Solutions, edited by David Moore, Marijke M. Nauta, Shelley E. Evans, and Maurice Rotheroe, 105–110. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Australian Bureau of Statistics. ‘Biodiversity and Progress’. Accessed November 25, 2012. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/by%20Subject/1370.0~2010~Ch apter~Biodiversity%20and%20progress%20%286.1.1%29. Barua, Maan. ‘Mobilizing Metaphors: The Popular Use of Keystone, Flagship and Umbrella Species Concepts’. Biodiversity Conservation 20 (2011): 1247–1440. Boa, Eric. Wild Edible Fungi. A Global Overview of Their Use and Importance to People. Rome: Food & Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, 2004. Buchanan, Peter K., and Tom W. May. ‘Conservation of New Zealand and Australian Fungi’. New Zealand Journal of Botany 41 (2003): 407–421. Courtecuisse, Regis. ‘Current Trends and Perspectives for the Global Conservation of Fungi’. In Fungal Conservation, Issues and Solutions, edited by David Moore, Marijke M. Nauta, Shelley E. Evans, and Maurice Rotheroe, 7–18. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Hall, Michael C., Michael James, and Tim Baird. ‘Forests and Trees as Charisma Mega-Flora: Implications for Tourism, Heritage and Conservation’. Journal of Heritage Tourism 6, No. 4 (2011): 309–323. Hawksworth, David L. ‘The Magnitude of Fungal Diversity: The 1.5 Million Species Estimate Revisited’. Mycological Research 105 (2001): 1422–1432.

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__________________________________________________________________ Hewitt, David. ‘Are Conservation Groups Right to Prioritize “Iconic” Species?’. Accessed November 25, 2012. http://www.earthtimes.org/conservation/conservation-groups-prioritize-iconicspecies/2001/. Jehne, Walter. Transcript of interview with Walter Jehne, Director ‘Healthy Soils Australia’. Accessed April 4, 2012. http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2007/s2626742.htm. —––. ‘The Role of Fungi in Soil Health’. Unpublished paper. Presented at Fungimap Conference, Hobart 2012. Accessed May 2, 2012. http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/fungimap/fungi-conservation-and-managementsymposium#WJ. Kalotas, Arpad C. ‘Aboriginal Knowledge and Use of Fungi’. In Fungi of Australia. Vol. IB. (1996): 269–295. Melbourne: CSIRO. Leopold, Aldo. A Sand Country Almanac. USA: Oxford University Press, 1968. Lorimer, Jamie. ‘Nonhuman Charisma’. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 25 (2007): 911–932. May, Tom, Skye Moore, and David Tierney. The Conservation and Management of Fungi in New South Wales: Issues and Recommendations. A background paper prepared for the Fungi Initiative November 2008. Minter, David. ‘A Future for Fungi: The Orphans of Rio’. http://www.iucn.org/involved/opinion/?6197/A-future-for-fungi---the-orphans-ofRio. Munoz, Joaquin. ‘Biodiversity Conservation Including Uncharismatic Species’. Biodiversity Conservation 16 (2007): 2233–2235. Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011. Pouliot, Alison M., and Tom May. ‘The Third F: Fungi in Australian Biodiversity Conservation: Actions, Issues and Initiatives’. Mycologia Balcanica 7 (2010): 41– 48.

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__________________________________________________________________ Robin, Libby. How a Continent Created a Nation. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2007. Schlegel, Jurg, and Reto Rupf. ‘Attitudes towards Potential Animal Flagship Species in Nature Conservation: A Survey among Students of Different Educational Institutions’. Journal for Nature Conservation 18 (2010): 278–290. Scott, George A. M., Timothy J. Entwisle, Tom W. May, and Nell G. Stevens. A Conservation Overview of Australian Non-Marine Lichens, Bryophytes, Algae and Fungi. Canberra: Environment Australia, 1997. Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. USA: Ten Speed Press, 2005. Terlouw, Kees. ‘Charisma and Space’. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (2010): 10, 3, 225–248. Zammit-Lucia, Joe. ‘Conservation Is Not about Nature’. Accessed March 29, 2012. http://www.iucn.org/involved/opinion/?8195/Conservation-is-not-about-nature. Alison Pouliot is an ecologist and environmental photographer with a particular interest in the role of fungi in connecting and sustaining bio-systems.

Part 2 Models from Law, Education and Health Care

Old Problem, New Solution: Protection of Environments Critical to Indigenous Cultures through International Human Rights Law John Pearson Abstract The extraction of the so-called ‘tar sands’ of Alberta, Canada, to obtain crude oil have not only displaced the indigenous peoples of the province, decimating their constitutionally protected tribal lands, but have also threatened the continued existence of their culture. Environmental damage wrought by the extraction of bitumen, later refined into crude oil, has destroyed the unique habitat of fauna inextricably linked to the way of life of the indigenous communities of the province as a means of sustenance, livelihood, and cultural expression. Similarly, water consumption by such projects has the potential to reduce fish stocks of the province’s waterways below sustainable levels removing another traditional source of sustenance for the indigenous community. Much of the land exploited is made unviable for future recovery and reuse owing to its occupation by vast pools made up of the by-products of the extraction and refining processes. These take great lengths of time to become inert and reusable and have leaked into the natural water basins of the province. Despite attempts at reclamation of the land, current methods have succeeded only in restoring a radically different ecosystem to that which once occupied the land, and is therefore no longer appropriate for the established expressions of culture by indigenous peoples connected to those ecosystems. The piece will contend that irreparable damage to this unique environment, inextricably linked to the equally distinct and irreplaceable culture of the indigenous peoples of the region, constitutes a breach of their human rights to express that culture. Thus, whereas previous attempts to protect the environment through human rights provisions have focused on the rights to life and family, this case presents the potential to form a new basis, in Canada and globally, for environmental protection rooted in alternate established legal provisions at domestic, regional and international levels. Key Words: Indigenous peoples, human rights, environmental damage, natural resources, multinationals, culture. ***** Whilst numerous efforts have been made to establish a clear environmental human right, with mixed success in some cases, a binding right capable of protecting both the needs of individuals at present and for future generations remains elusive. 1 Outside of the few specific binding rights to environmental features which are in their infancy, the most effective approaches to environmental

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__________________________________________________________________ protection in this field have been seen where established human rights have been interpreted broadly to challenge an adverse impact to a particular environmental feature, thereby protecting a broader range in its entirety as a consequence. 2 This paper it is hoped will suggest a new method of environmental protection utilising established human rights law to ensure that key ecosystems and habitats are protected for those peoples inextricably linked to them. Using the case of the ‘tar – sands’ projects in Alberta, Canada it will be contested that the right to culture ensures protection of all environmental features linked to that culture and necessary for its continued existence. The ‘tar’ or ‘oil sands’ of Alberta represent one of the most innovative and controversial means of acquiring crude oil in the world, despite little media attention being given to them. 3 A thick tar-like mixture of bitumen and various minerals is relatively solid, and where near the surface is extracted from vast open cast mines. Where found in pockets deep beneath the earth, two pipes are drilled into the ground one to force steam into the mixture to liquefy it, and the second to pump this liquid out of the ground for refining. Both methods of extraction cause vast deforestation, and geological disturbances impacting upon both the flora and fauna of the region. Concerns have also been raised in relation to the consumption of water by the industries involved with estimates ranging from two to four barrels of water extracted from natural water sources being used to produce one barrel of crude oil. 4 Whilst extraction alone does unparalleled damage, the refining process and its by-products specifically have created equally as unique and worrying environmental issues which remain unsolved to date. So-called ‘tailings ponds’ are vast lakes of the liquid by-products of the process of turning the earthen or superheated liquid substance extracted into commercially viable crude oil. Despite being encompassed by some of the largest dams in the world these highly toxic liquids still seep into surrounding lands and waterways, and have been the cause of innumerable bird deaths owing to an inability to take off from the surface of the ‘ponds’ once they have landed on them. Attempts to reclaim these lakes and return them to something akin to that which was destroyed to allow their creation have been highly controversial and have had limited and contested success. 5 These adverse effects whilst felt by non-indigenous peoples in the regions affected are amplified in relation to the native Indians who express their culture through practices inextricably linked to the environments being decimated. Caribou, traditionally hunted by the First Nations Indians of Alberta as a source of sustenance and for the materials their hides and bones provide, have been driven from established habitats to less suitable areas reducing their numbers on the reserved lands of tribes significantly. Similarly fish stocks have fallen as a result of lower flow rates and the presence of toxic substances in the waterways of the province, preventing the Indians from fishing using traditional methods and being able to consume what little is still available. 6 Whilst drinking water could be piped even to the most remote Indian reserves this source of water would not be

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__________________________________________________________________ culturally relative, or natural and thus be refused by the more traditional tribes. Domestic legal provisions relating to human rights and the treaties signed between the Indian First Nations and the Crown at the turn of the 20th century, creating reserve lands and rights thereto, afford some protection, but are all subject to limitations concerning access to and exploitation of natural resources, or the general economic benefit of the State. 7 Domestic Canadian human rights provisions concerning the gaining of a livelihood and freedom to remain (live) must be interpreted broadly to preserve the multicultural heritage according to the Canadian Charter of Right and Freedoms. 8 Similarly the Indian Act protects the subsistence economies such as hunting, trapping and fishing which preserve the indigenous cultures. 9 Whilst the tar sands extraction projects are permissible according to many domestic provisions owing to their economic benefit, this utilitarian approach fails to protect not only those rights, but by extension, the very cultures themselves. Essentially should hunting, trapping and fishing by traditional methods cease to be practiced these cultures will cease to exist and it is this potential reality which it is hoped will be avoided. Considered in combination with the multiculturalism policy of Canada expressed in the Canadian Multiculturalism Act it can be said that a constructive right to culture exists in the State and in the case of the indigenous peoples that this is inextricably linked to the ability to hunt, trap and fish traditionally, itself in turn reliant upon specific environmental features. 10 However, this constructive right is undoubtedly reliant upon the reading of domestic provisions in line with international human rights law concerning a right to cultural expression, thus avoiding the aforementioned domestic limitations and political considerations. Similar arguments have been made in other fora internationally, such as in European jurisdictions and within other States on the American continents. 11 Given the Western legal heritage of the Canadian jurisdiction, clearly influenced by both the American and British models, these are by far the most useful and accurate comparisons for the purposes of tracing legal development in this area and suggesting a future course for it. In Europe the claims for a right to particular environmental standards have been linked to the right to a private and family life, or in extreme cases the right to life itself, with some success. This has been heavily reliant upon the interpretative freedom afforded to the judges of the European Court of Human Rights. The case of Hatton v UK illustrates however that in spite of accepting such a link existed and was potentially enforceable, economic considerations are a viable basis for a limitation to such rights on the part of a government, provided they are deemed reasonable. 12 The case concerned the flight paths over Heathrow Airport, and it was the contention of Hatton that the noise at night was a breach of his right to private and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights. 13 The regional system in the Americas is slightly more complex as an additional protocol to the central American Convention on Human Rights contains a specific right to a ‘healthy environment,’ though not all

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__________________________________________________________________ States in the region have ratified this text. 14 The Inter-American Court has in a similar fashion to the European Court interpreted environmental protection from rights contained in the central text of the American Convention on Human Rights where this is the case. 15 Regional human rights protection on the African continent is in its infancy, the Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights having only begun to hear cases in 2009. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which it protects includes a provision in relation to the environment akin to that found in the American system, also ensuring a ‘healthy environment.’ 16 Focus in the seminal case in this area before the African Commission prior to the formation of the Court, concerning the production of oil in Nigeria, was on the requirement of States to undertake sufficient scientific studies and precautions to avoid damage to peoples and their property. There was a concession, as has been the case where human rights have been considered as breached by the environmental impacts, across numerous international jurisdictions, that the social and economic benefit of oil production by Nigeria was both noted and accepted as a potentially reasonable basis for the limitation of non-derogable rights. Thus indicating were sufficient precautions taken, as was the case in Hatton v UK, then a similar judgement of said benefits outweighing the environmental impacts would be handed down. 17 Indeed it would seem a general approach in cases from numerous jurisdictions suggests that only where environmental impacts result in the extinguishment of life itself or a crucial aspect thereof will the threshold required to constitute a human rights violation be breached. In the rare cases of success, the judgement however related only to a specific impact, not a need for protection of an environment or ecosystem as a whole. The use of the right to culture as a basis for the protection of environments inextricably linked to them allows for the introduction of this concept of extinction or extinguishment to challenges to damage to such environments. Finality of impact has traditionally raised protection against that causing said impact, and this is true of other fields besides law. Numerous examples exist and have been reported in the media, often with an air of disbelief, of the potential extinction of a hitherto unheard of species stopping the construction of a major civic project, which clearly illustrate this philosophical approach. 18 Undoubtedly such an approach is born out of both the necessity of the acquiescence of States to any legal provision originating from beyond their own borders thus having a diluting effect on said provisions, and also the resulting in the focus upon the health or safety of the environment for human habitation, and not upon its form. The concession must be made that not all industrial projects with adverse environmental impacts would be subject to such a suggested interpretation of the right to culture, however a number of controversial developments could be considered in light of it. The fallacy of this approach in its current form, where the imminent destruction of a species, feature or human life must be shown to achieve cession if damage is apparent, but also it is clear that should this approach be retained that it ought to

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__________________________________________________________________ apply to factors other than those of a tangible nature, such as communities, cultures, and religions or aspects thereof which, although inherently difficult to both demonstrate and preserve through traditional legal means, are equally worthy of protection. Essentially a fresh precedent in environmental protection would arise from the acceptance that our links to the environment go beyond merely our consumption of natural resources, and that the interpretation of human rights law should reflect this reality. International environmental protection within the field of law and beyond has all too often focused on major universal concepts, climate change, the ozone layer, and ocean acidification to name but a few. 19 All essentially concern the capability of the environment protected to sustain and provide for humans and not its form. Protecting the environment to serve the preservation of a culture, and specifically indigenous cultures, linked to the minutia of a particular ecosystem would avoid this anthropocentric approach at the heart of the bulk of environmental protection. Whilst protecting the environment for a purpose other than that in itself is admittedly somewhat farcical to the casual observer, in the face of the use of other factors to dissuade from its protection on the part of industries and some governments, such as economic benefit, the suggestion of subsidiary adverse effects is becoming ever more essential in this constant battle. The lack of binding or effective human rights obligations to protect particular environments and not simply a generic human habitat necessitates the suggestion of expansive interpretation of more commonly used rights which are graced with discussion in a greater wealth of both case law and academic debate. This reality is encapsulated by the case study of the tar sands extraction in Alberta. The boreal forest of the region whilst being an endangered ecosystem of great importance for both its support of unique biodiversity, and significance within the water table of not only Alberta, but the North American continent is of little significance to the average Albertan, with the vast majority of the population inhabiting the southern half of the province, where the ecosystem is more akin to the American plains. As such attempting to use established environmental protection regulations to curb the expansion of the industrial projects has consistently been met with rhetoric on the enormous economic, political and social benefit of natural resource security offered outweighing any arguments as to the important role of this environmental feature and the fauna linked to it. 20 Indeed many of the human rights contained within the domestic Canadian legal system which might be used to contest the developments can be rebutted by these arguments, such as the right to gaining a livelihood and the right to security of the person. 21 Until a link between the industry and the potential for human fatalities can be shown any such case is unlikely to succeed. The right to culture by contrast offers another form of fatality to suggest is caused by the impacts of the tar sands, that of the indigenous cultures of the region.

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__________________________________________________________________ The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights affords a right to ethnic, religious, or linguistic minorities and stipulates that persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied cultural development, and protection from discrimination on the basis of social origin and freedom to manifest one’s beliefs or thoughts through practice and teaching are also enshrined in the text of this seminal treaty. 22 Limitations to such rights are only allowed if ‘necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.’ 23 No recognition of the economic benefits of any such restrictions is to be permitted, and it is this distinction in relation to the right to culture afforded in international human rights law which offers a new approach to the protection of environments critical to the survival of indigenous cultures. Similar provisions exist in all three of the major binding regional human rights systems, European, African and Inter-American, and they similarly have far narrower permitted limitations of rights by States. In relation to the tar sands of Alberta therefore, the contention that the economic benefits of the extraction and refinement of this scarce natural resource into one of the most valuable commodities known to man outweigh its intrinsic environmental value is made redundant in the face of its inextricable links to the indigenous cultures of the First Nations Indians of the province. A number of issues with this approach must be conceded, firstly that this level of legal interpretation is rare, that any suggestion that the extraction of tar sands to produce oil might cease entirely is preposterous, and that the applicability of this suggested doctrine is relatively narrow. However, the protection of particular environments as an extension of the right to culture would offer a number of significant progressions in environmental protection as a whole both legal and otherwise. The proposed approach would protect specific environments in their current state, not merely their ability to sustain human life. Current protection afforded to the environment by human rights law has been focused on the prevention of impacts to human health and not, paradoxically, on aspects of the environments in question. Whilst some recognition has been paid to the significance of the environment in relation to other rights afforded in the various human rights instruments throughout the world, rarely have binding judgements been made on the basis that specific features of a particular environment ought to be protected, this more often being the concern of land law. The acceptance and enforcement of the relationship would ensure that the aforementioned ties between human health and the environment were not the only basis for its protection in human rights law. Numerous pieces of legislation in domestic, regional and international legal systems protect biodiversity, separating protection of distinct sub-species and identifying aspects of the environment inextricably linked to their survival, and yet the same attention to crucial environmental factors in the continuation of subsets of humanity is not afforded. Instead a ‘catch-all’ policy approach of ensuring simply health and not diversity is applied. Whilst the

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__________________________________________________________________ extraction of natural resources in the tar sands is the clearest example of the applicability of the suggested doctrine, its potential use is more widespread than this single controversial industry and the issues concerned are present in other major projects with environmental impacts. Indigenous tribes in the rainforests of South America are often disturbed by industrial developments to secure wood, oil and minerals, 24 in India the mining of aluminium has allegedly desecrated tribal lands (although this has been limited to some extent by the domestic Indian courts), 25 and in Africa the developments bordering the Niger River aimed at exploiting oil reserves in the region are having devastating ecological impacts to all forms of life there as well as underpinning violence in the region. 26 In all of these instances the acceptance that specific environments are inextricably linked to the continued existence of indigenous peoples would afford the requisite protection to such environments to ensure not only its survival, but that of the peoples connected to them. The aforementioned rejection of a select few proposed bauxite mines in India to protect indigenous people, and the forests on which they rely, in the Orissa region of the State is a shining example of the potential of this doctrine. The interpretation of the right to culture present in human rights instruments across all levels of legal enforcement internationally to include rights to environmental features and entire environments crucial to their continued existence would afford protection not only to often unique environmental features, but also to equally inimitable cultures and peoples reliant upon them. In turn this would ensure access to environmental justice for them specifically whilst also consequently preserving the diversity of global citizenship as a whole.

Notes 1

United Nations Commission on Human Rights Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities ‘Review of Further Developments in Fields with Which the Sub-Commission Has Been Concerned Human Rights and the Environment’, accessed November 29, 2012, http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/eeab2b6937bccaa18025675c0057 79c3?Opendocument. 2 Alan Boyle, ‘Human Rights or Environmental Rights: A Reassessment’, accessed November 29, 2012, 1-2, http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/file_download/publications/0_1221_humanrightsorenviro nmentalrightsareasses.pdf. 3 Alberta Energy, ‘What Is Oil Sands?’, accessed November 28, 2012, http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OilSands/793.asp. 4 Pembina Institute, ‘Water Impacts’, accessed May 10, 2012, http://www.pembina.org/oil-sands/os101/water. 5 Pembina Institute, ‘Reclamation’, accessed May 10, 2012,

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__________________________________________________________________ http://www.pembina.org/oil-sands/os101/reclamation. 6 CBC News, ‘Toxic Substance Found in Snow Near Oil Sands’, November 13, 2012, accessed November 30, 2012, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/11/13/calgary-oilsands-toxinsfish-snow.html. 7 Tom Flanagan, First Nations? Second Thoughts (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2000), 48-66. 8 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s. 15, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, c.11. (CAN). 9 Indian Act R.S.C. , 1985, c. I-5 (CAN). 10 Canadian Multiculturalism Act. R.S.C. , 1985, c. 24 (4th Supp.) (CAN). 11 Dinah Shelton, Human Rights and the Environment: Jurisprudence of Human Rights Bodies, Joint UNEP-OHCHR Expert Seminar on Human Rights and the Environment 14-16 January 2002, Geneva: Background Paper No. 2. Regional Systems 1-3, accessed November 28, 2012, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/environment/environ/bp.htm. 12 Hatton v United Kingdom (2002) 34 EHRR 1; (2003) 37 EHRR 28. 13 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, ETS 5; 213 UNTS 221. 14 American Convention on Human Rights, OAS Treaty Series No. 36; 1144 UNTS 123; 9 ILM 99 (1969). 15 Ibid. 16 African [Banjul] Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5; 1520 UNTS 217; 21 ILM 58 (1982). 17 Hatton v United Kingdom op. cit. 18 Species At Risk Act S.C. 2002 c.29 (CAN) Endangered Species Act 16 USC c.35 (USA) Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 c.69 (UK). 19 Donald K. Anton, ‘The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and the Future of International Environmental Protection’, Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development 1, Issue 1 (2012), accessed November 28, 2012, http://www.consiliencejournal.org/index.php/consilience/article/viewFile/254/10. 20 Alberta Energy, ‘Oil Sands’, accessed November 28 2012, http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OurBusiness/oilsands.asp. 21 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982, c.11. (CAN). 22 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, GA res. 2200A (XXI), 21 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, UN Doc. A/6316 (1966); 999 UNTS 171; 6 ILM 368 (1967). 23 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, (1967).

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__________________________________________________________________ 24

United Nations Human Rights Council ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya: Extractive Industries Operating within in or Near Indigenous Territories’, accessed November 28, 2012, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/SR/A-HRC-18-35_en.pdf. 25 Human Rights Watch, ‘Out of Control: Mining, Regulatory Failure and Human Rights in India’, accessed November 28, 2012, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/06/14/out-control. 26 Human Rights Watch, ‘Rivers and Blood: Guns, Oil and Power in Nigeria’s Rivers State’, accessed November 28, 2012, http://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/africa/nigeria0205/nigeria0205.pdf.

Bibliography African [Banjul] Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5; 1520 UNTS 217; 21 ILM 58 (1982). Alberta Energy. ‘Oil Sands’. Accessed November 28, 2012. http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OurBusiness/oilsands.asp. —––. ‘What is Oil Sands?’. Accessed November 28, 2012. http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OilSands/793.asp. American Convention on Human Rights. OAS Treaty Series No. 36; 1144 UNTS 123; 9 ILM 99 (1969). Anton, Donald K. ‘The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and the Future of International Environmental Protection’. Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development 1, Issue 1 (2012). Accessed November 28, 2012. http://www.consiliencejournal.org/index.php/consilience/article/viewFile/254/10. Boyle, Alan. ‘Human Rights or Environmental Rights: A Reassessment’. Accessed November 29, 2012, 1-2. http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/file_download/publications/0_1221_humanrightsorenviro nmentalrightsareasses.pdf. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s. 15, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, c.11. Canadian Multiculturalism Act. R.S.C. , 1985, c. 24 (4th Supp.).

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__________________________________________________________________ CBC News. ‘Toxic Substance Found in Snow Near Oil Sands’. November 13, 2012. Accessed November 30, 2012. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/11/13/calgary-oilsands-toxinsfish-snow.html. Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, ETS 5; 213 UNTS 221. Endangered Species Act 16 USC c.35 (USA). Flanagan, Tom. First Nations? Second Thoughts. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2000. Hatton v United Kingdom (2002) 34 EHRR 1; (2003) 37 EHRR 28. Human Rights Watch. ‘Out of Control: Mining, Regulatory Failure and Human Rights in India’. Accessed November 28, 2012. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/06/14/out-control. Indian Act R.S.C. , 1985, c. I-5. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, GA res. 2200A (XXI), 21 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, UN Doc. A/6316 (1966); 999 UNTS 171; 6 ILM 368 (1967). Pembina Institute. ‘Water Impacts’. Accessed http://www.pembina.org/oil-sands/os101/water.

May

10,

2012.

—––. ‘Reclamation’. Accessed May 10, 2012. http://www.pembina.org/oilsands/os101/reclamation. ‘Rivers and Blood: Guns, Oil and Power in Nigeria’s Rivers State’. Accessed November 28, 2012. http://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/africa/nigeria0205/nigeria0205.pdf. Shelton, Dinah. Human Rights and the Environment: Jurisprudence of Human Rights Bodies. Joint UNEP-OHCHR Expert Seminar on Human Rights and the Environment 14-16 January 2002, Geneva: Background Paper No. 2. Accessed November 28, 2012. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/environment/environ/bp.htm.

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__________________________________________________________________ Species At Risk Act S.C. 2002 c.29 (CAN). United Nations Commission on Human Rights Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities ‘Review of Further Developments in Fields with Which the Sub-Commission Has Been Concerned Human Rights and the Environment’. Accessed November 29, 2012. http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/eeab2b6937bccaa18025675c0057 79c3?Opendocument. United Nations Human Rights Council. ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya: Extractive Industries Operating within in or Near Indigenous Territories’. Accessed November 28, 2012. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/SR/A-HRC-18-35_en.pdf. Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 c.69 (UK). John Pearson is a doctoral candidate at Lancaster University, where he also tutors in English Legal System and Methods, and is a tutor in Public International Law and Human Rights at Bangor University. He is also a case reporter of Oxford University Press’ ‘International Law in Domestic Courts’ publication.

Environmental Justice for Indigenous People in the PostPinochet Chile Rodrigo Céspedes Abstract This chapter deals with Chilean indigenous law and its evolution experimented after the ratification of the ILO Convention 169. One of the most important changes is that indigenous communities and individuals have been recognised as right-holders of international rights. That idea has triggered a legal revolution: natives have used international provisions in criminal and environmental trials. Because in those cases indigenous custom is crucial, a multidisciplinary approach is essential in order to adjudicate with fairness. With the purpose of achieving that, the presence of anthropologists or ethnographers as expert witnesses has been fundamental. Key Words: indigenous law, environmental rights, remedies, international rights, socio-legal approach. ***** 1. Introduction This work aims to discuss the influence of the ILO Convention 169 about Indigenous People (1989) in the Chilean legal system. First, I analyse the presence of international law after Pinochet’s dictatorship. Second, the situation of indigenous people before the ratification of the ILO Convention 169 and the modern indigenous legislation, Indigenous Act Nr. 19.253/1993, is studied. Third, the influence of ILO Convention 169 is shown through criminal and environmental case law. Finally, some conclusions are provided. 2. International Law Before and After the Pinochet’s Rule International law has become increasingly dynamic, especially with regards to human rights. That dynamism has been also contagious and every domestic area of law has been affected. Since 1989, International Law has strongly influenced Chilean law even Chile is a dualist country. 1 Nowadays, Chilean lawyers and judges deal with international law every day and it is considerably difficult to litigate without any knowledge of it. Before 1988, International law was considered ‘soft law;’ at the present time, the archetype has changed completely since the reform of Art. 5 of the Chilean Constitution which expressly establishes that human rights recognised in treaties limit state powers. One legal dogma has been completely destroyed: international law can be claimed by individuals as right-holders. Since 1989, a large number of international agreements were incorporated into Chilean legal system. International human rights agreements can

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__________________________________________________________________ take priority over regular legislation which is inconsistent with them. That legal reform triggered a revolution: Courts started to decide cases considering human rights conventions as a primary source, developing in the process interesting case law. The most visible manifestation is the legal response to massive violations of human rights during the era of dictatorship. Family law has been affected by international agreements as well; the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) is applied regularly and concepts such as ‘best interest of the child’ 2 or ‘progressive autonomy’ 3 are part of the Chilean legal culture as a simple search in a legal database could prove. Finally, Chile has ratified several free trade agreements which have altered our domestic taxation system. Chile has ratified several environmental treaties with self-executing provisions which has been enforced by domestic courts. The ILO-Convention 169 has been particularly important for native people in order to protect their environment and way of life and, in some way, correcting the injustice they have suffered through history. The ILO Convention 169 has played an important role in developing and enriching domestic law. Concepts such as indigenous custom or indigenous land have generated interesting case law, especially criminal and environmental ones. 3. Chilean Indigenous Law and ILO Convention 169/1989 In the past, Chilean courts have dealt with human sacrifice; witchcraft; indigenous-popular administration of justice with a little framework and applying just equity. The Indigenous Act (Nr. 19.253) and ILO Convention 169 recognise natives as protected minorities and gives vast importance to aboriginal custom as a source of law which has been considered as an essential element in criminal and civil cases that have involved environmental protection; sexual crimes; drug traffic, etc. Because of those features, an inter-disciplinary approach is vital in order to apply the law with fairness. Social sciences such as anthropology, ethnography and sociology provide a context in order to fully understand indigenous law. Finally, self-determination claims Rapa Nui and Mapuche people have been news lately. 4 3.1 Indigenous Communities in Chile Before the Ratification of the ILO Convention 169 Indigenous communities (mostly Mapuches, Aymaras and Rapa Nui people) have always existed and Chilean Courts dealt with them before the ILO Convention 169. Normally, and especially in criminal cases, courts have considered their culture, traditions and customs in order to adjudicate cases just applying a general notion of fairness. In those cases, anthropologists as expert witnesses provided the adequate context in order to understand the facts and the law involved. For example, there is one about homicide, contra Juana Catrilaf motivated by sorcery: the victim allegedly practiced witchcraft and had cursed the whole town. 5 The Appeal Court of Valdivia confirmed the first instance ruling that absolved the defendant, a mapuche native who murdered the ‘witch,’ because the

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__________________________________________________________________ community in which she lived away from modern civilisation and ‘magical thinking’ was common. The defendant was sincerely scared; in simple words, factual mistakes were a valid excuse in their cultural background. Anthropologists as expert witnesses were essential in order to validate her defence. They said that witchcraft was common in mapuche’s worldview and the accused behaved, from her standpoint and mental state, in self-defence. The anthropological report also blamed Chilean society for keeping indigenous communities isolated. The judge mentioned witchcraft trials in history, from the Bible to Modern Ages; the superstitions common in the mapuche tradition; the powers that allegedly the witch possessed and its source (an amulet) and the ritual of killing sorcerers. About the accused, the judge analysed her distrust of the judicial system, her lack of command of the Spanish language and her psychological profile. The Caspana case, this time in the north of Chile, involves the spontaneous creation of Aboriginal community court: two prisoners escaped from Antofagasta and received shelter in Caspana, an oasis populated by Aymarás. Before leaving, the prisoners raped and killed a local girl. The natives captured the criminals and immediately were judged by a court integrated by every adult of the community. That court examined evidence and delivered a guilty verdict. The prisoners were executed. The most serious issue was not the execution or taking justice in their own hands, but creating an outlaw court. At the end, the Supreme Court considered that the indigenous community delivered ‘ancient justice’ according to their traditions. Curiously, the Chilean Supreme Court anticipated Art. 9.1 ILO Convention 169 in the sense that Indigenous communities could be able to punish crimes. The case also has a strange similarity with Fuente Ovejuna, the play by Lope de Vega. Also in this case, ethnographers as expert witnesses provided the context of how people in the desert develop their own custom. Finally, the most spectacular case involves a human sacrifice. In 1960 the strongest earthquake ever measured (9.5 Richter), and the following aftershocks, destroyed half of the Chilean infrastructure, it caused an enormous tsunami and triggered a massive volcanic eruption. A village populated by mapuches performed a human sacrifice; 6 they interpreted the event as a punishment of mother earth. The Court absolved the defendants ruling that the natives acted without free will, driven by an extraordinary event that manifested the force of nature. In opinion of the Court, they just followed their instincts derived from ancient practices sincerely trying to calm natural forces. The ILO Convention was finally ratified by Chile in 2008 after a long period of discussion and two rulings by the Chilean Constitutional Court about its constitutionality. Its influence has been quite important in recent criminal and environmental case law.

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__________________________________________________________________ 3.2 Criminal Law, Environment and Modern Chilean Indigenous Law The ILO Convention 169 and Indigenous Act (Nr. 19.253/1993) consider indigenous custom as a source of law, 7 especially as a way to mitigate criminal liability. 8 Moreover, courts have established the idea that the appointment of an anthropologist as an expert witness should be mandatory in cases that indigenous people are involved. Both provisions have been applied in recent case law, and the accused had claim ‘cultural defences.’ 9 The ultimate source of that custom is the environment in which the indigenous people have developed their culture. Environment has played an important role shaping moral conceptions and the notions of what is right or wrong; for instance, the incest taboo is almost inexistent in small islands (such Eastern Island) because exogamy was not an option. The idea that environment shapes our moral framework could play an important role in criminal cases that involves indigenous people. Of course, those kinds of notions have to be proven by expert witnesses, such as anthropologist or sociologist. The best example is the Maripil Case (2012): two people were killed and 14 were injured in a ‘battle’ between 2 indigenous groups. There were ‘problems of coexistence’ between the two tribes, and one of them was known as ‘violent’ and previous threats were proven. 10 The other clan was ‘afraid,’ so coordinated a ‘preventive attack’ (Malón) against the other group. As a consequence, 18 natives were charged criminally. The Supreme Court ruled that there was criminal liability, but it had to be mitigated because those crimes occurred in the context of an ancient solution of conflicts of coexistence in the Mapuche tradition, which involves a violent eviction when members of the community do not live according to the standards of the tribe. Sexual crimes and age of consent could signify a problem for indigenous people. In the case contra J.V.Ñ.Ñ. (2005), 11 a 40 years old mapuche committed statutory rape; the victim was a 13 years old indigenous girl (the age of consent is 14 in Chile). The expert witness established that ancient practices legitimate sexual intercourse since the menarche and Mapuches have no conscience that they are committing a crime. The Court recognised that culturally, those practice are allowed in isolated communities, but the defendant lived close to urban centres and had access to radio and TV and his personal history showed that he was in contact with the values shared by the majority of the country. He was found guilty, but his punishment was suspended. Drug traffic is criminalised in Chile (Ley 20.000/2005); however, that situation could collide with freedom of religion if the rituals include drug consumption. An example of clash between the two is manifested in contra I.W.H.C. y L.A.H.C. (2007): the police arrested two Aymarás from Bolivia who had ‘smuggled’ 5.5 Kg. of coca leaves. 12 The Court ruled that their conduct was technically a crime; however, the natives were following their tradition and the ‘drug’ was a ‘religious offering’ as it was proven by expert witnesses. The anthropologists said that this practice and the habitual consumption of unprocessed coca leaves were part of the

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__________________________________________________________________ indigenous ethos. In their opinion, those customs have to be considered by the Court in order to be fair. In fact, the defendants exercised their constitutional right to freedom of religion; consequently, their behaviour is excused and there is no criminal liability. 13 3.3 Environmental Law and Indigenous People Environmental law has been an issue in Chile since 1980, when the new constitution guaranteed the right of ‘living in an unpolluted environment’ adding a very effective remedy; which has been effectively used in order to protect people’s right to live in an environment free of contamination, native species, habitats, landscapes and stopping animal cruelty. Those constitutional provisions have been used successfully by indigenous communities for defending their culture against environmental disruptions provoked by corporations. Indigenous rights and environmental law have been quite active areas the last five years; but also criminal law has been influenced. Both subjects have been under a strong influence of international law. The ILO Convention 169 has played an important role in developing and enriching domestic law. Recently it has been applied in several cases related to natural resources, environment and indigenous communities. One of the most important trials is the Chusmiza case (2009). 14 In the north of Chile, in the driest desert on earth, the Aymarás, an indigenous community, have lived for centuries. Water is scarce and essential in order to survive. Two close rural communities (Chusmiza and Usmagana) have used a water spring for ages. A company (Agua Mineral Chusmiza SAIC) settled its installation close to the source and registered their property rights on all available water. When the indigenous community tried to register its water rights, the company opposed based on ‘the source of underground water is not located inside the land of the community as the Indigenous Act required.’ 15 The Supreme Court held that the register of the right to water can be granted by an act of authority, but also by ancient use. In this case, the indigenous community had used the water for ages and the registration is just a formality, it is just recognition of a right created long time ago. As a result, the lack of a register is not an obstacle because the water rights of the community were born long time before the register was created (even before the Chilean state was born). The source of this special protection is the ILO Convention 169. 16 This safeguard has to be understood in a wide way: for the purpose of water rights, indigenous land is not only the land owned by indigenous communities but ‘the land that belonged to them before the colonization,’ concept that prevails over domestic legislation. In this case, domestic law was not enough in order to do justice. International law provided the rules which allowed bending the municipal rules in order to deliver a fair judgment. The judges abandoned their old formal approach and privileged the spirit of the law over its letter. As a result, statute interpretation was more reasonable and less strict. This kind of cases is the paradigm of David and Goliath dispute and international human right law allows

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__________________________________________________________________ getting a balance. Water is scarce in the desert and there are several indigenous communities living there. It will be a source of litigation in the future and international law rules will be decisive. Another interesting ruling about environment and indigenous people is Puelman Nanco case (2010). 17 In Chile, every economic project that could cause an impact on the environment has to go throw a legal proceeding called Environmental Impact Assessment (Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental) under the Environment Act Nr. 19.300. In this case, a fish farm located close to Mapuche indigenous community (Comunidad Indígena Palguín Bajo) initiated the proper proceeding. There was a ‘general’ consultation, as part of the proceedings, and the project was approved by COREMA (Comisión Regional del Medio Ambiente: Regional Environment Agency). The leader of the community Mariano Puelman Ñanco (Longko Lof Mapu Palguín Bajo), started a judicial review because that authorisation threats its right to live in an unpolluted environment, its religious freedom (there is a place of cult) and its right to enjoy its propriety. The whole allegation is based in the ILO Convention 169 and the (modified) Indigenous Act Nr. 19.253, which contemplate, in his opinion, the express duty to consult indigenous communities. The Appeal Court held the ILO Convention 169 has provisions which are self-executing; subsequently, the right-holders can invoke them directly and the courts must apply those provisions. They are immediately binding and, therefore, the authorisation was illegal. The Court declared that the treaty contemplated an extra step: the specific consultation of indigenous communities. The ILO Convention 169 added a new phase to every administrative procedure (Art. 6): every time that a legislative or executive measure concerns an indigenous community, the proceedings have to consider its participation at a separated and differentiated stage. In the opinion of the Court, the ILO Convention 169 is automatically part of the Chilean legal system and the provision about consultations is self-executing. So, every administrative unit of government must follow it because it is an international obligation and, under the Vienna Treaty, the state has to fulfil that compromise in good faith. In this case, the Regional Environment Agency did not. The Appeal Court stated that indigenous populations are vulnerable groups and, for that reason, the Indigenous Act and ILO Convention 169 created a positive discrimination. The Court remarked that the state is a mere instrument, a tool, whose only purpose is to serve people and the central idea in public law is human dignity. People are the first arbiters who judge if the public bodies fulfil their duties or not. Chilean courts rarely decided that a right was selfexecuting and tended to wait for acts of parliament or delegated legislation. This was not the case and it shows a change of mentality. The idea of positive discrimination is also quite new in our legal system. The Court also declared that ILO Convention added an extra step to every administrative procedure that could affect indigenous communities, not just Environmental Impact Assessment. This ruling has marked a trend and it has been followed by other courts. However, the

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__________________________________________________________________ Supreme Court overruled that decision because, in its opinion, there was no proof that the rights of the indigenous community were directly and seriously violated. 18 Consequently, a special consultation as required for the ILO Convention 169 was not necessary. However, the Supreme Court has changed its criteria and adopted the Court of Appeal’s approach in two recent cases. The first one is about a wind power park close to an indigenous community in the south of Chile. 19 The Environmental Impact Assessment was approved by the Regional Environmental Agency (Conama) even though the company just gave information about the project. In opinion of the Court, the ILO Convention 169 required the holding of consultation as an additional step in every administrative proceeding that could affect an indigenous community, so the administrative decision was not valid. That consultation must give real opportunities to influence and shape the project and this was not the case. This kind of consultation is essential to the legitimacy of the process not just because the indigenous community is settled there, but also since it is an important archaeological area and also significant for religious rituals. The last case is about a major mining project in the north of Chile. 20 The facts were very similar and the Supreme Court, again, decided that the process of consultation to indigenous communities is more than just give them information and the ILO Convention 169 is the source of that extra step. 4. Conclusions 1. Single individuals and communities, such as natives and indigenous groups, are right-holders of international rights and can bring into play treaty provisions, international legal principles or indigenous customs in order to support their claims. 2. The ILO Convention 169 has been a useful tool in order to adjudicate criminal and environmental law cases with fairness. It prevails over domestic legislation and it is applied by courts as a higher law. 3. A multi-disciplinary point of view, incorporating social sciences such as sociology, anthropology or ethnography is crucial in order to contextualise cases that involve indigenous people, especially through expert witnesses.

Notes 1

Arts. 5, 32 Nr. 17 and 50 nr. 1 Chilean Constitution. Art. 3.1. 3 Arts. 12.1 and 14.2. 4 See Gómez S., Rodrigo A., Rapanui And Chile, A Debate on Self-Determination: A Notional and Legal Basis for the Political Decolonisation of Easter Island (Master Thesis in Pacific Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, 2010). See Diane Haughney, ‘Neoliberal Policies, Logging Companies, and Mapuche Struggle 2

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__________________________________________________________________ for Autonomy in Chile’, Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies 2, No. 2 (2007): 141-160. 5 Contra Juana Catrilaf, Revista Derecho y Jurisprudencia Tomo 52 Nrs. 56/Julio-Agosto/1955, Sección Cuarta: jurisdicción penal, pp. 85-102. Corte de Apelaciones de Valdivia. Confirma Consulta. 6 Contra Juana Namuncura or also called the Painecur case. Proceso Rol 24.228. Homicidio. Juzgado de Letras de Nueva Imperial, 2/10/1962. An analysis can be found in Patrick Tierney, The Highest Altar: Unveiling the Mystery of Human Sacrifice (New York: Penguin Books, 1989). 7 Arts. 8-9 ILO Convention; Art. 54 Indigenous Act. 8 Art. 10 ILO Convention 169, Art. 54/1 Indigenous Act. 9 Van Broeck, Jeroen, ‘Cultural Defence and Culturally Motivated Crimes (Cultural Offences)’, European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice 9, No. 1 (2001): 1-32. 10 Contra Maripil Porteño y otros, Corte Suprema, casación penal y sentencia de reemplazo, Rol 2683-2010. 11 Tribunal de Juicio Oral en lo Penal de Temuco, 23/11/2005. Sentencia RUC: 0400415571-3, RIT: 101/2005. 12 Contra Huagama y Huagama, Corte de Apelaciones de Antofagasta. Recurso de Nulidad, Rol 250-2007. 13 Art. 19 Nr. 6 Chilean Constitution, Art. 10 Nr. 10 Chilean Criminal Code. 14 Agua Mineral Chusmiza SAIC con Comunidad Indígena Aymará de Chusmiza y Usmagana, Corte Suprema, casación forma y fondo, Rol 2840-2008. Also in ILDC 1881 (CL 2009). 15 Paragraphs 3rd and 6th, quoting Article 64 Chilean Indigenous Act Nr. 19.253/1993. 16 Arts. 13, 15 and 16. 17 Puelman Nanco v COREMA región de la Araucanía (2010), Corte de Apelaciones de Temuco, protección, Rol 1705-2009. 18 Writ of protection, Supreme Court, Rol Nr. 1.525-2010. 19 Comunidad Indígena Antú Lafquén de Huentetique con Corema de la Región de los Lagos, 2012, Writ of protection, Supreme Court, Rol Nr. 10.090-2011. 20 Comunidad Indígena Aymará de Cultane con Corema de Tarapacá, 2012, Writ of protection, Supreme Court, Rol Nr. 11.040-2011.

Bibliography Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, Servicios Legislativos y Documentales. Indígenas de Chile: Cultura, Historia, Lengua, Literatura, Situación Jurídica. Bibliografía Nr. 586 (BCN, Santiago, 1999.

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__________________________________________________________________ Echagüe, Pablo Rossel. ‘Crimen y Costumbre en la Sociedad Mapuche Contemporánea: La Perspectiva Pericial’. Revista de Estudios Policiales 3 (2008): 85–100. Fiscalía del Medio Ambiente (FIMA). Accessed May 10, 2012. http://www.fima.cl. Iniciativa Jurisprudencia Indígena del Proyecto para la Libre Determinación Indígena. Accessed May 10, 2012. http://casos.libredeterminacion.org. Macchino, Miguel, and José Manuel Fernández. La Defensa de Imputados Indígenas en la Defensoría Penal Pública. Santiago: Documento interno de la Defensoría Penal Pública, 2008. Meza-Lopehandía G., Matias, et al. Ed. Las Implicancias de la Ratificación del Convenio N° 169 de la OIT en Chile. Documento de Trabajo N°10. Observatorio Ciudadano, Santiago: Segunda Edición, 2010. Observatorio Ciudadano. http://www.observatorio.cl. Poder Judicial. República de Chile. Sitio Oficial. http://www.poderjudicial.cl. Rodrigo Céspedes, PhD candidate, Law School, Lancaster University. E-mail: [email protected].

Acknowledgements I thank Eduardo Medina Roldán, José Manuel Ferreiro, Simonetta Stirling, Alex Murray, Ernest Owusu-Dapaa, Ian Bryan and Matías Meza-Lopehandía for their commentaries on this work.

While We Are Talking about Environmental Justice, Let’s Give Children a Voice Peter Andersen Abstract As governments, communities and individuals grapple with how to deal with the avalanche of negative news regarding the environment, children are often left out of the decision-making processes. Traditional Western schooling is still dominated by the ‘banking’ method of teaching, in which knowledge is deposited into the minds of the children under an adult-centric educational paradigm. As a step toward achieving justice for children, educators need to reverse the traditional model of intergenerational influence by furnishing children with the chances, tools and skills to influence those around them, including adults, to live more sustainable lives. This chapter will highlight the plight of children in Western society and the findings of a research project conducted as part of a doctoral thesis, titled, ‘Children as environmental change agents: using a shared protocol to bring about or support environmentally responsible behaviour in the family home.’ Analysed through the lens of a critical researcher, the data reveals a number of key findings; children can indeed be environmental change agents, capable of leading their families, schools and communities toward a more sustainable future; however, the road to justice for children is a complex one, with many societal forces to be contended with along the way. Key Words: Critical research, environmental activism, environmental change agents, education, intergenerational influence. ***** 1. Taking the Step to Environmental Activism: Offering Children an Opportunity In 2006, I spoke at a school assembly in the small boarding school in which I was teaching, in the Cotswolds, England. While, in my role as the Senior Master, it was not uncommon for me to address the school community, however, on this occasion I stood before them as an environmental activist, inviting students from the school who had heard enough negative news about the plight of the environment, to join a group to do just that; to do something about it. For many years, only my wife and close friends knew of my passion to protect the environment, and that assembly marked a turning point in my life as I changed from Peter Andersen, English teacher, to Peter Andersen, environmental educator. My rationale was simple; children are told or hear about important social issues, and are often dictated to by adults on what they should do or how they should respond to these issues. Rarely are they provided with opportunities to share the

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__________________________________________________________________ decision-making with adults, or take the lead in ventures to improve the quality of their communities. Twelve of the students came forward to join, and over the next two years succeeded in bringing about significant changes to the environmental practices and policies of their school. What struck me most powerfully, however, was their desire to transfer their passion for the environment beyond the walls of the school into their family homes. Consequently, we decided to design a Protocol – or contract – to co-sign with their parents and family members on ways to live more sustainably, however, I returned to Australia before seeing this come to fruition. Nevertheless, this concept of intergenerational change-agentry was to become the backbone of the research behind the doctoral thesis that I commenced in 2008, and has remained at the forefront of my teaching pedagogy since. 2. Children as Environmental Change Agents: Using a Shared Protocol to Bring about or Support Environmentally Responsible Behaviour in the Family Home I conducted a case study involving six fourteen-year-old children who were given the opportunity to be intergenerational environmental change agents, designing a Protocol which they implemented in their family homes, negotiating with and co-signing with their family members to a more sustainable way of living. Over a period of three months I monitored the efficacy levels of the children as they attempted to adopt the roles of environmental change agents within their family homes. Personal interviews were conducted with the participants after the design phase of the Protocol; prior to the implementation of the Protocols in the family homes; after the negotiation and signing of the Protocols; and after three months of living under the conditions of the Protocol. The results emphatically confirmed my fears that children are buffeted by adult-centric forces in their homes and schools, while also providing hopeful insights into ways forward for children in the field of environmental activism. Denzin and Lincoln 1 claim that there is an ‘invisible empire that leaves even more children behind,’ 2 and it was my hope that my doctoral research project might shed some light on this empire. The project was framed by Critical Theory, underpinned by my belief that children are the victims of immense injustice at the hands of adults, rarely invited to share with them in the decision-making processes on how to cope with the impacts of environmental degradation. My project aimed at ‘criticizing social reality, emancipating people, empowering them to change social reality by suggesting possible solutions and thus liberating them from the oppressive and exploitative social structures.’ 3 The inquiry was completed ‘with’ others rather than ‘on’ or ‘to’ others, positioning the participants as active collaborators, 4 which is fundamental to the beliefs of the critical researcher. Kincheloe, McLaren and Steinberg assert that in order to be considered critical research, the aim of the research must be transformation and emancipation: two attributes that marked this project. 5 I was seeking to transform the lives of the

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__________________________________________________________________ children who volunteered to participate in the project, bravely taking on the roles of environmental change agents in their family homes. In transforming their lives, I also hoped to identify the social, familial and educational forces that might be suppressing them. The findings paint a grim picture, highlighting forces that are disempowering for children, but at the same time, outline a way forward for environmental educators looking to empower their students to be environmental change agents. 3. Transforming Themselves: Children Willing to Be Environmental Change Agents For a long time there have been calls to position children as political actors, being heard on such important social issues as how to care for the environment. In 1989, the United Nations International Children’s Emergence Fund’s (UNICEF) Convention on the Rights of the Child formalised the demand on governments and organisations to allow children to take part in political processes that had a bearing on their future well-being. 6 Coupled with this, the philosophy known as the ‘New Sociology of Childhood’ has taken root, nurturing the belief that children are agentic, capable of participating with adults to create a better world for them and those that follow. 7 Despite this, however, in the cold reality of the real world, there was still a question mark over whether the students that I approached to participate in the project would have the courage or inclination to do so. What was remarkable was that children did volunteer for the project, and did so knowing that it would potentially have a significant impact on their personal lives and that of their family members over a period of three months. Despite having no previous experience of environmental activism, they still embraced the opportunity to transform themselves into environmental change agents. From this, the question that needs to be asked is why have the students not experienced environmental activism prior to this point in their lives, given that education has been heralded as the major conveyor of knowledge on the plight of the environment? 4. To Be or Not to Be Environmental Change Agents: The Negative Role of Education Despite the publicity on the importance of education in being able to not only educate children about the plight of the environment, but to empower them to take action on this knowledge, the data has revealed clearly that in this case study, education has not had a significantly positive effect on the efficacy of the children as environmental activists. Remarkably, none of the children mentioned that school had provided them with opportunities to actually do anything positive to help the environment, let alone lead projects designed to support the environment. This cuts to the heart of the question of whether, in the field of environmental activism, children are being treated justly. Logic would tell me that providing children with the knowledge of a problem and not opportunities to act to solve that problem is

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__________________________________________________________________ unjust. For despite the calls by the researchers and educators to create systems that allow children to actively participate in decision-making around issues relevant to them, this case study confirms Zhao’s observation that schools are capable of doing the opposite, and systematically undermining children’s agency. 8 Breiting and Wickenberg insist that educators need to press children to analyse how human decision-making processes impact on the environment, 9 yet for the children in this project, there appeared to be very little connection between what they had learnt at school and their understanding of the plight of the environment. Instead, Freire’s assertion that schools operate on the Banking System, 10 in which knowledge is deposited into them like money into accounts, often resulting in the inability of the students to act on the knowledge that they have acquired resonates more loudly with the words of the students in this project. 11 More poignantly, evidence of what McLaren calls emancipatory knowledge, 12 in which the students develop an understanding of their social relations in terms to power and privilege, failed to emerge through the words of the students. Undoubtedly, the students participating in this project had developed knowledge about the plight of the environment at school, however, it is clear that school had not provided them with opportunities to pursue action competence, 13 in which they were encouraged to make sense of their impact on the world around them and then more importantly, act on these insights. With this in mind, it would appear that the students in this project were given a unique opportunity to adopt leadership roles, however, this is only the first step, and what took place once they had taken the lead in their family homes, reveals more insights into the injustice that underpins their lives. 5. Familial Hegemony: Dampening the Efficacy of Young Environmental Change Agents By signing up to this project, the children – as I did when stepping out to speak to at the school assembly four years earlier – set about changing their identities, as well as embarking on a voyage that would ultimately test their efficacy under these new personas. In all groups or organisations hegemony exists, and so it is with families. This project’s data offered insights into the happenings, in what Payne calls the household moral spaces, and in doing so underlined the hegemonic forces that buffet children while living within these spaces. 14 Adorno and Horkheimer argue that ideological hegemony is mediated through such social institutions as the family, and the data underlines the parents’ role in perpetuating this hegemony. 15 It reveals the negative impact on the children’s efficacy of overwhelming parental power, and the self-perpetuating effect of parents’ lack of confidence in their child’s efficacy. Bauman’s claim that morality begins at home and that the home is an incubator and greenhouse is corroborated by this research project. 16 The children’s ability to convert leadership goals into efficacy was directly influenced by the makeup of the greenhouse – or home in which they live. The introduction of the Protocol into this

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__________________________________________________________________ family domain heralded massive changes for all involved. As in most family homes, the power lies in the hands of the parents and as ‘gate keepers’ of the familial culture, 17 their ability to embrace the rapid changes in the family structure forced by the new role of their child, was being tested by the introduction of the Protocol. What stands out from the data is that once the decision to become environmental activists was made, and the parents had agreed to allow the transformation to take place, most of the children still faced stiff opposition from the parents in relation to managing the operation of the Protocols. In two thirds of the families, the parents wrestled control of the implementation and maintenance of the Protocol from their children, and in these cases the family members recorded the lowest scores in relation to how successfully they were transfer to more sustainable practices within their family homes. What stood out was the sceptism that most parents held towards their adolescent children: they simply did not believe that they were genuine in their wish to live more sustainable lives. Compounding this parental hegemony, Watson argues that individuals live under the spikes of the mega machine, 18 unable to resist the strong tide of influence that propels them toward less-sustainable practices. 19 A key element of this paradigm was the belief on the part of most of the parents that no matter what positive actions they took to change their behaviour, it was still not enough to bring about significant change at a global level. They had effectively been paralysed by the bad news that had pervaded their homes through the media. 20 The impact of this once again meant that they were far less receptive to the pleas of their children to follow their lead. 6. Critical Pedagogy: Transformative Rather than Regurgative Knowledge In order to truly provide justice for children, educators need to promote the concept of transformational knowledge, which leads children to a state of ‘enlightenment.’ 21 Through this system, children can develop a desire for universal justice based on an understanding of the hegemonic power structures around them that subvert truth and equality. There are several possibilities for educators: firstly, there is the use of values-based pedagogy, and secondly, the development of action competence as a worthy goal to attain in classrooms. Levy propounds that schools need to incorporate active values education into the curriculum. 22 Fien supports this point of view, claiming that students need to embrace the value of compassion as they question the world around them, looking for a means of dealing with the social issues that face them. 23 What is absolutely necessary is that the teachers sustain an on-going explicit focus on this approach, helping the students to establish interrelationships between fragmentary pieces of information, such as pollution and health of the eco-system, arriving at an understanding of their world as an integrated whole. 24 The most positive aspect of this approach is that these critical evaluations of the world around them have currency within the walls of their classroom, communities and homes. For

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__________________________________________________________________ example, the value of compassion has no borders, and helps teachers students to build understandings around not only scientific, factual accounts of the plight of the environment, but also the subsequent environmental justice issues relating to minority groups in society and endangered animal species. Children are often the victims of hegemonic forces within the field of education and family contexts, and if future teachers underpinned their pedagogical paradigms with values such as compassion and social justice, such power balances would stand a greater chance of being overturned in the classrooms of tomorrow. If parents held these values closer to their hearts, a similar shift away from the familialisation of children might also occur. The concept of action competence is steeped in critical theory, fighting against violence and oppression, linked to the radical version of ‘Bildung’; the formation of the person through education. 25 ‘It has its aim the fulfilment of humanity: the full development of the capacities and powers of each human individual to question preconceived opinions, prejudices, and ‘given facts,’ and the intentioned participation in the shaping of ones’ own and joint living conditions.’ 26 In order to foster this development of action competence in schools, teachers need to move away from the dominance of environmental knowledge dissemination in their classrooms – which seems to have had very little impact on the attitudes of the participants in this research project, and which does not necessarily lead to proenvironmental behaviour – and move towards the fostering of positive environmental attitudes and values. 27 This means that teachers need to realign their pedagogical compasses to target the promulgation of transformative knowledge that inevitably leads to action. Jensen proposes four different dimensions of knowledge that can lead to action: knowledge about the nature and extent of the environmental issues; knowledge about the underlying social, political and economic structures and how they contribute to the issue; knowledge about how to affect change; and knowledge about the direction of such change, through the construction of a vision of the world in which they want to live. 28 Schools in the future need to deliberately lead their students towards development of knowledge that will enable them to understand the challenges of bringing about change, and the types of action that are possible for them to attain within their fields of contact. The students in this research project certainly revealed that they had not had the time to develop a vision for their homes that was supported by an understanding of the challenges that they might face as they attempted to reach efficacy in their quest to become environmental activists. 7. Conclusion One of the greatest injustices facing humankind is the systematic disempowerment of children. Despite calls from the highest levels to allow children to share in the decision-making processes around important social issues such as environmentalism, this project shows that we have a long way to go.

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__________________________________________________________________ Children are keen to be involved, but are not being provided sufficient opportunities to take action on these issues, while for those that are furnished with these chances, hegemonic forces that dominate their schools and family homes have a disempowering effect on them. In order to restore justice for children, educators need to embrace Critical Pedagogy. In doing so, they can open the eyes of their students to the powerful forces that rule their lives, while more importantly, providing them with the skills to thrive within these domains.

Notes 1

Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, ‘Paradigms and Perspectives in Contention’, in SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, eds. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2011), 91-95. 2 Ibid., 93. 3 Sotirios Sarantakos, Social Research (South Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia, 1993), 17. 4 John W. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2007). 5 Joe L. Kincheloe, Peter McLaren and Shirley R. Steinberg, ‘Critical Pedagogy, and Qualitative Research: Moving to the Bricolage’, in SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, eds. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2011), 163-177. 6 UNICEF, ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’, last modified 29 November 2005, accessed September 28, 2008, http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_30167.html. 7 Reesa Sorin, ‘Examining Childhood through Empowering Lenses’, Every Child 15, No. 3 (2009): 34-35. 8 Guoping Zhao, ‘The Modern Construction of Childhood: What Does It Do to the Paradox of Modernity?’, Studies in Philosophy and Education 30, No. 3 (2011): 241-256. 9 Soren Breiting and Per Wickenberg, ‘The Progressive Development of Environmental Education in Sweden and Denmark’, Environmental Educational Research 16, No. 1 (2010): 9-37. 10 Paulo Freire, ‘From Pedagogy of the Oppressed’, in Critical Pedagogy Reader, eds. Antonio Darder, Marta Baltodano and Rodolfo D. Torres (New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2003), 57-68. 11 Bjarne B. Jensen and Karsten Schnack, ‘The Action Competence Approach in Environmental Education’, Environmental Education Research 12, No. 3-4 (2006): 471-486. 12 Peter McLaren, Life in Schools. An Introduction to Critical Pedagogy in the Foundations of Education (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2003).

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__________________________________________________________________ 13

Jensen and Schnak, ‘The Action Competence Approach in Environmental Education’. 14 Phillip G. Payne, ‘Moral Spaces, the Struggle for an Intergenerational Environmental Ethics and the Social Ecology of Families: An “Other” Form of Environmental Education’, Environmental Education Research 16, No. 2 (2010): 209-231. 15 1972, cited in Henry A. Giroux, ‘Critical Theory and Educational Practice’, in Critical Pedagogy Reader, eds. Antonio Darder, Marta Baltodano and Rodolfo D. Torres (New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2003), 27-56. 16 1997, cited in Payne, ‘Moral Spaces, the Struggle for an Intergenerational Environmental Ethics and the Social Ecology of Families: An “Other” Form of Environmental Education’. 17 Christine Cawsey, ‘There’s a Freeway at the Bottom of the Garden’, Australian Educational Leader 31, No. 2 (2009): 10-12. 18 David H. Watson, ‘Deep Ecology & Environmental Philosophy: On the Ethics of Crisis and the Crisis in Ethics’, in Against the Megamachine: Essays on Empire & Its Enemies, ed. David H. Watson (Brooklyn: Autonomedia, 1997), 224-243. 19 Horkheimer, cited in Raymond A. Morrow and Carlos A. Torres, Social Theory and Education: A Critique of Theories of Social and Cultural Reproduction (Albany: State University of New York, 1995). 20 Bjarne B. Jensen, ‘Knowledge, Action and Pro-Environmental Behaviour’, Environmental Education Research 8, No. 3 (2002): 325-334. 21 Wayne W. Au and Michael, W. Apple, ‘Freire, Critical Education, and the Environmental Crisis’, Educational Policy 21, No. 3 (2007): 457-470; Denzin, and Lincoln, ‘Paradigms and Perspectives in Contention’; Giroux, ‘Critical Theory and Educational Practice’; McLaren, Life in Schools; Peter L. McLaren and James, M. Giarelli, eds., Introduction to Critical Theory and Educational Research, eds. Peter L. McLaren, and James M. Giarelli (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995), 1-22; Finn Morgensen and Karsten Schnack, ‘The Action Competence Approach and the “New” Discourses of Education for Sustainable Development, Competence and Quality Criteria’, Environmental Education Research 16, No. 1 (2009): 59-74. 22 Josh Levy, ‘Are You Making a Difference? Values Education for Real Community Change’, Teacher 186 ( November 2007): 44-47. 23 John Fien, ‘Learning to Care: Education and Compassion’, Australian Journal of Environmental Education 19 (2003): 1-13. 24 Elaine Lewis, Caroline Mansfield and Catherine Baudains, ‘Getting Down and Dirty: Values in Education for Sustainability’, Issues in Educational Research 18, No. 2 (2008): 138-155.

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Morgensen, and Schnack, ‘The Action Competence Approach in Environmental Education’. 26 Ibid., 61. 27 Kempton, et al., 1995, cited in Jensen, ‘Knowledge, Action and ProEnvironmental Behaviour’; Cutter-Mackenzie and Smith, cited in Sally Birdsall, ‘Empowering Students to Act: Learning about, through and from the Nature of Action’, Australian Journal of Environmental Education 26 (2010): 65-84. 28 Jensen, ‘Knowledge, Action and Pro-Environmental Behaviour’.

Bibliography Au, Wayne W., and Michael W. Apple. ‘Freire, Critical Education, and the Environmental Crisis’. Educational Policy 21, No. 3 (2007): 457–470. Birdsall, Sally. ‘Empowering Students to Act: Learning about, through and from the Nature of Action’. Australian Journal of Environmental Education 26 (2010): 65–84. Breiting, Soren, and Per Wickenberg. ‘The Progressive Development of Environmental Education in Sweden and Denmark’. Environmental Educational Research 16, No. 1 (2010): 9–37. Cawsey, Christine. ‘There’s a Freeway at the Bottom of the Garden’. Australian Educational Leader 31, No. 2 (2009): 10–12. Creswell, John W. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2007. Denzin, Norman K., and Yvonna S. Lincoln. ‘Paradigms and Perspectives in Contention’. In The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, 4th Edition, edited by Norman K. Denzin, and Yvonna S. Lincoln, 91–95. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2011. Fien, John. ‘Learning to Care: Education and Compassion’. Australian Journal of Environmental Education 19 (2003): 1–13. Freire, Paulo. ‘From Pedagogy of the Oppressed’. In The Critical Pedagogy Reader, edited by Antonio Darder, Marta Baltodano, and Rodolfo D. Torres, 57– 68. New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2003.

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__________________________________________________________________ Giroux, Henry A. ‘Critical Theory and Educational Practice’. In The Critical Pedagogy Reader, edited by Antonio Darder, Marta Baltodano, and Rodolfo D. Torres, 27–56. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2003. Jensen, Bjarne B. ‘Knowledge, Action and Pro-environmental Behaviour’. Environmental Education Research 8, No. 3 (2002): 325–334. Jensen, Bjarne B., and Karsten Schnack. ‘The Action Competence Approach in Environmental Education’. Environmental Education Research 12, No. 3–4 (2006): 471–486. Kincheloe, Joe L., Peter McLaren, and Shirley R. Steinberg. ‘Critical Pedagogy, and Qualitative Research: Moving to the Bricolage’. In The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, 4th Edition, edited by Norman K. Denzin, and Yvonna S. Lincoln, 163–177. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2011. Levy, Josh. ‘Are You Making a Difference? Values Education for Real Community Change’. Teacher 186 (November 2007): 44–47. Lewis, Elaine, Caroline Mansfield, and Catherine Baudains. ‘Getting Down and Dirty: Values in Education for Sustainability’. Issues in Educational Research 18, No. 2 (2008): 138–155. McLaren, Peter. Life in Schools. An Introduction to Critical Pedagogy in the Foundations of Education, 4th Edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2003. McLaren, Peter L., and James M. Giarelli. Introduction to Critical Theory and Educational Research, edited by Peter L. McLaren, and James M. Giarelli, 1–22. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. Morgensen, Finn, and Karsten Schnack. ‘The Action Competence Approach and the “New” Discourses of Education for Sustainable Development, Competence and Quality Criteria’. Environmental Education Research 16, No. 1 (2009): 59–74. Morrow, Raymond A., and Carlos A. Torres. Social Theory and Education: A Critique of Theories of Social and Cultural Reproduction. Albany: State University of New York, 1995.

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__________________________________________________________________ Payne, Phillip G. ‘Moral Spaces, the Struggle for an Intergenerational Environmental Ethics and the Social Ecology of Families: An “Other” Form of Environmental Education’. Environmental Education Research 16, No. 2 (2010): 209–231. Sarantakos, Sotirios. Social Research. South Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia, 1993. Sorin, Reesa. ‘Examining Childhood Through Empowering Lenses’. Every Child 15, No. 3 (2009): 34–35. UNICEF. ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’. Accessed September 28, 2008. http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_30167.html. Watson, David H. ‘Deep Ecology & Environmental Philosophy: On the Ethics of Crisis and the Crisis in Ethics’. In Against the Megamachine: Essays on Empire & Its Enemies, edited by David H. Watson, 224–243. Brooklyn: Autonomedia, 1997. Zhao, Guoping. ‘The Modern Construction of Childhood: What Does It Do to the Paradox of Modernity?’. Studies in Philosophy and Education 30, No. 3 (2011): 241–256. Peter Andersen is a lecturer in sustainability education at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Through his research he is seeking ways to empower young people to take on the roles of environmental change agents within their family homes and communities.

Educating for Interdisciplinary Response to Environmental Issues Thomas Matyók and Cathryne L. Schmitz Abstract Environmental issues are complex and multifaceted. Human systems (social, economic, and political) as currently operating within the biophysical environment contribute to increasing degradation. The road to an environmentally just future requires an integrated response engaging multiple and disparate disciplines from social and natural sciences. Productive remediation of environmental degradation necessitates multi-faceted, multi-layered development at local community levels, and within a global context. Disciplinary silos embedded in academic institutions, however, fail to educate graduates for the complex and multi-faceted responses required for success in the field. A model is provided for the creation of a learning context that centres interdisciplinary creative team building. Key Words: Conflict transformation, environmental justice, interdisciplinary collaboration, community building. ***** 1. Conceptual Framework The road to an environmentally sustainable future requires a multidisciplinary response, which engages both the social and natural sciences. Human systems function within the larger biophysical environment. They have a strong influence on the ecological environment in interaction with the social, economic, and political systems that shape everyday life. 1 Rather than merely living parallel to the ecological environment, humans live in symbiotic interaction with the ecological and physical environment. People depend on the living resources and physical conditions of the environment, which they synergistically impact. Because of our population density and technological advances, we now play a major role in negatively impacting the environment, which is effecting change at an increasingly rapid rate. We are currently living with the consequences of the environmental degradation resulting from unrestrained capitalism, hyper-individualism, and a disregard for the long-term effects of political, cultural, and economic decisions. The most vulnerable communities are at highest risk. Climate destabilisation, resource shortages (water, food, land, and safety), the pitting of the rich against the poor, and intergenerational violence have created a base for war and nation-tonation violence. 2 The biophysical environment hosts these conflicts and is directly affected by their disastrous impacts. War, poverty, and structural violence result in the oppression and degradation of both the community and the environment. Globally, the World Commission on Environment and Development has established the connection between

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__________________________________________________________________ sustainability, global interconnection, and the common reality of our future. 3 Likewise, social justice, human rights, and environmental justice are intertwined and the United Nations clearly links poverty, stability, peace, and security with environmental concerns. 4 When social, environmental, and economic objectives coincide they create the greatest potential for sustainability. 5 Change can begin by recognising not only the critical role of humans in preventing environmental degradation, but also their role in ensuring sustainability. 6 Facilitating the change includes recognising the role of politics, culture, and economic practices in creating a sustainable future. 7 2. Framing the Course This chapter examines an interdisciplinary university-level course focusing on transforming conflict and moving it toward environmental justice. The course is taught by faculty representing the academic fields of peace and conflict studies, social work, and economics. Students come from the social and natural sciences and throughout the course work as multidisciplinary learning teams. Students are aligned to ensure cross-representation of disciplines to replicate what interdisciplinary teams look like in the field. Each discipline brings a unique lens and clarifying focus to the theory and skill interchange. The goal of the class is to prepare students to see the whole, not just limited glimpses of reality. A learning context is created in which students explore environmental issues through a lens focused on an interconnection of the natural and social sciences. Peace and conflict studies stands as interdisciplinary engaged scholarship with peace research located ‘at the crossroads where all disciplines interact, so it can draw on the knowledge of all.’ 8 Taking an interdisciplinary approach to course development, it seemed appropriate for peace and conflict studies to act as first among equals in framing development of the course. This project began with the assumption that all those engaged in interdisciplinary response to environmental issues are engaged in peacebuilding. The primary role of these actors is to stop, or at the very least limit, violence committed against multiple environments. The notion of discreet disciplines is one of many metaphors that are outdated and no longer useful. Disciplines that own knowledge belong to a time long past. The wicked problems we confront in environmental sustainability intervention require students capable of seeing the whole, not simply disconnected parts. 9 Introduced is a new metaphor, liquid knowing. 10 This metaphor is introduced to address the evolutionary dead end at which academic disciplines find themselves. Cross-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, post-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary are problematic and antiquated approaches to complex problem-solving in that they leave disciplines intact. Often the best that can be hoped for is the creation of bridges among disciplines. Of course, with bridges one is always able to cross back to the security of one’s home-discipline once what is known to be true is challenged.

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__________________________________________________________________ Liquid knowing works to create new knowledges. 11 Those engaged in liquid knowing leave their disciplines behind as their knowledge merges with other knowledges to create changes in knowing. New knowledge structures are built. Disciplines shunning ownership of knowledge and seeking new ways of knowing are referred to in the literature as design disciplines. 12 Design disciplines are a third knowledge culture; one of addressing what can be. It is future oriented. This approach to knowing contrasts with the scientific knowledge culture that focuses on explaining what is, and the humanistic tradition that seeks to explain what it means. 13 3. The Theory Practice Connection Interdisciplinary response to environmental issues was framed as an aspect of peacebuilding. A limitation of some approaches to teaching sustainability and response to environmental conflicts is that the So what? question is left unexamined. We begin from a peace and conflict studies perspective, which is a values laden field of study. Students are introduced to the theoretical framework undergirding the course within a global political context. Building from a theoretical base of conflict and chaos theories, students acquire the multidisciplinary knowledge base and skills for critical analysis and the development of holistic practice models. Theory and practice merge to create a dynamic learning environment that transcends traditional classroom boundaries. The classroom is viewed as a learning laboratory where students are encouraged to investigate ideas and challenge their thinking, and to engage in a metacognitive discourse with their contemporaries in class. Students are placed into case study situations as interdisciplinary response teams to determine strategies for responding to crises. Students are introduced to a systemic way of thinking. Conflict is fractal in nature and repeats itself in patterns throughout the social structure. Successful interventions can begin at any level of analysis in order to disrupt the pattern. The primary goal of any response and intervention should be to disrupt the pattern that has become normal and unquestioned. Engaged practice informs all instruction to frame a peace-centered experiential learning environment where values and morals are investigated along with intervention models. 14 Knowledge is political, and students are invited to examine their moral approaches to intervention as well as their individual values structures. Critical to engaged practice within a values framework is the definition of peace. Students are challenged to construct interventions that focus on positive peace development. 15 Positive peace is the absence of cultural, structural, and direct forms of violence and the presence of justice. A positive peace focus is the centrepiece of instruction. Through case studies, we communicate to students that negative peace interventions, those that simply bring the problem to a point of stasis, do not address demands for justice. Interventions must be nonviolent and

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__________________________________________________________________ free from oppression. We subscribe to Lederach’s elicitive approach to conflict transformation. 16 4. Building a Cross Disciplinary Framework Working across disciplines introduces unique issues. And these issues are primarily outcomes of structural differences among academic disciplines. Students and faculty can become anchored to their discipline’s specific language and way of knowing. No common language exists for successful interdisciplinary work, in the classroom or field. Students need to define terms and meanings in order to develop a common narrative. In working through this process, students experience the potential creative energy inherent in conflict and explore methods for transformative community change. Conflicts are investigated at all levels of analysis. Binary thinking is avoided. Students are encouraged to make problems more complex, recognizing that complexity presents more entry points into a problem and more opportunities for creative solutions. Community development, based on the concepts of inclusive global civic engagement and the development of living economies, provides a platform. They explore indigenous models of community and intergenerational sustainability; and through a guided model of reflective learning, they examine the ethical and moral issues related to the human interchange within the biophysical environment. Many environmental models are grounded in systems theory, justice, or socioeconomic-political frameworks (i.e., ecosystems, ecological debt, ecosufficiency, global justice, and political ecology) that are closely aligned to the theoretical knowledge base of social work and peace studies as they engage in social justice and anti-oppressive practice with vulnerable populations. 17 The field of peace studies brings a lens that links environmental justice with peace development. The knowledge and skills needed to engage in difficult conversations about issues surrounding war, violence, and human-made and natural disasters are highlighted, which create environmental chaos. There is a unique niche for social work with its strong focus on social justice, human rights, community, and the human story as it interacts within the environmental context. The integration of multi-disciplinary responses at the local, regional, and global levels, which centre the ecological context, can be transformative. Change models and narratives need to engage people inclusively from the historically marginalised and heavily impacted communities to those currently committed to the pursuit of unrestrained and selfish gain and those on the fence. What is needed is a complete narrative that values the scientific and the social, equally. The interconnection between poverty, food insecurity, inequality, environmental degradation, sustainability, and development is well-established. 18 The United Nations recognises the link between environmental concerns, social stability, and peace and security but social concerns must also be addressed since

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__________________________________________________________________ the probability of exposure to environmental degradation and toxicity is influenced by the intersection between classism and racism. 19 Urban communities with high exposure to environmental risks experience high rates of poverty and a correlated lack of resources. Communities in poverty are more vulnerable environmentally as well as socially; just as communities of colour in the United States and abroad face disproportionally high rates of environmental problems. 20 5. The Case Study Method Case studies provide the focus for multi-disciplinary education that sets the stage for the creation of a transformative learning environment. Within the multidisciplinary environment students experience the dilemmas and the strengths as they engage in team projects. It is because of the unique body of knowledge that each discipline brings that multi-disciplinary teamwork and education have added strength. Each member, and the overall project, is enriched through the process. Through the applied nature of the learning context created to replicate the field, the issues are made real. Issues salient at the local and global levels, such as water use, war and conflict, disaster relief, food policy, and poverty, provide a rich environment for learning. The multi-disciplinary learning context created through the application to projects guides students on a circuitous journey of learning. Along the way, students are engaged in a process of envisioning, creating, and working in a multi-disciplinary environment designed to address the complex factors that must be engaged in order to create a meaningful and sustainable change. The learning process acts as the message. Students operationalise their peacebuilding knowledge to construct meaningful social change. The process is extended with the introduction of the levels of violence worksheet. This frames the conflict triangle, Attitudes, Behaviours, and Contradictions, 21 and is used as a tool of analysis. Student teams identify the ABCs present in each case study. This is the start of deep analysis into the problem. What attitudes are present in the conflict? What physical and verbal violence are present? What goals are being blocked? Through this action students achieve Galtung’s observation that theory devolves into meaningful action. 22 This approach leads to deep analysis informed by multiple disciplines. For this we extend Galtung’s work introducing the simultaneous analysis of conflict at all levels of analysis; micro, macro, meso, and mega. Students also identify the cultural, structural, and direct violence present at each level of analysis. Students are then able to construct interdisciplinary responses to complex environmental issues at multiple levels. It was demonstrated that for success in the field, interventions are needed at all levels, simultaneously. Interpersonal conflict at the micro level between two commercial fishing boats chasing declining fish populations is embedded in a complex conflict context. While addressing the interpersonal micro conflict, it can be useful to simultaneously analyse and address other aspects of the conflict context in order to

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__________________________________________________________________ disrupt negative patterns. Teams should consider how local, state, and regional laws impact commercial fishing through catch-limits and limits on fishing near shore, for instance. Regional, inter-state, macro and mega conflicts also need consideration. At the mega level, the question is asked, what transnational issues are impacting commercial fishing? Here students consider the impact of the United Nations and other transnational organisations. Viewed holistically, students gain an appreciation for the complexity of conflict at global, transnational levels and how they manifest themselves, and can be understood, at the interpersonal level. This instructional approach also provides students with an appreciation for the limits of boundaries and definitions. Students need to work in groups to develop experience with the social friction that inevitably occurs. Success in the field is a collective enterprise. Focusing on individual achievement draws attention away from collaboration. In the process, it is important that instruments are developed that evaluate students in each learning context, and that objective evaluations are avoided. Cases and exercises are structured to provide real-time feedback at the end of each learning exercise believing it is more meaningful than a grade on a final exam. 6. The Value Added Given contemporary educational and political systems, which have failed to respond to the environmental crisis, 23 remediation within the social and human sciences requires multidisciplinary knowledge and skills in developing collaborative responses to sustainability at the local, regional, and global levels. Education for multi-disciplinary practice is transformative. Each member, and the overall project, is enriched through the process. If the learning does not take place in a multi-disciplinary classroom, a multi-disciplinary learning environment can be created through the use of projects. Multi-disciplinary models help us move from environmental management to transformative change. Integrated, inclusive sustainability practice involves a quest for social and environmental justice based on human needs, community organisation, capacity building, and social networking. As educators, we need to graduate students capable of accomplishing what they say they can, successfully intervening to limit the negative impacts of environmental crises while growing the capacity for locally led, inclusive sustainability. In constructing learning environments that engage students in interdisciplinary response we take a positive step forward in accomplishing this task.

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Notes 1

Heike Egner and Kirsten von Elverfeldt. ‘A Bridge over Troubled Water’, Systems Theory and Dialogue in Geography Area 41 (2009): 319-328. 2 Cathryne Schmitz, et al., ‘The Relationship between Social Work and Environmental Sustainability: Implications for Interdisciplinary Practice’, International Journal of Social Work 21, No. 3 (2012): 278-286. 3 WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development) First, Our Common Future (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987) 4 Schmitz et al., ‘The Relationship between Social Work and Environmental Sustainability: Implications for Interdisciplinary Practice’, 278-286; Tatyana Soubbotina, Beyond Economic Growth: An Introduction to Sustainable Development (DC: The World Bank, 2004); WCED First, Our Common Future. 5 Peter P. Rogers, Kazi F. Jalal and John A. Boyd, An Introduction to Sustainable Development (London: Earthscan, 2008). 6 Laura Stocker and Deborah Kennedy, ‘Cultural Models of the Coast of Australia: Toward Sustainability’, Coastal Management 37, No. 5 (2009): 387-404. 7 WCED First, Our Common Future. 8 ‘Introduction: Reflection on Peace Research Traditions’, accessed November 1, 2012. 9 Richard Buchanon, ‘Wicked Problems in Design Thinking’, Design Issues 8 (1992): 5-21. 10 Hannah Mendoza and Tom Matyók, ‘We Are Not Alone: When the Number of Exceptions to a Rule Exceeds Its Usefulness, It’s Time for a Change’, in Meanings of Design: Social, Cultural and Philosophical Essays about People, Spaces and Interior Environments, ed. Tiiu Poldmaa (New York, NY: Fairchild Publications, 2012). 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Kathleen Maas Weigert, ‘Moral Dimensions of Peace Studies: A Case for Service Learning’, In Teaching for Justice: Concepts and Models for ServiceLearning in Peace Studies, eds. Kathleen M. Weigert and Robin J. Crews (Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education, 1999). 15 Johan Galtung, Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization (London: Sage Publications, 1996). 16 John Paul Lederach, Preparing for Peace: Conflict Transformation Across Cultures (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1996). 17 Cathryne Schmitz, et al., ‘Educating Social Workers for Multidisciplinary Response’, in Environmental Social Work, eds. Mel Gray, John Coates and Tiani Hetherington (London: Routledge, 2013), chapter 14; Schmitz et al., ‘The

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__________________________________________________________________ Relationship between Social Work and Environmental Sustainability: Implications for Interdisciplinary Practice’, 278-286. 18 Soubbotina, Beyond Economic Growth: An Introduction to Sustainable Development. 19 WCED First, Our Common Future; Robert Bullard, ‘Anatomy of Environmental Racism and the Environmental Justice Movement’, in Confront Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots (Boston: South End Press, date), 15-39. 20 Ibid. 21 Schmitz, et al., ‘Educating Social Workers for Multidisciplinary Response’, chapter 14. 22 Johan Galtung, ‘Peace Education Is Only Meaningful If It Leads to Action’, UNESCO Courier 50, No. 1 (1997): 4-8. 23 David Orr, Down to The Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2011).

Bibliography Alger, Chadwick F. ‘Introduction: Reflection on Peace Research Traditions’. Accessed November 1, 2012. Buchanon, Richard. ‘Wicked Problems in Design Thinking’. Design Issues 8 (1992): 5–21. Bullard, Robert. D. ‘Anatomy of Environmental Racism and the Environmental Justice Movement’. In Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots, 15–39. Boston: South End Press, 1993. Egner, Heike, and Kirsten von Elverfeldt. ‘A Bridge over Troubled Water’. Systems Theory and Dialogue in Geography Area 41 (2009): 319–328. Galtung, Johan. Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization. London: Sage Publications, 1996. —––. ‘Peace Education Is Only Meaningful If It Leads to Action’. UNESCO Courier 50, No. 1 (1997): 4–8. —––. Conflict Transformation by Peaceful Means (the Transcend Method). New York, NY: United Nations Disaster Management Training Programme Participant’s Manual, 2000.

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__________________________________________________________________ Lederach, John P. Preparing for Peace: Conflict Transformation across Cultures. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1996. Mendoza, Hannah R., and Tom Matyók. ‘We Are Not Alone: When the Number of Exceptions to a Rule Exceeds Its Usefulness, It’s Time for a Change’. In Meanings of Design: Social, Cultural and Philosophical Essays about People, Spaces and Interior Environmentsm edited by Tiiu Poldmaa. New York, NY: Fairchild Publications, 2012. Orr, David W. Down to The Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2011. Rogers, Peter P., Kazi F. Jalal, and John A. Boyd. An Introduction to Sustainable Development. London: Earthscan, 2008. Schmitz, Cathryne L, Tom Matyók, Lacey Sloan, and Channelle D. James. ‘The Relationship between Social Work and Environmental Sustainability: Implications for Interdisciplinary Practice’. International Journal of Social Work 21, No. 3 (2012): 278–286. —––. ‘Educating Social Workers for Multidisciplinary Response’. In Environmental Social Work, edited by Mel Gray, John Coates, and Tiani Hetherington, chapter 14. London: Routledge, 2013. Smith, Tanzi. ‘Using Critical Systems Thinking to Foster an Integrated Approach to Sustainability: A Proposal for Development Practitioners’. Environment Development & Sustainability 13 (2011): 1–17. Soubbotina, Tatyana P. Beyond Economic Growth: An Introduction to Sustainable Development. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2004. Stocker, Laura, and Deborah Kennedy. ‘Cultural Models of the Coast of Australia: Toward Sustainability’. Coastal Management 37, No. 5 (2009): 387–404. WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development), First. Our Common Future. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

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Educating for Interdisciplinary Response to Environmental Issues

__________________________________________________________________ Weigert, Kathleen M. ‘Moral Dimensions of Peace Studies: A Case for Service Learning’. In Teaching for Justice: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Peace Studies, edited by Kathleen M. Weigert, and Robin J. Crews. 9–22. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education, 1999. Word Bank, First. Development and Climate Change. Washington, DC: World Blank, 2010. Tom Matyók is an Assistant Professor, Conflict Peace Studies Program, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His teaching and research interests focus on institutions and architecture of peace, the epistemology of peace studies, the role of non-governmental organizations in peace and conflict work, human and environmental oppression, and the impact of physical space on human rights and citizen action. Cathryne L. Schmitz is a Professor and Director, Conflict and Peace Studies Program and Professor, Department of Social Work, University of North Carolina Greensboro. She has experience in the fields of leadership and community building. Much of her scholarship focuses on organisational and community change, critical multiculturalism, international education, peace development, and environmental sustainability.

Green Friends: A Look at US Business Use of Social Media to Communicate Environmental Responsibility Karen Druffel and T. Bridgett Perry-Galvin Abstract What can Facebook and Twitter messages from several US companies tell us about their assumptions regarding environment-friendly corporate practices and the triple bottom line? Many businesses publicly inform investors and other stakeholders of their corporate financial health, known as the ‘bottom line.’ Recently this practice has expanded to the ‘triple bottom line,’ including reports of environmental and social responsibility as well as financial reports. This mixed methods study explores how several US companies communicated their sustainability efforts using three communication media: their corporate websites, Facebook and Twitter. Seven days of messages were selected in February 2011; a second wave of data collection will be completed in spring 2012. Messages were coded based on content into five categories: environmental sustainability, social responsibility, employee friendliness, economic (product-related) or not sustainability related. Quantitative analysis compared message frequency for each category within company. Qualitative analysis explored additional sources to provide a fuller picture of corporate environmental sustainability. Preliminary findings reveal varied practices in use of social media. Some firms that emphasise environmental sustainability do not appear to use interactive social media to inform about related efforts, relying instead on static messages or white papers posted on the corporate website, or using dedicated social media channels distinctive from the general brand name. The restricted use of social media could imply the organization’s intent to inform investors rather than customers about corporate sustainability, or merely an unhappy result of assigning social media responsibility to the marketing department. Key Words: Social media, sustainability, higher education. ***** 1. Introduction Attaining environmental justice requires, inter alia, collective decision making that recognises and values minority voices. Discourse among informed participants with shared values can support this process. Can the discourse take place in social media? Does business shape the discourse through information and values? What is the role of education in preparing individuals for these decisions? Two instructors, one from psychology and one from business, involved students majoring in business and information technology in an exploratory study of the messages some businesses send using social media to see what they communicate

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__________________________________________________________________ about the natural environment. Stakeholder theory suggests businesses will report their interaction with the natural environment as a factor influencing their overall corporate health or sustainability. The concept of sustainability has changed business reporting practices from ‘bottom line’ thinking, which focuses on only short-term profit, to a ‘triple bottom line approach’ that adds information about impact on environmental resources and social capital; 1 this information was presumed to be of interest primarily to investors. Investors needed reassurance that their stake in the enterprise would increase in value and businesses set their obligation to protect and maximise shareholder interests as their raison d’etre. In turn, meeting shareholder obligations provides specific benefits to the organisation in the form of on-going availability of capital. Stakeholder theory expands a business’ obligations beyond those to shareholders, as providing shareholder value requires cultivation of social capital, good will and future access to resources in addition to short term profit. 2 Meeting those obligations benefits the organisation in terms of increased revenue or access to resources. 3 Stakeholders include customers, the community and the natural environment. Sustainability reporting informs stakeholders about the company’s financial performance, environmental impact and contributions to social responsibility. 4 Stakeholders treat companies meeting these obligations more favourably, leading to higher revenue or advantageous access to resources. Communicating to stakeholders about sustainability is an important factor contributing to the realisation of increased revenue and access to resources; businesses are likely to use a combination of sustainability reporting and sustainable marketing to make stakeholders aware of their sustainability efforts. Recent advances in technology and interactive web formats have allowed businesses to communicate with stakeholders through the use of formal website delivery of information as well as less formal communication modes such as those found in social media. It is apparent by a cursory review of the daily news online that all forms of social media have taken hold as a ‘standard’ for communication both formally and informally. As businesses move toward greater use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to reach customers, to what extent will businesses use these media to report on sustainability? 2. Sustainability Elkington proposed that company performance should include not only financial health, which business companies report each year, but in addition, how the company addresses its social and environmental responsibilities. 5 Together, the three aspects of company performance make up a ‘triple bottom line’ of ‘people, planet and profit.’ A 2012 survey of CEOs conducted by PriceWaterhouseCooper indicates nearly half of those surveyed believe their customers base purchasing decisions at least in part on a company’s practices related to environmental and

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__________________________________________________________________ corporate social responsibilities and will, as a result, plan to change their strategies to address these concerns. 6 The survey results support stakeholder theory assumptions’ that environmental and social responsibilities have a dual effect of increasing efficiency and increasing effectiveness. Efficiency is increased through improved access to resources, reducing costs. Effectiveness results from opportunities for new or improved products and enhanced brand reputation. The more recent PWC survey results are consistent with a 2008 KPMG study, which found 79% of the global top 250 companies provided sustainability reports. 7 Although sustainability reporting has become a more common practice for businesses, the form and content of these reporting efforts are still evolving. 8 Commonly, sustainability reporting includes environmental and social aspects of an organisation’s performance in addition to economic metrics. 9 Sustainability reports could be considered more valuable when they demonstrate a strong connection between sustainability efforts and the organisation’s strategy. 10 A company’s marketing efforts should also reflect and communicate sustainability, although this is difficult to effect. Several challenges presented by sustainable marketing include futurity, equity and the shift of marketing focus from customer ‘wants,’ i.e., generating desire for products, to customer ‘needs,’ e.g., clean air and water, strong social communities. 11 3. Social Media The rise and influence of social media on contemporary society cannot be disputed. There are about 131 million U.S. Facebook users between the ages of 18 and 64, and more than 500 million world-wide. 12 In their private lives, users of Facebook, Twitter and other social media are completely formed communities that share interests and post pictures, messages and other information so as to keep these communities informed. Communicating with others through social media formats has become as habitual as talking on the phone or even as sending e-mail was in the early 2000’s. In fact, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Myspace, and LinkedIn have continued to grow in membership numbers and have increased their influence on consumer awareness. In addition, there are numerous other social marketing tools with popular services like LivingSocial, GroupOn, and CrowdCut. These dynamic ‘information sources’ may provide an invaluable format for businesses to communicate their sustainability efforts. In fact, the literature is scarce with respect to what extent corporations using this new communication forum to advance their own performance and stay on top of their markets. As stated earlier companies benefit from monitoring the ‘triple bottom line,’ which includes reporting on the company’s financial performance, environmental impact and contributions to social responsibility. Reporting on a company’s environmental impact and contributions to social responsibility may have the most potent pathway yet in these virtual communities that use mediums such as Facebook and Twitter. Dion, Kundtz, Ludlow, and Mills (2011) reported that only 23.7 users of Facebook

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__________________________________________________________________ reported that finding information regarding sustainability efforts of companies was easy. However, 59% reported moderate difficulty while 26% reported it was difficult or extremely difficult to locate such information. It appears that while this avenue for reaching stakeholders with information regarding sustainability efforts may be powerful it may also be underutilised. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which companies utilised media formats such as traditional websites, twitter, Facebook, etc. to disseminate information to stakeholders regarding four types of sustainability: economic/financial, environmental, workplace friendliness, and social responsibility. To that end a mixed method study was designed and implemented over two spring terms. 4. Method This mixed method study was conducted as part of an undergraduate course in information systems. Social media messages from ten companies were collected on selected days from three media sources: Facebook, Twitter and the company’s blog. Messages were coded based on content; codes were developed to match types of sustainability commonly used for the ‘triple bottom line’ of environmental and social responsibility. At least two student researchers coded messages within each year and resolved discrepancies to attain 100% inter-rater reliability. Two samples were collected in the Spring of 2011 and Spring 2012. However, there was no test of inter-rater reliability between years. All messages were coded into one of the coding categories in Table 1.

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__________________________________________________________________ Table 1 Code ECN

Construct Economic

Description Messages pertaining to the financial status of the organization

Example ‘HP Announces Participation in Upcoming Investor Conferences’

EMP

Employee

‘Is work life balance really possible? Love what @dchrapaty has to say.’

ENV

Environmental responsibility

Messages pertaining to workplace friendliness and employee benefits Messages pertaining to efforts reducing negative environmental effects or conservation of natural resources

SOC

Social responsibility

‘100 Cars for Good is back, giving away 100 cars over 100 days. Enter today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r97 Q_miEWig‘

SUS

Sustainability (not specific)

MKT

None; Product marketing

Messages pertaining to efforts to benefit the community or minimize negative effects of globalization on national, cultural or community groups Messages which include the term sustainability but which cannot be identified as one of the other types of sustainability Messages which do not pertain to sustainability; most are product marketing

‘Follow @FordDriveGreen & #FordTaxiSF to see @GavinNewsom & @MayerEdLee celebrate lowering gas consumption in SF by having Hybrid @Ford taxis’

‘SAP has made sustainability part of its purpose. Many companies talk about the how and what. We focus on the WHY’ ‘How @EMCcorp engineered its comeback in server-side memory with Project Lightning: Q&A with Pat Gelsinger ’ ‘The HP President’s Day Sale starts today! Use these coupon codes to get an extra little bit of savings on select HP products: http://on.fb.me/xKN1Ls’

Companies selected included two general types of businesses: business-tobusiness (B2B), businesses that sell products and services primarily to business customers, and business-to-consumer (B2C), businesses that sell products and services primarily to consumers. All selected companies were large corporations having a presence on Facebook and Twitter. Relative frequencies of each type of messages were compared. In addition, researchers collected evidence of sustainability in the strategic plan from each company’s website, such as white papers or announcements.

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__________________________________________________________________ In Spring 2011, message collection, i.e. frequency counts, was limited to seven days in February 2011 and included the following IT-related companies: Amazon, Cisco, eBay, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle and SAP. In Spring 2012, two weeks of messages were collected resulting in data from seven days in February and seven days in March. Companies in the second study included six IT-related companies from the first study and four automobile companies: EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP, and Chevrolet, Ford, Kia Motors and Toyota. Dates for the message collection were selected using a random number generator and modified to discard dates for days of the week already represented such that the resulting seven days each month represented one of each day of the week. The seven days were not consecutive: Feb, 2, 3, 7, 8, 13, 19 and 25, March 3, 5, 6, 18, 21, 23 and 29. Several of the selected companies had multiple accounts in Facebook. The general Amazon Facebook account contained no sustainability messages. However, a second Amazon Green Facebook account provided the message data included in this report. The car companies Kia Motors and Toyota have multiple Facebook accounts based on geography. Messages from only one Facebook account for each company were coded. Amazon Green was used for Amazon;, the US-based Facebook accounts were used for the car companies. Web blogs were similarly problematic. Most of the company websites hosted multiple web blogs, but message collection was limited to only one web blog per company. When possible, web blog were selected if they were identified as related to sustainability; e.g., EMC has a Chief Sustainability Officer, who maintains a web blog. All web blogs on the EMC website include a disclaimer to the effect that content in the web blog is not subject to company approval.

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__________________________________________________________________ 5. Findings Tables 2 and 3: Companies for which only 2011 data collected (7 days) Message Counts by Code

EMP

SOC

ENV

Amazon (B2C)

SUS

Total People and Planet

ECN

MKT

Total

15

16

558

600

1

1

6

7

32

eBay (C2C0

1

7

8

15

23

Nokia (B2C)

4

4

30

34

618

673

Cisco (B2B)

19

Total

19

11

15

0

45

10

10

Percentage of Total Messages by Code

EMP

SOC

Amazon (B2C)

ENV

SUS

Total People and Planet

6%

6%

1%

1%

5%

eBay (C2C0

4%

30%

Nokia (B2C)

12%

Cisco (B2B)

Total

3%

3%

2%

2%

ECN

MKT

Total

94%

100%

93%

100%

35%

65%

100%

12%

88%

100%

92%

100%

7%

2%

1%

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__________________________________________________________________ Tables 4 and 5: Four Car Companies (2012 only) (14 days total)

EMP

SOC

ENV

SUS

Total People and Planet

ECN

MKT

Total

33

38

Chevrolet

5

Ford

2

2

4

1

42

47

Kia Motors

7

2

9

2

42

53

22

52

137

190

MKT

Total

7

Toyota

2

20

8

30

Total

2

34

14

50

3

Percent of Messages by Code

EMP Chevrolet

SOC

ENV

13%

Ford Kia Motors

SUS

Total People and Planet

ECN

13%

87%

100%

4%

4%

9%

2%

89%

100%

13%

4%

17%

4%

79%

100%

42%

100%

72%

100%

Toyota

4%

38%

15%

58%

Total

1%

18%

7%

26%

2%

133 Karen Druffel and T. Bridgett Perry-Galvin

__________________________________________________________________ Table 6: Six Companies: messages collected in 2011 and 2012

2012

2011

433

41

97

73

11

83

127

34

36

Total

4

6

352

35

10

4

72

64

1

2

447

66

105 3

1

22

350

31

MKT 5

3

84

14

29

17

3

69

78

6

ECN

1

14

57

15

subtotal

15

200

12

52

ENV

1

148

12

3

SOC

58

16 2

19

EMP

41

36

1 6

3

Total

4

5

6

2

MKT

13

7

2

3

5

ECN

11

24

6

subtotal

1

SUS

SUS

1

Microsoft ( B2C and B2B)

3

2 1 Oracle (B2B)

3

8

37

15

17

74

2

1

SAP (B2B)

4

23

ENV

1 Intel (B2C and B2B)

3

SOC EMP

EMC (B2B)

HewlettPackard (B2C and B2B)

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__________________________________________________________________ Table 7: Six Companies: messages collected in 2011 and 2012 MKT

Total (2012)

SOC

ENV

SUS

Subtotal

ECN

MKT

Total (2011)

7%

71%

100%

12%

1%

0%

13%

4%

83%

100%

18%

8%

74%

100%

0%

6%

0%

6%

6%

88%

100%

7%

14%

86%

100%

15%

0%

0%

15%

85%

100%

9%

0%

17%

83%

100%

6%

8%

0%

14%

86%

100%

0%

0%

4%

93%

100%

1%

0%

0%

2%

80%

100%

5%

14%

36%

64%

100%

10%

4%

3%

20%

74%

94%

8%

3%

4%

17%

8%

3%

1%

12%

81%

100%

1%

18%

ECN

22%

3%

0%

0%

subtotal

19%

4%

EMP

SUS

2%

18%

4%

ENV

2%

7%

1%

0%

9%

Total

0%

SAP (B2B )

12% 1%

Oracle (B2B)

2% 7%

Intel (B2C) Microsof t ( B2C and B2B)

SOC

EMP EMC (B2B) HewlettPackard (B2C and B2B)

6. Discussion This project had two major purposes. The first objective was to empower students with the skills to make informed decisions regarding information communicated through sites they trust. The second objective was to investigate how businesses use social media to communicate to stakeholders their sustainability efforts. With respect to the first goal, students enrolled in the course began to engage in discourse regarding environmental justice issues such as sustainability, through an active research process. As researchers they investigated the sustainability reporting practices of major information technology companies using social media as the form of communication. By engaging in the active

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__________________________________________________________________ process of investigation students generated a number of conclusions about the practices of companies in their field and more importantly generated a number of interesting questions. In the role of researchers, students became aware that their own opinions and values shape the way they view information generated by large corporations. More importantly, they expressed interest and awareness of how corporations may use trusted social media sites to influence their opinions, thereby making them question further the ‘why’s’ as well as the ‘how’s’ involved in communicating to stakeholders messages about sustainability. Business approaches to the use of social media differed widely by company; therefore, research projects using social media as sources face several challenges in selection of empirical material. As noted in the Method section, it seems commonplace for companies to maintain multiple communities on Facebook; it was beyond the scope of this project to compare messages among the different Facebook communities or accounts for the same company. Future studies should address questions related to multiple communities from both the company and the customer perspective. Why do companies create multiple Facebook accounts? How do customers choose among the Facebook accounts for the same company? Companies included in our samples maintained web blogs on their websites, but in many cases, these blogs were not frequently updated. Some web blogs included disclaimers indicating blog content reflected only personal and not company views. In our samples, Twitter messages simply repeated Facebook messages for the same day; in many cases, Twitter messages were merely links to a Facebook message. Our data sampling did not include discussion boards on company websites, which may also provide a forum for company messages about sustainability. While our samples were too small to generalise, in terms of the use of social media to reach customers, there appeared to be no difference between B2B companies and B2C companies. Sample size notwithstanding, our data suggest companies are using Facebook and other social media to communicate about sustainability; however, the number of messages related to sustainability comprised a small percentage of the total messages, except for the car companies. While no statistical analysis of the message content was performed, content coding suggests that although social media are designed to create community, these businesses appear to be using social media messages as single transactions. One exception to the single transaction mode may be Hewlett-Packard (HP). In 2012, HP messages to a coordinated campaign around an animated film called ‘The Lorax’ which championed an environmental theme and was sponsored by HP. In addition to messages on social media, HP highlighted its environmental responsibility in its packaging of consumer products. The companies examined post sustainability reports on their websites, which suggests sustainability is incorporated into their strategic plans. However, the relatively low percentage of messages related to sustainability for the IT companies

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__________________________________________________________________ could indicate failure to operationalise sustainability. Has the strategic plan failed to include sustainable marketing practices? The low number of sustainability messages could result from an organisational structure designed for product, but not people and planet. The division of responsibilities within an organisation could limit sustainability reporting to departments that do not target customers, or that do not use social media. Social media and customer communication could be within the marketing department. If marketing departments are organised in terms of products, does it fragment, distort or lose messages about broader organisational goals and accomplishments? Does the triple bottom line of ‘people, planet and profit’ cross organisational boundaries? Future studies should include both more messages from each company and more companies to provide a richer picture of the frequency of messages in social media that relate to sustainability. Further research is needed to explore organisational factors involved in communicating sustainability practices to customers.

Notes 1

Thomas Donaldson and Lee E. Preston, ‘The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence and Implications’, Academy of Management Review 20, No. 1 (1995): 65-91. 2 R. Edward Freeman and David L. Reed, ‘Stockholders and Stakeholders: A New Perspective on Corporate Governance’, California Management Review 25, No. 3 (1983): 88-106. 3 Ibid. 4 Donaldson and Preston, ‘Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation’. 5 John Elkington, ‘Towards the Sustainable Corporation: Win-Win-Win Business Strategies for Sustainable Development’, California Management Review 36, No. 2 (1994): 90-100. 6 PriceWaterhouseCoopers, ‘14th Annual Global CEO Survey’, 2011, http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-survey/index.jhtml?WT.ac=vt-ceosurvey. 7 KPMG, ‘International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2008’, http://www.kpmg.com/PT/pt/IssuesAndInsights/Documents/corporateresponsibility2011.pdf. 8 Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee, ‘Embedding Sustainability across the Organization: A Critical Perspective’, Academy of Management Learning & Education 10, No. 4 (2011): 719-731. 9 Graham Hubbard, ‘The Quality of the Sustainability Reports of Large International Companies: An Analysis’, International Journal of Management 28, No. 3 (2011): 824-848.

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__________________________________________________________________ 10

Vicky Arnold, et al., ‘The Differential Use and Effect of Knowledge-Based System Explanations in Novice and Expert Judgment Decisions’, MIS Quarterly 30, No. 1 (2006): 79-97. 11 Ken Peattie, ‘Towards Sustainability: The Third Age of Green Marketing’, Marketing Review 2, No. 2 (2001): 129. 12 Terri L. Griffith, ‘Tapping into Social-Media Smarts’, Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition 257, No. 95 (2011): R6.

Bibliography Arnold, Vicky, N. Clark, P. A. Collier, S. A. Leech, and S. G. Sutton. ‘The Differential Use and Effect of Knowledge-Based System Explanations in Novice and Expert Judgment Decisions’. MIS Quarterly 30, No. 1 (2006): 79–97. Banerjee, Subhabrata Bobby. ‘Embedding Sustainability across the Organization: A Critical Perspective’. Academy of Management Learning & Education 10, No. 4 (2011): 719–731. Bedek, Andrea. ‘Sustainability Marketing Strategies: Examples of Best Practices in Croatia’. International Journal of Management Cases 13, No. 2 (2011): 33–43. Donaldson, Thomas, and Lee E. Preston. ‘The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence and Implications’. Academy of Management Review 20, No. 1 (1995): 65–91. Elkington, John. ‘Towards the Sustainable Corporation: Win-Win-Win Business Strategies for Sustainable Development’. California Management Review 36, No. 2 (1994): 90–100. Freeman, R. Edward, and David L. Reed. ‘Stockholders and Stakeholders: A New Perspective on Corporate Governance’. California Management Review 25, No. 3 (1983): 88–106. Griffith, Terri L. ‘Tapping into Social-Media Smarts’. Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition 257, No. 95 (2011): R6. Hubbard, Graham. ‘The Quality of the Sustainability Reports of Large International Companies: An Analysis’. International Journal of Management 28, No. 3 (2011): 824–848.

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__________________________________________________________________ KPMG. International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2008. http://www.kpmg.com/PT/pt/IssuesAndInsights/Documents/corporateresponsibility2011.pdf. Peattie, Ken. ‘Towards Sustainability: The Third Age of Green Marketing’. Marketing Review 2, No. 2 (2001): 129. PriceWaterhouseCoopers. 14th Annual Global CEO Survey. http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-survey/index.jhtml?WT.ac=vt-ceosurvey.

2011.

Karen Druffel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Business Administration at Framingham State University in Massachusetts, USA. Her research interests include the use of information technology in business organisations. T. Bridgett Perry-Galvin is a Professor in the Psychology and Philosophy Department at Framingham State University in Massachusetts, USA. Her research interests include cognitive development and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Acknowledgements The authors thank the students in the Spring 2011 and Spring 2012 BUIS 477 courses at Framingham State University for their contributions to this study.

Promoting Health, Social and Environmental Justice in the Context of Health Care Practice Rebecca Patrick and Teresa Capetola Abstract The core business of health care is promoting and protecting human health. This is reflected in influential international declarations such as the Declaration of the Alma Ata for Primary Health Care and the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Contemporary health care practice is guided by these mandates and recognises the importance of social justice and equity; inter-sectorial action on environmental, political and economic factors; community participation in decision making; and stable ecosystems as prerequisites for human health. More recently in response to greater knowledge of the health impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, health care agencies are becoming increasingly concerned with their role in the climate justice and the environmental sustainability agenda. Preliminary evidence from Victoria, Australia indicates that health care agencies are also engaging with the issue of environmental justice and how it intersects with social justice and health equity concerns. This chapter will highlight examples of emerging practice from five qualitative case studies of health care agencies in Victoria, Australia. The chapter derives its findings from individual and group interviews with health professionals and document analysis that explored the nature and scope of practice in rural, regional and urban health care settings. The study indicated that these health care agencies were broadening their practice remit to address the environmental impacts of their service provision as well as community-level environmental justice issues. This chapter features examples of practice at the nexus of environment-equity-health within public housing estates, public hospitals and women’s health programmes. Despite differences in approach, target population and context, the core finding was that health care strategies, competencies and frameworks were transferable to action on climate and environment-related issues in these settings. This assessment of health care practice is significant because it demonstrates some reassuring directions in the provision of health care and the development of an environmental justice movement in Australia. Key Words: Health care, health promotion, social justice, environmental justice. ***** 1. Introduction The ultimate goal of health care and the environmental justice movement is to protect and promote the health of vulnerable communities. Both movements are concerned with addressing social injustice/inequities and protecting human health

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__________________________________________________________________ from environmental harms/exposures. 1 Despite vastly different origins, they both use strategies of community engagement, political advocacy, research, intersectorial collaboration and public policy development to achieve human health outcomes. 2 Health care and environmental justice both operate on a world view that some social groups are disadvantaged by their relative position in society i.e. ethnic origin, ability to access resources i.e. income, and opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their health and wellbeing. 3 Health care workers, like many environmental justice activists, are particularly concerned with ‘compound disadvantage’ and hence target their efforts towards marginalized or disadvantaged population groups. 4 Despite these obvious parallels, health care has not been a prominent partner in the environmental justice movement or the related literature. 5 One possible reason is that health care, and indeed the broader public health movement, has been focused on the social determinants of health, and in doing so, has neglected its role in tackling the environmental determinants of health. 6 This argument resonates with a popular analysis that the environmental and health agendas, formerly unified concepts within public health, have become disengaged from one another across time. 7 The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) definition of environmental health excludes social and cultural dimensions and focuses on the toxicology of environmental hazards, and hence, may in part explain why across time the issues have been dealt with by separate disciplines. 8 For example, the environmental health sector has evolved separately at the political, administrative and scientific level from the field of health care, which in turn, has meant health care workers have not been active in this space. 9 There is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that health care agencies and practitioners are in fact participating in this inter-sectorial space, but the practice has not been defined as environmental justice work. Again, this may be explained by narrow definitions and disciplinary silos acting as barriers to the development of an inclusive environmental justice and health discourse. 10 Traditional definitions of environmental justice, in particular the civil rights based American definitions, have not been sufficiently inclusive of health-based practices/issues/population groups to ensure that this work is framed under the environmental justice banner. For instance, it is only more recently that topics relevant to the health sector such as food security, crime and violence as well as gender, age and sexuality have entered the environmental justice dialogue. 11 This apparent lack of a broader, operational definition of environmental justice in a health care practice context has meant any health/environmental praxis has largely been hidden from view. In turn, this has stymied progress in health-based research which investigates the nature and scope of health care practice in relation to environmental justice issues. So, where is the evidence that indicates health care is participating in environmental justice work? At an international level, the World Health Organization (the global peak body for policy, research and technical guidance in

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__________________________________________________________________ health care) recently released a report titled Environment and health risks: the influence and effects of social inequities. 12 This report sets out the evidence pertaining to social inequity and environmental burden and lists a series of recommendations for actions related to health care. 13 The WHO, in collaboration with Health Care Without Harm, has also produced a series of case studies that demonstrate how health care facilities, i.e. public hospitals, are addressing their climate footprint and promoting the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations living in heavily polluted areas. 14 In an Australian context, Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) have released a series of position statements, one of which explicitly frames the health impacts of coal related air pollution within an environmental justice framework. 15 In Victoria, Australia (and the geographic location in which this chapte is focused) there is some web-based evidence that demonstrates women’s health services are framing their practice as environmental justice work. 16 However, most of this evidence exists as grey literature and solution generated practice is not captured. Furthermore, the evidence which is peer-reviewed is focused on identifying problems, as opposed to solutions being generated by health care agencies. Given this apparent dearth of research, and in keeping with the idea that the concept of environmental justice can be advantageously applied across a variety of disciplines and environmental themes, this chapter presents examples of where health care agencies in Victoria, Australia are addressing issues at the nexus between environment, equity and health. 17 This chapter also contributes to an emerging debate about the utility of environmental justice concepts in Australia - a country where environmental justice, both as a concept and a movement, have yet to acquire prominence. 18 2. Research Methodology The findings presented in this paper are derived from a qualitative case study project which explored the ways in which health care practitioners were addressing climate change and environmental concerns in Victorian health care settings. The original data was obtained from interviews with health care practitioners in five health care settings and supplemented with documentary evidence. The data for this chapter was re-analysed using Wakefield and Baxter’s holistic research and action model for environmental justice – a framework that links a broad set of environment, equity and health issues. 19 Ten female health care practitioners (age range, 20-60 years) who worked in Victoria participated in the study. Five were designated health promotion practitioners and five were community health practitioners i.e. physiotherapist, occupational therapist. Individual and group interviews formed the basis of the five case studies, and data analysis was augmented by relevant organisational planning and evaluation documents provided by the research participants or public documentation accessible on service websites.

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__________________________________________________________________ Maximum variation and critical case sampling strategies were used to identify cases that would yield wide variations on core themes. 20 The cases selected represented the following: agencies that had explicitly identified climate change/environmental issues as a service or health priority; diversity in the nature of the health practices addressing climate change/environmental issues, i.e. by target group, strategy or issue; wide geographic distribution of cases, i.e. rural, regional and urban cases; and a range of health care settings, i.e. community health, women’s health, and primary care partnership (PCP). Six semi-structured individual interviews were undertaken face-to-face at the participants’ agencies (or by telephone, n = 1) and were digitally audio-recorded. A series of open-ended questions centred on a schedule of topics were used to ensure in-depth responses about the informant’s experiences, perceptions and knowledge pertaining to the research topic. The group interviews of 2+ participants were based on a similar interview schedule and used to cross check individual accounts of practice. Organisational documents supplied by the five organisations and information from the agency websites augmented the data pool. The purpose of collecting these texts was to fill any descriptive gaps about specific programmes. Document analysis allowed thematic analysis of core practices across cases (i.e. core strategies used) and also within each case (i.e. specific programme orientations). An ongoing dialogue between the researchers and participants was developed using email and telephone contact. Participant feedback was requested at several stages during data analysis and publication writing. These ‘member checks’ were conducted to verify the accuracy and credibility of the interpretations. 21 The analysis of interview and documentary evidence was guided by the principles of Stake’s case study data analysis and representation, namely, description, analysis and interpretations. 22 The descriptive stage involved developing a profile of the work of each group, the settings, programmes and practices by manual grouping and then reading through texts, highlighting key words and themes and making margin notes. The integrative analysis stage was informed by procedures of cross case analysis and involved searching for positive and negative case themes and the development of a comparative table. 23 This analysis step compared cases to identify similarities and differences between agency contexts and practices. The overall purpose was to find patterned regularities from the various data sources. The final step was to interpret core themes, i.e. to make assertions about the findings for health care practice in relation to the environmental justice literature. 24 3. Case Study Results The findings are presented as five separate descriptive case studies that highlight synergies with environmental justice practices. Each case has been

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__________________________________________________________________ constructed to emphasise a series of distinctive features, i.e. agency context, target groups, settings for action, core issues and strategies. Case study 1 highlighted the transport-related pollution initiatives of an inner city community health service. The service had a long history of engagement with clean air and environmental justice issues including political action to stop a freeway development and conducting research into the impacts of petroleum biproducts on asthma. More recently they had developed an environment-equityhealth agenda focusing on climate change. Active and sustainable transport was one programme area of this organisation-wide climate change plan that was consonant with conventional environmental justice approaches, i.e. engaging public housing residents, who are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD), of a low socio-economic status (LSES) and at risk of diseases associated with environmental pollution. Central to their transport-related programmes was information provision consultation and advocacy for healthy public policy. The health service considered action on the environmental determinants of health, social justice and climate change its core business, and it used health promotion mechanisms and resources to facilitate the process of integration. One programme with environmental justice principles implicit to its design aimed to simultaneously: promote community pride and participation; improve the condition of residents housing and the built/natural environment; increase opportunities for employment; improve health and wellbeing,; prevent crime and improve community safety; and increase access to government services. By fostering social cohesion and developing community resilience this health service was endeavouring to mitigate against the unequal distribution of environmental burden and ensure equitable access to and involvement in mechanisms used to address environmental issues. Case study 2 was a regional women’s health service who had adopted an environmental justice framework to ascertain the effects that climate change and other environmental problems were having on, and would have on, women and girls. They had developed a position statement on environmental justice and garnered research to demonstrate that women are disproportionately affected by environmental problems including climate change induced disasters. The service had mounted an advocacy campaign to address environmental injustices based on the perspective that women’s vulnerability to environmental problems stems from the social construction of gender roles and unequal access to wealth and power. A core strategy was to ensure that a gendered perspective is considered in local and state-level environmental decision-making processes. The service focus was on advocacy, partnership development and community education strategies in relation to the issue of gender and disaster. They had formed partnerships with state-wide emergency services, health and welfare services, women’s refuges and research institutions to raise awareness of the issue of increased violence against women following disasters. Using art, poetry, story-telling and photography as a medium

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__________________________________________________________________ they were ensuring that women’s experiences are validated, and in turn, inform policy and programme development. Case study 3 was a primary care partnership (PCP) located in a regional/rural setting. This PCP had undertaken various initiatives for local adaptation and rural adjustment to climate change that were consonant with approaches used in the environmental justice movement. One example of their work was the development of a policy signpost that would support emerging practice at the nexus between climate change, health and social justice in the health care sector. During the policy development process they engaged local stakeholders and brought regional/ rural experiences of unequal and unfair distribution of climate-related burden, such as drought and water insecurity, to the fore. Another aspect of the PCP’s work was the development of inter-sectoral partnerships to ensure fairer distribution of programmes and services to rural communities. This was underpinned by community development initiatives in relation to local environmental concerns associated with energy, food, transport and water. Case study 4 was a regional health service with one main site spanning acute care through to health promotion. An onsite community garden supported a range of health promotion strategies relevant to traditional environmental justice population groups, i.e. LSES and CALD as well as contemporary topics in environmental justice including community food security and the human-nature connection. Unique to the goals of this health service was a broadening of their focus to include ecological justice, i.e. non-human health and wellbeing. An example of this was their programme to promote habitat restoration for endangered animals and plants through the creation of a wildlife corridor. In this initiative they were reorientating their practice to be more ‘eco-centric’ and to address any harm that may have been done by purely human-centric approaches to health care delivery. Case study 5 was a suburban community health service operating from within a large hospital network. A ‘green team’ in this health service were facilitating an organisational-wide agenda at the nexus between environment-equity-health by focusing on community access to healthy and affordable food and raising the profile of environmental issues among staff. Raising awareness of the environmental determinants of health and promoting a culture of environmental stewardships among staff was seen as the starting point for developing new practices. In their long-term strategic plan for an onsite community garden they were positioning themselves for mitigating against the impacts of climate change on the vulnerable population groups they serve. 4. Discussion of Case Studies The findings show that the five health care agencies involved in the study have developed and adapted health care practices for action on environmental problems including climate change. Implicit to the practitioner’s descriptions of their

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__________________________________________________________________ practice was that they were devising programmes which simultaneously promote environmental, equity and health outcomes. Each of the cases were addressing (albeit to varying degrees) ’compound disadvantage‘ and were based on the precautionary principle. 25 The issues raised by the practitioners in the study were highly consonant with and related to those integral to the concept of environmental justice. That is, they were using concepts and tools which Charles Lee calls ‘holistic, bottom up, community-based, multi-issue, cross-cutting, interdependent, integrative and unifying.’ 26 The significance of these findings is that it supports anecdotal evidence that health care agencies are engaging with, or beginning to engage with, environmental justice issues. The reanalysis of the data also revealed some differences between the five agencies. For example, only two of the five agencies (case 1 and 2) explicitly used the term environmental justice to qualify the nature and scope of their practice. Whilst the other three agencies did not use the term environmental justice, their descriptions of practice were indicative of core environmental justice practices and concepts. These agencies were using core environmental justice strategies, i.e. public participation, targeting key groups i.e. LSES, focusing on contemporary environmental justice issues, i.e. food security, and focusing their efforts on geographically defined settings, i.e. a local government area. 27 Further, all agencies were concerned with mitigating against the unfair and unequal distribution (distributive justice) of environmental burdens among the communities they serve, particularly in relation to climate change. 28 However, only Case 2 (and to some extent Case 1) focused on its responsibility in promoting procedural justice, i.e. involvement of women or LSES in environmental decision-making. 29 The implication of these differing levels of engagement with the term environmental justice and its core strategies is that opportunities exist for the sector to explore the issues and develop a framework to guide practice in this area. Further exploration is also required in relation to defining health care’s roles and responsibilities in environmental decision-making. It could be argued that the ‘good fit’ of the data with environmental justice concepts was a direct consequence of the research design, i.e. purposeful recruitment of ‘foresighted practitioners.’ The research participants selected to inform the research were already operating within a social-ecological paradigm and within a disciplinary context, i.e. health promotion, which mandates action on the environmental determinants of health. 30 These practitioners were apparently returning to the roots of good public health practice, i.e. the environment was not conceptualised separately from health. 31 They also appeared not to be subscribing to the WHO’s definition of environmental health as they were considering all facets of environment i.e., chemical, physical, biological, cultural and social factors within their practice. 32 The significance of this for the development of a definition of environmental justice in the context of health care is that existing frameworks,

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__________________________________________________________________ such as the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, could be expanded to incorporate environmental justice concepts. 33 These ‘foresighted practitioners’ were to varying degrees challenging dominant anthropocentric paradigms that conventionally disregard the symbiotic relationship between humans and the natural environment. 34 Case study 4 displayed elements of an ecological justice approach to simultaneously promoting the health of animals, plants and humans. 35 An eco-feminist perspective was displayed in case study 2 and a more traditional environmental justice perspective was evident in case study 1. These practitioners were pushing the boundaries of health care practice and engaging in new ways of thinking and acting for their sector. They were leveraging resources – human, fiscal and physical – to implement organisational and community-level ‘environmental’ initiatives to address the current and potential vulnerabilities of the marginalised communities they serve. 5. Conclusion The significance of the research findings for the development of an Australian environmental justice movement is that there appears to be existing capacity within the health care sector to advance this agenda. The chapter revealed that opportunities abound for health care practitioners at all levels of the system to engage with environmental justice debates and to reorient their current practice. Indeed, a unique opportunity exists in Australia to develop the environmental justice movement from the platform of health care. Australian health practitioners, academics and policy-makers could be at the forefront of initiating a paradigm shift – which is called for in the literature on climate justice - toward a balanced view of human-nature relationships. If this was to occur, it would be what sets apart Australia from the United States and other countries where environmental justice is primarily an anthropocentric concept and/or used in its legal context.

Notes 1

John D. Middleton, Health, ‘Environmental and Social Justice’, Local Environment 8, No. 2 (2003): 155-165. 2 Ibid., 155-156; Sarah E. L Wakefield and Jamie Baxter, ‘Linking Health Inequality and Environmental Justice: Articulating a Precautionary Framework for Research and Action’, Environmental Justice 3, No. 3 (2010): 95-102.. 3 Charles Lee, ‘Environmental Justice: Building a Unified Vision of Health and the Environment’, Environmental Justice 110, No. 2 (2002): 141-144; Jeff Masuda, Jamie Baxter and Blake Poland, ‘Reaching for Environmental Health Justice: Canadian Experiences for a Comprehensive Research, Policy and Advocacy Agenda in Health Promotion’, Health Promotion International 25, No. 4 (2010): 453-463.

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Wakefield and Baxter, ‘Linking Health Inequality and Environmental Justice: Articulating a Precautionary Framework for Research and Action’, 95-97. 5 Masuda, Baxter and Poland, ‘Reaching for Environmental Health Justice: Canadian Experiences for a Comprehensive Research, Policy and Advocacy Agenda in Health Promotion’, 453-457. 6 Colin D. Butler and Sharon Friel, ‘Time to Regenerate: Ecosystems and Health Promotion’, PLoS Medicine 3, No. 10 (2006), accessed May 1, 2012, http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.00 30394 7 Katherine L. Frolich, Ellen Corin and Louise Potvin, ‘A theoretical Proposal for the Relationship between Context and Disease’, Sociology of Health & Illness 23, No. 6 (2001): 776-797; Jody L. Davis, Jeffrey D. Green and Allison Reed, ‘Interdependence with the Environment: Commitment, Interconnectedness, and Environmental Behaviour’, Journal of Environmental Psychology 29 (2009): 173180. 8 Winston Abara, Sacoby M. Wilson and Kirsten Burwell, ‘Environmental Justice and Infectious Disease: Gaps, Issues and Research Needs’, Environmental Justice 5, No. 1 (2012): 8-20. 9 Rod Simpson, Preface to Ecological Public Health: From Vision to Practice by Cordia Chu and Rod Simpson (Nathan, QLD: Watson Ferguson and Company, 1994), 9-10. 10 Robert Gottileb and Andrew Fisher, ‘Community Food Security and Environmental Justice: Searching for a Common Discourse’, Agriculture and Human Values 3, No. 3 (1996): 23-32; Abara, Wilson and Burwell, ‘Environmental Justice and Infectious Disease: Gaps, Issues and Research Needs’, 8-9; Environmental Defenders Office (Victoria) Ltd., Environmental Justice in Australia: Discussion paper (2011), accessed May 1, 2012, http://www.edovic.org.au/downloads/files/law_reform/edo_vic_environmental_jus tice_discussion_paper.pdf. 11 Michael F. Heagarty, ‘Crime and the Environment – Expanding the Boundaries of Environmental Justice’, Tulane Environmental Law Journal 23 (2010): 517-535; Susan Buckingham and Rakibe Kulcur, ‘Gendered Geographies of Environmental Justice’, Antipode 41, No. 4 (2009): 659-683. 12 World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe, Environment and Health Risks: The Influence and Effects of Social Inequalities, Report of an expert group meeting, Bonn: Germany (2009), accessed May 1, 2012, http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/115364/E93037.pdf. 13 Ibid. 14 World Health Organisation [WHO] & Healthcare Without Harm [HCWH], Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Addressing Climate Change in

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__________________________________________________________________ Health Care Settings, Discussion Draft, (2009), accessed June 1, 2011, http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/healthcare_settings/en/index.html. 15 Doctors for the Environment Australia, DEA Position Paper on the Health Impacts of Coal, accessed May 1, 2012, http://dea.org.au/about/file/policy_docs. 16 Cathy Weiss, Women and Environmental Justice: A Literature Review, Women’s Health in the North, accessed May 1, 2012, http://www.whin.org.au/images/PDFs/ej_lit_review.pdf; Women’s Health in the North, ‘Environmental Justice’, last modified in 2010, accessed May 1, 2012, http://www.whin.org.au/what-we-do/environmental-justice.html. 17 Environmental Defenders Office, Environmental Justice in Australia, 3. 18 Ibid.; Elisa Arcioni and Glenn Mitchell, ‘Environmental Justice in Australia: When the RATS Became IRATE’, Environmental Politics 14, No. 3 (2005): 363379. 19 Wakefield and Baxter, ‘Linking Health Inequality and Environmental Justice: Articulating a Precautionary Framework for Research and Action’, 97. 20 Michael Q. Patton, Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, 3rd Edition (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2002), 209-257. 21 John R. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry in Research Design: Choosing among Five Traditions (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2002). 22 Robert E. Stake, The Art of Case Study Research (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995). 23 Benoit Rihoux and Bojana Lobe, ‘The Case for Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA): Adding Leverage for Thick Cross-Case Comparison’, in The Sage Handbook of Case-Based Methods, eds. David Byrne and Charles Ragin (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009), 222-243. 24 Stake, The Art of Case Study Research. 25 Wakefield and Baxter, ‘Linking Health Inequality and Environmental Justice: Articulating a Precautionary Framework for Research and Action’, 95-97. 26 Lee, ‘Environmental Justice: Building a Unified Vision of Health and the Environment’, 147. 27 Arcioni and Mitchell, ‘Environmental Justice in Australia: When the RATS Became IRATE’, 372-375; Sherry Baron, et al., ‘Partnerships for Environmental and Occupational Justice: Contributions to Research, Capacity and Public Health’, Health Policy and Ethics 99, No. 3 (2009): s517-s525. 28 Richard Schroeder et al., ‘Third World Environmental Justice’, Society & Natural Resources 21, No. 7 (2008): 547-555. 29 Ibid.; Weiss, Women and Environmental Justice, 2-4. 30 Rebecca Patrick and James A. Smith, ‘Core Health Promotion Competencies in Australia: Are They Compatible with Climate Change Action?’, Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Special Issue 22 (2011): s28-s33.

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Vivian Lin, James Smith and Sally Fawkes, Public Health Practice in Australia: The Organised Effort (Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin), 2007. 32 Abara, Wilson and Burwell, ‘Environmental Justice and Infectious Disease: Gaps, Issues and Research Needs’, 8; World Health Organisation, ‘Environmental Health’, accessed May 1, 2012, http://www.who.int/topics/environmental_health/en/. 33 World Health Organisation [WHO], The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, paper presented at the First International Conference on Health Promotion, (Ottawa, Canada: 1986), accessed December 4, 2010, http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/previous/ottawa/en/. 34 Rebecca Patrick and Teresa Capetola, ‘It’s Here! Are We Ready? Five Case Studies of Health Promotion Practices That Address Climate Change from within Victorian Health Care Settings’, Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Special Issue 22 (2011), s61-s67. 35 Environmental Defenders Office, Environmental Justice in Australia, 3.

Bibliography Abara, Winston, Sacoby M. Wilson, and Kirsten Burwell. ‘Environmental Justice and Infectious Disease: Gaps, Issues and Research Needs’. Environmental Justice 5, No. 1 (2012): 8–20. Alkon, Alison A. Where We Live, Work, EAT and Play, Approaching Food from and Environmental Justice Perspective. Conference paper presented at American Sociology Association, University of California, n.d.Arcioni, Elisa. and Mitchell, Glenn. ‘Environmental Justice in Australia: When the RATS Became IRATE’. Environmental Politics 14, No. 3 (2005): 363–379. Baron, Sherry, Raymond Sinclair, Devon Payne-Sturges, J. Phelps, Harold Zenick, Gwen Collman, and Liam R. O’Fallon. ‘Partnerships for Environmental and Occupational Justice: Contributions to Research, Capacity and Public Health’. Health Policy and Ethics 99, No. 3 (2009): s517–s525. Boone, Christopher G. ‘Environmental Justice as Process and New Avenues for Research’. Environmental Justice 1, No. 3 (2008): 149–153. Buckingham, Susan, and Rakibe Kulcur. ‘Gendered Geographies of Environmental Justice’. Antipode 41, No. 4 (2009): 659–683.

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__________________________________________________________________ Butler, Colin D., and Sharon Friel. ‘Time to Regenerate: Ecosystems and Health Promotion’. PLoS Medicine 3, No. 10 (2006). Accessed May 1, 2011. http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.00 30394. Commonwealth of Australia. The National Environmental Health Strategy: Implementation Plan. enHealth Council, 2000. Creswell, John R. Qualitative Inquiry in Research Design: Choosing among Five Traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage publications, 2002. Davis, Jody L., Jeffrey D. Green, and Allison Reed. ‘Interdependence with the Environment: Commitment, Interconnectness, and Environmental Behaviour’. Journal of Environmental Psychology 29 (2009): 173–180. Doctors for the Environment, Australia. DEA Position Paper on the Health Impacts of Coal. Accessed May 1, 2012. http://dea.org.au/about/file/policy_docs. Eckersley, Robyn. ‘The State and Access to Environmental Justice: From Liberal Democracy to Ecological Democracy’. Paper presented at the Environmental Defenders Office, Perth, Western Australia, 20 February 2004. Environmental Defenders Office (Victoria) Ltd. Environmental Justice in Australia: Discussion Paper. Accessed May 1, 2012. http://www.edovic.org.au/downloads/files/law_reform/edo_vic_environmental_jus tice_discussion_paper.pdf. Frolich, Katherine L., Ellen Corin, and Louise Potvin. ‘A Theoretical Proposal for the Relationship between Context and Disease’. Sociology of Health & Illness 23, No. 6 (2001): 776–797. Gottileb, Robert, and Andrew Fisher. ‘Community Food Security and Environmental Justice: Searching for a Common Discourse’. Agriculture and Human Values 3, No. 3 (1996): 23–32. Gracia, Nadine J., and Howard K. Koh. ‘Promoting Environmental Justice’. American Journal of Public 101, No. S1 (2011): s14–s15. Heagarty, Michael F. ‘Crime and the Environment – Expanding the Boundaries of Environmental Justice’. Tulane Environmental Law Journal 23 (2010): 517–535.

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__________________________________________________________________ Higginbotham, Nick, Sonia Freeman, Linda Connor, and Glenn Albrecht. ‘Environmental Injustice and Air Pollution in Coal Affected Communities, Hunter Valley, Australia’. Health & Place 16 (2010): 259–266. Jennings, Viniece, Cassandra J. Gaither, and Richard S. Gragg, ‘Promoting Environmental Justice through Urban Green Space Access: A Synopsis’. Environmental Justice 5, No. 1 (2012): 1–7. Lin, Vivian, James Smith, and Sally Fawkes. Public Health Practice in Australia: The Organised Effort. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2007. Masuda, Jeff, Jamie Baxter, and Blake Poland. ‘Reaching for Environmental Health Justice: Canadian Experiences for a Comprehensive Research, Policy and Advocacy Agenda in Health Promotion’. Health Promotion International 25, No. 4 (2010): 553–463. McMichael, Tony, Sharon Friel, Anthony Nyong, and Carlos Corvalan. ‘Global Environmental Change and Health: Impacts, Inequalities, and the Health Sector’. BMJ 336 (2008): 191–194. Middleton, John D. ‘Health, Environment and Social Justice’. Local Environment 8, No. 2 (2003): 155–165. Millner, Felicity. ‘Access to Environmental Justice’. Deakin Law Review 16, No. 1 (2011). Okereke, C. ‘Moral Foundations for Global Environmental and Climate Justice’. Royal Institute of Philisophy 29 (2011): 117–135. Patrick, Rebecca, and Teresa Capetola. ‘It’s Here! Are We Ready? Five Case Studies of Health Promotion Practices That Address Climate Change from within Victorian Health Care Settings’. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Special Issue 22 (2011): s61–s67. Patrick, Rebecca, and James Smith. ‘Core Health Promotion Competencies in Australia: Are They Compatible with Climate Change Action?’. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Special Issue 22 (2011): s28–s33. Patton, Michael Q. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2002.

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__________________________________________________________________ Pearce, Jamie R., Elizabeth A. Richardson, Richard J. Mitchell, and Niamh K. Shortt. ‘Environmental Justice and Health: The Implications of the Socio-Spatial Distribution of Multiple Environmental Deprivation for Health Inequalities in the United Kingdom’. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (2010): 522–539. Rihoux, Benoit, and Bojana Lobe. ‘The Case for Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA): Adding Leverage for Thick Cross-Case Comparison’. In The Sage Handbook of Case-Based Methods, edited by David Byrne, and Charles Ragin, 222–243. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009. Schroeder, Richard, Kevin St Martin, Bruce Wilson, and Sen, Kumar. ‘Third World Environmental Justice, Expanding the Environmental Justice Agenda’. Editorial essay for special issue of Society & Natural Resources 21, No. 7 (2008): 547–555. Simpson, Rod. Preface to Ecological Public Health: From Vision to Practice by Cordia Chu, and Rod Simpson, 9–10. Nathan, QLD: Watson Ferguson and Company, 1994. Stake, Robert E. The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995. The University of Melbourne, ‘Social Justice Initiative – Climate Change’, Last modified 9 November 2009. Accessed May 1, 2012. http://www.socialjustice.unimelb.edu.au/sji_interactive/sji_interactive_climatechan ge.html. Wakefield, Sarah E. L., and Jamie Baxter. ‘Linking Health Inequality and Environmental Justice: Articulating a Precautionary Framework for Research and Action’. Environmental Justice 3, No. 3 (2010): 95–102. Weiss, Cathy. Women and Environmental Justice: A Literature Review. Women’s Health in the North, Victoria. Accessed May 1, 2012. http://www.whin.org.au/images/PDFs/ej_lit_review.pdf. Women’s Health in the North [WHIN]. ‘Environmental Justice’. Last modified in 2010. Accessed May 1, 2012. http://www.whin.org.au/what-we-do/environmentaljustice.html.

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__________________________________________________________________ World Health Organization [WHO]. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Paper presented at the First International Conference on Health Promotion, Ottawa, Canada, 17-21 November 1986. Accessed December 4, 2010. http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/previous/ottawa/en/ —––. Declaration of Alma Ata for Primary Health Care. Paper presented at the International Conference on Primary Health Care, Alma Ata, USSR, 6–12 September 1978. Accessed December 4, 2010. http://www.who.int/hpr/NPH/docs/declaration_almaata.pdf. —––. ‘Environmental Health’. Accessed http://www.who.int/topics/environmental_health/en/.

May

1,

2012.

World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe. Environment and Health Risks: The Influence and Effects of Social Inequalities. Report of an expert group meeting, Bonn: Germany (2009). Accessed May 1, 2012. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/115364/E93037.pdf. World Health Organisation [WHO] & Healthcare Without Harm [HCWH]. Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Addressing Climate Change in Health Care Settings. Discussion Draft, (2009). Accessed June 1, 2011. http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/healthcare_settings/en/index.html Rebecca Patrick, teaches and researches at the nexus between health, environment and social justice within the School of Health & Social Development at Deakin University in Victoria Australia. Teresa Capetola, teaches and researches at the nexus between health, environment and social justice within the School of Health & Social Development at Deakin University in Victoria Australia.

Part 3 Assessing Limitations of Existing Models and Suggestions of New Models to Address Problems of Environmental and Social Justice

Corruption, Deforestation and Environmental Injustice: The Case of Indonesia Fiona Downs and Luca Tacconi Abstract Deforestation is one of the greatest global environmental and development challenges. As forests are cut down, vital long-term ecological, cultural and economic services are affected, including biodiversity and the climate. For communities in forested areas, the promised benefits often fail to materialise and they are left with loss of access to traditional lands and degraded natural environments. Widespread corruption in the forest sector is often thought to have contributed not only to deforestation, but to the injustices experienced by communities. Based on data collected in Indonesia in 2010-2011, this chapter investigates the mechanisms by which corruption impacts upon the use of forests. Understanding these mechanisms is an important step towards building policies and programmes that can contribute to more sustainable forest management and more just outcomes for communities. The chapter will provide a description of elements of the system of corruption in Indonesia’s forest sector. It will identify the links between corruption and the way decisions are made in the forest sector. The focus is on the system of collusion between government and companies and the mechanisms by which this collusion creates political dependency of decision makers on converting forests and supporting companies, at the expense of the interests of communities. Communities seeking environmental justice face considerable institutional barriers because of corruption. Understanding how corruption influences government decision-makers is important for efforts to promote more sustainable, just and representative decision making. Key Words: Corruption, deforestation, Indonesia, environmental justice. ***** 1. Introduction Forest ecosystems provide vital ecological, social and economic services to communities at the local, national and international scale. 1 For an estimated 1.6 billion of the world’s poorest people, forest resources are also vital for subsistence, 2 providing protection and stabilisation of soil, pollination and microclimates that support traditional crops. 3 Despite the importance of managing standing forest resources sustainably, deforestation and forest degradation continues. Increasingly, the international agenda is turning to improving governance as a means to not only reduce deforestation but to ensure more equitable outcomes. Whilst there have been many cases of protected areas leading to environmental injustice there is increased recognition that conservation and

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__________________________________________________________________ community rights should be linked. Improved community rights can lead to improved conservation of biodiversity, for example by protecting sacred sites. 4 Likewise, conservation can help realise rights through protecting ecosystem services which support human health. 5 Improving forest governance is commonly associated with making government more accountable to its citizens through reforms such as decentralisation, efforts to reduce the rate of illegal logging and improve rule of law and reforms to decrease the prevalence of corruption in the forestry sector and beyond. 6 It is this last area that is the concern of this chapter. Corruption is a well-documented feature of the forest sector in many countries and corruption is often thought to be a major force ‘undermining environmental equity and destroying ecosystems.’ 7 However, there have been few studies looking at the mechanisms by which corruption may be influencing decision-makers or the contribution of corruption specifically to environmental injustice, however there are some exceptions. 8 This chapter contributes to this discussion by describing several elements of the corruption system in Indonesia’s forest sector and analysing the impact on environmental justice for communities in Indonesia. 2. The Link between Environmental Justice and Corruption At its core, the movement and theory of environmental justice is concerned with skewed distribution of environmental goods and risks. Since the beginning of the environmental justice movement in America in the 1970s, environmental justice has been used at international, national and local scale to define struggles over fairness. In theory and practice environmental justice encompasses a broad concept of environment covering human environments such as city spaces and urban parklands to natural environments such as tropical forests. Environmental justice is commonly separated along procedural and distributional lines. Distributional environmental justice is based on ideas of how goods and risks are shared amongst relevant groups. Justice is determined by ‘the right to equal treatment, that is to the same distribution of goods and opportunities as anyone else has or is given.’ 9 Distributive justice is most closely associated with concept of equity. 10 In the forest sector, distributive justice is associated with movements aiming to minimise environmental harm and promote more equitable distribution of benefits from forest-related activities. Procedural environmental justice is determined by how decisions about the environment are made. Procedural justice has been defined as the right ‘…to equal concern and respect in the political decision about how these goods and opportunities are to be distributed.’ 11 The actual outcome of the decision – in terms of who gets what – is not relevant to achieving justice, as long as the procedures for decision-making are just. In the forest sector, procedural environmental justice is concerned with efforts to legally recognise the rights of community and to incorporate traditional knowledge in environmental management.

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__________________________________________________________________ Often, the environmental injustices experienced by communities in the forest sector are explained as consequence of poor governance. 12 Corruption is one factor of governance that is particularly often associated with environmental injustices. 13 But corruption is not a single activity. It is a multifaceted phenomenon. The most common definition of corruption comes from the International NGO, Transparency International (TI) which defines corruption as the ‘abuse of entrusted power for private gain.’ The World Bank and the FAO use this definition. Whilst this definition is the most common, it has been criticised for assuming clear distinctions between public and private, which have been problematic to apply across cultures. 14 Despite these challenges, this paper draws on this definition but rather than the broader ‘entrusted power,’ the focus of this chapter is more specifically on how the public power of government is abused. Whilst corruption does not necessarily involve government officials, given that most forest resources in Indonesia are owned and managed by the state, the most common types of corruption occur between companies and government. Beyond these definitions of corruption, there are many categories that have been applied to corruption in different ways; for example petty and grand corruption; social or financial corruption or political and bureaucratic corruption. 15 The focus of this chapter is on exploring the impact of corruption on decisionmaking and therefore the categories most relevant here are non-collusive (according to the rule) and collusive (against the rule) corruption. Non-collusive corruption involves cash or in-kind payments that result in something that the person paying the bribe is legally entitled to. Payments could be small or large, to a politician or bureaucrat. The key factor is that the outcome of the payment is something that is legal, even if the payment itself is not. The second form, collusive corruption, refers to the payment of a bribe provided to get something that the person paying the bribe is not legally entitled to. Whilst these categories are not always clear to apply – particularly as regulations may by ambiguous or conflicting, they are useful in helping to understand how corruption may impact how government officials make decisions about forest resources. The following discussion draws on these ideas about environmental justice, corruption and deforestation and applies them to understanding the impact of corruption in the management of forests in Indonesia. Across Indonesia there is approximately 94 million hectares of forest cover, which constitutes roughly 52% of the Indonesian land. 16 A rough estimate indicates that 10 to 20 million Indonesians are also directly dependent on those forests. 17 Corruption has been a well-documented feature of the forest sector in Indonesia. 18 Whilst there have been significant reforms over the past decade, particularly related to decentralisation, corruption and poor governance remain a challenge in managing Indonesia’s forest resources. 19 The combination of state control over forests and abusive management of those resources forest has meant that forest areas remain a key site of struggle for justice and right for millions of

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__________________________________________________________________ Indonesians. 20 This makes Indonesia a relevant case study for exploring the relationship between corruption and environmental justice. Fieldwork took place in Indonesia between July 2010 and July 2011. Semistructured interviews were conducted with representatives from the private sector, various government departments including forestry, planning, environment and agriculture and mining. Members of communities and non-government organisations were also interviewed. Interviews at the provincial and district level were conducted in Central Kalimantan and in three districts within the province. A total of 48 people were interviewed. Given the sensitive nature of corruption research, most detailed information comes from several key informants. The insights from these key informants were confirmed in other interviews and by checking with media and other secondary sources. 3. Corruption and How It Impacts Decision-Makers 3.1 Public Service Recruitment as an Incentive to Accept and Solicit Payments from Companies Under the 1999 Corruption Law, civil servants are forbidden from receiving payments other than their salaries and allowances. Despite this, illegal payments from companies to public servants are very common. These payments are often referred to as cigarette money (uang rokok) or help (bantuan). Whilst individual payments may be as small as Rp 50,000; 21 one company informant explained that for heads of departments, payments of less than several million rupiah would be useless. 22 There are many factors that explain why these payments are so prevalent. Low public service salary is the most commonly used explanation. 23 However, there is some debate around whether public servants are actually under-paid in Indonesia.24 Another factor is the (informal) public service recruitment process, which requires applicants to pay to both enter the public service and to advance within it. Paying for recruitment and promotion has been documented at all levels of government and across many departments. 25 Whilst no member of the forestry service admitted this was a problem, there is no reason to believe that these payments are not also being made to enter or to be promoted within the forestry departments. The private sector and NGO informants supported this view. 26 There may be many impacts of this system, including people who are able to pay more being employed ahead of applicants with better skills or experience. Paying to enter the public service can also create dependency of public servants on maintaining positive relationships with companies. In order to recover the costs of the recruitment process and to collect extra salary which can be distributed to further a public servant’s career, public servants often accept (or solicit) illegal payments from companies. Public servants then are in positions of conflict of interest. Privately, they rely on company support, which gives them less incentive

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__________________________________________________________________ to report negatively about the activities of a company, even if these activities are harmful to the communities. There are many reports where companies’ activities, unmonitored by corruption government officials, have caused increased environmental harm to communities. 27 This can result in both procedural and distributive injustices. Distributive injustice occurs if payments of bribes allow a company to under-report logs and, as a result, underpay royalties that are calculated by volume. 28 Procedural injustice occurs because the public servants do not consult with communities as they are more concerned with promoting company activity. For example, one community representative explained that when the officials from district departments, including forestry, came to socialise the potential opening of a 20,000 ha mine in their subdistrict, the community were simply told ‘if an investor wants to enter this area, just don’t reject it.’ 29 3.2 Electoral Debt and Ongoing Payments from Companies to Elected Officials Corruption also contributes to similar biases within the elected officials. Similar to bureaucratic dependency, many elected officials (at all levels of government) are politically dependent on illegal payments by companies – particularly to support their election campaigns. Since decentralisation, the district head (Bupati) has become a major political player and decision-maker regarding natural resources. There has also been increased interest in becoming district head, and given the high number of elections in Indonesia, party campaign finances are spread very thinly. Candidates must raise their own campaign funds. And elections are expensive. Candidates are often reported to spend billions of rupiah to win district elections. 30 Whilst the amount that candidates spend is not the only determinant of success, 31 all candidates will require considerable sums of money to have any chance of winning. Rules which limit the contributions made by private entities are rarely enforced, 32 allowing illegal sources of campaign finance to go un-punished. 33 It is these illegal sources of campaign finance that are particularly important in driving collusion between politicians and companies. It is an open secret that private companies often provide huge amounts of support to political campaigns. 34 Informants from one company explained how, even two years before the district election, prospective candidates in the district election had approached the company to support the campaign. And this was standard practice. 35 Candidates may use private funds, for example by mortgaging their home, 36 and the debts from the election campaign can be repaid once in office. Whilst there will be variation in how much debt candidates accrue, and how much private greed might also be involved in their activities, it is the systematic nature of this campaign debt that impacts upon relationships between politicians and companies. In districts with available land or forest resources, licenses to companies can be used to repay this debt. One informant explained that mining licenses in one

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__________________________________________________________________ district cost around Rp 1 billion in bribes for every 5000 ha. 37 A local newspaper quoted a district head in another area describing how companies routinely asked him for bank details so that they could easily deposit funds into his account. 38 District heads become dependent on a cycle of campaign debt which must be repaid by colluding with companies and encouraging investment of companies who are most willing to support district heads, with potentially less concern for long term sustainable development or environmental protection. 39 The system of collusion and political dependency has potentially wide implications for environmental justice. Firstly, broad injustices result because the people directly elected to represent the communities and make decisions on their behalf are motivated by interests beyond those of the communities. More specifically, when politicians are dependent on funds from awarding licenses, they may release more areas of land to companies than may be the optimal for communities, or in areas where communities do not want investment. A recent study has found a link between local-level political cycles and logging patterns, where the period leading up to elections sees higher rates of deforestation which the authors link to campaign finance. 40 This has also been shown in other countries in Asia. 41 There is also evidence that companies are awarded licences regardless of their technical capacity. Historically, many timber licenses were awarded to close political associates of the ruling elite. 42 Since decentralisation, many licenses have been awarded to develop agricultural areas to companies that had little experience (or inclination) to do anything other than harvest timber. 43 Thus politicians and companies become mutually dependent, with the consequence that decisions by politicians and bureaucrats may be biased towards the interests of companies and short-term gains, rather than communities and long-term environmental management. 4. Corruption Is Not the Only Cause of Injustice Whilst the evidence of corruption described above shows how it can contribute to environmental injustice, creating biases in decision-making of both bureaucrats and politicians, there is not always such a direct link between corruption and deforestation or environmental justice. Firstly, corruption, such as in the examples in the previous sections can also have highly differential impacts on communities in forest areas, and these impacts may be dependent on a variety of factors. In an area where several companies had admitted to paying government officials, the company operations had widely different impacts on individuals within one village. For younger, predominantly male members of the village, the loss of forest cover did not result in distributive injustice because they were able to get jobs. For elderly members of the village who lost access to traditional forests, and were unable to get jobs with the company, the impact was far less just. 44 Secondly, when there is corruption, the consequence for environmental justice depends on what type of corruption it is. For example, non-collusive corruption

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__________________________________________________________________ arguably does not influence the decision that is being made as the outcome is legally allowed, even if the payment is not. Any injustices for communities that are the consequence of that decision are a consequence of poor regulation, and not necessarily a consequence of the corrupt exchange. At the core of this is the fact that communities are alienated from their lands due to the existing land and forestry regulatory framework, as approximately 60% of all Indonesian territory is within the legal ‘forest estate’ (kawasan hutan) and under the control of the ministry of forestry. This means that even if there was no corruption, or only noncollusive corruption, communities in forest areas across Indonesia would continue to face considerable legal barriers to achieving procedural and distributive environmental justice. 5. Conclusion To return to the discussion that opened this chapter, there are no doubt problems with the management of forests in Indonesia and a key to improving forest management will be tied to efforts to improve how communities are involved in the management of forest resources. The practice of paying to get jobs within the public service contributes to a system where public servants’ jobs are dependent on being able to collect payments from companies. This creates a conflict of interest and has contributed to poor outcomes for the forests and the people. The expensive election campaigns for district heads also create a system of collusion where politicians are dependent on companies to support their political campaigns. This system of collusion involves both the political and bureaucratic arm of government and has contributed to conversion of forests and supporting companies, at the expense of the interests of communities. Reducing corruption can go some way to improving environmental justice, however not all corruption will have the same effect. There are also broader factors, such as the lack of legal tenure for communities which also contribute to environmental injustice. Improving environmental justice and reducing deforestation in Indonesia is a pressing concern and policies that are more attentive to how corruption is (and is not) impacting upon environmental justice could lead to more sustainable and just outcomes.

Notes 1

Robert Costanza, et al., ‘The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital’, Nature 387 (1997): 253-260; Bruno Locatelli and Raffaele Vignola, ‘Managing Watershed Services of Tropical Forests and Plantations: Can Meta Analyses Help?’, Forest Ecology and Management 258 (2009): 1864-1870; R. Lal, ‘Forest Soils and Carbon Sequestration’, Forest Ecology and Management 220 (2005): 242-258.

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Oliver Dubois, ‘Forest-Based Poverty Reduction: A Brief Review of Facts, Figures, Challenges and Possible Ways Forward’, 2002, UN FAO: Tuusula. 3 For example see, Douglas Sheil and Sven Wunder, ‘The Value of Tropical Forest to Local Communities: Complications, Caveats, and Cautions’, Conservation Ecology 6 (2002). 4 Nancy Lee Peluso, ‘Coercing Conservation?: The Politics of State Resource Control’, Global Environmental Change 3 (1993): 199-217; William D. Newmark, et al., ‘Conservation Attitudes of Local People Living Adjacent to Five Protected Areas in Tanzania’, Biological Conservation 63 (1993): 177-183; Paul Vedeld, et al., ‘Protected Areas, Poverty and Conflicts: A Livelihood Case Study of Mikumi National Park, Tanzania’ Forest Policy and Economics 21 (2012): 20-31. 5 Jessica Campese, et al., eds. Rights-Based Approaches: Exploring Issues and Opportunities for Conservation. 2009, CIFOR, IUCN: Bogor, Indonesia. 6 WRI, ‘World Resources 2002-2004: Decisions for the Earth: Balance, Voice, and Power’, 2003, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, World Resources Institute., 36; A. Contreras-Hermosilla, ‘Illegal Activities and Corruption in the Forest Sector’, in State of the world’s forests 2001, Rome: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation; Luca Tacconi, ‘The Problem of Illegal Logging’, in Illegal Logging: Law Enforcement, Livelihoods and the Timber Trade, ed. Luca Tacconi (London: Earthscan, 2007). 7 Global Witness, ‘Cambodia’s Family Trees: Illegal Logging and the Stripping of Public Assets by Cambodia’s Elite’, 2007, Global Witness; Celcor and Acf, ‘Bulldozing Progress: Human Rights Abuses and Corruption in Papua New Guinea’s Large Scale Logging Industry’, 2006, The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights, Australian Conservation Foundation: Port Moresby, PNG; Melbourne, Australia; WRI, Decisions for the Earth: Balance, Voice, and Power, 36 8 Global Witness, ‘Cambodia’s Family Trees’, 2007, Global Witness; Celcor and ACF, ‘Bulldozing Progress’, 2006, The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights, Australian Conservation Foundation: Port Moresby, PNG; Melbourne, Australia; René Véron, et al., ‘Decentralized Corruption or Corrupt Decentralization? Community Monitoring of Poverty-Alleviation Schemes in Eastern India’, World Development 34 (2006): 1922-1941; Erwin H. Bulte, Richard Damania and Ramón López, ‘On the Gains of Committing to Inefficiency: Corruption, Deforestation and Low Land Productivity in Latin America’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 54 (2007): 277-295. 9 Clifford Rechtschaffen, Eileen Gauna and Catherine A. O’Neill, eds., Environmental Justice: Law, Policy and Regulation. (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2009), 9.

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Jekwu Ikeme, ‘Equity, Environmental Justice and Sustainability: Incomplete Approaches in Climate Change Politics’, Global Environmental Change 13 (2003): 195-206. 11 Rechtschaffen, Gauna and O’Neill, Environmental Justice: Law, Policy and Regulation, 9. 12 J. Mayers, et al., ‘Forest Governance and Social Justice: Practical Tactics from a Learning Group Approach in Africa’, International Forestry Review 8 (2006). 13 Celcor and Acf, Bulldozing Progress; Nalin Kishor and Richard Damania, ‘Crime and Justice in the Garden of Eden: Improving Governance and Reducing Corruption in the Forestry Sector’, in The Many Faces of Corruption, J.E.C.S. Pradhan, 2007, The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The World Bank: Washington, 121-147. 14 J .C. Andvig and O.-H. Fjeldstadt, ‘Research on Corruption. A Policy Oriented Survey’ (Oslo/Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute and Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, 2000); Peter Larmour, ‘A Short Introduction to Corruption and Anti-Corruption’, in CIES e-WORKING PAPER Nº 37/2007. 15 See K. Jain Arvind, ‘Corruption: A Review’, Journal of Economic Surveys 15 (2001): 71-121. 16 Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, ‘State of the World’s Forests, 2011’ (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2011), 113. 17 Eva Wollenberg, et al., ‘Why Are Forest Areas Relevant to Reducing Poverty in Indonesia?’, Forests and Governance Programme: Governance Brief (CIFOR: Bogor, 2004). 18 J. F. McCarthy, The Fourth Circle: A Political Ecology of Sumatra’s Rainforest Frontier. Contemporary Issues in Asia and the Pacific (California: Stanford University Press, 2006); Mark Poffenberger, ‘Rethinking Indonesian Forest Policy: Beyond the Timber Barons’, Asian Survey 37 (1997): 453-469; C. Barr, et al., ‘Financial Governance and Indonesia’s Reforestation Fund during the Soeharto and Post-Soeharto Periods, 1989-2009: A Political Economic Analysis of Lessons for Redd+’ (Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research, 2010). 19 Christopher Barr, et al., ‘Decentralisation of Forest Administration in Indonesia: Implications for Forest Sustainability, Community Livelihoods, and Economic Development’ (Bogor, Indonesia: Centre for International Forestry Research, 2006); J. Smith, et al., ‘Illegal Logging, Collusive Corruption and Fragmented Governments in Kalimantan, Indonesia’, International Forestry Review 5 (2003): 293-302. 20 Stefanie Engel and Charles Palmer, ‘Who Owns the Right? The Determinants of Community Benefits from Logging in Indonesia’, Forest Policy and Economics 8 (2006): 434-446; J. F. McCarthy, ‘Changing to Gray: Decentralization and the

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__________________________________________________________________ Emergence of Volatile Socio-Legal Configurations in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia’ World Development 32 (2004): 1199-1223. 21 USD 1 = Rp 9, 218.29 May 2012. 22 Informant Interview, private sector representative (56) August, 2010. 23 Hasyim Widhiarto, ‘Judges Strive to Uphold Dignity despite Low Pay’, The JakartaPost, March 26, 2012, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/04/26/judges-strive-uphold-dignitydespite-low-pay.html. 24 Deon Filmer and David L. Lindauer, ‘Does Indonesia Have a “Low Pay” Civil Service?’, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 37 (2001): 189-205. 25 Erzra Sihite and Ameila Rizky, ‘Miranda Finally Named a Suspect in Bank Indonesia, DPR Corruption Scandal’, 27 January 2012, http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/miranda-finally-named-a-suspect/493965; V Metro Siang, ‘Polisi Suap Polisi’, in MetroSiang 2 February, 2012, http://www.metrotvnews.com/metromain/newsprograms/2012/02/02/11424/PolisiSuap-Polisi. 26 Informant Interview, private sector representative (56) August, 2010; Informant interview , NGO representative (4) November 2010. 27 Eia/Telepak, ‘The Thousand-Headed Snake: Forest Crimes, Corruption and Injustice in Indonesia’, 2007, EIA/Telepak. 28 Barr, et al., Financial Governance and Indonesia’s Reforestation Fund; V Metro Siang, Polisi Suap Polisi. 29 Informant interview, community representative (50) July, 2011. 30 Marcus Mietzner, ‘Funding Pilkada: Illegal Campaign Financing in Indonesia’s Local Elections’, in The State and Illegality in Indonesia, eds. E. Aspinall and G.v. Klinken (Leiden, KITLV Press, 2011), 123-138; Tempo.Co, ‘Inilah Dana Yang Dihabiskan Kandidat Bekasi-1 Dan 2’, in Tempo.co 13 March, 2012, http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2012/03/13/064389980/Inilah-Dana-yangDihabiskan-Kandidat-Bekasi-1-dan-2. 31 For example see, Jacqueline Vel, ‘Pilkada in East Sumba: An Old Rivalry in a New Democratic Setting’, Indonesia 80 (2005): 81-107. 32 Marcus Mietzner, ‘Party Financing in Post-Soeharto Indonesia: Between State Subsidies and Political Corruption’, Contemporary Southeast Asia 29, No. 2 (2007). 33 Tempo.Co, ‘Calon Gubernur Aceh Belum Laporkan Dana Kampanye’, in Tempo.co7, April, 2012, http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2012/04/07/058395386/Calon-Gubernur-AcehBelum-Laporkan-Dana-Kampanye. 34 Mietzner, Funding Pilkada; Kompas.com, ‘Dana Kampanye Bupati Keerom Beruhung Gugatan’.

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Informant interview, private sector representative (35), March 2011. Agus Maryono, ‘Regional Leaders “Use Dirty Money” to Pay Off Campaign Debts’, The JakartaPost, 17 April 2012, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/04/17/regional-leaders-use-dirtymoney-pay-campaign-debts.html. 37 Informant interview, Private sector representative (3), December 2011. 38 Bhataranews, ‘Sampit Kotim: Wawancara Bupati’, in Bhatara.news July 2011. 39 For example see C. Barr, ‘Profits on Paper: The Political-Economy of Fibre, Finance, and Debt in Indonesia’s Pulp and Paper Industries’, in Banking on Sustainabiliy: A Critical Assessment of Structural Adjustment in Indonesia’s Forest and Estate Crop Industries (Bogor, CIFOR and WWF, 2000). 40 Robin Burgess, et al., ‘The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics’ (London: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011). 41 Michael L. Ross, Timber Booms and Institutional Breakdown in Southeast Asia, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). 42 For example see Barr, Profits on Paper. 43 Smith, et al., Illegal Logging, Collusive Corruption and Fragmented Governments in Kalimantan, Indonesia. 44 Informant interview, community representative (62), September 2011. 36

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__________________________________________________________________ Sihite, Erzra, and Amelia Rizky, ‘Miranda Finally Named a Suspect in Bank Indoneisa, Dpr Corruption Scandal’. The JakartaGlobe, January 27, 2012. Smith, J., K. Obidzinski, Subarudi, and I. Suramenggala. ‘Illegal Logging, Collusive Corruption and Fragmented Governments in Kalimantan, Indonesia’. International Forestry Review 5, No. 3 (2003): 293–302. Tacconi, Luca. ‘The Problem of Illegal Logging’. Chapter 1. In Illegal Logging: Law Enforcement, Livelihoods and the Timber Trade, edited by Luca Tacconi. London: Eartscan, 2007. Tempo.co. ‘Inilah Dana Yang Dihabiskan Kandidat Bekasi-1 Dan 2’. Tempo.co, 13 March, 2012. Vedeld, Paul, Abdallah Jumane, Gloria Wapalila, and Alexander Songorwa. ‘Protected Areas, Poverty and Conflicts: A Livelihood Case Study of Mikumi National Park, Tanzania’. Forest Policy and Economics 21 (2012): 20–31. Vel, Jacqueline. ‘Pilkada in East Sumba: An Old Rivalry in a New Democratic Setting’. Indonesia 80 (2005): 81–107. Véron, René, Glyn Williams, Stuart Corbridge, and Manoj Srivastava. ‘Decentralized Corruption or Corrupt Decentralization? Community Monitoring of Poverty-Alleviation Schemes in Eastern India’. World Development 34, No. 11 (2006): 1922–1941. Wadley, Reed, and Carol Colfer. ‘Sacred Forest, Hunting, and Conservation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia’. Human Ecology 32,No. 3 (2004): 313–338. Warsidi, Adi. ‘Calon Gubernur Aceh Belum Lapokan Dana Kampanye’. Tempo.co, 7 April, 2012. Widhiarto, Hasyim ‘Judges Strive to Uphold Dignity despite Low Pay’. The JakartaPost, March 26, 2012. Wisanggeni, Aryo. ‘Dana Kampanye Bupati Keerom Beruhung Gugatan’. Kompas.com, 13 Febuary, 2008.

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__________________________________________________________________ Wollenberg, Eva, Brian Belcher, Douglas Sheil, Sonya Dewi, and Moira Moeliono. ‘Why Are Forest Areas Relevant to Reducing Poverty in Indonesia?’. In Forests and Governance Programme: Governance Brief. Bogor: CIFOR, 2004. WRI. ‘World Resources 2002-2004: Decisions for the Earth: Balance, Voice, and Power’. United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, World Resources Institute, 2003. Fiona Downs is a PhD student at the Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University. Luca Tacconi is Director of the Environment and Development Program at the Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University.

Acknowledgements This chapter has benefited from funding from the Australian Research Council (LP 0989909) and the Australian Agency for International Development (EFCC 082) project.

Environmental Injustice, Socio-Economic Injustice and the Crises in the Niger-Delta Region of Nigeria: The Roles of Multinational Oil Corporations, Government and Global Citizens Adebola Babatunde Ekanola Abstract The chapter begins with an analysis of the idea of environmental justice from both the homocentric and life-centred perspectives, contending that it should be extended from the fair treatment and involvement of people in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens to the fair treatment of everything in nature such that no part of nature is particularly disadvantaged or harmed by having its nature deformed or impacted negatively. It establishes that environmental injustice is perpetuated in the Niger Delta region from both perspectives. It also outlines how the prevailing environmental injustice generates socio-economic injustice in the region as well as the roles of Multinational Oil Corporations operating in Nigeria and the Federal Government of Nigeria in this. The thesis of the chapter is that a consistent practice of the ideal of global citizenship, understood as having a universal sympathy for all, and due regard for the fundamental dignity and rights of the human person beyond the barriers of nationality or any other consideration employed to classify people, would facilitate a resolution of the problem of injustice in the Niger Delta. This is premised on the understanding that the problem, in a fundamental sense, is generated by a widespread disrespect for the essential dignity and fundamental rights of humans on the part of virtually all stakeholders in the Delta region. The consistent practice of the ideal of global citizenship would, for instance motivate people to (1) boycott goods that are not produced in ways that are environmentally friendly and (2) refrain from investing in such companies. Given the operational principle of oil companies that good environmentalism is good business; such actions would provide additional impetus for oil companies to address the different manifestations of environmental and related socio-economic injustices that beset the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Key Words: Niger-delta, environmental injustice, socio-economic injustice, multinational oil corporation. ***** 1. The Idea of Environmental Justice Environmental justice relates to the fair treatment and involvement of people in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens among different segments of society. It exists when everyone enjoys the same level of protection from environmental hazards and an equal access to the decision making process for an

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__________________________________________________________________ healthy environment. 1 This conception of environmental justice is homocentric by assuming that only humans have an intrinsic moral value on the basis of which they have interests, needs or rights that require them to be treated justly. 2 This idea of human intrinsic moral value is premised on the claim that they have selfconsciousness or subjective experiences in a way that non-humans do not. This idea is, however, very questionable as it is established that mammals and birds do feel pain and pleasure. There have also been claims, though hard to believe, that some plants are not just conscious, but also psychic. 3 The view that the notions of rights and justice are only meaningful within the context of beings who can honour contracts is also flawed. Apart from excluding non-humans, it also excludes human infants, young children and mentally defective people from beings with rights and who should be treated fairly. However, these categories of people constitute the most vulnerable in society that should be protected, and their incapacity to honour contracts does not imply that they can be treated unfairly. Indeed, any being or thing that could suffer or be damaged by having its nature deformed should be treated fairly with regards to the distribution of benefits and burdens. At least, such harm should be considered in deliberations and decisions about the environment. Thus, rather than define environmental justice only in human terms, the fact that other non-human beings could be harmed by human activities that affect the environment necessitates that their interest should also be considered in any discourse on environmental justice. This suggests that the usual conception of environmental injustice is quite narrow. Humans constitute only a part of the environment, and they interact intricately and extensively with virtually every other aspect of nature in ways that require that their impacts on the environment should be considered beyond how these would affect their wellbeing. 4 Hence, the notion of environmental justice should be extended from the fair treatment and involvement of people in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens to the fair treatment of everything in nature such that no part of nature is particularly disadvantaged or harmed by having its nature deformed or impacted negatively. The broad conception of environmental justice being advocated is akin to that of deep ecology, which maintains that ‘the well-being and flourishing of human and non-human life on earth have value in themselves. These values are independent of the usefulness of the non-human world for human purposes.’ 5 Indeed, adequate consideration should be given to the view that the non-human components of the environment also has moral claims of its own and deserves respect for its own sake. 6 2. Environmental and Socio-Economic Injustice in the Niger-Delta Given the broad conception of environmental justice, it follows that environmental injustice is perpetuated in the Niger-Delta region through oil

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__________________________________________________________________ production in two distinct ways. First is by the exposure of the environment itself to harm: land is badly degraded, air and waters heavily polluted, wild life, and the hitherto serene and beautiful natural flora are destroyed consequent of oil spillage, gas flaring, forest encroachment and other activities associated with oil production. The primary harm on the environment births the second sense in which environmental injustice is perpetuated: indigenous people are exposed to grievous environmental hazards resulting in serious health challenges. Their sources of livelihood, primarily fishing and farming are also destroyed. Thus, people in this region carry the environmental burden of the oil industry, which is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, in ways that people in other regions, who seem to benefit more from the oil industry do not. For instance, due to frequent oil spills, a year's supply of food may be destroyed, and the environment is increasingly becoming uninhabitable. People in affected areas are confronted by diverse health problems that include respiratory diseases and skin lesions resulting in many cases of death. 7 Advocates of the potential compensation criterion might attempt to justify the environmental burden of the oil industry in the Niger Delta in terms of the overall economic gains for the country, and particularly the fact that the region is given a higher percentage of the revenue from the oil industry. This is the controversial 13% of oil revenue to compensate for the degradation of the environment and consequent loss of earnings due to oil prospecting activities. 8 However, this is easily faulted on the ground that utility is not always coterminous with justice. That a practice has a higher utility does not mean that it is just. Hence, the violation of the right of the people of the Niger delta region to a good environment and a reasonable means of good and healthy living cannot be justified on the ground that it brings a higher utility for the entire country. Besides, from the perspective of environmental justice movement, environmental degradation and reduced public health of the people of the Delta region can never be compensated monetarily. 9 This is rendered more obvious by the fact that the touted 13% compensation has not had any significant impact on the local people of the region while the environmental injustice persists unchecked: ‘Unemployment remains high, especially among youths, social services (for education, health, recreation, etc) and physical infrastructure are still poor everywhere in the region, while the problem of poverty in the midst of the ballooning oil revenues remains.’ 10 There is an intricate relationship between environmental injustice in the NigerDelta region, understood specifically as the unfair distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, and socio-economic injustice. The idea of socio-economic justice is generally premised on the common understanding that people should benefit from socio-economic enterprise in proportion to their contribution to it. Hence, any uneven distribution of socio-economic benefits is unjust when it is not proportional to people’s contribution to the generation of the socio-economic benefits. Such benefits include good education, medical care, clean water,

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__________________________________________________________________ electricity, good road network, and other basic necessities of that facilitate good social existence. Indeed, much of the manifestations of socio-economic injustice in the Niger Delta region are a product of the unfair distribution of environmental burdens and benefits that are directly linked to the oil exploration and production in the region. The common argument is that the Niger Delta region, which bears the burden of oil production that constitutes the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, is denied its fair share of the proceeds of the oil revenue generated from it. What it gets is primarily the destruction of the traditional means of livelihood of its indigenes, a denial of spiritual succour through the destruction of sacred forests and shrines as a result of oil production, contamination of waters and destruction of aquatic life, loss of homes to oil business, thereby worsening the problem of unemployment and poverty. 11 Consequently, the region has been described as an unmitigated environmental disaster, the home of wretchedness, and the hell hole of Nigeria. 12 3. Oil Corporations, Government and the Prevailing Injustice in the Niger Delta Much of the environmental injustice in the Niger Delta region is attributed to the unethical production techniques adopted by oil corporations. They not only fail in maintaining ‘good oil field practices’ but also in taking adequate steps to check, redress or compensate for the hazardous impacts of their activities on both the environment and the people of the region. 13 They are alleged to carry out exploration ‘in total disregard of the basic principles of sustainable environmental management.’ 14 However, many of the oil corporations in the region argue that they do their best to minimise the harmful effects of their activities on the environment and also contribute meaningfully to social development as a means of reducing problems of socio-economic injustice. Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), for instance, in its annual reports claims compliance with government’s environmental guidelines and standards for the petroleum industry in Nigeria by at least 87 percent in the bid to minimize the negative impacts of their operations on the environment. It claims further that ‘as at 1st Oct 2011 we have completed and certified 71 out of the 74 spill incidents that happened before 2005, the last three are at various stages of completion and we are confident we will complete these.’ 15 SPDC also often chronicles various projects embarked upon to alleviate poverty, provide employment, and facilitate law and order, basic education, and other essential services and facilities, as part of its contribution to address socioeconomic injustice in the Niger Delta region. 16 Besides the efforts made by oil companies, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), over the years, has also tried to redress both environmental and socioeconomic injustice in the Niger Delta. For instance, laws are designed to enhance socio-economic development and security, protect the environment and the rights

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__________________________________________________________________ of the people of the region, and also guarantee that oil exploration and production conform to international standards. These include the Environment Impact Assessment Act (Decree 86 of 1992). Parastatals are also established to ensure that relevant laws are obeyed by oil companies, that they carry out their operations according to international oil industry standards and practices, and that social development is facilitated in communities where oil is derived. These include Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), in 1970 and the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), in 2000. 17 However, in spite of all that oil companies and the FGN claim to do in the Niger Delta, the environmental and socio-economic problems remain unsolved, spawning discontent and disillusion in the midst of ballooning oil revenues. 18 This is not surprising as a fundamental cause of the problems remain unsolved. According to Benjamin Akindele, the Warri head of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, a week does not go by without a reported oil spill, with many of them due to operational failures of oil companies. These spills, on a yearly basis, are claimed to be comparable to the Exxon Valdez spill. 19 A reason for the constant recurrence of oil spillages and persistence of associated environmental and socio-economic injustices in the region is that oil companies have not shown sufficient commitment to the resolution of these problems. As they embark upon various projects in the name of corporate social responsibility their operational principle appears to be ‘good environmentalism is good business.’ 20 This prescribes that business acts responsibly towards the environment only when this would enhance their business interests. 21 Other factors underlying the persistence of environmental and socio-economic injustice relates to government. Oil companies often accuse it of failing to fund its share of joint ventures designed to resolve or alleviate injustices in the region. It is also often found to be inefficient in implementing and enforcing environmental protection laws, thereby allowing oil companies to get away with several infringements. 22 Besides, many of the government agencies with oversight functions in the oil industry lack the means and the mandate to clean oil spills. They maintain that this is the primary responsibility of the polluters, who contrary to their claims are often elusive with regards to this responsibility. 23 The situation is further complicated, on the part of both the oil companies and government, by the ‘benefit captor syndrome,’ which refers to the diversion of compensations by those who receive them on behalf of communities to their own personal advantage. 24 4. Resort to Violence Indigenes of the Niger Delta, confronted by persistent environmental and socioeconomic injustice, have often resorted to violence in their demand for justice. This is not unusual as people ‘have a natural tendency to resent, resist and make efforts to either reform or overturn any unjust social arrangement by whatever available

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__________________________________________________________________ means.’ 25 The demand started in 1966 when the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) declared a Republic of the Niger Delta. 26 After this came the non-violent social movement of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) led by Saro Wiwa. With his execution by the government of Sanni Abacha in 1994 and the violent approach adopted by government to repress demands for justice, there emerged several militant groups, and with them, the non-violent demand for justice snowballed into a violent struggle against government and oil companies perceived by the people of the Niger Delta as responsible for their socio-economic impoverishment. 27 Demands for justice, in recent times, range from a total control of the resources of the region by indigenes to increase in the percentage of the oil revenue that is allocated for the development of the region, and greater commitments from oil companies to the ideals of corporate social responsibility. Unfortunately, rather than resolve the perceived injustice, the violent approach, adopted by both government and militant groups, has only complicated the problem in the region. For one, criminally minded groups take advantage of the militant stance of legitimate groups to vandalise oil pipelines and steal crude oil, kidnap expatriates for ransom, and engage in other criminal activities. Realising the obvious inefficiency of the use of violence in checking the spate of violence in the Niger Delta, government in 2009 evolved the amnesty approach that militants who surrender arms within 60 days would not be prosecuted for crimes. Rather, they would be reintegrated and rehabilitated. 28 An argument for the Amnesty programme is that relative peace has to be first established before the problems with development and socio-economic injustice could be effectively addressed. However, while many militants have responded by surrendering their arms, many have not. More importantly, the amnesty programme has not addressed the root cause of the problem of environmental and socio-economic injustice emanating from the activities of the oil companies in the region, and until the root cause is effectively addressed, peace cannot be truly achieved in the region. 5. A Way Forward: The Idea Global Citizenship The idea of global citizenship has many meanings and has become a buzzword often used to motivate people into social action for public good. 29 Generally, a global citizen is a person that has a deep respect for all humans irrespective of race, nationality, religion or creed. It connotes having a universal sympathy for all, and due regard for the fundamental dignity and rights of the human person beyond the barriers of nationality or any other consideration employed to classify people. 30 A practical adoption of the ideal of global citizenship would facilitate a resolution of the problem of injustice in the Niger Delta given the understanding that it is, in a fundamental sense, generated by a widespread ‘disregard for the fundamental dignity and basic rights of the human person on the part of virtually all stakeholders in the Delta.’ 31 This disregard underlies the various roles played by

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__________________________________________________________________ all stakeholders in the Niger Delta crisis, especially oil companies and government. Were it to be otherwise, three basic preconditions would have been fulfilled: All interactions between government and oil companies on one hand and local communities on the other would: (1) be voluntary, (2) be mutually beneficial and fair, and (3) take account of relevant needs, desires and interests. Hence, a resolution of the crisis in the Niger Delta would be enhanced if government and oil companies embrace the ideal of global citizenship which requires that they begin to give due regard to the essential human dignity and fundamental rights of people in the Niger Delta. This would predispose oil corporations, being the primary cause of environmental pollution and injustice in the Niger Delta, to be more committed to issues of environmental justice, even when this does not necessarily translate into good business for them. While arguing for a similar position, Hoffman stated: ‘We should promote business ethics, not because good ethics is good business, but because we are morally required to adopt the moral point of view in all our dealings and business is no exception.’ 32 Although the proposal of global citizenship is based on the homocentric conception of justice and, if given a widespread practical recognition, would only address injustice that affects humans while other components of the environment would be largely ignored, it at least offers a means of getting stakeholders to become more committed to the resolution of environmental and socio-economic problems in the region. Besides, the non-human component of the environment would still benefit from a homocentric environmental justice, even though the benefit accruable to it would be a by-product of the pursuit of benefit for the human component. As stakeholders pay attention to the environment in an attempt to enhance human interests, the environment would also be preserved and enhanced. The ideal of global citizenship, if well propagated, would motivate people to act on the basis of the consciousness that oil companies, as the primary cause of environmental injustice, do not give due regard to the fundamental dignity and basic rights of the indigenes of the Niger Delta. For instance, it would motivate people, among other actions to (1) boycott goods that are not produced in ways that are environmentally friendly and (2) refrain from investing in such companies. If these were practiced consistently, they would, given the operational principle of oil companies that good environmentalism is good business, provide additional motivation for oil companies to address environmental and related socio-economic problems. The above position is put succinctly: ‘if a business knows that its customers want strong environmental policies, a business will follow or lose sales, which is not profit maximizing.’ 33 The problem of the idea of global citizenship, however, is: how do we propagate its ideals in such a way that it would gain a widespread practical acceptance that would provide sufficient impetus for stakeholders in the oil industry in the Niger Delta to become more committed to the resolution of the

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__________________________________________________________________ environmental and socio-economic injustice in the region. A resolution of this problem may well be the focus of another chapter.

Notes 1

Troy Hartley, ‘Environmental Justice: An Environmental Civil Rights Value Acceptable to all World Views’, in Environmental Ethics: An Anthology, eds. Andrew Light and Holmes Rolston III (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003), 479. 2 Peter Singer, ‘The Place of Non-Humans in Environmental Issues’, in Environmental Ethics: An Anthology, eds. Andrew Light and Holmes Rolston III (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003), 57. 3 Ibid. 4 James W. Nickel and Eduardo Viola, ‘Integrating Environmentalism and Human Rights’, in Environmental Ethics: An Anthology, eds. Andrew Light and Holmes Rolston III (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003), 472. 5 Arne Naess, ‘The Deep Ecological Movement: Some Philosophical’, in Environmental Ethics: An Anthology, eds. Andrew Light and Holmes Rolston III (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003), 264. 6 Nickel and Viola, ‘Integrating Environmentalism and Human Rights’, 473. 7 J. Baird, ‘Oil’s Shame in Africa’, Newsweek, 26 July 2010, 17. 8 ‘Derivation Formula: Niger Delta Governors, Senators, Representatives Blast Northern Governors’, The Vanguard, 27 February 2012, 34. 9 Hartley, ‘Environmental Justice’, 480. 10 Adebola Babatunde Ekanola, ‘Interrogating the Basic Cause of the Niger Delta Debacle’, Journal of Sustainable Development 9, No. 4 (2007): 112-113. 11 Victor Dike, Mismanagement of Natural Resource Rents and the Niger Delta Crisis, accessed May 30, 2012, http://www.gamji.com/article60000/NEWA6594.htm. 12 ‘Why Men Rebel in the Niger Delta’, Daily Independent, 16 June 2006, 20. 13 Akin Oyebode, ‘The Legal Framework of Oil Exploration in Nigeria: A Critique’, in Boiling Point, eds. Wumi Raji, Ayodele Ale and Eni Akinsola (Lagos: Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, 2000), 59. 14 Environmental Pollution in the Niger Delta, accessed June 6, 2012, http://www.nigerdeltacampaign.com/index.php/2010/02/environmental-pollutionin-the-niger-delta/. 15 Respecting the Environment, accessed June 1, 2012, http://www.shell.com.ng/home/content/nga/environment_society/respecting_the_e nvironment/remediation/. 16 People and the Environment Annual Report (A Publication of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd., 2004).

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Omotayo Olorode, ‘The Crisis in the Oil Producing Communities in Nigeria’, in Boiling Point, eds. Wumi Raji, Ayodele Ale and |Eni Akinsola (Lagos: Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, 2000), 17. 18 Michael Watts, ‘Sweet and Sour’, in Curse of Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, ed. Michael Watts (Broklyn: Powerhouse Books, 2008), 44. 19 ‘Oil Spills Drench and Sicken Delta Communities’, Nigeria Today Online, accessed June 28, 2012, http://www.globalpost.com/news/regions/africa/nigeria/120624.html. 20 Michael Hoffman, ‘Business and Environmental Ethics’, in Perspectives in Business Ethics, ed. Laura Pincus Hartman (Chicago: McGraw-Hill Co., 1998), 697. 21 The Land is Dying, accessed June 28, 2012, http://www.waado.org/environment/PetrolPolution/TheLandIsDying.html.6 22 ‘The Cost of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities’, Human Rights Watch, accessed June 29, 2012, http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/nigeria/Nigew991-01.htmlP198_13538. 23 ‘Oil Spills Drench and Sicken Delta Communities’, Nigeria Today Online, accessed June 28, 2012, http://www.globalpost.com/news/regions/africa/nigeria/120624. 24 ‘Niger Delta Human Development Report’, The Vanguard, 14 August 2006, 36. 25 Adebola Babatunde Ekanola, ‘The Imperative of Justice in the Quest for Peace in Contemporary Society’, in Perspectives on Peace and Conflict in Africa, ed. Isaac Olawale Albert (Ibadan: John Archers 2005), 52. 26 Watts, ‘Sweet and Sour’, 44. 27 F. Tuodolo, ‘Generation’, in Curse of Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, ed. Michael Watts (Broklyn: Powerhouse Books, 2008), 114-115. 28 Slow Start for Niger Delta Amnesty, accessed June 6, 2012, http://www.ipsnewa.net. 29 Michael Byers, ‘Are You a Global Citizen? Really? What Does It Mean?’, accessed June 7, 2012, http://thetyee.ca/Views/2005/10/05/globalcitizen/. 30 Hartley, ‘Environmental Justice’, 478. 31 Ekanola, ‘Interrogating the Basic Cause of the Niger Delta Debacle’, 113. 32 Hoffman, ‘Business and Environmental Ethics’, 700. 33 James Harvey, ‘Environment’, in Perspectives in Business Ethics, ed. Laura Pincus Hartman (Chicago: McGraw-Hill Co. 1998), 15.

Bibliography Baird, J. ‘Oil’s Shame in Africa’. Newsweek, 26 July 2010.

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__________________________________________________________________ Byers, Michael. ‘Are You a Global Citizen? Really? What Does It Mean?’. Accessed June 7, 2012. http://thetyee.ca/Views/2005/10/05/globalcitizen/. ‘Derivation Formula: Niger Delta Governors, Senators, Representatives Blast Northern Governors’. The Vanguard, 27 February 2012. Dike, Victor. ‘Mismanagement of Natural Resource Rents and the Niger Delta Crisis’. Accessed May 30, 2012. http://www.gamji.com/article60000/NEWA6594.htm. Ekanola, Adebola Babatunde. ‘The Imperative of Justice in the Quest for Peace in Contemporary Society’. In Perspectives on Peace and Conflict in Africa, edited by Isaac Olawale Albert, 44–56. Ibadan: John Archers, 2005. —––. ‘Interrogating the Basic Cause of the Niger Delta Debacle’. Journal of Sustainable Development 9, No. 4 (2007): 95–119. ‘Environmental Pollution in the Niger Delta’. Accessed June 6, 2012. http://www.nigerdeltacampaign.com/index.php/2010/02/environmental-pollutionin-the-niger-delta/. Hartley, Troy. ‘Environmental Justice: An Environmental Civil Rights Value Acceptable to all World Views’. In Environmental Ethics: An Anthology, edited by Andrew Light, and Holmes Rolston III, 478–486. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. 2003. Harvey, James. ‘Environment’. In Perspectives in Business Ethics, edited by Laura Pincus Hartman, 715. Chicago: McGraw-Hill Co., 1998. Hoffman, Michael. W. ‘Business and Environmental Ethics’, edited by Laura Pincus Hartman, 715. Chicago: McGraw-Hill Co., 1998. Naess, Arne. ‘The Deep Ecological Movement: Some Philosophical’. In Environmental Ethics: An Anthology, edited by Andrew Light, and Holmes Rolston III, 262–274. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. 2003. Nickel, James W., and Eduardo Viola. ‘Integrating Environmentalism and Human Rights’. In Environmental Ethics: An Anthology, edited by Andrew Light, and Holmes Rolston III, 472–477. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.

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__________________________________________________________________ ‘Niger Delta Human Development Report’. The Vanguard, 14 August 2006. ‘Oil Spills Drench and Sicken Delta Communities’. Nigeria Today Online. Accessed June 28, 2012. http://www.globalpost.com/news/regions/africa/nigeria/120624. Olorode, Omotayo. ‘The Crisis in the Oil Producing Communities in Nigeria’. In Boiling Point, edited by Wumi Raji, Ayodele Ale, and Eni Akinsola, 9–22. Lagos: Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, 2000. Oyebode, Akin. ‘The Legal Framework of Oil Exploration in Nigeria: A Critique’. In Boiling Point, edited by Wumi Raji, Ayodel Ale, and |Eni Akinsola, 53–64. Lagos: Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, 2000. ‘People and the Environment Annual Report’. A Publication of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd., 2004. ‘Respecting the Environment’. Accessed June 1, 2012. http://www.shell.com.ng/home/content/nga/environment_society/respecting_the_e nvironment/remediation/. Singer, Peter. ‘The Place of Non-Humans in Environmental Issues’. In Environmental Ethics: An Anthology, edited by Andrew Light, and Holmes Rolston III, 55–64. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. 2003. ‘Slow Start for Niger http://www.ipsnewa.net.

Delta

Amnesty’.

Accessed

June

6,

2012.

‘The Cost of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities’. Human Rights Watch. Accessed June 29, 2012. http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/nigeria/Nigew991-01.htmlP198_13538. ‘The Land is Dying’. Accessed June 28, 2012. http://www.waado.org/environment/PetrolPolution/TheLandIsDying.html.6. Tuodolo, F. ‘Generation’. In Curse of Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, edited by Michael Watts, 114–225. Broklyn: Powerhouse Books, 2008.

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__________________________________________________________________ Watts, Michael. ‘Sweet and Sour’. In Curse of Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, edited by Michael Watts, 44–49. Broklyn: Powerhouse Books. 2008. ‘Why Men Rebel in the Niger Delta’. Daily Independent, 16 June 2006. Adebola Babatunde Ekanola is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He specialises in the areas of Ethics and Social and Political Philosophy. His research is primarily on issues that pertain to social development and social peace.

Environmental Justice under Our Skin? Socio-Stratifying Human Biomonitoring Results of Adolescents Living Near an Industrial Hotspot in Flanders, Belgium Bert Morrens, Liesbeth Bruckers, Ilse Loots, Elly Den Hond, Vera Nelen, Nik Van Larebeke, Isabelle Sioen, Greet Schoeters and Willy Baeyens Abstract Environmental justice research suggests that inequalities in the distribution of environmental quality systematically disadvantage the lower social strata of society. The effects of these inequalities on the human exposure to specific chemical pollution remain, however, to a large extend unknown, especially in hotspot areas where surrounding neighbourhoods are exposed to a mixture of diverse pollution. In Flanders, the northern part of Belgium, a community-based participatory approach was set up between 2009-2010 to collect blood, urine and hair samples of 197 socially and ethnically diverse adolescents (14-15 years of age) living in the close proximity of a non-ferro industrial area. We conduct a sociostratification of human biomonitoring results by associating the internal body concentration of three types of chemical pollution (heavy metals, POPs and volatile compounds) with individual socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnic background. Social gradients in exposure to these chemicals are assessed with geometric means, using multiple regression models, controlling for covariates and confounders. Our results show that, depending on the (type of) pollutant, adolescents with a lower SES can either have higher or lower internal concentrations. Socially constructed factors, such as dietary and lifestyle habits, play an important role in these relations. We conclude that when assessing the human exposure concentrations of pollutants, more complex patterns of social stratification emerge than can be assumed on the basis of the environmental justice hypothesis. It therefore remains important to consider the chemical environment in relation to the social environment when monitoring environmental health risks. By emphasising on transparent communication and relevant interaction between residents, local stakeholders and scientists, monitoring environmental health could enhance the empowerment of socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Key Words: Human biomonitoring, socioeconomic status, internal environmental exposure, adolescents, environmental justice. ***** 1. Introduction Environmental justice research suggests that inequalities in the distribution of environmental exposure to chemical pollution systematically disadvantage the

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________________________________________________________________ lower social strata of society. 1 However, a majority of these studies only looks at potential environmental exposure, linking the spatial distribution of pollution sources or emission concentrations to aggregated socio-demographic characteristics of neighbourhoods or city wards. The usefulness of these rough methodologies with aggregated data seems to be rather limited, because analysed group-level associations between social determinants and (potential) external exposure to pollutants may not reflect the individual experience. These so called first generation environmental justice studies are therefore criticised for only giving a very partial view of the processes involved in environmental inequalities. 2 Little research exists on the social distribution of internal pollutant exposure concentrations, measured by human biomonitoring, and available evidence shows inconsistent results which do not always support the environmental justice hypothesis. 3 In this chapter we attempt to tackle this research gap by socio-stratifying the results of a human biomonitoring study in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. Between 2009-2010, a community-based participatory approach was set up to collect blood, urine and hair samples of 197 socially and ethnically diverse adolescents living in the close proximity of an industrial hotspot area ‘Genk-Zuid.’ This industrial zone – one of the largest in Flanders – is characterised by a mixture of industrial activity and emissions: a stainless steel plant, a car assembly plant and its suppliers, a glue production plant, a coal and biomass-powered electricity facility. Concentrations of heavy metals nickel and chrome in fine particulate matter have been found to be particularly high in comparison with levels measured in other Flemish locations. The industrial zone is entirely surrounded by residential areas, some of which concentrate a high proportion of ethnic minorities (mainly Turks and Moroccans), a high degree of poverty, high unemployment rates, and a lot of social housing (often in bad conditions). From a first generation (aggregated) viewpoint, the coexistence of socioeconomic and environmental burdens in this industrial area is a clear example of environmental injustice. The effects of these inequalities on the individual exposure to pollution remain however to a large extent unknown. The purpose of this study is to assess social gradients in human biomarkers of exposure and determine whether these gradients can be explained by specific underlying factors related to both exposure and socioeconomic status (SES). The hypothesis is to find negative social gradients: lower SES having higher body concentrations. 2. Method Data presented in this paper are gathered from the second Flemish Environment and Health Survey (FLEHS II), a human biomonitoring programme carried out by the Flemish Centre for Expertise on Environment and Health. 4 Within this Centre, researchers from all Flemish universities and two research institutes provide different areas of expertise: medical, environmental and statistical as well as social

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__________________________________________________________________ scientific. 5 The main focus of FLEHS II was the geographical distribution of internal exposure by measuring the body concentrations of pollutants in adolescents living in Genk-Zuid and compares their concentrations to Flemish reference values of the same age group. In this chapter we focus on the social distribution of internal exposure in the adolescents of Genk-Zuid. A. Study Area and Participants Based on plume emission calculations and population data, an oval study area was delineated around the industrial zone. The programme selected adolescents (aged 14-15 years) since their physical and mental development makes them a particularly susceptible and relevant subgroup to study the adverse influence of environmental pollution. Via schools, community workers, GPs and door-to-door visits, we recruited 197 adolescents (a response rate of 34%) who lived at least five years in the study area, between January-November 2010. B. Measures of Internal Exposure A blood, urine and hair sample was taken from each participant to carry out various chemical analyses and assess the internal concentration of different biomarkers of exposure, classified into three broad categories: i) heavy metals (cadmium, lead, nickel, chromium, copper, manganese, thallium, antimony, arsenic and mercury), ii) persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (PCBs, pesticides HCB and DDE (a metabolite of DDT), dioxins and brominated flame retardants (BDE47 and BDE153)), and iii) metabolites of volatile compounds (PAHs and benzene). Research has shown that a lot of heavy metals are carcinogenic, nephrotoxic and neurotoxic and have been associated with fertility problems. POPs and PAHs have hormone-disrupting, immune-disrupting, neurotoxic and carcinogenic properties. C. Measurement of Socioeconomic Status Based on (minimal) information in the self-administered questionnaires, individual SES is defined by two indicators: educational level of the parents and of the adolescent. Parental educational level, based on the highest attainment of father and mother, was classified into three categories: primary (both parents did not complete high school), secondary (at least one parent completed high school), and tertiary education (at least one parent completed higher education). Adolescents’ educational level was classified into vocational, technical or general education. In our analyses, the categories of both indicators correspond, respectively, to adolescents with a low, middle or high SES. Complementary to SES, we determined the ethnic background of the adolescent, based on parental birth country. We defined three categories: both parents born in Belgium, only one parent born in Belgium, or both parents not born in Belgium. The vast majority of foreign born parents were from Turkey or Morocco.

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________________________________________________________________ D. Statistical Methodology For each biomarker, the relationship with SES is investigated using linear regression models, correcting for confounders and covariates. The natural log transformed internal concentration is used as the dependent variable in these models. As such, the average exposure is quantified by the geometric mean (GM) for each category of SES; and the strength of the relation is quantified by the ratio of the GM of two SES categories. For each biomarker the following regression models were considered: a model correcting for confounders sex and age, a model additionally correcting for distance between coordinates of participants home address and emission stations (distance to pollution source), a model additionally correcting for smoking status (for heavy metals) or body mass index (for POPs), and a final model which additionally includes biomarker specific covariates. All analyses are done at a 5% level of significance with SAS version 9.2. 3. Results All figures and tables are available in the appendix. Significant social gradients were found for 7 biomarkers of exposure: 3 heavy metals (cadmium, lead and copper), 3 POPs (BDE153, DDE and PCBs) and 1 volatile compound (PAHs). All other biomarkers measured, including the most problematic for the industrial hotspot of Genk-Zuid (namely chrome, thallium, and arsenic), do not differ across social groups. The internal exposure to cadmium, lead and copper follows a negative social gradient: adolescents with low SES have higher concentrations compared to adolescents with higher SES. Social differences based on adolescents’ educational level are larger than differences based on parental educational level. The social gradient is most prominent for lead: the concentration of adolescents with a low SES is 22.8% or 25.1% higher (depending on SES-indicator) than that of adolescents with high SES. For copper, social differences are smaller but significant for both indicators of SES. For cadmium, only a significant social gradient is found for the adolescents own educational level. This gradient is however not decreasing monotonically: adolescents with a middle SES have slightly higher exposure than adolescents with low SES and a much higher exposure than adolescents with high SES. For BDE153, DDE and PCBs, figure 2 (appendix) shows positive social gradients: higher SES is associated with higher exposure level. Social gradients are largest for BDE153. Depending on the SES-indicator, the relation with POP exposure differs: when we look at parental education, the relation with BDE153 is more or less linear. For DDE and PCBs, the lowest social category is more exposed than the middle, but the highest levels are found in the high SES class. For adolescents’ education we see the opposite: a monotonic increasing relation with DDE and PCBs, but a non-monotonic increasing relation with BDE153.

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__________________________________________________________________ Shown in table 2 are (1) the ratio of GM expressed relative to the high SES category, (2) the p-value for the SES indicator in the linear regression model. Negative social gradients based on parental education are only significant for lead and copper. For copper, the significance disappears after controlling for sex and age (model 1). Girls have higher mean exposure levels for copper than boys (p=0.001) and are more represented in the low and middle SES category (p=0.120) (data not shown). For lead, the relation remains, even after controlling for pollution distance (model 2), but disappears after additionally correcting for smoking behaviour (model 3). For cadmium, lead and copper, the significant negative relation with adolescents’ education remains after correcting for sex and age. Additionally controlling for the distance to pollution source does not explain the social gradients in exposure, but correcting for smoking behaviour does explain social differences for lead. Correcting for parameters related to dietary habits (consumption of fruit, vegetables and meat), time spent in traffic and iron status (serum ferritin) explains social differences for cadmium, but not for copper. A lower iron status is associated with higher cadmium exposure and with lower SES. When we look at ethnic background in separate regression models (data not shown), we see significant relations with lead and copper exposure: adolescents with a different ethnic background have higher body concentrations. These relations cannot be explained by the above confounders and covariates. When SES indicators are included in the models, ethnic differences in exposure remain significant. For lead and copper, ethnicity explains a larger proportion of the variance than SES. For BDE153, DDE and PCBs, the significant positive relation with SES remains after correcting for sex and age (model 1) and distance to pollution source (model 2), except for the relation between DDE and parental educational level which disappears after controlling for sex and age. Additionally controlling for BMI (model 3) explains social gradients in exposure to DDE and PCBs based on adolescents’ educational level. A higher BMI is associated with lower concentrations of POPs (p