Locating justice in a warming world: developing notions of climate justice in the UK and the USA

Star, Cassandra (2008) Locating justice in a warming world: developing notions of climate justice in the UK and the USA. In: APSA 2008: Australasian Political Science Association Conference, 6-9 Jul 2008, Brisbane, Australia.

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Official URL: http://www.polsis.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=52174

Abstract

This paper analyses the development and application of notions of climate justice by non-governmental groups (NGOs) within two Western developed nations. I argue that the development of the discourse of climate justice in each society is shaped by historical circumstances, existing discourses of environmental justice, and the political orientations of the society vis a vis, the international arena. In the case of the United Kingdom, a strong, existing, shared understanding amongst NGOs around social justice predisposed civil society towards accepting the notion of climate justice. The societal understandings of social and environmental justice within the United Kingdom around social and economic disadvantage has shaped their interpretation of climate justice. Additionally, the outward looking orientation of UK civil society has influenced their conception of climate justice as being a predominantly international, rather than domestic, issue. In contrast, the conception of climate justice in the United States of America has been interpreted quite differently. The understanding of environmental justice that underpins the discourse of climate justice in the USA is informed by the work of Bullard (Bullard 1983, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995), and others, on environmental racism. Thus, climate justice is shaped by previous understandings of environmental justice around the economic, social and health disadvantage suffered by peoples of colour in North America from environmental issues. Moreover, the inward looking orientation of US civil society has influenced their conception of climate justice as being a predominantly domestic, rather than international, issue.

Item Type:Conference or Workshop Item (Commonwealth Reporting Category E) (Paper)
Additional Information:No evidence of copyright restrictions on web site.
Uncontrolled Keywords:environmental justice; climate change; USA; UK
Fields of Research (FOR2008):16 Studies in Human Society > 1605 Policy and Administration > 160507 Environment Policy
05 Environmental Sciences > 0501 Ecological Applications > 050101 Ecological Impacts of Climate Change
14 Economics > 1499 Other Economics > 149902 Ecological Economics
Subjects:360000 Policy and Political Science > 369900 Other Policy and Political Science > 369999 Other Policy and Political Science
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO2008):D Environment > 96 Environment > 9603 Climate and Climate Change > 960311 Social Impacts of Climate Change and Variability
ID Code:4461
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Deposited On:09 Dec 2008 09:24
Last Modified:19 Aug 2011 11:59

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