Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene

Through various international case studies presented by both practitioners and scholars, Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene explores how an environmental justice approach is necessary for reflections on inequality in the Anthropocene and for forging societal transitions toward a more just and sustainable future.

Environmental justice is a central component of sustainability politics during the Anthropocene ? the current geological age in which human activity is the dominant influence on climate and the environment. Every aspect of sustainability politics requires a close analysis of equity implications, including problematizing the notion that humans as a collective are equally responsible for ushering in this new epoch. Environmental justice provides us with the tools to critically investigate the drivers and characteristics of this era and the debates over the inequitable outcomes of the Anthropocene for historically marginalized peoples. The contributors to this volume focus on a critical approach to power and issues of environmental injustice across time, space, and context, drawing from twelve national contexts: Austria, Bangladesh, Chile, China, India, Nicaragua, Hungary, Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Tanzania, and the United States. Beyond highlighting injustices, the volume highlights forward-facing efforts at building just transitions, with a goal of identifying practical steps to connect theory and movement and envision an environmentally and ecologically just future.

This interdisciplinary work will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners focused on conservation, environmental politics and governance, environmental and earth sciences, environmental sociology, environment and planning, environmental justice, and global sustainability and governance. It will also be of interest to social and environmental justice advocates and activists.

"This impressive collection makes an important contribution to our understanding of environmental justice. With a refreshing and original focus on transitions and futures, it is highly recommended for anyone interested in how environmental inequalities are made and sustained, and how, crucially, we might imagine and achieve a more just future." - Neil Simcock, Liverpool John Moores University, UK.

"This is an impressive volume, with a distinctively critical and international perspective, drawing together fresh voices on the challenges and possibilities of just transitions across different sites and settings. Its multi-scalar, multi-species and intersectional scope puts it at the cutting edge of contemporary environmental justice scholarship." - Professor Gordon Walker, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, UK.

"This impressive, interdisciplinary collection makes important contributions to the field of critical environmental justice studies in its broad examination of the social and ecological inequities intrinsic to the 'Anthropocene.' Grounded in a wide range of case studies from diverse national contexts, the chapters draw on foundational concepts of spatial and intergenerational justice to analyze the degree to which our go-to 'sustainability solutions' will in fact bring about the just transitions they promise. From the complexities of bioenergy justice initiatives in Yucatán, Mexico, to climate transition strategies in Tanzanian forest management policies, to the challenges and prospects of intersectional climate justice organizing in California, the authors provide original and forward-facing assessments of what is needed to move from '(un)just presents to just futures'." ? Giovanna Di Chiro, Professor of Environmental Studies, Swarthmore College, USA.