 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Marcos J. Luna, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware, Graham Hall, Academy Street, Newark, DE 19716, 302-438-9808, marcos@udel.edu
The Environmental Justice movement draws attention to the disparate exposure and impact from modern environmental health threats on already marginalized communities. The injustice is not only a function of inequitable exposure, but is part of a historic and ongoing legacy of social injustices – exploitation, segregation, marginalization – which are perceived to be the root sources of environmental and other insults. The marriage of environmentalism and social justice has been offered as a new and significant challenge to the imperatives of the economic and industrial order. Thus, Environmental Justice offers a potentially revolutionary challenge to modern society. However, the privileging of concerns over environmental health as the centerpiece of a social justice movement carries its own hazards. First, appeals to questions over environmental health are necessarily the domain of biomedical science. Within this domain, scientific experts retain the power to define reality. This necessarily means that non-experts must surrender power, control, or even meaningful involvement in the questions asked or the solutions sought. Second, appeals to science for answers are based on the mythical assumption that science offers Truth, rather than simply Fact. Fundamental assumptions of science are rarely brought into question. Finally, biomedical questions of health are by definition subject to empirical tests and engineering. Questions of social justice are not. The possibility that one may be solved without the other is real, and in fact, has happened.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Environmental Justice, Environmental Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.