Our planet is dying. It has been several months since nearly a billion people across the globe celebrated Earth Day 2023 as a demonstration in support of environmental protection. Perhaps the most paradoxical of all is that its largest celebrants are the corporations and politicians contributing most heavily to the destruction and degradation of the environment.
Earth Day was created to mark the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement. It is defined as a social movement to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. However, is not enough to have just a day that has become commercialized and ideologically diluted to advocate the false narratives and bare minimum of environmental protection such as seeking to protect the environment simply for its aesthetic, relying on checkbook activism (simply using money and donating to causes or organizations), greenwashing, market-based solutions (such as cap and trade, carbon trading), and technology + geoengineering (as a method to compensate for the world’s resistance to adopting a more environmentally conscious lifestyle). Mainstream environmentalism, in its current state, will not produce the meaningful change humans need to see to better our communities and planet better in ways that won’t see humanity suffer from the combined effects of more brutal summers and winters, crop failures, famine, rising levels of the spread of disease, ocean acidification, illness and sickness from pollution, smog, the degradation of our environment which limits sustainable resource use, the loss of biodiversity and the list goes on. We must rethink and reimagine the politics of mainstream environmentalism and move forward with an environmental justice-focused movement that centers race, poverty, anti-capitalist, abolitionist, and decolonial thought at the forefront. An ideal environmentalist movement would not only seek to combat issues related to climate change and environmentalism, but would also adopt an environmental justice perspective that realizes that environmental issues are not only connected to nature but to humanity and that the unequal powers that have historically marginalized minorities and the lower classes in all other facets of American society are the same ones responsible for ignoring and abetting our dying planet. As such, this Movement is about saving and protecting our planet but also ensuring the equal and just protection of its people from poverty, racism, marginalization, and every other issue in the fight for racial and economic justice.
History of the US Environmental Movement
The Environmental Movement in the US has a long and racialized history that has defined the Movement as a white space with colonial underpinnings. Historians have linked these colonial underpinnings to the rise of Western environmentalism to racialized colonial logic that sought to prioritize greed, dispossess land from Indigenous peoples, and exploit enslaved persons and workers (Curnrow & Helferty, 2018, 147). The virtue of conservation may seem unrelated to the violence perpetuated in the colonial era; however, modern-day roots of environmentalism unwittingly incorporate ideas of racist, sexist, and classist notions of wilderness protection to serve the interests of the elite (Curnrow & Heleferty, 2018, 148). The land was defined as terra nullius, empty, and available for taking. The foundation of “protecting” land is built upon the separation of land from people living on it which for centuries were indigenous peoples. Only recently has this Movement shifted to include other environmental issues such as pesticide use, toxic waste, and the allocation of green spaces, among many other things.1 2
Earth Day was created to mark the anniversary of the birth of the modern Environmental Movement, a social movement to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices to create sustainable living. However, is not enough to have just a day that has become commercialized and ideologically diluted to advocate the bare minimum of environmental protection such as seeking to protect the environment simply for its beauty or animals, relying on checkbook activism (simply using money and donating to causes or organizations), greenwashing, carbon taxes, or relying solely on other organizations to try and do work through navigating bureaucracy. Mainstream environmentalism in its current state will not produce the meaningful change humans need to see to better our communities and planet better in ways that won’t see humanity suffer from the combined effects of more brutal summers and winters, crop failures, famine, rising levels of the spread of disease, ocean acidification, illness and sickness from pollution, smog, the degradation of our environment which limits sustainable resource use, the loss of biodiversity and the list goes on. We must rethink and reimagine the politics of mainstream environmentalism and move forward with an environmental justice-focused movement that centers race, poverty, and decolonial thought at the forefront. An ideal environmentalist movement would not only seek to combat issues related to climate change and environmentalism but also adopt a perspective that realizes that environmental issues are not only connected to nature but also to humanity and that the unequal powers that have historically marginalized minorities and the lower classes in all other facets of American society are the same ones responsible for ignoring and abetting our dying planet. As such, the Movement is about saving and protecting our planet but also ensuring the equal and just protection of its people from poverty, racism, marginalization, and every other issue in the fight for racial and economic justice.
An Evolving Environmental Justice Movement
This new Movement arises out of necessity. The original mainstream Environmental Movement was forced to change due to criticisms that the Movement had largely been ignoring the disproportionate impact of environmental issues on communities of color. Solidarity is not foundational to the environmental movement. Yet in spite of this, multiracial coalitions continued to emerge because of the mainstream movement and its limitations concerning issues affecting racialized and colonized communities. While these coalitions can yield productive work, they, too, can also fall victim to environmental organizations that take up colonial or paternalistic behaviors (Curnrow & Helferty, 2018, 150). Another example exists in the Latine community and its involvement in the mainstream movement. Latine environmental discourse has yet to be audible despite continued mobilization around environmental issues in the US. Even though the environment has substantial importance in Latin American societies and cultures, its absence is mainly endemic to the bigger issue at hand in that environmentalism is largely ignored when groups are dealing with poverty and issues of equality (Lynch, 1993, 110).3 4
Environmental justice, is defined by the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. However, the environmental justice and the movement surrounding it has grown to encompass the ideas of climate justice (the just division, fair sharing, and equitable distribution of the burdens of climate change and its mitigation and responsibilities) as well as environmentalism (moral views about our relation to nature and attempts to define and bring about an environmentally sound society). The Environmental Justice Movement acknowledges that there are no single-issue struggles. It is a collaborative, non-hierarchical, POC-led space with a focus on tackling the systemic roots of climate injustices that disproportionately affect communities of color and other frontline communities.
The Fight for Environmental Justice in Arizona
It is not enough, however, to simply take the word of scholars as proof that environmental degradation and injustice exist. Arizona is at the forefront of the Environmental Justice Movement, especially because of the state's growing complexity and rapid development along with a rapidly evolving climate and environment. Minoritized communities have tackled these threats head-on, and some have achieved notable progress. The state halted the construction of a mine that threatened water resources for the indigenous Hualapai only after activists and tribal leaders spoke out (Rushing, 2022). In addition, the historically Black community of Randolph achieved a historic victory against local natural gas giant SRP (Salt River Project) in its fight to combat its expansion and history of air pollution and worsening air quality (Lakhani, 2023). However, there is still much work to be done. Very little progress has been made in the fight against Arizona’s military bases such as Davis-Monthan Air Force Base which has contributed heavily to air pollution near Tucson that has been linked to lung cancer, and the air pollution and industrial hazards that have long plagued Phoenix’s south and west side communities that have been historically racially distributed communities of color (Sharp. 2023). 5 6 7
Environmental Optimism
The only solution to save our planet is to create a multiracial coalition movement that centers race, poverty, anti-capitalist, abolitionist, and decolonial thought. At the individual level, we are responsible and complicit in degrading the environment. There is no more significant threat to our planet than the greed promoted by capitalism which views the planet as a commodity, long disconnected from the natural world yet espousing corporate environmentalism, nonetheless (Phillips, 2019). I support a reimagining of the justice in environmental justice as stated by Laura Pulido, “the destruction of racial regimes and racial capitalism’’ that ‘‘entails the end not only of racial slavery, racial segregation, and racism but also the abolition of a capitalist order that has always been racial” (Pulido & De Lara, 2018). Examples like the Hualapai and Randolph victories serve as important reminders that when we come together across various diverse backgrounds and communities, engage in meaningful dialogue, and civic action. We may yet save our planet. 8 & 9
References
- Curnow, J., & Helferty, A. (2018). Contradictions of Solidarity: Whiteness, Settler Coloniality, and the Mainstream Environmental Movement. Environment and Society, 9 P.147
- Curnow, J., & Helferty, A. (2018). Contradictions of Solidarity: Whiteness, Settler Coloniality, and the Mainstream Environmental Movement. Environment and Society, 9 P.148
- Curnow, J., & Helferty, A. (2018). Contradictions of Solidarity: Whiteness, Settler Coloniality, and the Mainstream Environmental Movement. Environment and Society, 9 P. 150
- Lynch, B. D. (1993). The Garden and the Sea: U.S. Latino Environmental Discourses and Mainstream Environmentalism. Social Problems, 40(1) P.110
- Rushing, K. (2022). Lithium mining threatens Arizona Tribe’s sacred spring. Earthjustice
- Lakhani, N. (2023). They Keep Coming back: a Black Community in Arizona battles power expansion plans again. The Guardian
- Sharp, J. (2023). Environmental racism in Arizona, fueled by the presence of military bases. AZ Mirror
- Phillips. (2019). “Daring to Care”: Challenging Corporate Environmentalism. Journal of Business Ethics, 156(4)
- Pulido, & De Lara, J. (2018). Reimagining “justice” in environmental justice: Radical ecologies, decolonial thought, and the Black Radical Tradition. Environment and Planning. E, Nature and Space (Print), 1(1-2)