Digital Commons Network^™

Animal Rights Is A Social Justice Issue, Robert C. Jones

Animal Rights Movement Collection

The literature on social justice, and social justice movements themselves, routinely ignore nonhuman animals as legitimate subjects of social justice. Yet, as with other social justice movements, the contemporary animal liberation movement has as its focus the elimination of institutional and systemic domination and oppression. In this paper, I explicate the philosophical and theoretical foundations of the contemporary animal rights movement, and situate it within the framework of social justice. I argue that those committed to social justice – to minimizing violence, exploitation, domination, objectification, and oppression – are equally obligated to consider the interests of all sentient beings, not …

Social And Environmental Justice And The Water-Energy Nexus: A Quest In Progress For Rural People, Karen V. Harper-Dorton Ph.D., Stacia J. Harper

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Access to affordable and reliable clean water and energy is necessary for economic development, health, and well-being of all people worldwide. Unavailable, unaffordable, or unreliable water and energy resources represent social and environmental injustices that disproportionately burden poor people, especially those in rural areas. Furthermore, there is an inextricable link between water and energy: clean water requires power for delivery and sanitation, and power production requires large amounts of water. This water-energy nexus connects two vital resources for humanity with more attention to economic concerns than to human or environmental issues. This paper addresses social and environmental justice issues that …

Sustainable Development And Its Discontents, Federico Cheever, John C. Dernbach

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Sustainable development (or sustainability) is a decision-making framework for maintaining and achieving human well-being, both in the present and into the future. The framework requires both consideration and achievement of environmental protection, social justice and economic development. In that framework, environmental protection must be integrated into decisions about social and economic development, and social justice and economic viability must be integrated into decisions about environmental quality.

First endorsed by the world’s nations in 1992, this framework is intended to provide an effective response to the twin global challenges of growing environmental degradation and widespread extreme poverty. Sustainability provides a framework …

Healing And Belonging: Community Based Art And Community Formation In West Oakland, Pablo Miguel Cerdera

Honors Papers

Community Based Art is a model of art making which centers community and interpersonal interaction. Through an in depth case study of Brett Cook's West Oakland based project "Reflections of Healing" this thesis attempts to understand how community is both reflected and constructed in Community Based Art, as well as the political, social, and aesthetic consequences of this construction. Of particular interest are the relationships between art, community, race, class, gentrification, and self-determination. Ultimately, this thesis finds that through an ambivalent and sometimes messy process of collaboration, Reflections of Healing constructs a hopeful and positive image of community that prefigures …

In Harm's Way: How Philadelphia's Urban Renewal Practices Steered Marginal People To Marginal Land, Katera Ya'shea Moore

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The dumping of locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) on marginal communities has been well documented, however environmental justice scholars have rarely written about how marginal groups have come to occupy their landscapes, particularly when natural hazards lie beneath.

This dissertation research focuses on a broad definition of the environment that includes the built, social, and physical. I am interested in extending Logan and Molotch's Growth Machine theory to consider how the political and economic elite guided the urban renewal process to place particular communities on particular landscapes, despite the presence of a flooding hazard. To understand this issue, I examined …

Fearless: Anastasia Maisel, Anastasia M. Maisel

SURGE

Working to create a meaningful, respectful, and community-minded Day of Service in honor of Gettysburg College student Emily Silverstein ’11, and continually involved in different farming and food initiatives in the Gettysburg area to promote food justice and environmentally friendly farming practices, Anastasia Maisel ’14 fearlessly gives her time, energy, and passion to promoting social justice on and off campus. [excerpt]

Youth's Comprehension Of Environmental Justice Across Multiple Countries, Alexa L. Stovold

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Global climate change is an issue of environmental justice, because neither contributions toward the causes nor its consequences are equally distributed across and within countries (Roberts, 2001). Given the importance of framing climate change as an environmental justice issue, the present study sought to understand how youth conceptualize and engage with environmental justice across multiple countries. Youth are an important target population for engagement, because they often are active agents of social change by challenging the status-quo, and becoming civically engaged (Blythe & Harré, 2012; De Vreede, Warner & Pitter, 2014; United Nations, 2004).

The current research is a secondary …

Justice And Immigrant Latino Recreation Geography In Cache Valley, Utah, Jodie Madsen, Claudia Radel, Joanna Endter-Wada

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Latinos are the largest U.S. non-mainstreamed ethnic group, and social and environmental justice considerations dictate recreation professionals and researchers meet their recreation needs. This study reconceptualizes this diverse group’s recreation patterns, looking at where immigrant Latino individuals in Cache Valley, Utah do recreate rather than where they do not. Through qualitative interviews and interactive mapping, thirty participants discussed what recreation means to them and explained their recreation site choices. Findings suggest that recreation as an activity done outside the home, for fun with others, leads participants to seek spaces with certain characteristics. Reconceiving recreation more broadly and framing it from …

Practice Resurrection: Urban Planning, The Right To The City, And Transformative Social Justice, Megan Hebard Mcrobert

Architecture and Planning ETDs

Social justice movements organize against contemporary conditions of oppression and domination. Today’s movements often target neoliberalism as an agent of both economic and cultural marginalization, citing environmental degradation, increasing wealth disparities in the information/service economy, and destruction of community-based institutions in the name of capital accumulation. One such example is the right to the city, both an intellectual idea and organizing framework for social action. The right to the city utilizes a Marxist framework to argue that cities are part of capitalist processes of production and, thus, space can and must be a site of intervention in the service of …

Through The Eyes Of Urban Students: Educational Inequality And Socioeconomic Disparities In Santiago, Chile, Hillary Sapanski

Honors Theses

This project explores student perceptions of educational inequality in Santiago, Chile. Educational inequality in Santiago is statistically well documented; this study is novel in that it gives voice to the students. Despite a major emerging middle class, across all classes there is an overwhelming awareness of inequality. The results in this study are two-fold: not only do the diverse student experiences illustrate the stark divisions in the Chilean education system and society, but their experiences also demonstrate the development of a critical consciousness empowering students to act. Although there are limitations, student contributions to the ongoing conversation about inequality and …

The Effects Of Symbolic And Realistic Threats On Moral Exclusion From The Scope Of Justice, Dana Charles Leighton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Moral exclusion refers to a psychological process that removes others from our moral community--those whom we treat with fairness and concern for their welfare. The present research is concerned with how perceived symbolic threats (threats to the ingroup's values, morals, and worldview) and realistic threats (threats to the ingroup's well-being and resources) are related to moral exclusion. Perceived symbolic and realistic threats from an outgroup (Mexican immigrants) were measured (Study 1) and manipulated (Study 2) to discover their predictive and causal relationships with moral exclusion. It was found that both symbolic and realistic threats predicted moral exclusion and did so …

Scale And Justice In Water Allocation, Marian J. Patrick

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Water allocation is a fundamental part of water resources management. Water allocation is often a contested process because it involves multiple uses and users of water. Issues of justice arise when resources are, or are perceived to be, in short supply. When water is allocated the rules for the distribution of the resource may result in just outcomes for some stakeholders but may create injustices for other stakeholders. Issues of scale thus form an important component of water allocation. This thesis draws from an amalgam of ideas on justice, scale and water management and aims to present a conceptual framework …

Mountains Of Injustice : Social And Environmental Justice In Appalachia, Michele Morrone, Geoffrey L. Buckley

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Research in environmental justice reveals that low-income and minority neighborhoods in our nation’s cities are often the preferred sites for landfills, power plants, and polluting factories. Those who live in these sacrifice zones are forced to shoulder the burden of harmful environmental effects so that others can prosper. Mountains of Injustice broadens the discussion from the city to the country by focusing on the legacy of disproportionate environmental health impacts on communities in the Appalachian region, where the costs of cheap energy and cheap goods are actually quite high.

Through compelling stories and interviews with people who are fighting for …

Innovative Approaches To Public Service Through Institutionalized Action Research: Reflections From Law And Social Work, Susan R. Jones, Shirley J. Jones

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Environmental Law And Justice Symposium Issue, Randall S. Abate, Robert H. Abrams, Robert Graggs

Florida A & M University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Exploring Participant Perspectives On The Relationship Between Social Change Theater And Social Change Movements : A Project Based Upon An Investigation At The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Sins Invalid And The Outlook Community Theatre Project, San Francisco, California, Jesse Ehrensaft-Hawley

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative, exploratory study was designed to examine social change theater program participants' perspectives on the connection between their participation and their perceived capacity to create systemic social change. The research pursued the following questions: 1) How has participation in social change theatre affected the participants' sense of agency to create collective social change at the macro level; 2) What do participants perceive as their impact on systemic social change in relation to their participation in social change theater? 3) How do participants perceive the interaction of change at the level of the macro with change they may have experienced …

The Relevance Of The Natural Environment To Social Work : A Comparison Of Fields That Consider The Natural Environment In Social Problems : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, John D. Ritchie

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Given the natural environment's importance to humans, this study was undertaken to understand how social work has considered the natural environment in approaching social problems compared to other fields that consider the natural environment. In addition, comparing literature from several fields, the author sought to evaluate the adequacy of social work's attention to the natural environment as the field analyzes and conceives solutions to social problems and carries out its mission. The study examined the gaps in social work literature regarding the natural environment. The author compared published literature from social work, psychology, environmental health and medicine, and environmentalism to …

Bridging Social Capital Formation In A Faith-Based Organization, Angela Kaiser

Wayne State University Dissertations

Previous research on faith-based organizations suggest that these organizations are highly effective at forging relationships between individuals from different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, known as bridging social capital. This study examines the process of bridging social capital formation within MOSES, a faith-based organization located in Detroit, Michigan. Through the use of in-depth interviews, participant observation, archival research, and a member survey, I documented the forms of social capital present within the organization. I also explored whether bridging relationships were forming within the organization and the strategies that facilitated their formation. Diversity within the organization, recognition of member differences, and …

The Justice Of Saving Our World: Rawlsian Theory Applied To Environmentalism And Alternative Energy, Devon Bryson

Global Tides

While respect for nature pervades contemporary thought, issues of environmentalism and alternative energy largely lack a place in modern global conceptions of social justice. A theoretical or philosophical defense of these issues is therefore necessary to reinforce intuitions about nature, and ground them upon some substantive justification. One can find this justification in the Rawlsian theory of justice, which already informs many modern liberal notions. Rawlsian justice relies upon the Kantian notion that humans are autonomous beings— beings that are “ends” in themselves (that have inherent value). Rawls’ theory of justice attempts to respect each of these “ends.” However, traditional …

Planetary Boundaries: Exploring The Safe Operating Space For Humanity, Johan Rockström, W. L. Steffen, Kevin Noone, Åsa Persson, F. Stuart Chapin Iii, Eric Lambin, Timothy M. Lenton, Marten Scheffer, Carl Folke, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Björn Nykvist, Cynthia A. De Wit, Terry Hughes, Sander Van Der Leeuw, Henning Rodhe, Sverker Sörlin, Peter K. Snyder, Robert Costanza, Uno Svedin, Malin Falkenmark, Louise Karlberg, Robert W. Corell, Victoria J. Fabry, James Hansen, Brian Walker, Diana Liverman, Katherine Richardson, Paul Crutzen, Jonathan Foley

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Anthropogenic pressures on the Earth System have reached a scale where abrupt global environmental change can no longer be excluded. We propose a new approach to global sustainability in which we define planetary boundaries within which we expect that humanity can operate safely. Transgressing one or more planetary boundaries may be deleterious or even catastrophic due to the risk of crossing thresholds that will trigger non-linear, abrupt environmental change within continental- to planetary-scale systems. We have identified nine planetary boundaries and, drawing upon current scientific understanding, we propose quantifications for seven of them. These seven are climate change (CO2 concentration …

An Assessment Of Latcrit Theory Ten Years After, Keith Aoki, Kevin R. Johnson

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Latinos and Latinas at the Epicenter of Contemporary Legal Discourses. Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, March 2007.

Toward A New Social Contract: A Tripartite Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Social Sustainability At Three Land-Grant Universities, Lyndsay Josephine Agans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly, colleges and universities in the United States are adapting toward a model of behavior that incorporates issues of sustainability. This adaptation in universities and in society has implications on the organizational and nation-state level, the very core of which may serve to reshape the social contract between the two. In addition to supplying a strong counter-hegemonic argument that alters the competitive economic agenda-setting paradigm, this study serves as a tripartite comparative case study analysis of university adaptation toward social sustainability. By employing a social capital lens to understanding social sustainability in higher education, this study seeks to examine the …

Understanding Community Benefits Agreements: Equitable Development, Social Justice And Other Considerations For Developers, Municipalities And Community Organizations, Patricia E. Salkin, Amy Lavine

Scholarly Works

The opportunity to develop a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) typically arises when a developer announces plans to construct a major project, such as a stadium or a theater complex. Local residents and business owners may often welcome these projects, but they may also have legitimate fears, such as: Will the project displace local residents and local businesses, either physically or through gentrification? Will it cause traffic problems and generate noise, pollution, or other nuisances? Will the economic development benefits espoused by the developer actually create jobs that pay a living wage and offer decent benefits for residents in the neighborhood …

A Theory Of Aesthetic Justice, John Devin Peipert

Theses

Theories of distributive justice give us the appropriate determination of who ought to have what, where ?who? are the members of society and ?what? are social goods and burdens. Traditionally, social goods have taken the form of rights and privileges, as well as more tangible economic goods. However, it is not clear that these are the only kinds of social goods relevant to justice. There is a substantial body of literature showing that environmental benefits and burdens can and should be thought of as social goods. In this paper, I will argue that we ought to make a comparable extension …

Imagining America; Imagining Universities: Who And What?, Nancy Cantor

Chancellor's Collection

We have come together to collaborate on our campuses and in our communities on our common dreams of democracy and social justice. The region in which we meet has a rich history of passionate efforts to create and enlarge democracy. The Syracuse area was a station on the Underground Railroad, a seedbed for abolition, and the cockpit of the struggle for the rights of women.

Locational Justice: Race, Class, And The Grassroots Protest Of Property Takings, Judith E. Koons

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Locational Justice: Race, Class, And The Grassroots Protest Of Property Takings, Judith E. Koons

Santa Clara Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fairness Principles In Allocating Water: Integrating Views Of Different Agents, B. E. Nancarrow, G. J. Syme

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The allocation, or re-allocation, of water to achieve environmental sustainability in farming communities canbe a source of considerable conflict. “What’s fair” when sharing water between different agents and theenvironment becomes paramount in people’s decision making. Issues such as self interest; efficient uses ofwater; business investments; viable communities and prior rights to water all play a part in the ways peopleview the fairness of the allocation decision. The different agents will form their fairness rules in differentways. For example, the small family farmer will not want to be disadvantaged by the greater economiccapacity of the corporate farmer. Those who have not …

The Struggle For Civil Rights: The Need For, And Impediments To, Political Coalitions Among And Within Minority Groups, Kevin R. Johnson

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond "Pesticides And Beyond" : The Partnership Of Creative Writing And Service Learning In Engendering And Perpetuating Social Activism, Paul David Tuff

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper examines how the partnering of service learning with creative writing produces and perpetuates social activism, especially with regard to farmworkers. First, I use a personal narrative to explain how our experiences influence the way we think about--or ignore--farmworkers and their struggles. I then discuss preparations made by my classmates and I from the fall 2001 432S course, "Pesticides and Beyond: The Enduring Legacy," before placement at service learning sites. These preparations included: classroom discussions of the historical, cultural, political, and ideological foundations of farmworker struggles; analyses of how power, privilege, and prejudice oppress farmworkers in America; and research …