Environmental justice: A louisiana case study

Wigley, Daniel C.; Shrader‐Frechette, Kristin

doi:10.1007/bf01965670

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Frameworks around which such work can be organized include environmental justice and insuring informed consent. As Wigley and Schrader‐Frechette (1996) have argued with reference to the locating of a uranium enrichment facility near Homer, Louisiana, such a siting near an inhabited area would violate norms of distributive equity and free informed consent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Down Cancer Alley: The Lived Experience of Health and Environmental Suffering in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor

Singer

2011

Medical Anthropology Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With the massive Gulf oil spill of 2010, there has been intensified concern about the impacts of industrial contamination on physical environments, human health, and social well-being. Based on ethnographic research in a primarily African American town in an area of Southern Louisiana colloquially known as the Chemical Corridor because of the large number of local chemical manufacturing plants, this article engages arguments made by Auyero and Swistun concerning the uncertainties and confusions that emerge when official or empowered pronouncements about the health impacts of living near waste-generating factories conflict with the everyday experience of perceived health-related contamination in an impoverished community. The article seeks to address gaps in our understanding of how communities conceive of environmental health risk, what their sources of information and level of knowledge about this issue are, and how they handle potential conflict between access to needed employment and the local presence of industrial polluters.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Down Cancer Alley: The Lived Experience of Health and Environmental Suffering in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor

Singer

2011

Medical Anthropology Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…If we now accept these arguments by acknowledging that the least well-off in society are indeed exposed to higher environmental risks and if we go on to conclude that the latter violates the norms of distributive justice-as for instance argued by Wigley and Shrader-Frechette (1996) in the case of a uranium enrichment facility in Louisiana-then the question of whether the extending of these activities is justified seems legitimate. To put it bluntly, can we justify increasing the injustice among contemporaries and disadvantaging the least well-off in present-day society in order to reduce the possibility of harming remote future generations?…”

Section: Who In the Present Generation Should Bear The Burden?mentioning

confidence: 98%

The Morally Desirable Option for Nuclear Power Production

Taebi

2011

Philos. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper reflects on the various possible nuclear power production methods from an ethical perspective. The production and consumption of nuclear power give rise to the problem of intergenerational justice; in other words, we are depleting a nonrenewable resource in the form of uranium while the radiotoxic waste that is generated carries very long-term potential burdens. I argue that the morally desirable option should therefore be to seek to safeguard the interests of future generations. The present generation has at least two duties with regard to posterity: (1) not to jeopardize the safety and security of future generations or impose any harm upon them and (2) to sustain future well-being insofar as that is possible with the available energy resources. These duties are presented as pluralist prima facie duties (or duty-imposing reasons) thus implying that they could well be overruled by morally more compelling duties. If we are unable to fulfill both these prima facie duties simultaneously, it should be particularly the duty not to impose harm on posterity that should be the leading incentive behind nuclear power production. This supports the arguments in favor of the introduction of a new fuel cycle (partitioning and transmutation) that can substantially reduce the waste lifetime and therefore also potential future burdens. However, the further development and application of this scientifically proven but not yet industrialized fuel cycle give rise to additional burdens for contemporaries. This paper examines the extent of the moral stringency of the no harm duty sought for situations in which future interest should guide us in our choosing of a certain technology.

show abstract

“…From a spatial standpoint, sustainability is about the fair distribution of well-being among contemporaries, with a special focus on the needs of the least well-off groups. When it comes to nuclear energy, we might for instance think of distribution of well-being among workers or local communities compared to members of society as a whole [3][4][5]. Intragenerational justice is at stake in that case.…”

Section: Releasing Sustainability From the Yes/no Dichotomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability, Ethics and Nuclear Energy: Escaping the Dichotomy

Kermisch

Taebi

2017

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In this paper we suggest considering sustainability as a moral framework based on social justice, which can be used to evaluate technological choices. In order to make sustainability applicable to discussions of nuclear energy production and waste management, we focus on three key ethical questions, namely: (i) what should be sustained; (ii) why should we sustain it; and (iii) for whom should we sustain it. This leads us to conceptualize the notion of sustainability as a set of values, including safety, security, environmental benevolence, resource durability, and economic viability of the technology. The practical usefulness of sustainability as a moral framework is highlighted by demonstrating how it is applicable for understanding intergenerational dilemmas-between present and future generations, but also among different future generations-related to nuclear fuel cycles and radioactive waste management.

show abstract

Environmental justice: A louisiana case study

Cited by 11 publications

References 14 publications

Down Cancer Alley: The Lived Experience of Health and Environmental Suffering in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor

Down Cancer Alley: The Lived Experience of Health and Environmental Suffering in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor

The Morally Desirable Option for Nuclear Power Production

Sustainability, Ethics and Nuclear Energy: Escaping the Dichotomy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About