Environmental justice: An evolving concept in a dynamic era

Abstract

Studies of environmental justice in the United States started more than four decades ago when an African American dominant community was chosen as the site of a hazardous landfill. Many works have emerged since then, evolving around the concepts of distribution justice, representation justice, and recognition justice. Scholars attempt to address the environmental justice topic from a wide range of angles with multiple modern research methods. As an important aspect of sustainable development, we conducted a literature review in an attempt to summarize the progress of environmental justice studies in recent years. Under the broad framework of sustainable development, we investigate the origin of environmental justice studies, the traditional and modern approaches scholars applied to investigate the subject, and the applications of the concepts in recent years, especially in the era of a global pandemic. We also explore the application of environmental justice in recent planning practices. The purposes of the study are to further exploration of environmental justice, and analyze theories and explanations on what causes environmental justice and injustice. This study will pave a way for future advancements in sustainability science that will provide new opportunities and tools to be used by academics, policymakers, and urban planners alike.

Bridging the Gap: Analyzing the Relationship between Environmental Justice Awareness on Twitter and Socio-Environmental Factors Using Remote Sensing and Big Data

“…Third, exploring environmental justice through remote sensing imagery analysis and Tweets is an endeavor that will vary geographically and temporally. Although it is a subject that is relevant across the globe, environmental justice is highly contextually dependent [2], and as such, discussion (online and offline) on the subject will vary by location and time period. While New Jersey's diversity and legal recognition of environmental justice might make for an ideal case study, the extent to which this subject is broached in other states likely varies, requiring a more careful examination.…”

“…In a world grappling with pressing environmental challenges, the issue of environmental injustice has garnered heightened attention. Environmental injustice, often manifested as disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards or lack of access to ecosystem services for socially vulnerable communities [1,2], underscores the urgent need to identify and rectify disparities in access to a clean and healthy environment. However, despite ongoing efforts to address environmental injustices, biased institutions and historic exclusionary Remote Sens.…”

“…However, despite ongoing efforts to address environmental injustices, biased institutions and historic exclusionary Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 5510 2 of 26 practices continue to perpetuate a climate of environmental inequity across the globe [1][2][3][4]. Moreover, conventional tools for detecting these injustices exhibit limitations, falling short of providing a comprehensive and timely understanding of disparities.…”

“…On the other hand, producing new datasets allows researchers to control the frequency, methodology, and overarching intention of data collection given they have the resources required to commit to collection efforts. Collecting new datasets also offers an additional opportunity to explore more complex environmental justice topics, such as recognition and representation justice [2,13,[25][26][27]. These data collection limitations are universal in research, but are particularly salient in the realm of environmental justice, as delayed identification of injustices may result in prolonged suffering.…”