Environment & Economy II: What does justice look like?
Tue, Nov 15
Sometimes people will speak of environmental and economic interests as if they inversely related (for example: tighter environmental restrictions cost businesses money, or more 'green' energy causes people in the coal industry to lose their jobs). Last class period, we probed whether that always has to be true, or whether we might address environmental problems through economy (and how). Environmental justice scholars and activists complicate the narrative in another way. They show how, at the level of the individual, economic and environmental vulnerability often go hand-in-hand.
Learning goals - By the end of the session you will:
- Understand and be able to give examples of how we in this class (or others in the US) tend to use the terms 'societal gains' and 'environmental costs'
- Understand scholar Rob Nixon's theory of 'slow violence' and how it shapes economic decision making
- Identify the arguments in four poems, all of them about poverty and environmental disasters along the Gulf Coast. Explore how the imagery in each poem shapes the tone and argument.
Read This:
Access the readings on the course's Perusall page:
- Short selection from the introduction of Rob Nixon's book Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (2011)
- Giovanna Di Chiro, "Environmental Justice," an entry in the collection Keywords for Environmental Studies (2016)
- A collection of four poems by Black American writers about economy and ecology along the Gulf Coast:
- Nikky Finney, "Left" (2011)
- Sterling Brown, "Children of the Mississippi" (1932)
- Indigo Moor, "Tap-Root" (2006)
- Natasha Trethway "Liturgy of the Mississippi Gulf Coast" (2008)
Watch This:
Environmental activist Sharon Lavigne's speech at the University of Notre Dame's commencement ceremony on May 15, 2022.