Di Chiro's Nature As Community: The Convergence Of Environment And Social Justice

Our presentation was centered on the concept of environmental justice, which is defined by the EPA as the fair treatment of all individuals regardless of their background with respects to the implementation and development of environmental laws and regulations. We read Professor of Environmental Studies Giovanna Di Chiro’s piece “Nature as Community: The Convergence of Environment and Social Justice” for guidance. We began our presentation with a brief overview of what environmental justice is through first explaining environmentalism. We touched on how environmentalists view the environment as “the place [one works], the place [one lives], [and] the place [one plays]" (Di Chiro 301). Environmentalism "requires a close analysis and historical

The leaders of the contemporary environmentalist movement are predominantly male members of the Caucasian middle-class–individuals with a focus on “preservationist political culture” (Di Chiro 300) rather than a focus on “issues pertaining to human health and survival, workplace poisoning, and economic sustainability” (Di Chiro 301), all of which are neglected to be discussed in a environmentalist culture that pivots on “issues such as wildland preservation and endangered species protection” (Di Chiro 300). We discussed how these leaders of the contemporary environmentalist movement view nature as “Edenic” and separate from anthropogenic activity, when in reality humans “are an integral part of what should be understood as the environment” (Di Chiro 301). The Edenic notions of nature possessed by these leaders have become, “for many communities of color, a tool of oppression that operates to obscure their own ‘endangered’ predicaments” (De Chiro 311). Moreover, these leaders characterize nature as a subject to be controlled under the dominion of